16/01/2006

Shooting for the second feature by Thierry Klifa, Le Héros de la Famille (Hero of the family), began last Friday at the Studios in Bry-sur-Marne, in the Paris suburbs. After a notable start in 2004 with Une vie à t'attendre (865 000 admissions in France), the filmmaker has brought together a cast of high quality including notably Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart, Gérard Lanvin, Valérie Lemercier, Michaël Cohen, Mathilde Seigner, Miou Miou, Claude Brasseur, Géraldine Pailhas and Pascal Elbe. Co-written with Christopher Thompson, the screenplay, according to Thierry Klifa, "is an intimate comedy dealing with universal themes: family, friendship, but also the communication between generations, the difficulty of getting to know your close entourage, appearances, the manner in which we invent a character rather than accept who we are. The funniest comedies are always the ones dealing with a serious subject". Le Héros de la Famille deals with a bitter fight over the heritage at the heart of a shattered family. At stake? "Le Perroquet bleu", a Nice cabaret. Settling of old scores, secret alliances, discoveries that shed light on the past and bring them back to the surface: members of the family and those close to them (parents, children, friends, new and old loves) interweave in an ambiance of world of the night. Among them is a TV star magician (Gérard Lanvin) who has a son (Michaël Cohen) with his ex wife (Catherine Deneuve) and a daughter (Géraldine Pailhas) with Miou Miou, a cabaret dancer (Emmanuelle Béart ) and the ballet teacher of the Perroquet bleu (Valérie Lemercier). Also in the cast is Italian actor Lorenzo Balducci.

Produced by Saïd Ben Saïd for SBS Films (subsidiary of UGC Images), Le Héros de la Famille has a budget of around 12 million euros including 400 000 euros of support from Eurimages thanks to an Italian co-production with Edelweiss Production to the tune of 15%. Sold abroad by UGC International, the film will shoot for 11 weeks at Bry-sur-Marne and in Nice. It will be distributed in French theatres UGC on the 27th December 2006.

(Translated from French)