13/01/2011

Shooting starts in Brittany on Monday, January 17 on actor Jalil Lespert’s second directorial feature, Des Vents Contraires (“Unfavourable Winds”).

After 24 Measures [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (unveiled in Venice Critics’ Week in 2007), the director has once again cast Benoît Magimel (who was outstanding in Little White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and has just filmed Special Forces) in the lead role. The cast also includes Isabelle Carré (who shines in Les Émotifs Anonymes [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], currently in theatres), Audrey Tautou (Full Treatment [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Antoine Duléry, Ramzy Bedia and Marie-Ange Casta.

Co-written by Olivier Adam (based on his same-named novel), Lespert and Marion Lainé in collaboration with Marie-Pierre Huster, the film centres on Paul (Magimel). Married with two children, he leads an uneventful life until the day his wife disappears.

After a year with no news, Paul is a broken man, plagued by doubts and guilt. But deep down, he holds out hope for a second chance, to start over again by moving with his children to Saint-Malo, the town where he grew up.

Produced by Wassim Béji for WY Productions (also behind 24 Measures), Des Vents Contraires is co-produced by Universal Pictures France (who will release the film in France on October 5, 2011) and has received pre-acquisitions from Orange Cinéma Séries and Direct Cinéma, as well as backing from the Brittany region.

The eight-week shoot will take place in Saint-Malo, Dinard and Paris until March 7, with lensing by DoP Josée Deshaies. International sales are being managed by PTZ International (Perrine Tézé) in association with Movies Benelux.

(Translated from French)