The feature film, adapted from the novel by Vosges author Nicolas Mathieu, Prix Goncourt 2018, was previewed in Epinal in the presence of the directors and actors.
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3 full rooms. 900 spectators at the Palace cinemas in Epinal. The team of the film “Their children after them” was on conquered ground for this preview on the land of the author Nicolas Mathieu, whose book served as the basis for the film.
“I don’t know if you can imagine.”he tells us, “the book begins with Anthony and his cousin. This evening my cousin is here. It begins with a lake, that of Bouzey, not far from here. It begins with a factory in Hayange where I was this afternoon. Ma mother is going to attend the projo. This is all very crazy!”
The book has just been republished for the occasion by Actes Sud.
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© Anna Mazzer-Pirodon/Francetv
Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, the two 32-year-old twin directors from the South-West, have not strayed far from the original story, except for the musical choices (“Smells like teen spirit” by Nirvana was too expensive…).
Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, directors.
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© Anna Mazzer-Pirodon/Francetv
They skim over the questions of social determinism, which made the book special, to make it above all a fresco on the end of adolescence and its dreams.
“We wanted to make a bit of a western, a bit of a thriller, to take on the romance too. To not make a purely naturalistic film but a film that uses cinematic resources. It was a way of paying homage to this peripheral France in which we grew up.”they say.
They even add nods to the region. Stéphanie's father becomes a local elected official who wants to convert this industrial valley into a tourist area by building… an indoor ski slope.
Having the blast furnaces as settings, just as a backdrop, was a simple and colorful way of telling the story of this vanished world.
Ludovic Boukherma, co-director
It is the actors, incandescent, who carry this adaptation. The Venice Film Festival made no mistake. In September, she presented the Marcello Mastroianni Prize for Best Newcomer to Paul Kircher. The young 22-year-old actor, already spotted in “The Animal Kingdom”, plays Anthony, a fiery kid from the Fensch Valley, whose wings life cuts off.
As for the established artists, Gilles Lellouche (who was to direct the film at the start but preferred to devote himself to “L'amour ouf”) and Ludivine Sagnier portray the shocking lost parents.
“I am a mother of teenagers myself so I have a real motive. I really want to go back to my adolescence to understand that of my children” confides the actress.
Nicolas Mathieu is now used to screen adaptations. His first novel “Animals in War” was adapted into a series by France Télévisions. The film adaptation of the last one, “Connemara”, is currently filming in the Vosges with Alex Lutz directing.
