Country: France
Year: 2011
Duration: 135'
1963-2008, from Paris to London, passing by way of Prague and Montreal, Madeleine and her daughter Vera come, go, and return, as they constantly revolve around the same question: the men they love. And yet, it isn’t possible to experience love lightheartedly all the time or in every phase of life. How to survive time as it passes and binds itself indissolubly to our deepest feelings? “By using feelings, my aim is to talk (in what I hope is not too symbolic a way) about two generations – my own, and that of my parents – with the idea that vulnerability, oddly enough, tends to be an attribute of the younger generation. I wanted to show that they could crack, and – rather frighteningly – that the older generation is powerless to protect them. [...] In the epilogue, Madeleine says: ‘I don’t believe in happiness, but that doesn’t stop me from being happy’ Perhaps that’s what we all aspire to: not believing in happiness, but being happy all the same.”
Biography
film director
Christophe Honoré
(Carhaix, France, 1970) moved to Paris in 1995 and began collaborating on various magazines, including “Cahiers du cinéma.” In 1996 he published his novel Tout contre Léo, adapted for television in 2002. In 2002, he debuted in feature films with 17 Times Cecile Cassard. After making Ma mère, based on a novel by Bataille, he wrote and directed In Paris (at the Cannes Film Festival in the Quinzaine des réalisateurs) and Love Songs, in competition in Cannes and the winner of a César for Best Soundtrack. In 2008 The Beautiful Person was screened in competition at the Festival of San Sebastian and was nominated for two Césars. He then directed Making Plans for Lena (2009) and Man at Bath (2010), both screened at several film festival such as Locarno and Torino, and the most recent Plaire, aimer et courir vite (2018) and Chambre 212 (2019), both presented in Cannes, the first in competition, the second in the Certain regard. He alternates his activity as a film director with that of author and theater director.
FILMOGRAFIA
Nous deux (cm, 2001), 17 fois Cécile Cassard (2002), Tout contre Léo (tv, 2002), Ma mère (id., 2004), Dans Paris (2006), Les chansons d’amour (2007), Hôtel Kuntz (cm, 2007), La belle personne (2008), Angelo, tyran de Padoue (tv, 2009), Non ma fille, tu n’iras pas danser (2009), L’homme au bain (2010), Les bien-aimés (2011), Métamorphoses (2014), Quella peste di Sophie (2016), Plaire, aimer et courir vite (2018), Chambre 212 (L’hotel degli amori smarriti, 2019), Guermantes (2021), Le lycéen (2022).
Cast
& Credits
regia, sceneggiatura/director, screenplay
Christophe Honoré
fotografia/cinematography
Rémy Chevrin
montaggio/film editing
Chantal Hymans
scenografia/production design
Samuel Deshors
costumi/costume design
Pascaline Chavanne
musica/music
Alex Beaupain
suono/sound
Guillaume Le Braz
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Chiara Mastroianni (Vera), Catherine Deneuve (Madeleine), Ludivine Sagnier (Madeleine), Louis Garrel (Clément), Milos Forman (Jaromil), Paul Schneider (Henderson), Rasha Bukvic (Jaromil), Michel Delpech (François Gouriot), Omar Ben Sellen (Omar), Dustin Segera Suarez (Mathieu)
produzione/production
Why Not Productions, France 2 Cinéma, Sixteen Films, Negativ
vendita all’estero/world sales
Le Pacte
