VENICE 2010 Venice Days-Belgium / France / Germany
Hänsel captures the loss of innocence in Ocean Black
Director-producer-writer-actress Marion Hänsel chose a classic approach for her latest film, Black Ocean [+see also:
trailer
film profile], about French naval soldiers aboard a ship conducting nuclear testing in the Pacific in 1972. A political film at heart, its strength lies in the fact that Hänsel sidesteps rhetoric to instead tell an intimate story about a rite of passage, during a little-known period of recent French history.
The film had its world premiere in Venice Days on Saturday.
Ocean Black is based on two autobiographical short stories by Hubert Mingarelli. Hansel says she was drawn to his writing for the sensitivity “with which he describes these young men’s fragility at the end of adolescence and beginning of adulthood – all against the era of nuclear testing that is only being discussed openly in France.”
More openly, perhaps, but not more willingly. The French Ministry of Defense originally pledged its support to the film but a year and a half into the project pulled out without an explanation.
The director further explained that she was extremely faithful to the stories when writing the screenplay: “I really liked Mingarelli’s sober writing style, the fact that he uses few words and few descriptions. It was my duty the to create images for his style. Especially because I didn’t want to make a militant film, but a more subtle film, just like Mingarelli’s writing.”
Actor Nicholas Robin said the film’s screenplay was the best he’s ever read and with his co-stars Adrien Jolivet and Romain David spoke enthusiastically about the positive, warm energy that Hansel created on the set among the cast and crew. “The only difficulty I had was gaining six pounds for my role, although even that was only difficult later, when I had to lose them!”
Ocean Black was produced by Hansel’s Man’s Films Productions (Belgium), A.S.A.P. Films (France) and Neue Pegasos Film (Germany) for €2.6m. It was bought for Benelux by Cinéart and will be released in November in Belgium. Eurozoom is scheduled to release the film in France in January.
International sales are handled by French company Doc & Film International.
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