Tous les soleils (2011)

Director:

Philippe Claudel

Writer:

Philippe Claudel (scenario, adaptation and dialogue)

Release Date:

30 March 2011 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Alessandro teaches musicology at the university of Strasbourg. He is also a volunteer reader in hospitals...

Plot Keywords:

Anarchist | First Love | Father Daughter Relationship | Teen | Professor

Cast

Stefano Accorsi	...	Alessandro
Neri Marcorè	...	Luigi dit Crampone
Clotilde Courau	...	Florence
Lisa Cipriani	...	Irina
Anouk Aimée	...	Agathe
José Luis Roig	...	Fernando
Xavier Boulanger	...	Dieter
Aude Koegler	...	Francette
Philippe Rebbot	...	Jean-Paul
Marie Seux	...	Malou
Margot Lefevre	...	La grand-mère (as Margot Lefevre Chan)
Jean-Marie Holterbach	...	Le grand-père
Patricia Joly	...	La directrice du département musicologie de l'université
Emilie Gavois-Kahn	...	La factrice
Fayssal Benhamed	...	Le lieutenant de police
Saïda Jawad	...	Yasmina
Lise Ségur	...	Nina
Babeth Reziciner	...	Béatrice - l'amie du groupe de chant
Catherine Javaloyès	...	La mère de Noémie
Maëlle Poesy-Guichard	...	Evelyne (as Maëlle Poesy)
Suzanne Aubert	...	L'étudiante à l'examen oral
Delphine Crubézy	...	Sylvaine Anspack
Pascale Lequesne	...	La psychologue
Fleur Lise Heuet	...	Louise - l'épouse d'Alessandro
Philippe Lehembre	...	M. Bertaud
Francis Freyburger	...	L'artisan-couvreur
Marion Streicher	...	Camille
Lola Scandella	...	Noémie
Tom Becker	...	Aurélien
David Heidelberger	...	Un étudiant dans l'amphithéâtre
Lou-Anne Lapierre	...	Une étudiante dans l' amphithéâtre
Pauline Laurent	...	Egidija (as Pauline Leurent)
Olivier Piechaczyk	...	Le prêtre
Ruth Castelletta	...	Mme Bisheim
Dominique Kucharzewski	...	Un collègue à l'université
Gauthier Heng	...	Léon
Baptiste Heng	...	Victor
Chine Becker	...	Lou
Jaya Ezazian	...	Irina bébé
Benjamin Bédouin	...	Ensemble musical - Chef de choeur
Bérangère Sardin	...	Ensemble musical - Harpiste
Jérôme Chaboseau	...	Ensemble musical - Viole de gambe
Mauricio Buraglia	...	Ensemble musical - Théorbe
Claire Petr	...	Ensemble musical - Psaltérion
Jean-Christophe Hurtaud	...	Ensemble musical - Chanteur
Mathilde Etienne	...	Ensemble musical - Chanteuse
Pascale Anselme	...	Ensemble musical - Chanteuse
Nathalie Liess	...	Ensemble musical - Chanteuse
Paul-Henri Claudel	...	Ensemble musical - Chanteur
Julie Nicolet	...	Sitcom - Brenda
Agnès Parmentier	...	Sitcom - Mme Brass (as Agnès Parmantier)
David Tissot	...	Sitcom - Le médecin
Sébastien Le Dorven	...	Sitcom - Le médecin rival

Directed by
Philippe Claudel

Writing credits
Philippe Claudel		(scenario, adaptation and dialogue)

Produced by
Daniel Goudineau	....	producer
Yves Marmion	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Denis Lenoir

Film Editing by
Virginie Bruant

Production Design by
Samuel Deshors

Art Direction by
Emmanuelle Cuillery

Makeup Department
Nathalie Kovalski	....	key makeup artist
Gérald Porcher	....	key hair stylist

Production Management
Abraham Goldblat	....	post-production supervisor
Varujan Gumusel	....	post-production manager
Olivier Michel	....	unit production manager
Philippe Saal	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dominique Delany	....	assistant director
Thomas Vincent	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Catherine Bourgeois	....	set dresser
Benjamin Bouygues-Faugeron	....	assistant art director
Antoine Carton de Gramont	....	painter
Denis Chaboissier	....	head painter
Sara Cubaynes	....	painter
Mathieu Jurgenson	....	digital artist
Claire Massard	....	assistant art director
Matthieu Scavazza	....	assistant art director
Romain Scavazza	....	assistant art director
François Willenz	....	digital artist

Sound Department
Guadalupe Cassius	....	dialogue editor
Thibault Daitrevaix	....	sound trainee
Pierre Lenoir	....	sound
Armelle Mahé	....	sound mixer
Armelle Mahé	....	sound re-recording mixer
Maxime Saleix	....	sound mix technician
Dominique Toussaint	....	sound transfer

Visual Effects by
Alain Carsoux	....	visual effects supervisor
Christophe Dehaene	....	digital compositor
Adrien Garcia	....	credit roll
Celine Goriot	....	assistant visual effects coordinator
Frank Petit	....	digital compositor
Joel Pinto	....	digital compositor
Laurent Ripoll	....	visual effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Aupetit	....	key grip
Simon Beaufils	....	camera operator
Malik Brahimi	....	additional focus puller
David Camus	....	grip
Sarah Couvelaire	....	first assistant camera
Isabelle Duquesnoy	....	second assistant camera
Matthieu Etenne	....	grip
Michaël Gojon dit Martin	....	lighting technician
Daniel Marie-Sophie	....	additional focus puller
Yannick Ressigeac	....	first assistant camera
Léonard Rollin	....	digital image technician
Brice Roustang	....	additional electrician
Thierry Valletoux	....	still photographer
Mikaël Gaudin	....	video assistant trainee (uncredited)

Casting Department
Vicky Brougiannaki	....	extras casting
Martin Rougier	....	casting
Christian Sonderegger	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Laurence Esnault	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Elisa Aboulker	....	assistant editor
Arnaud Caréo	....	on-line editor
Jimmy Christophe	....	color timer

Music Department
Elise Luguern	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Tony Arnoux	....	press attache
Cathy Kerbrat	....	production coordinator
Gianni Manno	....	titles and credits designer
Florence Narozny	....	press attache
André-Paul Ricci	....	press attache
Lucie Truffaut	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC) (as UGCYM)
• TF1 Droits Audiovisuels (co-production)
• France 3 Cinéma (co-production)
• Sofica UGC 1 (in association with)
• A Plus Image 2 (in association with)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• France Télévision (participation)
• Région Alsace (support)
• La Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg (support)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (in partnership with)
• Région Lorraine (in partnership with)
• Procirep (in partnership with)
• Angoa-Agicoa (in partnership with)

Distributors

• Benelux Film Distributors (2011) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Benelux Film Distributors (2011) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Pathé Films (2011) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (French speaking region)
• TF1 International (2011) (worldwide) (theatrical)
• UGC Distribution (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Film1 (2012) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2011) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• UGC Video (2011) (France) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Duboi
• Duran Duboi

Other Companies

• Rageman  poster & artwork
• Sonia Tout Court  trailer

Also Known As:

"Askin Sessizligi" - Turkey (Turkish title) (imdb display title)
"Ha'sheket she'ba'ahava" - Israel (Hebrew title) (imdb display title)
"Silencio de amor" - Spain (imdb display title)
"Tous les soleils" - Belgium (French title) (imdb display title)

Runtime:

France:105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:9 | France:U

Filming Locations:

Eglise romane, Froville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France

Company:

Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Trivia:

Swiss censorship visa # 1008.278.

Soundtrack:

L'Internationale

Angst and smiles - but more smiles than angst

Philippe Claudel is a multi-talented artist but a pessimistic one , whether as a novelist (his last book, "L'enquête"being a hopeless statement on today's working world), a playwright (the poetic but dark portrait of a lost man in "Le paquet"), a scriptwriter ("Les âmes grises" and its description of personal tragedies set against the historical tragedy of World War I) and a film maker (his first movie "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime" examines the difficult reunion of two sisters after one of them has spent fifteen years in prison). But, for his second movie as a director, "Tous les soleils", he has changed his tune, opting for a much lighter tone. Quite rightly so insofar as humankind does not come down to misery and suffering, a state of things which great names like Shakespeare and Corneille - among others - have perfectly understood. Even such a deeply desperate artist as Ingmar Bergman went along with the sound rule of occasionally resorting to comedy (the delightful "Smiles of a Summer Night" for example), thus sticking more closely to the lot of the human condition than by systematically emphasizing its absurdities and miseries. Of course, Philippe Claudel's option of a feel-good approach does not mean that he has suddenly put on rose-colored spectacles. What "Tous les soleils" is about is no less than... life and death, the end of life, widower-hood, serious illness, father-teenage relationship, family, love, art, politics, Berlusconi and accepting or rejecting an unjust world.! Hard to stomach if you are content to read this list, but very easy to follow when told by a warm and playful story-teller like writer- director Claudel. All these topics are indeed harmoniously blended into a very simple story line, which the general public will not find hard to follow. It concerns Alessandro, a musicology professor at the Strasbourg University, whose everyday life is, without being tragic, no pleasure cruise. The man has mourned his wife, killed in a car accident while their daughter Irina was five months old, for more than a decade now and and has never actually been able to get over this trauma. Since then, he has acted both as a loving father and a mother substitute to Irina but lately has started stifling her for not realizing that she has grown and needs some leeway, hence tensions arising between them. Another bone of contention is the continuous presence under his roof of his anarchist brother Luigi, a fugitive from Berlusconi's Italy. The latter, despite being a much sought-after painter, refuses to sell his paintings to the "capitalists" and brings no money home, another cause for those rows regularly rocking the apartment and driving the neighbors mad. Things tend to evolve the day when, at a funeral, Sandro meets a beautiful woman who moves him at last. Florence, the lady in question, is the estranged daughter of Agathe, an old woman he used to read books to in hospital. Meanwhile, Irina falls for high school student Aurélien. All will end well provided that Alessandro tones it down a bit with Irina..., if Florence leaves her present companion..., and if Berlusconi leaves power!

The relationships between a single father and his coming of age daughter is far from original of course but Claudel deals with the issue with a refreshingly fine touch. The writer-director deftly manages to avoid the usual clichés and gets from young Lisa Cipriani a very natural, engaging performance. He also succeeds in avoiding being over- sentimental, particularly when he tackles a delicate subject like death (present in outline throughout the film). In this, he is helped by the humorous tone that underlies the whole narrative. Not that the quality of the comedy is always of a high quality, more particularly when it comes to the sequences featuring the female head of department exchanging pornographic e-messages with a correspondent she believes is Alessandro. Most of the time though, the humor bites home, especially in the scenes involving Luigi, played by a deliciously unrestrained Neri Marcori. His ranting and raving against Silvio Berlusconi and his anarchy lessons to the mail-woman, for instance, are killingly funny.

In this respect, it must be said that a great deal of the pleasure generated by "Tous les soleils" is derived from its Italianity. The choice of two Italian actors to play the two immigrant brothers is perfect : Stefano Accorsi is irresistible as this ordinary man (intellectual but not highbrow) whose unease translates into outbursts and is perfectly complemented by the already mentioned Marcori. Their incessant spats, their permanent restlessness give this French movie shot in Strasbourg a pleasant (and unexpected) Italian comedy overtone.

On the French side, Anouk Aimée brings her great class to her character, creating the dying woman she embodies with restraint, elegance and depth. And it does not take long to Clotilde Courau, who only appears at the fifty-fifth minute, to exude emotion.

All in all, Philippe Claudel's second directorial effort, a successful blend of smiles and angst, proves a very satisfying experience, all the more pleasant as the score gives the audiences the opportunity to discover beautiful traditional Italian music, the tarantella. Well,you can do without seeing 'Tous les soleils', but you will feel all the better if you go and see it.