Cameras rolling on Michel Gondry’s Mood Indigo

by Fabien Lemercier

10/04/2012 - Today is the first day of filming for French-Belgian co-production Mood Indigo by Michel Gondry, an adaptation of Boris Vian’s spellbinding novel Froth on the Daydream (L'Ecume des jours), a cult book since its publication in 1947.

For his seventh fiction feature film, the very original director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Oscar for Best Screenplay in 2005) and The We and the I (in post-production – read more) has brought together an impressive cast including among others Romain Duris (The Big Picture [trailer], Heartbreaker [trailer]), Audrey Tautou (currently in Delicacy [trailer] and soon to be in cinemas in Thérèse Desqueyroux), Gad Elmaleh (who has just finished filming Capital by Costa Gavras), Omar Sy (2012 César for Best Actor in Untouchable [trailer]), Charlotte Lebon, Sacha Bourdo, Natacha Régnier, Philippe Torreton (Guilty [trailer]) and two actors currently in cinemas inSur la piste du marsupilami [trailer]: Alain Chabat and Aïssa Maïga.

Written by Luc Bossi and Michel Gondry, the screenplay tells the surreal and poetic story of a young idealist, Colin (Duris), who meets Chloé (Tautou), a young woman who seems to be the incarnation of a blues piece by Duke Ellington. Their idyllic marriage turns sour when Chloé becomes ill from a waterlily growing in her lung. To pay for her treatment, in a fantastical Paris, Colin must work in increasingly absurd conditions, while around them their flat starts to crumble and their friends, who include the cook Nicolas (Sy) and Chick (Elmaleh), who is fanatical about the philosopher Jean-SolPartre (Torreton), also disintergrate. Love fights death in this magical and organic world, but this magnificent struggle is doomed from the beginning.

Produced by Luc Bossi for Brio Films, Mood Indigo is to benefit from co-production with France 2 Cinéma, StudioCanal, and the Belgian Scope Pictures, pre-sales to Canal+ and Ciné+, as well as over €650,000 from Eurimages. Shooting will last 15 weeks until July 23, in Belgium, then in and around Paris. Distribution in France and international sales will be led by StudioCanal.

(Translated from French)