Canet and Bekhti seek A Better Life
Yesterday, Cédric Kahn started shooting his eighth feature, Une Vie Meilleure (“A Better Life”), starring Guillaume Canet (basking in his recent directorial success with Little White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Leïla Bekhti (a rising star since All That Glitters [+see also:
trailer
film profile], she has just shot Radu Mihaileanu’s La Source des Femmes). Slimane Khettabi also features in the new film by the director of Roberto Succo (in competition at Cannes in 2001), Red Lights (in competition at Berlin in 2004) and Regrets [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2009).
Co-scripted by Kahn and Catherine Paillé, the film centres on a couple who dream of a better life and decide to embark headlong on the opening of a restaurant. But nothing goes to plan and they sink into a spiral of excessive debt. Thirty-five year-old Yann (Canet) will try everything to save his relationship and rescue his family from the abyss.
Une Vie Meilleure is produced by Kristina Larsen for Les Films du Lendemain (who previously produced Regrets). Its €5.5m budget includes co-production support from Maïa Cinéma, France 2 Cinéma, Mars Films (who will release the film in French theatres in the first half of 2012) and Canada, €337,000 in backing from the Ile-de-France region and pre-acquisitions from Canal + and CinéCinéma.
Having kicked off in the Centre region, the 56-day shoot will take place mainly in Ile-de-France (30 days), with other locations including Les Sables-d'Olonne and Canada. International sales are being handled by Wild Bunch.
In post-production, Les Films du Lendemain also has two titles likely to interest major festivals: Chinese director Lou Ye’s Bitch (starring Tahar Rahim) and Bertrand Bonello’s L’Apollonide (see news).
(Translated from French)
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