15/05/2003 - Raul Ruiz's new film divides critics: acclaimed by fans as his best and incomprehensible to others. But with a great Michel Piccoli

Some consider this film to be one of the best ever directed by Raul Ruiz. Others lambasted it. What we do know is that Ce Jour-la is about a controversial inheritance, a mercenary and a surprise killer. It’s set in a Switzerland under military control. The film is a surreal feast of black humour starring Elso Zylberstein, Bernard Giraudeau and Michel Piccoli. It is also a typical example of Ruiz’s unpredictability.
At today’s press conference, he defended his “rather dark sense of humour” and his need to “play with the automatism of the audience by giving them apparently nasty characters who, deep down, are really just loyal patriots.”
Ruiz is a familiar face on the Croisette: over the years, eight of his films were presented in sidebar sections and four made it into the official selection. The Chilean-born French resident simply adores shocking people. Ce Jour-la also surprised the majority of those who saw it because it was co-produced by Switzerland, a country that has not been "seen" on the Croisette for quite some time.
Ce Jour-la was produced by Light Night with a budget of Euros2.44m, 20 per cent of which was put up by its French co-producer, Gemini Film. Both slates are headed by Paulo Branco without whose determination and intense personal involvement this film would never have been made. The finance plan includes the Swiss “avance sur recettes” system, Euros500,000 from France 3 (co-production, theatrical and broadcast rights), and support from Eurimages.
It is an example of what European teamwork can achieve and we will soon be able to judge the strange world inhabited by Raul Ruiz for ourselves when the film is released in France on 4 June.

(Translated from French)