Dangerous liaison for Seydoux and Gourmet in Le Roman de Ma Femme
Final preparations are underway before shooting starts on December 7 in Paris on Tajiki director Djamshed Usmonov’s first French-language film, Le Roman de Ma Femme (“My Wife’s Novel”), produced by Elzévir Films.
The director won acclaim in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes for his previous two works (Angel on the Right in 2002 and To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die in 2006). For his fourth feature, he has cast young French actress Léa Seydoux (nominated for the 2009 Best Female Newcomer Cesar for The Beautiful Person [+see also:
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Written by Usmonov, the film opens with the disappearance of Michel, who leaves behind his distraught wife, Eve, and enormous debts. Fortunately, she receives support from her friend Chollet, a lawyer like her husband, who pays off the debts and helps her to start enjoying life again.
A widower who has lost his only child, he becomes increasingly close to Eve, who makes advances towards him. At first reluctant and worried about his own health, Chollet ends up succumbing to his feelings and falls in love with the young woman.
But suspicion falls on him. Did he deliberately cause Michel’s bankruptcy, perhaps even his disappearance, in order to get closer to Eve? She grows fearful and distances herself from him. But passion prevails over her resolutions. Who is manipulating whom? What are the hidden intentions of each?
Le Roman de Ma Femme is produced by Marie Masmonteil and Denis Carot for Elzévir Films (who co-produced To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die). Its budget of around €3.8m includes co-production support from Arte France Cinéma, an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), pre-sales from Canal + and Ciné Cinéma and backing from the Dordogne county and Aquitaine region.
The 45-day shoot will include two weeks in Paris and seven weeks in Dordogne. Advanced negotiations for distribution and international sales are underway and the film’s theatrical release is planned for the second half of 2010.
(Translated from French)
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