Orange Studio will unveil exclusive first footage from Léa Domenach’s Bernadette starring Catherine Deneuve as former French first lady Bernadette Chirac and from Philippe Lefebvre’s star-powered comedy New Beginnings at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris this week.
Set to be released via Warner Bros. France later in 2023, Bernadette has been one of the French film world’s buzziest titles in recent months since the legendary Deneuve took on the role.
The film follows a fictionalised Bernadette Chirac as she navigates stepping out of the shadows of her husband, one of France’s most popular presidents to date, and becoming an iconic figure in her own right.
Domenach directs and co-writes alongside Clémence Dargent and the film is produced by Karé (The Young Lovers, the Name of Love).
The film also features a star-studded local cast including Michel Vuillermoz in the role of Jacques Chirac, the in-demand Denis Podalydès as late politician Bernard Niquet, Sara Girardeau as Claude Chira, politician and daughter of Bernadette and Jacques and French comedian Artus as politician and judo master David Douillet.
Orange Studio will also unveil exclusive footage for Rendez-Vous buyers of Philippe Lefebvre’s New Beginnings. Written by Lefebvre and Maria Pourchet, the comedy stars actors Franck Dubosc and Karin Viard as a couple grappling with empty nest syndrome when their youngest child leaves home.
Viard plays a journalist at a women’s magazine feeling aged out by her younger co-workers who ends up taking on a lover of her own. Orange Studio calls the film “a comedy about falling in and out …and in love.” Produced by Eric Juherian and Mathias Rubin’s Recifilms, Orange Studio and UGC are handling French distribution.
Orange Studio also hopes buyers will sink their claws into Magnificat (pictured) and All Because Of The Cat that will both market premiere in Paris.
Magnificat is a thriller directed by Virginie Sauveur that also stars Viard, this time opposite legendary French actor François Berléand. Viard plays the Head of Paris’ Diocese, who is called to a priest’s deathbed and finds a shocking revelation: the priest was, in fact, a woman.
The film is produced by Move Movie (Spiral, To the Ends Of The World) and Orange Studio is handling French distribution alongside Alba.
Orange Studio will also market premiere All Because Of The Cat (Ma Langue au Chat), a comedy from Cécile Telerman (Mine Your Own Business, Playind Dead) that stars a cat alongside a starry French cast including Zabou Breitman, Pascal Elbé and Marie-Josée Croze.
All Because Of The Cat focuses on a group of friends spending their yearly holidays at one of the couple’s vacation homes when their beloved cat Max goes missing. As they search for the missing Max, old secrets resurface and emotions abound. According to Orange Studio, “When the cat leaves the house, here come the elephants in the room.”
The film is set for a French release in April 2023 via Orange Studio and Jerome Hilal’s new distribution company Zinc.
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