On Wednesday October 2, France 2 broadcasts An ideal father, a unitary fiction by Hélène Fillières with Laurent Gerra and Eddy Mitchell in the lead. The opinion and film review of Bulles de Culture.
Synopsis :
Michel (Laurent Gerra), the jovial owner of the only café in a small Normandy town, sees his life turned upside down when his teenage daughter (Alice Aliaga) is murdered.
Everyone supports him, starting with Jeff (Eddy Mitchell), his best friend, the priest of the church opposite the café.
But soon, rumors rise and plague the village. Michel is singled out. From an ideal father he becomes the ideal culprit. Will the friendship between Jeff and Michel resist popular vindictiveness?
An ideal father : a unique TV film with Laurent Gerra and Eddy Mitchell
With filming in Normandiea scenario of Claude Scasso et Hélène Fillièresa picture of Stephan Massisdecorations of Bruno Margerycostumes of Laurence Struza montage ofEmmanuelle Baudeoriginal music by Martin Rappeneau — plus the song Like a little poppy performed by Mouloudji — and a realization of‘Hélène Fillières, An ideal father is a drama that deals with rumor and its consequences.
After A confession (2023), director Hélène Fillières signs a second unique TV film with the actor, imitator and comedian Laurent Gerra. He plays Michel, an owner of the café Le Renard se Marre and a father whose 17-year-old daughter (Alice Aliaga) is murdered in the middle of the night.
While Captain Florence Pasquier (Laure-Lucille Simon, seen in the film My life My face) is in charge of the investigation, the disturbing behavior of the victim’s father will challenge him – he remains very secretive, shows no sign of being affected by what happened and even continues to iron the underwear of his deceased daughter…
Faced with the investigator’s growing suspicions, Michel’s friends will gradually turn their backs on him… except his best friend, Jeff, the priest of the village of Heugon. However, embodied by the actor and singer Eddy Mitchellthis one turns out to be just as ambiguous.
3 questions to director Hélène Fillières and actors Laurent Gerra and Eddy Mitchell
Culture Bubbles: What is the genesis of unitary fiction? An ideal father ?
Hélène Fillières: For this second film, I was inspired by a real news story…
Click to display spoilers for the TV movie An Ideal Father
…the story of a man wrongly accused of incest and infanticide. I was touched by this injustice which overwhelms him and how we project our own interpretations onto a fact and how it awakens morbid, macabre or lustful thoughts in each of us.
I also wanted to talk about a friendship and tell a story. There is drama, tragedy, but there is also a lot of friendship and humanity.
Bulles de Culture: What attracted you to your characters?
Eddy Mitchell : It’s the fact that he’s not the traditional priest. He has rings and he’s not really very Catholic. And so it interested me even more than you might think…
Click to display spoilers for the TV movie An Ideal Father
…that he was the culprit.
Laurent Gerra: What I liked was working again with Hélène Fillières because I like her production which takes its time. Beyond the news item, there is a very aesthetic side.
Bubbles of Culture: A word on the end of the TV film…
Hélène Fillières: I wanted the last shot of the film to leave us with a sort of nostalgia…
Click to display the spoiler on the end of the TV movie An Ideal Father
…with this lost friendship.
Our opinion?
Despite an attractive and complicit pair and an atypical production, the TV film An ideal father difficult to captivate. The fault lies in an overly theatrical and artificial staging and unempathetic characters.
Filming secrets, anecdotes: did you know?
- The filming took place from October 23 to November 17, 2023 in the Orne department (La Ferté-en-Ouche, Heugon, La Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois, Saint-Symphorien-des-Bruyères, Sap-en-Auge).
- The cast also includes Jerome Kircher, Bérangere Bonvoisin (seen in the series Remember), Denez Raoul (coming soon for the series Zonz on France TV Slash), and Rufus.
- Thanks to the filming which brought it back to life, the café The Fox is laughing in Heugon, which really exists under this name, will reopen at the end of October.
- Laurent Gerra is on tour for a new show, Laurent Gerra sits down at the table! He will notably be on the stage of Paris Casino from November 27, 2024 to January 4, 2025.
- Eddy Mitchell an autobiography will be released by Le Cherche Midi on Thursday November 7, 2024, and a 40th studio album, FriendsFriday, November 8.
- Will there be a 3e collaboration between Hélène Fillières are you Laurent Gerra? “Why not. Never two without three! the director replied. In any case, continue to make films for France TelevisionsI would really like that.”
Learn more:
- An ideal father is broadcast on France 2 on Wednesday October 2, 2024 at 9:05 p.m.
- The TV film is available in streaming and replay on France.tv
- TV film not recommended for under 10s
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