Belle Épine (2010)

Director:

Rebecca Zlotowski

Writers:

Marcia Romano (collaborating writer)
Rebecca Zlotowski

Release Date:

10 November 2010 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Kissing | Bare Chested Male | Removing Panties | Sex | Removing A Bra

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Léa Seydoux	...	Prudence Friedmann
Anaïs Demoustier	...	Sonia Cohen
Agathe Schlenker	...	Maryline Santamaria (as Agathe Schlencker)
Johan Libéreau	...	Franck
Guillaume Gouix	...	Reynald
Anna Sigalevitch	...	Frédérique Friedmann
Marie Matheron	...	Delphine
Marina Tomé	...	Nelly Cohen
Carlo Brandt	...	Michel Cohen
Nicolas Maury	...	Daniel Cohen
Michaël Abiteboul	...	Gérard
Swann Arlaud	...	Jean-Pierre
Sébastien Haddouk	...	Sébastien
Valérie Schlumberger	...	Arlette Friedmann
Samir Mecheri	...	Samir
Rhizlaine El Cohen	...	Rhizlaine
Luvinski Atche	...	Le chanteur
Elsa Bouchain	...	La responsable des vols
Grégory Givernaud	...	Grégory
Géraldine Bintein	...	Carole
Etienne Menu	...	Voix radio circuit (voice)
François Chaperon	...	Voix radio circuit (voice)
Arnaud Sagnard	...	Voix radio circuit (voice)
Michel Zlotowski	...	Le père de Prudence (voice)

Directed by
Rebecca Zlotowski

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Marcia Romano		collaborating writer
Rebecca Zlotowski

Produced by
Gaëtane Josse	....	assistant producer
Frédéric Jouve	....	executive producer
Frédéric Jouve	....	producer

Original Music by
Rob

Cinematography by
Georges Lechaptois

Film Editing by
Julien Lacheray

Casting by
Philippe Elkoubi

Costume Design by
Isabelle Kerbec

Makeup Department
Sarai Fiszel	....	key makeup artist
Diane Jaurey	....	coiffeur

Production Management
Martin Allegaree	....	assistant unit manager
Nathalie Hoang Dac Huong	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Margaux Balsan	....	second second assistant director
Jean Baptiste Pouilloux	....	first assistant director
Nicolas Quéré	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Laurent Baude	....	assistant art director
Matthieu Scavazza	....	assistant art director
Clovis Weil	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Mathieu Descamps	....	production sound mixer
Nicolas Mas	....	boom operator
Julien Roig	....	sound editor
Julien Roig	....	sound re-recording mixer
Vincent Verdoux	....	sound re-recording mixer

Stunts
Vladimir Houbart	....	stunt driver
Christophe Marsaud	....	stunt coordinator
Christophe Roblin	....	stunt driver

Camera and Electrical Department
Malek Krimed	....	first assistant camera
Stella Libert	....	second assistant camera
Olivier Regent	....	gaffer

Editorial Department
Lise Courtès	....	assistant editor
Raphaëlle Dufosset	....	digital dailies colorist: Eclair

Music Department
Thomas Jamois	....	soundtrack coordinator
Julien Roig	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Roselyne Bellec	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Les Films Velvet
• Moby Dick Films (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Région Haute-Normandie (support)

Distributors

• Pyramide Distribution (2010) (France) (all media)

Also Known As:

"Dear Prudence" - International (English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France

Company:

Les Films Velvet

Tender and haunting

Prudence Friedmann is alone. Her sister is on her own. Her father is working in Canada and she is left to cope with the sudden death of her mother. Set in Paris, Rebecca Zlotowski's sensitive Dear Prudence is an impressionistic story of a sad and lonely adolescent who begins to lose her bearings as a result of her inability to grieve her mother's loss. In a beautifully nuanced performance by Lea Seydoux as Prudence, this personal film manages to avoid the self-conscious clichés of adolescent angst, creating a believable three-dimensional human being, a 16-year-old in pain trying to navigate in an emotional no-man's land.

As the film begins, Prudence (Seydoux) and Maryline (Agathe Schlenker) are arrested and strip-searched for shoplifting but released when the evidence is hidden too deep to be discovered. Afterward she seeks out her fellow offender and invites her to her house, giving her the keys to come and go as she pleases. Soon Maryline introduces Prudence to her friends on the motorcycle racing circuit at Rungis and the naïve young girl who is starving for love, skips school and becomes involved with the fast and chaotic world of bike racing. Although, at the home of her aunt and uncle, the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are explained, she ignores the celebrations and traditions of her Jewish heritage and continues to seek adventure among the bikers.

She becomes involved with a boy, Franck (Johan Libereau), but he seems to her to be interested only in sex. When she walks out of a movie leaving Franck feeling angry and deserted, she goes to his house to try and talk to his mother, but she is too busy or just not interested and Prudence reaches the outer edge of despair. Filled with frequent use of female nudity and accompanied by a pounding pop-rock score, Dear Prudence allows the turbulence of an adolescent to come alive, managing to convey a quiet emotional power that is tender and haunting. Only when Prudence witnesses the death of a young bike racer on the circuit does she begin to touch her own deep and suppressed grief, perhaps realizing, in the words of the poet Dylan Thomas, "Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion".