22/02/2021 - The French sales agent will wager on Golden Bear contender Drift Away and on projects including the two-part adaption of The Three Musketeers and upcoming Stephen Frears and Emanuele Crialese titles

French sales group Pathé International is making its final preparations before making an appearance at the 71st Berlinale's European Film Market (unfolding online 1 -5 March) with a very well-stocked movie armoury.

Standing out in the group’s festival showcase is the French-Belgian co-production Drift Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Beauvois
film profile] by Xavier Beauvois, which is the 8th feature-length work to come courtesy of the French filmmaker who will be battling it out for the Golden Bear for the very first time, having already been selected to compete twice in Cannes (N’oublie pas que tu vas mourir, which won the Jury Prize in 1995, and Of Gods and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Beauvois
film profile], which was awarded the Grand Prize in 2010) and twice in Venice (in 2000 and 2014). Notably starring Belgian actor Jérémie Renier alongside Marie Julie Maille, Victor Belmondo and Iris Bry, this Les Films du Worso production is sold jointly by Pathé International and Orange Studio.

At the EFM, meanwhile, Pathé International will kick off presales on the biggest French project of 2021: D'Artagnan and Milady by Martin Bourboulon (Daddy or Mommy [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile]), a two-parter adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ great classic The Three Musketeers, scripted by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière. The larger-than-life cast includes François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Pio Marmaï and Romain Duris in the roles of musketeers D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, Eva Green playing the part of Milady, and Luxembourg’s Vicky Krieps as Queen Anne of Austria. Joining them is Louis Garrel slipping into the robes of King Louis XIII, French-British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen embodying the Duke of Buckingham and Lyna Khoudri playing Constance Bonacieux. Shooting on the two films will unfold at the end of the summer, with production steered by Chapter 2 in co-production with Pathé, M6, German group Constantin Film and Spain’s DeAPlaneta. Canal+ and OCS are likewise in on the act, having pre-purchased the works.

Also appearing within the French vendor’s line-up is British production The Great Escaper [+see also:
film review
film profile] by English director Oliver Parker, which stars his famous fellow-countryman Michael Caine in the role of an octogenarian who is planning an escape from his retirement home, in a bid to attend the 70th anniversary celebrations of the D-Day landings in France. The film’s cast also features Glenda Jackson. Filming on this production steered by Ecosse Films (together with Pathé, BBC Film and Ingenious Media) will commence in June.

Stealing focus in post-production, we find Dutch director Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (whose cast is led by Virginie Efira) which is earmarked for Cannes, Martin Bourboulon’s Eiffel (article – whose cast is led by Romain Duris and Emma Mackey), and Farewell Mr Haffmann [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Fred Cavayé. Principal photography, meanwhile, has commenced on The Time of Secrets by Christophe Barratier (an adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s novel of the same name, produced by Lionceau Films and Pathé Films), who is moving straight from one shoot to another, having only just wrapped filming on his previous work Fly Me Away, which is set to be screened to buyers online.

Pathé International is also set to pursue pre-sales on two previously announced 2021 projects which will commence filming in spring and in the summer, respectively: the British production The Lost King [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by English director Stephen Frears and the Italian-French co-production L’immensità [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emanuele Crialese
film profile] by Italy’s Emanuele Crialese, which will boast Spanish star Penélope Cruz at the head of its cast.

Last but not least, having recently made a splash at Sundance with Sian Heder’s CODA, Pathé International is also set to screen (online) Éric Lavaine’s comedy Knock, Knock, It’s Mom.

(Translated from French)