21/05/2007

Young French actor-turned-director Gaël Morel presented his fourth film, Après lui [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (After Him), in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.

The bereavement drama stars French diva Catherine Deneuve in one of her meatiest roles of recent years, as a mother who feels the need to connect with her son’s best friend even though he was also responsible for the car accident that killed her child.

Morel co-wrote the script with Christophe Honoré, whose musical Love Songs (Les chansons d’amour) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] is screening in competition at the festival and also deals with mourning (see news). The duo previously collaborated on the script of Morel’s family drama Three Dancing Slaves (Le Clan) [+see also:
trailer
film profile], though their new effort is much more subdued in tone and style, with the gliding camera movements and careful use of colour and light offering a – literally – lively contrast to its solemn theme.

Thomas Dumerchez debuted as one of the three sons mourning their mother in Three Dancing Slaves and here plays the son’s best friend opposite Deneuve’s Camille, and more than holds his own.

Carefully observed scenes infuse the proceedings with an authenticity that seems taken directly from life, even as Camille’s obsession with the boy seems to get out of hand.

“On mourning and death there are as many opinions as there are people,” commented the director. “That is why Camille’s character is at the same time unique and more mysterious than even I realised.”

The €4.2m film was produced by Gloria Films Production and co-produced by Rhône-Alpes Cinéma. It benefited from an advance on receipts from the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) and pre-sales by Canal+ and Ciné Cinéma and is being sold at the Cannes Market by Films Distribution.

Après lui will premiere theatrically in France this Wednesday, followed by Belgium on May 30.