| Director: | Cyril Leuthy |
|---|---|
| Production: | Kepler22 Productions (Juliette Cazanave), ARTE France (Marie-Hélène Girod, Daniel Khamdamov), INA (Valérie Abita, Thomas Arbez), Cine+ (Bruno Deloye) |
| Running Time: | 64' |
| Language: | French |
| Country: | France |
| Main Cast: | Michel Fau, Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, Enzo Tinebra, Antonio Lanciano and as themselves Noémie Lvovsky, Olivier Assayas, Macha Méril, Lucas Belvaux, Chantal Goya, Nathalie Baye, Françoise Lebrun, Josiane Balasko, Tsai Ming-liang, Nobuhiro Suwa |
| Screenplay: | Cyril Leuthy |
| Cinematographer: | Gertrude Baillot, Chen Hong Cheng, Yann Moreau |
| Editor: | Florence Jacquet |
| Music: | Thomas Dappelo |
| Sound: | Guillaume Valeix, Clara Zilliox, Vincent Dupuis |
Cinema
Le cinéma de Jean-Pierre Léaud
Venice Classics
synopsis
The unforgettable hero of Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows), Jean-Pierre Léaud made a spectacular entrance into the world of cinema at the age of 14. And to this day, it’s fair to say he’s never left. Truffaut, Godard, Eustache, Pasolini but also more recently Assayas, Lvovsky, Kaurismäki, Bertolucci, Tsai Ming-liang, Bonello or Serra... an impressive filmography in which he has invented a new way of being in front of the camera, where everything is true and everything is fiction. So much so that one might almost have a doubt: does Jean-Pierre Léaud really exist off- screen? Or does he belong entirely to cinema?
director's statement
The film could have been called To be or not to be Jean-Pierre Léaud. That’s the whole question, because the mystery of his identity is at the heart of the film. Jean-Pierre Léaud is more than just an actor, he’s a “character” and some even think he’s just a character. Trying to unravel the mystery of his acting would be tantamount to unraveling the mystery of his identity. This is the film’s starting point. But if we regard Jean-Pierre Léaud as a character, then it’s possible to embody him. And so, by inviting actors to play him, the film seeks to show in a sensitive way both the mystery of his acting and the mystery of his being. I invited four actors to slip into Léaud’s skin at different ages, to try to find this character and to try to see in it what is the actor’s true identity. The challenge of this film is to portray Léaud in a way that speaks only of cinema, since he chose to give it his life. In doing so, there was also an intuition to be demonstrated. An actor builds a “career”. Léaud has done much more: we could say he has built a “body of work”. It’s a big difference, but how do you define an actor’s work? That’s what the film tries to do.
production/distribution
PRODUCTION 1: Kepler22 Productions – Juliette Cazanave
282 rue des Pyrénées
75020, Paris, France
Tel. 33 664494634
juliette.cazanave@gmail.com
instagram : https://www.instagram.com/kepler22productions/
facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Kepler22Productions
Website : https://kepler22productions.com/
PRODUCTION 2: ARTE France – Marie-Hélène Girod, Daniel Khamdamov
8 rue Marceau
92785, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Tel. 33 155007678
mh-girod@artefrance.fr
PRODUCTION 3: INA – Valérie Abita, Thomas Arbez
18 Avenue des Frères Lumière
94360, Bry-sur-Marne, France
Tel. 33 149833274
vabita@ina.fr
WORLD SALES: Alec Hermann - ARTE France Distribution, Bruno Deloye - Ciné +
8 rue Marceau
92785, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Tel. 33 155007678
a-herrmann@artefrance.fr
