Since 7 September, Jean-Christophe Meurisse has been shooting La fête est finie, his fourth feature film off the back of three Cannes-selected titles: Apnée (screened in Critics’ Week and nominated for the Best First Film Lumières Award), Bloody Oranges (treated to a Midnight Screening in the Official Selection) and Plastic Guns (showcased in the Directors’ Fortnight).

The cast is led by Vincent Lacoste (nominated twice for the Best Actor César and once in the same category at the Lumières, awarded the Best Supporting Actor César for Lost Illusions and starring in Orange Flavoured Wedding this year), Pauline Clément (highly acclaimed in Comédie-Française of late and set to hit screens in Dr Albertini’s Office next year), Karin Viard (the proud owner of a Best Actress César and two for Best Supporting Actress, also appearing in Species and A Man’s Skin this year) and Benjamin Lavernhe (twice nominated for the Best Actor César and starring in Les Misérables this year). Several of the film’s supporting roles, meanwhile, will be played by members of the Les Chiens de Navarre theatre troupe, which was founded by the director.

Written by Jean-Christophe Meurisse in collaboration with Amélie Philippe (who also co-wrote the director’s two previous features), the story thrusts us into the heart of the action at the Cannes Film Festival. A party is in full swing on a luxurious private beach. Glamour is at its zenith, the champagne is flowing, and the film world is congratulating itself on championing politically engaged works. That is, until a boat carrying exhausted, starving refugees runs aground on the beach, and suddenly the party’s over!

La fête est finie is being produced by Marine Bergère and Romain Daubeach for Mamma Roman (who are responsible for the director’s previous two films), in co-production with TF1 Film Production. Pre-purchased by Canal+, Paramount+ and TMC, the feature film also enjoys support from the CNC’s advance on receipts scheme, the Ile-de-France and Sud regions, the SOFICA companies Cinémage, Cofinova and Indéfilms, and the Les Uns et Les Autres initiative. Shooting will run until 23 October in Cannes, Nice and the Paris region, with Javier Ruiz Gomez as director of photography. International sales are handled by Playtime while distribution in French cinemas will be handled by Haut et Court.

For the record, Mamma Roman are also currently overseeing production on Laurent Lafitte’s Wake Me Up (read our article).