23/05/2003 - Presented in Directors' Fortnight, the French director's first film is the result of play-acting and improvisation

The entire team (almost) gathered in Cannes on the evening of Thursday 23 May for the world premiere in Un Certain Regard of Les Lionceaux, the directorial feature debut of French filmmaker, Claire Doyon. Les Lionceaux stars a talented young Belgian actress from Namur called Lisa Lacroix, who was discovered by fellow Belgian Benoît Mariage in his excellent first film entitled Convoyeurs Attendent.
Les Lionceaux is Lacroix’s third feature and also her third experience of the media feeding frenzy of a Cannes screening since Mariage’s film was selected for Directors’ Fortnight in 1999 and Lacroix’s second film, 17 fois Cècile Cassard by Christophe Honoré, was selected for Un Certain Regard in 2002.
Les Lionceaux plays Clémentine. She and her sister Olive (Marie Félix) pretend to be lion cubs and roar and run wild and free on an uninhabited island until a man called Gustave (Guillaume Gouix) appears on the horizon and joins in with their game. But one boy to two girls is too small a ration. Faced with this prey whom they also desire physically, the girls extend their claws and fight to the degree that their parents (played by Dani and Jacno) wash their hands of their rebellious daughters.
Although Lacroix does her very best with her role, this film is too little for an actress of her talent. Les Lionceaux is an hermetically closed and pretentious work that is meaningless and insignificant despite the potential of the scenario.
"I needed to invent a wonderful place without it all down beforehand, so that it would surge up of its own accord and surprise me, " said Doyon. "It is not about the locations of the film, that were inspired by the pools and seaweed on the seashore and the pontoon. All those people who worked with me helped me to create this film. Nothing was taken for granted and this film was an inventive work-in-progress where the unforeseen happens. The main character of this film is Chance. »
Produced by Mat Films, France 3 Cinéma, in collaboration with Canal+ and the CNC, Les Lionceaux is also in competition for the Caméra d’Or and received development support from Région Centre and the competition run by the Production Workshop of the Loire Valley Centre.

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