04/04/2008

After the success of Un secret [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (1.63m admissions and 11 Cesar 2008 nominations), Claude Miller is back on set for another film and has been getting involved in the work of the "Club des 13" (see news).

On Monday, the filmmaker starts shooting his fourteenth feature, Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante (“I’m Happy that My Mother is Alive”), co-directed with his son Nathan and produced by Jean-Louis Livi for F Comme Film.

The cast includes 22-year-old newcomer Vincent Rottiers (Le passager [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Yves Verhoeven (working with the director for the fifth time), Christine Citti (The Singer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Sophie Cattani (Le tueur).

The script was co-written by Miller, his son and Alain Le Henry (who won Best Screenplay at Cannes in 1996 for A Self-Made Hero, along with Jacques Audiard).

Je suis heureux… is based on the premise that "our identity is a garment whose seams are mapped out during childhood. The presence of those who raised us, our parents, has a profound influence on who we become. But what happens when these important figures are absent from our lives?"

Thomas (Rottiers) has spent the years between the ages of seven and 20 looking for Julie, his biological mother (Cattani). Without telling his adoptive parents (Verhoeven and Citti), he finds the woman who abandoned him when he was four and starts to lead a "double life" with her. But, as the French proverb goes, "he who has two homes loses his reason."

Co-produced by Orly Films and France 3 Cinéma, Je suis heureux… has been pre-bought by Canal +. Shooting is set to last nine weeks in and around Paris. Domestic distribution and international sales are still under negotiation.

F Comme Film are currently handling post-production on Florence Quentin’s Leur morale… et la nôtre (“Their Morals…and Ours”, co-produced by Gaumont and France 2 Cinéma – set for release on September 3, 2008) starring André Dussollier, Victoria Abril and Samir Guesmi.

The company headed by Jean-Louis Livi have also just wrapped up filming on Francis Huster’s Un homme et son chien (“A Man and his Dog”, adapted from Vittorio De Sica’s Umberto D), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Hafsia Herzi. In early March, they also got shooting underway on Alain Resnais’ Herbes Folles (“Wild Reeds”, see news – co-produced with StudioCanal, France 2 Cinéma and Italian company BIM Distribuzione).

(Translated from French)