Two of French cinema’s most celebrated actresses are teaming up for “The Truth,” and IFC Films is set to bring their collaboration to North American audiences. The company snagged rights to the drama starring Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche. Variety confirmed the acquisition.
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Shoplifters”), “The Truth” centers on Fabienne (Deneuve), “a legendary movie star renowned for her talent and beauty. Despite her professional success, Fabienne has a strained relationship with her daughter Lumir (Binoche), a screenwriter,” the source summarizes. “Things reach a boiling point after Lumir and her husband (Ethan Hawke) return to Paris and Fabienne publishes a memoir. Instead of a warm reunion, their meeting devolves into a brutal session of truth telling and resentment airing.”
“The Truth” will feature both English and French dialogue.
“This film is a love letter to the actress Catherine Deneuve and also it is a story about the acting, a story about a truth and a lie, and a story about a conflict and a reconciliation between mother and daughter,” Kore-eda said in a statement. “It was a really happy experience for me to make a film together with gems of casts from France and USA.”
Binoche won an Oscar for “The English Patient” and received a nod for “Chocolat.” Deneuve was nominated for “Indochine.”
You can catch Binoche next in “High Life,” Claire Denis’ English-language debut. The sci-fi drama about a group of death-row inmates traveling in space hits theaters April 12. She’s currently serving as president of the International Jury at the Berlinale. Deneuve has a film premiering at the fest, “Farewell to the Night,” a drama about a farmer who discovers that her grandson has dark secrets.
