15/04/2022 - Lily-Rose Depp will star alongside Squid Game’s HoYeon Jung and The Worst Person in the World star Renate Reinsve in Joe Talbot’s movie, set to shoot in Spain

Actresses Lily-Rose Depp, HoYeon Jung (© Myles Kalus Anak Jihem) and Renate Reinsve

US firm A24 has announced that it is joining forces with the UK’s BBC Film for an adaptation of French author Anne Serre’s novel The Governesses, to be helmed by The Last Black Man in San Francisco director Joe Talbot. Production will take place in Spain.

The New York Times described the novella as “prim and racy, seriously weird and seriously excellent; a John Waters sex farce told with the tact and formality of a classic French fairy tale”. It tells the story of three governesses employed to look after four sons on an estate. It soon becomes apparent that the ladies have not been employed for their ability to sing lullabies. The governesses spark the imaginations of the boys in their care (and many others) and excite the bohemian couple who employ them, and then the ladies try their best to forget about domestic chores by having erotic adventures.

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If that were not already sufficient to entice, the film will star two-time César-nominated actress Lily-Rose Depp, alongside two actresses who have shot to international fame in the past year: the SAG-awarded South Korean Squid Game star HoYeon Jung and Norway’s Renate Reinsve, who was BAFTA-nominated for her role in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile].

The film was developed with the support of BBC Film, which is co-financing the movie adaptation, penned by director Talbot alongside novelist Olivia Gatwood, together with A24. It will be Talbot’s second movie. Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe will produce for Ireland’s Element Pictures, with Rob Richert, of Talbot’s Longshot Features, and Angus Lamont. A24 is handling the global release.