28/07/2025 - Galatéa Bellugi, Emmanuelle Devos and Stefan Crépon star in the director’s first feature film, produced by Delante and Melocoton and sold by France TV distribution

Actresses Galatéa Bellugi (© 2022 Fabrizio de Gennaro pour Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it) and Emmanuelle Devos (© 2023 Dario Caruso pour Cineuropa - @studio.photo.dar, Dario Caruso) and actor Stefan Crépon (© 2024 Fabrizio de Gennaro pour Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it)

Filming on Aurélien Peilloux’s debut feature film, Chercheurs, has entered the home straight, with a wrap date set for 5 August. Having graduated from La Fémis, the director previously turned heads with his three short films: Première (12014), Les Chercheurs (unveiled in the Cinéfondation competition in Cannes 2015) and L’Expérience (screened in Palm Springs last year).

Stealing focus in the cast are Galatéa Bellugi (nominated for 2024’s Best Supporting Role César via Junkyard Dog [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and 2019’s Best Newcomer César and Lumière trophies via The Apparition [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile], and recently well-received in Cannes in The Girl in the Snow [+see also:
film review
interview: Louise Hémon
film profile]), Emmanuelle Devos (hitting cinemas in December via La Condition) and Stefan Crepon (nominated for the Best Newcomer César and Lumière trophies in 2023 on account of Peter von Kant [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and recently at his best in The Quiet Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
film profile]).

Written by the filmmaker in league with Olivier Gorce (nominated for the 2012 Best Adapted Screenplay César via Omar Killed Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the story homes in on a brilliant and passionate 23-year-old chemist called Agathe who joins a prestigious Parisian laboratory for her PhD. Her dream of becoming a leading researcher is on the way to becoming a reality, but first she has to contend with a toxic supervisor and hostile colleagues to boot, including flamboyant Charles who has no intention of making things easy…

Chercheurs is being produced by Caroline Adrian on behalf of Delante Productions and by Hélène Mitjavile for Melocoton Films, in co-production with France 3 Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Belgium’s Beside Productions. The six-week film shoot, which kicked off on 23 June, is unspooling in Strasbourg, Lyon and Paris with Jeanne Lapoirie (nominated for the César in her speciality in 2003, 2014 and 2018) heading up cinematography. France TV distribution are steering world sales while Memento are managing distribution in French cinemas.

(Translated from French)