07/12/2006

With Asia Argento, Gaspard Ulliel, Jérémie Rénier, Louis Garrel, Pascal Greggory and American singer Sophie Auster (daughter of Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt), Chilean-born director Raoul Ruiz bas brought together a top-notch cast for his next feature, Le Sens de la nuit, which begins filming in Paris in January.

Scripted by veteran Alexandre Astruc, Alain Majani d’Inguimber, writer Eric Neuhoff – three screenwriters who worked on Savage Souls in 2001 – and Anna Legueulier, the project is the screen adaptation of the eponymous 1998 thriller by Nicolas Bréhal.

A genuine ode to Paris at night and centred on marginalised characters who are saddened by life and have a worrying obsession for the nocturnal, Le Sens de la nuit intertwines several paths around a serial knife killer nicknamed "Gaspard de la Nuit" in the novel, a worshipper of women’s bodies who believes he is to blame for the chaos in the world.

This threat interferes in the destinies of petty criminals Marge and Thomas, taxi driver Marius who takes photos for the police, Léo who overdoses himself, and rebel Sabine who vaunts herself at a nightclub; night owls who by accident find themselves at the heart of a dark battle between Good and Evil.

Produced by Majani d’Inguimbert for CMD Prods, Le Sens de la nuit carries a €3.97m budget. Shooting is expected to last 35 days, after which Ruiz will start on another project in the spring, Love and Virtue, a film on medieval wars fought by Charlemagne.

Initiated by UK outfit Fountain of Life Productions, the film is expected to feature an impressive cast, including Damian Lewis, John Malkovich, Daryl Hannah, Virginie Ledoyen, Peter O'Toole, Vincent Perez, Michael Madsen and Melvil Poupaud.

(Translated from French)