Since 16 September, Fabien Gorgeart has been shooting C’est quoi l’amour?, his 3rd feature after the well received Diane Has the Right Shape (jury prize at MyFrenchFestival in 2019) and A Family for 1640 Days (jury prize and Best Actress Valois award at the Angouleme Film Festival, Best Acting Bayard award in Namur in 2011).

The film stars, amongst others, Laure Calamy (Best Actress César and Lumière awards in 2021 for My Donkey, My Lover & I, nominated for the César award in the same category in 2022 and 2023 for Her Way and Full Time, in French cinemas on 25 December with My Everything), Vincent Macaigne (nominated for the Best Actor César award in 2022 and 2023 for A Night Doctor and Diary of a Fleeting Affair, in cinemas on 6 November with Three Friends) and two actors who previously appeared in A Family for 1640 Days: Lyes Salem (noticed in Abou Leila) and Mélanie Thierry (nominated for the Best Actress César award in 2019 for Memoir of War and in the Supporting Actress category in 2017 and 2018, and whom we will see next year in La chambre de Mariana).

Also in the cast are Céleste Brunnquell (nominated for the 2024 Best Newcomer César award for No Love Lost and in 2020 for The Dazzled, also remarkable in Being Maria), Saül Benchetrit (the series Jeune et golri and whom we will see in French cinemas next February in Mikado) and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (nominated four times for the Best Newcomer César award between 2004 and 2011, also appreciated in Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe, in French cinemas on 18 December in Sarah Bernhardt, La Divine and on 29 January in La pie voleuse).

Written by the director, the script centres on Marguerite, who has no reason to refuse Fred, her ex-husband, the request for annulment of their catholic marriage. She is even happy to learn that Fred plans to get married with Chloé, his new partner. In order to prove to the ecclesiastical authorities that their union should never have existed, the former spouses embark on an investigation of their own past... which inevitably brings back feelings they thought had long been extinguished.

C’est quoi l’amour? is produced by Marie Dubas for Deuxième Ligne Films and by Jean des Forêts and Amélie Jacquis for Petit Film (two companies already behind A Family for 1640 Days), and co-produced by France 3 Cinéma. Also pre-bought by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature benefits as well from support from the Normandy region (which will welcome most of the shoot, notably in Rouen, while the rest is planned to take place in Ile-de-France). The seven weeks of shooting will end on 1 November. The cinematography is handled by Jeanne Lapoirie (nominated for the César award in her craft in 2003, 2014 and more recently in 2018 for BPM (Beats Per Minute)) and the editing by Jean-Christophe Hym (nominated for the 2014 César award for Stranger by the Lake). Ginger & Fed are in charge of international sales and French distribution will be led by Zinc.

As a reminder, Deuxième Ligne Films and Petit Film also collaborated recently on 100,000,000,000,000 by Virgil Vernier, appreciated in competition in Locarno and released in French cinemas on 4 December.