Family relations turned upside down in Anne Le Ny's latest film

by Fabien Lemercier

17/04/2009 - Having first attracted attention with her debut feature Those Who Remain [trailer] – which garnered 390,000 admissions and received three 2008 Cesar nominations (Best Actor, Screenplay and Debut Film) – Anne Le Ny started shooting her second work, Les Invités de Mon Père (“My Father’s Guests”), on Tuesday.

The cast includes Karin Viard (Change of Plans [trailer]), Fabrice Luchini (The Girl from Monaco [trailer]), Michel Aumont (Mark of an Angel [trailer]), Valérie Benguigui (La famille Wolberg) and Véronica Novak.

Co-written by the director and Luc Béraud, the film takes us into the heart of the Paumelle family whose cornerstone is the humanitarian work of patriarch Lucien (Aumont). His children, Babette (Viard) and Arnaud (Luchini), are therefore not particularly surprised to learn that their father’s militancy has led him to marry a young Moldavian woman (Novak), to enable her to obtain a residence permit.

But is it really just a marriage "of convenience"? As doubt starts to set in, it looks increasingly as if family relationships need to be reinvented in the Paumelle household.

Produced by Bruno Levy for Move Movie (who are also co-producing Patrice Chéreau’s Persécution, currently in post-production), Les Invités de Mon Père is co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and has been pre-bought by Canal + and Ciné Cinéma.

Lensed by DoP Patrick Blossier (thrice nominated for a Cesar), the film will shoot for eight weeks in the Paris area. Theatrical distribution, video and international sales rights have been acquired by TF1 International.

(Translated from French)