07/06/2005

First project by Bruno Berthemy and the company Les Films du Veyrier, L’annulaire, directed by Diane Bertrand, is released tomorrow in France, distributed with a total of 50 prints by Memento Films. A co-production bringing together France (66 %), Germany (24 %) and United Kingdom (10 %), the second feature from the filmmaker who stood out with i>Un samedi sur la Terre (selected in 1996 at Cannes Festival in the section "Un Certain Regard") is an adaptation of the Japanese best-seller by Yôko Ogawa interpreted by the Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko and the Frenchman Marc Barbé.

An enigmatic novel in the form of a modern fairytale, L’annulaire traces the meandering relationship between a young woman and her strange boss, who runs a lab which creates and preserves "specimens" from various objects of which the owners wish to preserve a trace. Filmed in Ile-de-France for interiors and Hamburg for exteriors, the film adaptation succeeds subtly in recreating a troubling and mysterious atmosphere with music composed by b>Beth Gibbons, singer with the group Portishead.

With a budget of 2,59 million euros, L’annulaire was produced by Les Films du Veyrier (France), with Integral Film (Germany) and The Bureau (UK) as co-producers, and Tapioca Films (director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s company) as associate producer. The film received 280 000 euros from Eurimages, 200 000 Euros from the region Ile-de-France, 50 000 euros from the i2i initiative by Media Programme and support from Filmförderung Hamburg. Pre-bought by Canal +, it is being sold internationally by Pyramide. Also, the producer Bruno Berthemy was delegate general of the Film Producers Union (UPF) from 1990 to 1994 and of Unifrance from 1994 to 2000.

(Translated from French)