CANNES 2015 Competition / France
The Valley of Love is one of the contenders for the Palme d'Or
- This is the first selection in competition for Guillaume Nicloux, and marks the on-screen reunion of Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu
In the end, five French filmmakers will be taking part in the race for the Palme d'Or at the 68th Cannes Film Festival (13-24 May 2015), as The Valley of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Guillaume Nicloux has joined the previously announced films by Jacques Audiard, Maïwenn, Valérie Donzelli and Stéphane Brizé set to battle it out on the Croisette (read the article). This is the first selection in competition for the director, and brings the total number of brand-new hopefuls for the Palme d'Or 2015 to nine (an extremely and unusually high number).
Having risen to fame in competition at Locarno in 1992 with Punctured Life, Guillaume Nicloux (48) then followed this up with several offbeat genre films (including A Private Affair and Hanging Offense) before finding his way onto the path to the major festivals with The Nun [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Nicloux
film profile], which was unveiled in competition at Berlin in 2013, a gathering to which he returned the following year, in the Forum section, with The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. His 12th feature, The Valley of Love, stars Isabelle Huppert (winner of the Best Actress Award at Cannes in 1978 and 2001, and who will also be seen in competition on the Croisette this year in Louder Than Bombs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile]) and Gérard Depardieu (who snagged Best Actor at Cannes in 1990). Written by the director himself, the story revolves around a couple that lost their son six months ago. However, that same son sent a letter to his parents in which he invites them to go and meet him in Death Valley, in the USA. Despite the apparent absurdity of the situation, the mother and father decide to go there anyway and wait for him...
Produced by Sylvie Pialat and Benoît Quainon for Les Films du Worso, and by Cyril Colbeau-Justin and Jean-Baptiste-Dupont for LGM Cinéma for a budget of €2.9 million, The Valley of Love was co-produced by DD Productions and France 3 Cinéma. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+, the film was also backed by the CNC’s advance on receipts. Distribution in France will be handled by Le Pacte, with a release slated for 17 June; Le Pacte is also selling the movie abroad.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
