Paris-based SND has boarded Anne Fontaine’s Boléro about the birth of the renowned orchestral work from Maurice Ravel, now shooting in France.
Set in the Roaring 1920s, the film stars Raphael Personnaz, known for Our Brothers, Julia(s) and The French Minister, as the composer. Jeanne Balibar, who has appeared in Lost Illusions, Cold War and Grace Of Monaco, plays the Russian dancer-choreographer Ida Rubinstein who commissioned the now legendary music.
SND, the film arm of France’s M6 group, is on board as co-producer and French distributor and is launching international sales at Cannes.
Boléro also stars Doria Tillier, Emmanuelle Devos, and Vincent Perez and was written by Fontaine alongside Claire Barré.
The French-language film follows the boundary-pushing Rubinstein as she selects Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet and requests something bold and sensual. Ravel finds himself incapable of writing anything, but in the process of reliving his memories, facing his old loves and failures, the composer ends up creating his greatest success ever: Boléro.
“Maurice Ravel remains today one of the most brilliant composers of the 20th century,” said Fontaine. ”Not unlike Coco Chanel, he was a complex artist whose art resonates all over the world. I wanted to explore the process of creation of his Bolero: how inspiration can feed on personal trauma, regrets and sorrow, how art can be the result of an intimate quest and yet reach millions.”
Fontaine is best known for 2009’s Coco Before Chanel starring Audrey Tautou, 2003 film Nathalie with Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant and Gerard Depardieu and more recent titles including 2016’s 1945 Poland-set The Innocents, 2019’s Pure As Snow starring Isabelle Huppert, Lou De Laage and Benoit Poelvoordre and 2020’s police drama Night Shift starring Virginie Efira and Omar Sy.
Bolero is produced by the production team behind Florian Zeller’s The Father and The Son, Philippe Carcassonne’s Ciné@, and Jean-Louis Livi’s F comme Film alongside CinéFrance Studios.
Carcassone called Fontaine “a seasoned and multi-talented director whose subtle yet exhilarating take on Ravel’s Bolero will appeal to international audiences.”
He added: “She has gathered a stellar cast and some of the most renowned artists in their fields in order to embark us in the roaring twenties, in a fascinating journey into the mind of a genius.”
The below-the-line talent includes Belgian DoP Christophe Beaucarne, who earned a César for best cinematography for Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions in 2022, and composer Bruno Coulais, who has won three César awards for best music including Christophe Barratier’s Oscar-nominated The Chorus.
Filming kicked off in March in Paris, Perros Guerrec, Meaux and Montfort, and is set to wrap on Friday May 5, with a potential festival launch in 2024.
SND will be in Cannes with a slate including Frederic Tellier’s Out of Competition title Abbé Pierre- A Century Of Devotion, and market premieres of Yann Gozlan’s Visions, Guillaume Nicloux’s The Baby and Laetitia Colombani’s The Braid, based on her best-selling book. It will also have a promo reel of family film The Jungle Bunch: World Tour.
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