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À propos de Joan

About Joan
Berlinale Special Gala 2022
© 247films
Joan Verra, independent woman and successful publisher, is driving her car one rainy night when she stares into the camera and begins to tell her story. Leaving Ireland, where she met her first love, for France, where she single-handedly raised the child from that relationship, Joan’s dreamlike autobiography moves between partings and returns, across a network of fragmented relationships and patchy memories with her at the centre, dealing with the pain she has caused and the pain from which she has tried to shield herself. Accustomed to working with other people’s stories, Joan finally recounts her own. Slipping away from the initial romance, her story matures alongside its protagonist, distancing itself from credibility towards an elaborate web of perception and temporal planes that strike chords of nostalgia, the comic and the surreal. With yet another performance that justifies her Honorary Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale, Isabelle Huppert lends her enigmatic facial expressions and rigorous poses to portray a woman who is hard to forget, as is reflected in the gazes of the two men in her life: the elusive son played by Swann Arlaud and neurotic beau and fellow-writer Tim Ardenne (Lars Eidinger).
by Laurent Larivière
with Isabelle Huppert, Lars Eidinger, Swann Arlaud, Freya Mavor, Florence Loiret Caille, Stanley Townsend, Eanna Hardwicke, Dimitri Doré, Fabrice Scott, Louis Broust France / Germany / Ireland 2021 French, English, German 101’ Colour World premiere

With

  • Isabelle Huppert (Joan Verra)
  • Lars Eidinger (Tim Ardenne)
  • Swann Arlaud (Nathan)
  • Freya Mavor (Joan Verra, 70)
  • Florence Loiret Caille (Madeleine)
  • Stanley Townsend (Doug)
  • Eanna Hardwicke (Doug, 70)
  • Dimitri Doré (Nathan, Teenager)
  • Fabrice Scott (James)
  • Louis Broust (Nathan, Child)

Crew

Director Laurent Larivière
Written by François Decodts, Laurent Larivière
Cinematography Céline Bozon
Editing Marie-Pierre Frappier
Music Jérôme Rebotier
Sound Design Benoit Gargonne, Paul Jousselin, Matthias Lempert
Sound Antoine-Basile Mercier
Production Design Aurette Leroy
Costumes Nathalie Raoul
Make-Up Thi-Loan Nguyen, Marine Tesson
Casting Maguy Aimé, Amy Rowan
Assistant Director Robin Plessy
Production Manager Christine Moarbes
Producers Xavier Rigault, Marc-Antoine Robert
Executive Producers Céline Haddad, Laurence Méoc, Evan Horan
Co-Producers Reza Bahar, Katie Holly, Grégory Faes, Sébastian Beffa, François Yon, Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, Ronald Chammah
Co-Production Gifted Films Köln
Blinder Films Dublin
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma Villeurbanne
Playtime Production Paris
Les Films du Camelia Paris

World Sales

Playtime

http://www.playtime.group http://www.playtime.group

Produced by

247 Films

Photos

Press Conference

Red Carpet

Laurent Larivière

© Emmanuelle Marchadour

The director and screenwriter first worked for a number of years as an assistant director in the theatre before beginning to make short films. His debut feature film, I Am a Soldier, screened in the “Un Certain Regard” section at Cannes. In 2016, he was appointed vice president of the short film commission at the French Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée. He worked on the screenplays for Elsa Amiel’s Pearl, Frédéric Mermoud’s Sirius and Au sud by Lionel Baier. À propos de Joan is his second feature film as a director.

Filmography

2014 Je suis un soldat (I Am a Soldier) 2021 À propos de Joan (About Joan)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022