04/04/2025 - The director is gearing up to commence filming on his second fiction feature, which is a period drama set during Vichy France

Actor Swann Arlaud (© Fabrizio de Gennaro/Cineuropa)

Tuesday 15 April will see filming begin on A Man of His Time, the second feature film by Emmanuel Marre who first turned heads with his short and medium-length films (Castle to Castle, awarded the Pardino d’Oro for Best Short Film in Locarno 2018, and Le Film de l’été, which won the Jean Vigo Prize in 2017) before confirming his talent via his debut feature Zero Fucks Given, which he co-directed with Julie Lecoustre and which was selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week, where it scooped the Gan Foundation’s Broadcasting Prize. His movies are fuelled by real life and the writing process continues on set as the result of a very specific filmmaking approach.

The director’s second feature sees him delving into a dense and complex family history, drawing on his own grandfather’s story. It begins at the beginning of September in 1940. Henri Marre arrives in Vichy alone without any acquaintances and hoping to make a place for himself in the new regime. In his suitcase lies his political manuscript, A Man of His Time which he intends to publish. Henri wants to help save France from collapse, though it might primarily be himself that he’s hoping to save from his own personal collapse… The film explores a chunk of French history which is rarely placed under the spotlight, or seen through the eyes of subordinates who remain in the shadows in photographs, unseen in the background.

To play the part of this ordinary hero – or even antihero - Emmanuel Marre has chosen Swann Arlaud (revealed to the masses in Bloody Milk, which won him the Best Actor César before he went on to win two Best Supporting Actor trophies for By the Grace of God and Anatomy of a Fall, and seen in Sundance this year in Sukkwan Island). Starring alongside him is Belgian actress Sandrine Blancke (who scooped the Magritte Award for Love According to Dalva). The director is also reuniting with some of the team who previously proved their worth on Zero Fucks Given: the ever-loyal Olivier Boonjing on cinematography, Anna Falguères on set design, Prunelle Rulesn on costumes and Nicolas Rumpl in charge of editing. Filming will proceed until 6 June in Limoges, Vichy and Brussels.

A Man of His Time is being produced by Alice Lemaire and Sebastien Andres on behalf of Michigan Films (Belgium) and Alexandre Perrier for Kidam (France), who are continuing their long-term relationship with the director, having previously worked on his short films and, in more recent years, on Aya, It’s Raining in the House (awarded the French Touch Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week) and Jahia’s Summer. The film enjoys backing from Canal+, France Télévisions, the Wallonia Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre, the CNC, Europe Creative Media, RTBF, Be TV, Proximus, Inver Invest (Tax Shelter) and the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region.

(Translated from French)