Winter Rose: Where are the monsters? Who are the angels?

by Fabien Lemercier

05/10/2012 - Philippe Claudel is shooting his third feature to star Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Leïla Bekhti, and Richard Berry. A Films du 24 production

Since Monday, October 1, filming has been in full swing in Luxembourg for Philippe Claudel’s third feature Winter Rose (French title: Avant l'hiver). Its cast is notably to feature English actress Kristin Scott-Thomas, who shone in the novelist-filmmaker’s feature debut I’ve Loved You So Long [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2009 Cesar for Best First Film, Bafta for Best Film in a Foreign Language, a contender in Berlin in 2008, two Golden Globe nominations, European Film Award for Best Actress). She is to appear alongside Daniel Auteuil, Leïla Bekhti, and Richard Berry.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Written by Philippe Claudel, the screenplay is centred on Paul (Auteuil), a 60-year-old neurosurgeon married to Lucie (Scott-Thomas). Their happiness seems to know no boundaries. But one day bunches of roses start to be delivered anonymously to their home, at the same time as Lou (Bekhti), a young girl of 20, seems to repeatedly cross Paul’s path. It is then that masks start to come off. Is everyone who they pretend to be? Is Paul and Lucie’s life the one they had imagined? Who is lying and what is true? Is it still time, just before winter, to dare to reveal secrets? Where are the monsters? Who are the angels?

Produced by Yves Marmion and Romain Rojtman for Les films du 24, Winter Rose is co-produced by Luxembourg production company Samsa Film. Shooting is to continue in Luxembourg until November 30. UGC is to handle the film’s distribution in France, and TF1 International is in charge of its international sales.

Last Wednesday, Les Films du 24 released Yvan Attal’s Do not Disturb [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in France. The following films are soon to be released: Jérôme Cornuau’s thriller La traversée [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (with Michaël Youn, Fanny Valette, and Emilie Dequenne) on October 31, and the late Claude Miller’s Thérèse Desqueyroux [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] on November 21. The production company is also working on comic book adaptations: Pierre François Martin-Laval’s comedy Les profs (in post-production) and Agnès Obadia’s Joséphine (currently in production with Marilou Berry in the lead role).