14/03/2025 - Pierre Rabine, Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux, Corinne Masiero, Pierre Deladonchamps and Sandrine Bonnaire all star in this Willow Films and Fédération Studio France production

Actress Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux and swimmer Pierre Rabine during the shoot of Pour le meilleur (© Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux/Facebook)

Since mid-February, Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar has been shooting Pour le meilleur, her 8th feature film after Once in a Lifetime (a box office hit in 2014), Heaven Will Wait (screened on Locarno’s Piazza Grande in 2016) and A Good Man (gracing Cannes’ Official Selection in 2020 and Toronto’s Industry Selects line-up), to name but three of her works.

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The cast stars the swimmer with a disability Pierre Rabine alongside Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux (who’s reuniting with the filmmaker 13 years after Ma première fois), Corinne Masiero (nominated for the Best Actress César and Lumière in 2013 thanks to Louise Wimmer, and hitting screens soon in Parkings), Pierre Deladonchamps (nominated for 2017’s Best Actor César via A Kid and recently seen in Dog on Trial), Sandrine Bonnaire (recently seen in Finalement and The Soul Eater), Zinedine Soualem (recently seen in September 5 and appearing in La venue de l’avenir later this year) and Lolita Chammah.

Written by the director and Christian Sonderegger based on a true story, the story revolves around Philippe Croizon, a 26-year-old steelworker who never imagined his life would change forever on 5 March 1994, when this young father absorbed three 20,000-volt electrical shocks trying to take down the TV aerial on his chimney. After a two-month coma, he woke up with all four of his limbs amputated. This marked the beginning of what he calls his “second life”, which saw him overcoming his disability, meeting his partner, Suzanna Sabino, and achieving incredible sporting feats, including swimming across the Channel in under 24 hours.

Pour le meilleur is being produced by Willow Films (the director’s own firm) and Fédération Studio France, in co-production with France 2 Cinéma and with Belgium’s Versus Production. The film has also been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, and is further supported by the Pays de la Loire region, Cofimage and Palatine Étoile . Having primarily unfolded in Charente-Maritime and Luçon, filming is now continuing in La Roche-sur-Yon, Angoulins and Toulon, and is due to wrap on 19 April. Distribution in French cinemas falls to Le Pacte.

(Translated from French)