Family secrets and intertwined destinies in His Mother’s Eyes
"I was aiming for a dramatic narrative film structured a bit like a thriller, with some suspense". This is how Thierry Klifa describes his third feature, His Mother’s Eyes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), which is being launched today by Mars Distribution on 241 screens.
Intertwined destinies and family secrets are at the heart of this French/Belgian co-production which has drawn critical attention thanks mainly to performances by Catherine Deneuve as a TV star, Géraldine Pailhas as her daughter, a principal dancer and Nicolas Duvauchelle as a writer who infiltrates their life to write an unauthorised biography. His research will have consequences on distant characters played by Spanish actress Marisa Paredes, Marina Foïs and young Jean-Baptiste Lafarge.
"I’ve always liked melodrama", insists Klifa, who directed I’ve Been Waiting So Long (865,000 admissions in France in 2004) and Family Hero [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (665,000 viewers in 2007). "That’s everything from Elia Kazan’s Splendour in the Grass to Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life, Truffaut’s The Woman Next Door and Almódovar’s films… There’s something in melodrama about the intense feelings and heightened aspect of certain situations which particularly moves me... The most difficult thing is finding the limit, knowing how far one can go without going too far."
Produced by LGM Cinéma, His Mother’s Eyes was co-produced by La Petite Reine, France 2 Cinéma and Belgium’s Tarantula, pre-bought by Canal +, CinéCinéma and RTBF, and backed by A Plus Image, La Banque Postale Image 3, Coficup, Wallimage and Ufund.
Also hitting theatres are Isabelle Brocard and Hélène Laurent’s Ma Compagne de Nuit [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“My Night Companion”, see news), starring Emmanuelle Béart and Hafsia Herzi (Zelig Films Distribution on 30 screens); and Hiner Saleem’s outstanding tragicomedy If You Die, I’ll Kill You [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Mact Productions – Océan Films on 40 screens).
The line-up also includes Danis Tanovic’s accomplished film Circus Columbia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danis Tanovic
film profile] (Happiness Distribution on 26 screens); Paz Fabrega’s French/Costa Rican co-production Cold Water of the Sea [+see also:
trailer
interview: Savina Neirotti
film profile] (prize-winner at Rotterdam 2010 – distributed by Floris Films); and two documentaries: Renate Costa’s Spanish film A Useless Knife (108) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (acclaimed in the Berlinale Panorama 2010 – see review – Urban Distribution); and Brit helmer Lucy Walker’s Waste Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (nominated for this year’s Best Documentary Oscar – Eurozoom).
(Translated from French)
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