24/02/2005

Dominik Moll, Michel Gondry, and Emanuele Crialese : Charlotte Gainsbourg has a very fancy program of shootings and releases for 2005, involving three of the most talented young European directors (the above-mentionned were born, respectively in 1962, 1963, and 1965).
To start with, Lemming, Dominik Moll’s second feature film, will be released in France in June. The casting of this film, produced and distributed by DiaphanaDiaphana, also includes Charlotte Rampling, Laurent Lucas, and André Dussollier. It depicts the story of two very dissimilar couples (one is a perfect young couple, and the other, more mature, has developed, with time, much hatred and resentment), whose meeting changes their lives. The script was co-written by the director and his usual partner-in-crime, Gilles Marchand (who directed Qui a tué Bambi?). Shot last summer in the South-West of France, notably in the suburbs of Toulouse and around a lake near the Pyrenean peak of Ossau, Lemming is also Dominik Moll’s come-back to the screen, for his previous success, Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien, was released five years ago, in 2000. This time, the director wanted to show more of everyday life, yet with a fantastic touch, as the title reveals : ‘there is a whole mythology about lemmings, their long migrations, and the way they mass-suicide by throwing themselves into rivers...’

The dreamy atmosphere can also be found in The Science of Sleep, which is the first film Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) makes in his own country. For this film, his third work, the shooting of which started on the 3d of January, he chose Paris and its suburbs as a scenery. Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s male partner is the Mexican shooting-star Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays a constant dreamer falling in love with his neighbour. His character, prisonner of his dreams, starts confusing them with reality and tries to regain control of his own imagination. The supporting roles are worth mentioning, for they are played by Alain Chabat, Miou Miou, and Emma de Caunes. The whole project is a coproduction between Partizan Films and Gaumont which also manages distribution in France (where the film shall be released in 2006) and international sales.
Finally, Charlotte Gainsbourg will spend 14 weeks in Buenos Aires, starting in May, to shoot the Italian director Emanuele Crialese’s latest film (after Respiro [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) , La Porte d’Or. It is a coproduction between the French company Memento Films and the Italian Fandango supported by Arte. For his third film, the director has a budget of 11 million euros. After Argentina, the shooting will take place in Sicily. This film involves not only the French actress, but also Vincenzo Amato ; it depicts the adventures and disillusions of an early 20th Century Sicilian family moving to America via Ellis Island.

(Translated from French)