Ma part du gâteau (2011)

Director:

Cédric Klapisch

Writer:

Cédric Klapisch (scenario)

Release Date:

9 December 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

After losing her job at a local factory, a single mother enrolls in a housekeeper training program, soon landing work cleaning the Paris apartment of handsome but cocky power broker. |

Plot Keywords:

Dunkirk | Loss Of Job | Social Contrast | Food In Title | Venezia

Cast

Karin Viard	...	France
Gilles Lellouche	...	Steve Delarue
Audrey Lamy	...	Josy, la soeur de France
Jean-Pierre Martins	...	JP, le mari de Josy
Raphaële Godin	...	Mélody
Fred Ulysse	...	Le père de France
Kevin Bishop	...	Nick, le broker
Marine Vacth	...	Tessa
Flavie Bataille	...	Lucie
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Mr. Brown (as Tim Piggot-Smith)
Philippe Lefebvre	...	Le PDG dans la fête
Lunis Sakji	...	Alban
Juliette Navin-Bardin	...	Julie, l'analyste financière (as Juliette Navis Bardin)
Camille Zouaoui	...	Jessica
Adrienne Vereecke	...	Mallaury
Guillaume Ranson	...	Jérémie
Xavier Alcan	...	Le financier 'humaniste'
Xavier Mathieu	...	André, le syndicaliste
Zinedine Soualem	...	Ahmed, le père de Sofiane
Rémi Gillodts	...	Rémi
Évelyne Dekoninck	...	La voisine
Bernard Debreyne	...	Le beau-frère
Abderrahmane Houfani	...	Sofiane
Sophie Watrelot	...	Copine Lucie
Andrew Price	...	Serveur Londres
Sandrine Drezen Conchillo	...	Sandrine, la syndicaliste
Michel Masiero	...	Jean-Claude, le syndicaliste
Haby Diarra	...	Copine Jessica
Jean-Benoît Lengeley	...	JB
Édeline Dufly	...	Fille anniversaire
Husky Kihal	...	Georges, l'ex-marie de France
Alessandro Cecchini	...	Le photographe de mode
Lucie Desclozeaux	...	La nounou d'Alban
Suzanne Von Aichinger	...	La danseuse soirée Steve
Mariame N'Diaye	...	Aminata
Flannan Obé	...	Le traiteur intraîtable
Alex Lutz	...	Homme important soirée 1
Edwin Kruger	...	L'homme important 2 (as Edwin Krüger)
Lisa Manili	...	Baby-sitter Paris (as Liza Manili)
Emily Head	...	Baby-sitter Londres
James Puddephatt	...	Officier de police (as James Puddephat)
John Vernon	...	Le routier anglais
Hervé Degunst	...	Le douanier
Eric Paul	...	Le capitaine de police
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeanne Millet
Aline Nolasco	...	Call-girl bresilienne (scenes deleted)
Cédric Klapisch	...	Homme sur le quai (uncredited)
Magdalena Malina	...	Nastya (uncredited)

Directed by
Cédric Klapisch

Writing credits
Cédric Klapisch		(scenario)

Produced by
Simona Ferraro	....	line producer
Caroline Levy	....	line producer: UK

Cinematography by
Christophe Beaucarne

Film Editing by
Francine Sandberg

Casting by
Jeanne Millet

Production Design by
Marie Cheminal

Art Direction by
Stanislas Reydellet

Costume Design by
Anne Schotte

Makeup Department
Delphine Jaffart	....	key makeup artist
Jane Milon	....	key hair stylist

Production Management
Olivier Lagny	....	unit manager
Pierre Rigaudy	....	assistant unit manager: preparation
Lyndsay Robinson	....	production manager: UK
Nicolas Royer	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Matthew Baker	....	second assistant director: UK
Antoine Garceau	....	first assistant director
Gabriel Levy	....	second assistant director
Jill Lhote	....	third assistant director
Adam Morris	....	second assistant director: UK
Tom Mulberge	....	additional assistant director
Cecilia Rouaud	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Dorothée Baussan	....	assistant art director
Maxime Girault	....	prop buyer
Yannick Heuveline	....	carpenter
Cécile Hurlé	....	set dresser
Jonathan Israel	....	assistant property master
Chloé Leguay	....	second assistant art director
Cyril Père	....	property master

Sound Department
Niels Barletta	....	sound mastering engineer
Damien Bera	....	sound re-recording mixer
François Boudet	....	boom operator
Olivier Dandré	....	sound
Olivier Grandjean	....	boom operator
Philippe Heissler	....	supervising sound editor
Cyril Holtz	....	sound re-recording mixer
Pierre-Jean Labrusse	....	sound mix technician
Nicolas Leroy	....	sound editor
Alain Lévy	....	post-synchronisation
Cyril Moisson	....	sound
Pierre Picq	....	boom operator

Visual Effects by
Seb Caudron	....	visual effects supervisor
Sylvian Fabre	....	flame artist
Laurent Larapidie	....	visual effects

Stunts
Delphine Boulay	....	stunts
Jean-Michel Boutteau	....	stunts
Dominique Fouassier	....	stunts
Teddy Pierson	....	stunts
Laurent Prudhomme	....	stunts
Christophe Roblin	....	stunt driver
Daniel Vérité	....	stunt coordinator
Julien Vérité	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Christian Abomnes	....	additional first assistant camera
Freddie Bonfanti	....	electrician: UK shoot (as Federico Bonfanti)
Julien Covens	....	best boy grip
Dominique Delguste	....	additional camera operator
Franck Fiquet	....	electrician
Ben Fordesman	....	spark: daily
Chris Georgas	....	gaffer: UK shoot
Alex Hudson	....	grip: UK shoot
Emmanuelle Jacobson-Roques	....	still photographer
Jean-Pierre Lacroix	....	gaffer
Marie Lafont	....	video assist operator
Luc Pallet	....	first assistant camera
Claire Pierrard	....	second assistant camera
Paul Starkey	....	best boy: UK shoot
Stéphane Thiry	....	key grip
Chantal Thomine-Desmazures	....	still photographer
Murren Tullett	....	assistant camera
Jean-Pierre Voisin	....	electrician
Laurent Wémama	....	grip

Casting Department
Marine Albert	....	casting assistant
Aurore Broutin	....	child casting
Sue Jones	....	casting: uk
Sylvie Peyre	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Judith de Luze	....	assistant costume designer
Oliver Garcia	....	costume assistant
Lupt Utama	....	costume supervisor: UK

Editorial Department
Sophia Del-Vecchio	....	digital conformation
Clément Guégan	....	digital conformation
Virginie Seguin	....	first assistant editor
Raymond Terrentin	....	colorist

Music Department
Robert Burke	....	composer: title music
Emmanuel D'Orlando	....	orchestrator
Loïc Dury	....	composer: theme music
Christophe Minck	....	composer: theme music
Stéphane Reichart	....	music mixer

Transportation Department
Gaby Meyers	....	facility/truck driver
Olivier Suffert	....	driver

Other crew
Ophélie Gelber	....	acting coach: children
Alex Gladstone	....	location manager
Séverine Guignard	....	production secretary
Aurore Jactat	....	legal advisor
Isabelle Ribis	....	script supervisor
Lucas Saunal	....	location assistant: uk
Tina Shadick	....	production accountant: UK
Claire Thoreux	....	production accountant

Production Companies

• Ce Qui Me Meut Motion Pictures (co-production) (as Ce Qui Me Meut)
• Studio Canal (co-production)
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• C.R.R.A.V. Nord Pas de Calais (co-production)
• Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais (support)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• France Télévision (participation)
• Banque Postale Image 4 (in association with)

Distributors

• Studio Canal (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Sundance Selects (2011) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Film1 (2012) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Madman Entertainment (2012) (Australia) (DVD)
• Twin Pics (2011) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Location Consulting & Facilities  facility vehicles

Also Known As:

"My Piece of the Pie" - USA (imdb display title)
"Aci Tatli Tesadüfler" - Turkey (Turkish title) (imdb display title)
"Mein Stück vom Kuchen" - Germany (imdb display title)

Runtime:

France:109 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Netherlands:6 | Australia:MA15+

Filming Locations:

Venice, Veneto, Italy

Company:

Ce Qui Me Meut Motion Pictures

Interesting premise, but Klapisch is definitely no Capra

I had not great expectations for 'Ma part du gâteau'. France, 42, raising her 4 daughters alone, loses her job and goes on to work as a maid for a big bad trader. The premise seemed interesting and Klapisch certainly knows how to tell simple stories in a lively manner. But the title is really dumb and dull and I was unable to remember it for the couple of weeks prior to release. Klapisch's trademark is to use simple titles borrowed from popular phrases, but My Piece of Cake/Taking My Cut is not a visually stimulating simple idea, it's only a flat commonplace.

Directors back in the Studio System could moan about not being responsible for a bad title. Klapisch, after a decade of well-deserved success, enjoys total creative control, so the title is his mistake. And it perfectly stands for the big flaws, the failure to build up something really engaging on this interesting premise.

Lazy comes to my mind, yet that may be too harsh on Klapisch. He excels at brisk light comedies and may well have gone out of his league here in this attempt at social satire. If you look back at Klapisch movies, starting with 'Le Péril Jeune', you realize their strength is simplicity and rhythm. He tried his style on something more serious and under delivers. Worse, he totally misses the mark.

Lazy is however the right word for an 'auteur' who earned his spot at the top, with the power to shoot whatever he wants. OK, fashionable 'auteurs' like Cédric Klapisch end up working with too many yes-men, leaving them with little challenging creative opportunities, but that's laziness all the same. Laziness to come up with such a flimsy script on such a challenging subject matter, and laziness to cast the bland Gilles Lellouche as the hyper-realistic financial shark that should have been too fascinating for our own good.

If it's not laziness, that means Klapisch has risen to his level of incompetence and will only be able to dish out the same youthful light comedies again and again.