Marchand opens door to “other world”

by Fabien Lemercier

12/06/2009 - The first week of shooting has drawn to a close in Marseilles on French/Belgian co-production L'Autre Monde (“The Other World”), the second feature by screenwriter-turned-director Gilles Marchand.

This thriller, set in the dangerous world of online games, stars Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (Love Songs [trailer]), Louise Bourgoin (The Girl from Monaco [trailer]), Pauline Etienne (Private Lessons [trailer, film focus]) and Melvil Poupaud (A Christmas Tale [trailer]).

Co-written by the director and Dominik Moll, L’Autre Monde is set in southern France in summertime. Gaspard (Leprince-Ringuet) is a happy teenager who can do as he pleases in the apartment deserted by his parents. His friends Yann (Pierre Niney) and Ludo (Ali Marhyar) are always there to fool around with and he discovers desire and perhaps love with Marion (Etienne).

But behind this sunny atmosphere lies another, darker and more disturbing world: that of Audrey (Bourgoin) and her brother Vincent (Poupaud). This is the world of Black Hole, an online game where Audrey seems to change behind the mask of her avatar, Sam, who is looking for a partner in death.

Nominated for two Best Screenplay Cesars in 2001 for Laurent Cantet’s Human Resources and Moll’s With A Friend Like Harry, Marchand also co-wrote Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Bon Voyage [trailer] (2002) and Cédric Kahn’s Red Lights (2004). His first directorial feature, Who Killed Bambi?, presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, was nominated for the Best Debut Film Cesar 2004.

Produced by Haut et Court and co-produced by Belgium’s Versus Production, L'Autre Monde has a budget of around €5m. This includes co-production support from France 2 Cinéma and RTBF, pre-sales from Canal + and Ciné Cinéma, as well as backing from the Paca region, ING, PIL and Inver Invest tax shelters and Sofica Coficup and Soficinéma.

Shooting will wrap up in Marseilles on July 23 and the film (including a 20-minute animation sequence which WFX have been working on since last November) is expected to be released in April 2010. Haut et Court will handle theatrical distribution in France and FTD will launch the French video edition, while Memento Film International are managing international sales.

(Translated from French)