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PRODUCTION France / Belgium

Filming wraps on Danielle Arbid's Passion simple

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- Laetitia Dosch and Sergei Polunin star in a film produced by Les Films Pelléas, co-produced by Versus and sold by Pyramide

Filming wraps on Danielle Arbid's Passion simple
The actress Laetitia Dosch, actor-dancer Sergei Polunin and director Danielle Arbid

Selected twice to participate at Cannes Directors' Fortnight (in 2004 with In the Battlefields [+see also:
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and in 2007 with A Lost Man [+see also:
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) and once in competition at Locarno (in 2011 with the TV movie Beirut Hotel) before directing Parisienne [+see also:
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]
(unveiled at Toronto in 2015, earning Manal Issa a nomination for the Lumières Award for Most Promising Performance in 2017), the Lebanese filmmaker Danielle Arbid (who studied and lives in France) has just completed filming on his latest feature: Passion simple [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danielle Arbid
film profile
]
.

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The film stars Laetitia Dosch (Lumières Award in 2018 for Most Promising Performance and nominated the same year for a César Award for Most Promising Performance for Montparnasse Bienvenüe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile
]
, also well received in Act of Panic [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Gaspard at the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antony Cordier
film profile
]
and Our Struggles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume Senez
film profile
]
) and the Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin (who has appeared on the big screen in The White Crow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ralph Fiennes
film profile
]
, Red Sparrow and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms), both of whom are supported by Caroline Ducey (Trop de bonheur, Romance), Grégoire Colin (who has five films to his credit directed by Claire Denis, including Nénette et Boni. Recently well-received in The Price of Success [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teddy Lussi-Modeste
film profile
]
, Barbara [+see also:
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film profile
]
and the Thanksgiving [+see also:
series review
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]
miniseries), Slimane Dazi (noted for his performances in A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile
]
, Paris Prestige [+see also:
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]
, The Nile Hilton Incident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile
]
) and Teymour Lou Taylor (who had his acting debut in Parisienne).

Passion simple is an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Annie Ernaux, published in 1992 and going on to sell 370,000 copies in France, before being translated into 18 languages. The book continues to be republished by Gallimard to this day. The plot focuses on a man and a woman who are brought together by chance for several months. The film follows the evolution of their love, from the beginning to end. No precise explanation is given about the origin of the meeting. He is younger than she is, married, Russian, officially a diplomat stationed in Paris. She is a beautiful teacher and researcher, with her feet firmly on the ground, but she’s about to delude herself to the max... One day he disappears, fleeing back to his own country without warning. She tries to forget about him, but little by little she forgets who she is. She feels the air he breathes in Moscow and prays in churches in Florence. She soon finds herself feeling unfamiliar in her own world. Desire pervades everything...

Produced by David Thion and Philippe Martin for Les Films Pelléas, Passion simple was co-produced by Jacques-Henri Bronckart and Gwen Libert for the Belgian company Versus Production. Pre-purchased by Ciné + and Proximus, the feature film also received support from the Ile-de-France region, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Cinema, Eurimages, Sofica La Banque Postale Image, Cinécap and Inver Invest (the Belgian tax shelter). The shoot lasted seven weeks, taking place from 19 January to 5 March in Paris and the surrounding region, as well as in Lyon, Florence and Moscow, with Pascale Granel (The Wild Boys [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bertrand Mandico
film profile
]
, On Fire [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
, Deep Breath) as the director of photography. Pyramide Distribution is due to release the film in France and O'Brother in Belgium. International sales are being handled by Pyramide.

For the record, Les Films Pelléas is also currently working on Christophe Honoré's Chambre 212 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christophe Honoré
film profile
]
, Nicole Garcia's Lovers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicole Garcia
film profile
]
 and Jean-Stéphane Bron's documentary The Brain [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, all of which are in production, as well as Sibyl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile
]
by Justine Triet, which is currently in post-production (starring Virginie Efira, Adele Exarchopoulos, Gaspard Ulliel, Niels Schneider and Sandra Hüller).

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(Translated from French)

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