“School of Babel” director Julie Bertuccelli has begun production on her next film, “Claire Darling.” According to Variety, Catherine Deneuve and her daughter Chiara Mastroianni have signed on to star in the fantasy drama. Memento Films is pre-selling the film at the Cannes Market.
“Set over 24 hours, ‘Claire Darling’ turns on a woman (Deneuve) who, convinced after hearing voices that it’s her last day on Earth, decides to have a garage sale to get rid of all the objects she has collected,” Variety summarizes. “Each object stirs vivid memories that take her back in time.” The project is a personal one for Bertuccelli; she is even filming at her grandmother’s suburban home in northern France.
Mastroianni (“3 Hearts”) will portray the daughter of Deneuve’s character. Alice Taglioni (Katell Quillévéré’s “Heal the Living”) and Olivier Rabourdin (“Taken”) co-star.
Bertuccelli and Sophie Fillieres (“If You Don’t I Will”) adapted “Claire Darling” from Lynda Rutledge’s book “Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale.” Les Films du Poisson is producing. The film has already been pre-bought by France 2 Cinema, Canal Plus, and Cine Plus, and Pyramide is planning an autumn release in France. Memento is presumably pre-selling the film’s international rights.
Memento’s Matthieu Delaunay describes “Claire Darling” as “emotional, subtle, and elegant.” He also mentioned that the film is part of Memento’s slate of women-centric fare such as the Catherine Frot-toplined “Marguerite” and “The Midwife,” an upcoming dramedy starring Deneuve and Frot.
“Be yourself, and don’t be afraid when you doubt or are not sure of yourself, even in front of men,” Bertuccelli advised female filmmakers in an interview with Women and Hollywood. “It’s also our strength to be instinctive, sometimes fragile, and not pretentious.” The director previously helmed the immigration doc “School of Babel” and “The Tree,” a drama about a young girl grieving her father.
Deneuve has been acting on-screen for over half a century. Her credits include “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Indochine,” and “8 Women.” The Oscar-nominated actress has received a Berlin Silver Bear for outstanding artistic achievement, an honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes, and the Lumière Award at the 2016 Lumière Grand Lyon Film Festival. One of Deneuve’s more recent films, Emmanuelle Bercot’s “Standing Tall,” opened Cannes 2015.
