06/05/2021 - Félix Lefebvre and Grégoire Monsaingeon also star in the cast of the director’s first feature, produced by Why Not and Face Nord Films, and sold by Wild Bunch

Underway since 19 April, filming on Héloïse Pelloquet’s La Passagère [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] is currently continuing in Vendée, where the movie is set to wrap on 21 May. This will be the first feature film put forth by this director who studied at La Fémis and has since turned heads with her shorts, Côté Cœur and L’âge des sirens in particular, which were both preselected for the Césars and presented in Clermont-Ferrand’s national competition in 2019 and 2017 respectively (with a Jury Special Mention and the Best Actress award going to the former).

The filmmaker has gathered together a cast comprising Belgian talent Cécile de France (recently nominated for 2019’s Best Actress César by way of Mademoiselle de Joncquières [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile], and soon to be seen in Lost Illusions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile], De son vivant and Les jeunes amants), young actor Félix Lefebvre (who scooped the 2021 Lumières Breakthrough Award for Summer of 85 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - a work which also won him a Best New Hope César nomination - and who’ll be hitting cinemas next year in Suprêmes) and Grégoire Monsaingeon (well-received in Montparnasse Bienvenüe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile], to name but one).

Written by Héloïse Pelloquet and Rémi Brachet, the story revolves around a couple of fisherfolk who are joined on their island by a new apprentice in the middle of a raging storm. This newcomer subsequently enters into the life of Chiara, the forty-something woman in the couple…

La Passagère is produced by Pascal Caucheteux on behalf of Why Not Productions, and is co-produced by Mélissa Malinbaum on behalf of Face Nord Films. Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature film also enjoys the support of the Pays de la Loire region, where the five-week film shoot is set to unfold, mostly on the island of Noirmoutier, with Augustin Barbaroux (Teddy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) at the helm of photography. International sales will be steered by Wild Bunch.

For the record, Why Not is also currently filming The Principal [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Chad Chenouga, while works appearing on their post-production slate include Deception [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Desplechin
film profile] by Arnaud Desplechin, Sans filtres by Roschdy Zem (shot at the beginning of the year in the strictest of secrecy, starring Sami Bouajila and Maïwenn up front) and La Croisade [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Louis Garrel. The Parisian firm is also shooting Desplechin’s next film (Frère et Sœur – starring Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud – news).

(Translated from French)