Maïté Sonnet shooting Tu feras tomber les rois
- Young actresses Angèle Romeo and Roxanne Barazzuol topline the cast of the French filmmaker’s debut feature, staged by Quartett Production and set to be sold by The Party Film Sales
Shooting on Tu feras tomber les rois (lit. "You Will Make the Kings Fall"), the feature debut by Maïté Sonnet, kicked off on 3 August. The director previously made a strong impression with her shorts Burial of Life as a Young Girl (unveiled in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2022 and screened in the International Competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2023) and Massacre (Music Award in the National Competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2020).
Heading up the cast are the young Angèle Romeo (known for the series Everything Is Fine) and Roxanne Barazzuol (most notably seen in White Paradise and Monsieur Aznavour), who will be joined by Guillaume Gouix (nominated for the 2012 César Award for Most Promising Actor, giving a fine performance in Love Affair(s), among others, and soon to be seen in Kraken), Claire Dumas (Hello Madness), comedian Doully (Sticking Together) and Annie Mercier (who has appeared in more than 80 films, including the recent titles Anaïs in Love and Everything Went Fine).
The screenplay, penned by the director, is set in Gironde, the region where the grands crus come from, where 13-year-old Sybille enjoys a free-spirited and happy childhood among the vines. One summer, her little brother is hospitalised following a serious poisoning caused by pesticides. While he recovers, her parents stay by his bedside, and Sybille is left to her own devices, faced with a new anxiety: death. Her world, which had seemed like paradise, then turns into hell. Fortunately, a new friend comes into her life: Margot. With her, Sybille comes to understand that times might be hard, but you can still meet people to love, and you can still rebel…
Produced by Ethan Selcer for Quartett Production, Tu feras tomber les rois has been pre-purchased by Canal+ and by Ciné+ OCS. Also backed by the CNC's advance on receipts, the Gan Foundation for Film, the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, the Lot-et-Garonne and Gironde departments, and the Indéfilms and Cinémage Soficas, the feature will be shooting until 18 September with Marine Atlan (a close collaborator on the filmmaker’s two shorts, nominated this year for the César and Lumière Awards in her field for The Girl in the Snow and a recent winner in the Cannes Critics’ Week with her own directorial film La Gradiva) as director of photography. International sales will be handled by The Party Film Sales and French theatrical distribution by Jour2Fête.
(Translated from French)
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