A Woman’s Life, the highly anticipated second feature from Charlene Bourgeois-Haquet (Anais), has been produced by Be for Films.
Produced by David Chion (Anatomy of a Fall) of Les Films Pelleas, the film is a sequel to director Bourgeois-Taquet’s acclaimed debut feature Anais, starring Anais Demoustier and Valeria Bruni Tedessi, which had its world premiere at Cannes Critics Week in 2021 and was sold in more than 40 territories, including the US with Magnolia.
A Woman’s Life brings together a leading French cast, including Léa Drucker (Case 137) and Mélanie Thierry (Mariana’s Room). Also starring Charles Berlin, Laurent Capert and Marie-Christine Barrault.
Mr. Drucker, who was nominated for a César Award for his latest role in the Cannes competition film Case 137, plays Gabriel, a dedicated surgeon and head of a hospital department whose responsibilities are debilitating. But this is the life she wanted and the life she chose. When a novelist comes to observe her work on a book, her balance begins to shift. ” says the synopsis.
The film was co-produced by Jacques-Henri Broncard and Tatiana Cozart at Versus Productions (Vermiglio) in Belgium. Les Films Pelléas’ Philippe Martin (“This is Just an Accident”) is associate producer.
One of France’s most promising female directors, Bourgeois-Haquet was praised even before she made her first feature film. Her short film “Pauline Enslaved” was also screened at the Cannes Critics’ Week and at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize and
Received the Telerama Magazine Press Award.
“I am delighted to be reunited with Charline Bourgeois-Haquet in this new film, which confirms her talent as a writer and director, while also demonstrating her ability to constantly reinvent herself,” said Thion. She is also collaborating with Justine Triet on the sequel to Anatomy of a Fall.
Thiong said “The Life of a Woman” is “a contemporary, nuanced, moving, and richly layered portrait of a woman in her 50s, so it will almost be a work called Gabriel[the main character’s name]which will be told in 11 chapters.”
The producer said Bourgeois Take shared two ideas that stuck with him during the development of the project. She said she wanted to create a female character who exemplified “the courage to live bravely,” and that she hoped the film would “encourage audiences (particularly women) to feel that it is possible to have this kind of relationship with the world; to not think of themselves as ‘old-fashioned’ because they’re in their 50s, to not see themselves as victims of men, but to see themselves as deep and equal in every way.” Thion said the director “was able to meet this challenge successfully, thanks to Rhea Drucker’s great performance and a great ensemble cast.”
“A Woman’s Life” also reunites Bourgeois Take with Be for Films, which sold “Anais” around the world.
Be For Films will present “A Woman’s Life” to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin.
