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PRODUCTION France

First clapperboard slams for Journal d'une femme de chambre

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- Benoît Jacquot kicks off the shoot for his new film starring Léa Seydoux and Vincent Lindon, produced by Les Films du Lendemain

First clapperboard slams for Journal d'une femme de chambre
Benoît Jacquot

Shooting is set to begin today in Le Crotoy, northern France, for the 22nd feature film by Benoît Jacquot: Journal d'une femme de chambre (“The Diary of a Chambermaid”). For this adaptation of the eponymous novel by Octave Mirbeau (already brought to the silver screen in 1964 by Luis Buñuel), the director (whose latest opus, Trois Coeurs – read the article – will be out in theatres on 17 September, no doubt after a premiere at a major festival) has assembled a cast including Léa Seydoux (nominated for the César for Best Actress in 2014 for Blue Is the Warmest Colour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Abdellatif Kechiche
film profile
]
, and popular since then in Beauty and the Beast [+see also:
trailer
making of
interview: Christophe Gans
interview: Léa Seydoux
interview: Vincent Cassel
film profile
]
and Saint Laurent [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Bertrand Bonello
film profile
]
), Vincent Lindon (nominated five times for the César for Best Actor, including for Welcome [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
in 2010 and A Few Hours of Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
in 2013, and who has just been acting in Les chevaliers blancs by Joachim Lafosse), Clotilde Mollet, Melody Valemberg, Hervé Pierre, Rosette, Patrick d'Assumcao and Vincent Lacoste.

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Written by Hélène Zimmer and Benoît Jacquot, the story begins in 1900, in a village in Lower Normandy. Courted regularly on account of her stunning beauty, Célestine is a young chambermaid who has recently arrived from Paris to work for the Lanlaire family. Rejecting the advances of Mr Lanlaire, Célestine also has to cope with the extremely strict Mrs Lanlaire, who rules her house with an iron fist. There, she meets Joseph, the mysterious gardener at the property, with whom she becomes deeply infatuated.

With production outsourced to Kristina Larsen for Les Films du Lendemain (which is handling the executive production) and to Jean-Pierre Guérin for JPG Films, Journal d'une femme de chambre is co-produced by France 3 Cinéma, Mars Films and Belgian outfit Films du Fleuve (the company owned by the Dardenne brothers). Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature is also being backed by an advance on receipts from the CNC, the Ile-de-France region, and Sofica Palatine Etoile12, Cofinova11, BanquePostale Image7, B.Media 2012, B.Media 2013, Sofitvciné2 and Manon5. Filming will continue until 30 July in Ile-de-France and in the Somme Bay, with Romain Winding as DoP. Distribution in France will be handled by Mars Distribution and international sales by Elle Driver.

Les Films du Lendemain, which has already worked with Benoit Jacquot to great effect on Farewell My Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benoît Jacquot
film profile
]
and has also produced titles such as House of Tolerance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adèle Haenel
film profile
]
by Bertrand Bonello, currently has Cédric Kahn’s Vie sauvage (due to be released on 29 October) and A 14 ans by Hélène Zimmer in post-production.

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(Translated from French)

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