A “pillion”, to clarify, refers to the passenger’s seat behind the driver on a motorbike; indeed, one could do worse with innuendo when titling this queer biker romance, now announced for a splashy launch next month in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand (see the news). Pillion is the debut feature by British writer-director Harry Lighton, which stars Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman, Succession) and Harry Melling (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Harry Potter series) as a dom and his sub in the queer biker community. Ireland’s Element Pictures produces, with financing from BBC Film and the BFI, in association with Fremantle, Picturehouse Entertainment and September Film (with the latter two handling distribution in the UK and Benelux, respectively).

Loosely adapted from the short novel by Adam Mars-Jones, who’s especially known as a literary critic in the UK press, Melling plays Colin, a “weedy wallflower” letting life pass him by. That is, until he meets Ray (Skarsgård), the strapping and sexy leader of a local motorcycle club, who leads him into a master/slave relationship. Ray liberates Colin from his dull, suburban existence, introducing him to a larger community of queer bikers, taking many “virginities” of his along the way. But as Colin becomes more familiar with Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he questions this new calling, wondering if he’s simply swapped one form of entrapment for another. Mars-Jones’ text was set in the late 1970s in the sleepy county of Surrey, but there are no reports yet of whether this is retained in the film.

Described as a “fun and filthy romance with heart” when it was launched last year at Cannes by sales agent Cornerstone, with Thierry Frémaux also playing up its comedic qualities in last week’s press conference, this will be an anticipated title on the Croisette this May, where it’s also in competition for the Caméra d’Or.

Emma Norton, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe produce for Element Pictures, alongside Lee Groombridge (previously credited for Andrea Arnold’s Bird [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], adding to his number of hip UK films on the European festival circuit). Executive-producing are BBC Film’s Eva Yates, Louise Ortega for the BFI, Picturehouse’s Claire Binns, September Film’s Pim Hermeling, Cornerstone’s Alison Thomson and Mark Gooder, and the film’s lead, Alexander Skarsgård. Prized indie distributor A24 has also picked up the US theatrical rights.

Lighton first gained attention with his 2017 short Wren Boys, which was nominated for Best British Short at the 2018 BAFTAs, as well as at the BIFAs, and enjoyed its US premiere at Sundance.