27/03/2013 - Pieter Van Hees is filming The Waste Land with Jérémie Rénier, a nocturnal thriller, delving into the heart of the African quarter of Brussels

In the next few days, filming will begin in Brussels of The Waste Land, the last part of Pieter Van Hees’s trilogy which began in 2008 with Left Bank [+see also:
trailer
film profile], and continued in 2009 with Dirty Mind [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Belgian actor Jérémie Rénier (photo) plays the role of a tormented policeman who can't deal with the fact that he is going to become a father, and who roams around a nocturnal Brussels inhabited by night-owls at the heart of Matongé, the capital’s African quarter. He is backed up by a more experienced colleague, played by Peter Van Begin. A nocturnal Brussels, but also a cosmopolitan city in which the country, French and Dutch speakers alike, mixes with the rest of the world, and especially the African community. A nocturnal Brussels, bordering on an eerie universe, rather like the depiction of Antwerp in Left Bank (which contributed towards revealing Matthias Schoenaerts), where a good part of the intrigue took place in a building on the left bank, very similar to the one in Rosemary’s Baby.

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While Left Bank told the love-story of a 22 year-old woman, and Dirty Mind focused on love experienced by people in their thirties, Pieter Van Hees hopes with The Waste Land to talk about the possible end of love. His hero is trying to overcome the crisis within his couple, a crisis echoed by the city itself. The film is inspired by T.S Eliot’s cult poem, which was set in London after the First World War. Just like Stephan Streker recently with The World Belongs to Us [+see also:
trailer
interview: Stephan Streker
film profile], and Nicolas Provost last year with The Invader [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], Van Hees wants to bring Brussels back into Belgium's cinematographic imagery, most often associated with Wallonia and the Flemish regions rather than the country’s capital.

The film, which has received funding from the VAF is produced by Eurydice Gysel for Epidemic. The presence in the credits of Jérémie Rénier (who replaced Matthias Schoenaerts, initially envisaged for the role) should allow for nationwide distribution of the film. Filming should end in mid-May. 

(Translated from French)