12/06/2007

Principal photography began in Burgundy yesterday on French/Danish co-production Sois sage (“Behave”), the debut feature by young director Juliette Garcias.

Starring Anaïs Demoustier (The Year After [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Bruno Todeschini (His Brother) and Nade Dieu, the film is a majority production by Paris-based Slot Machine in co-production with Denmark’s Zentropa. Both outfits have previously collaborated on several films by Lars von Trier (Dogville [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Boss of it All [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Scripted by Fémis graduate Garcias, who directed the short Dessous les tables (1998) and worked as an editor on Jet Lag and Roberto Succo, Sois sage tells of a young woman’s attempts to get close to a man.

These lead the 20 year-old to get a job as a baker in the area where this man lives. She travels every day from village to village in a white van, telling everyone she meets about how much in love she is. But she tells a different story to everyone: with some she pretends to be a widow or a sportswoman and with others a lawyer’s young fiancé or the mistress of a married man. She never mentions the name of the man she wants to meet in this deserted countryside, a man who has changed his life, started a family and whom she should no longer try to see because of a dark secret that haunts their relationship.

Produced by Marianne Slot, Sois sage received CNC advances on receipts of €480,000. Shooting will continue until July 14 in Burgundy.

French distribution and international sales are still under negotiation.

Other co-productions in recent years by Slot Machine include Lisandro Alonso’s Fantasma, Paz Encina’s Hamaca Paraguaya [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and Geminis by Albertina Carri.

The outfit is currently producing Lucrecia Martel’s La Femme sans tête (an Argentinean/Spanish co-production supported by Arte France Cinéma, see news) and Alonso’s Liverpool.

(Translated from French)