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PRODUCTION France

Attila Marcel: Sylvain Chomet’s new world

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- It’s almost a wrap on set of the filmmaker’s first feature with real-life images after The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist

This week is to be the last on set of Sylvain Chomet (photo)’s third feature, Attila Marcel. After The Triplets of Belleville [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(revealed out of competition at Cannes 2003 and nominated for the 2004 Oscar for best original soundtrack) and The Illusionist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sylvain Chomet
film profile
]
(unveiled at the 2010 Berlinale and nominated for the 2011 Oscar for best animation film), the director has left the world of animation for a while to direct his first film with real images, a musical comedy. The cast is to feature newcomer Guillaume Gouix (Beyond the Walls [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile
]
, Mobile Home [+see also:
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film profile
]
, nominated in 2012 for a César for most promising actor for Jimmy Rivière [+see also:
trailer
interview: Teddy Lussi-Modeste
film profile
]
), Anne Le Ny (The Intouchables [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Bernadette Lafont (Le Skylab [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and set to be out in cinemas on January 13 in Paulette), Hélène Vincent (A Few Hours of Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Luis Rego, and Jean-Claude Dreyfus.

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Written by Sylvain Chomet, the screenplay centres on Paul (Guillaume Gouix) who saw his parents die when he was two years old. The trauma was such that he lost both his memory and the ability to speak. Brought up by his aunts, two old aristocrats who dream of seeing him become a virtuoso pianist, Paul leads a monotonous life divided between the living room’s grand piano and his aunts’ dance classes where he works as an accompanist. At the age of 33, he has spent so much time running around in circles inside his own head that he has already become old before even having lived. On the day that he meets Mme Proust, his world is turned upside down. The latter has the recipe for a herbal remedy that, thanks to music, can allow even the deepest of memories to resurface. Paul will thus travel back the very beginning of his memory, relive his early childhood, and discover what really happened to his parents.

Produced by Claudie Ossard for Eurowide Film Production (who also produced Amélie, Ricky [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, The Refuge [+see also:
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film profile
]
, and Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Attila Marcel is being made on a budget of about €6.7m. Its 46 days of shooting in and around Paris (notably at the Bry sur Marne studios) started mid-July. Pathé is to handle the film’s distribution in France and its international sales. After this film, Sylvain Chomet will then return to animation with Swing Popa Swing, the prequel to The Triplets of Belleville to be produced by Les Armateurs.

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(Translated from French)

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