As you all know, from May 12 through 23, 12 feature films produced or co-produced by France will be showcased in the Official Selection of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.
One movie that will be shown In Competition is La Princesse de Montpensier, directed by Bertrand Tavernier.
Little history repeating for this director, since he's taking a break from thrillers. Let's see how things at Cannes Festival will work out for him…
If you are familiar with Tavernier's work, than you know he already had huge success with In The Electric Mist. But this time, looks like he has started working on a European history title about 16th century French aristocracy.
This is the story about the passions and tragic fate of a princess in the French kingdom of 1562. but if you're interested in official synopsis part check this out: “Based on a short story by Madame de La Fayette (published in 1662), co-scripted by Tavernier and Jean Cosmos, La Princesse de Montpensier is a tale of the passions and tragic fate of a princess, a rich heiress of a French kingdom under threat in the wars of religion of 1562.
The focal point of La Fayette's work is the love Mlle de Mézières feels for the duke de Guise and how she feels forced to marry the prince of Montpensier despite still being in love with the duke.”
The screenplay is not an entirely faithful adaption of the original short story, published anonymously in 1662 and Tavernier explained it by saying:
“Mme de La Fayette, who was from the 17th century, wrote about the 16th. Knowing that the 17th century had become very puritanical, while the 16th was not, we removed some filters, but never bent the feelings portrayed.”
Written by Jean Cosmos, François-Olivier Rousseau and Bertrand Tavernier, this movie includes actors like Mélanie Thierry, Gaspard Ulliel, Lambert Wilson, Louis Garrel and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet.
The film was produced by Paradis Films in co-production with the German company Pandora.
Anyway, looks like this is kind of historical spectacle, since we had a chance to hear that filming locations included the Chateau de Blois and the Château de Messilhac, with more than 100 people working permanently on the sets!
On the other hand, the costumes were made in Italy and England, and horses were brought from Paris. Sounds great, right! We wish them good luck!
