02/06/2020 - At a standstill since March, the director has resumed filming on his film starring Daniel Auteuil, Gilles Lellouche and Sara Giraudeau, a Vendôme production sold by Pathé

Actors Daniel Auteuil and Gilles Lellouche and actress Sara Giraudeau

First started on 20 January and halted mid-March as a result of the Coronavirus lockdown, filming on Fred Cavayé’s Farewell Mr Haffmann [+see also:
trailer
film profile] started up again yesterday to enter into its final two-week film shoot. This will be the filmmaker’s 6th feature following on from Anything For Her [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (623,000 admissions in France, nominated for the Best First Film César in 2009), Point Blank [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (973,000 viewers in France at the end of 2010), Mea culpa [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (465,000 admissions in 2014), Penny Pincher! [+see also:
trailer
film profile]  (2.9 million in 2016) and Nothing to Hide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fred Cavayé
film profile] (1.63m viewers in 2018).

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Shining bright at the head of the cast are Daniel Auteuil (Best Actor award in Cannes 1996, nominated 14 times for the Best Actor César – including this year for La Belle Époque [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicolas Bedos
film profile] and in 2018 for Le Brio [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – and reigning triumphant in 1987 and 2000), Gilles Lellouche (nominated for the Best Actor César 2019 as a result of In Safe Hands [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and for 2018 and 2011’s Best Supporting Roles Césars for C’est La Vie! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Little White Lies [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; in cinemas this November with BAC Nord) and Sara Giraudeau (the winner of 2018’s Best Supporting Role César for Bloody Milk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Charuel
film profile], very well received in the series Le Bureau des Légendes [+see also:
interview: Frédéric Lavigne
series profile] and whom we’ll be seeing next year in Le Discours and Un médecin de nuit).

Adapted by the director alongside Sarah Kaminsky from Jean-Philippe Daguerre’s play of the same name, the story is set in Paris, in 1942. François Mercier is an ordinary man who thinks only of starting a family with the woman he loves, Blanche. He’s also the employee of a talented jeweller, Monsieur Haffmann. But under the German occupation, the two men will be forced to strike a deal and the consequences of this, over the months that follow, will upend the fate of our three protagonists…

The current circumstances have inevitably required numerous adjustments be made to ensure that the film shoot (unfolding amidst period sets which have partially remained in place, since March, in the streets of Montmartre, Paris) complies with the measures set out in the Covid-19 Health and Safety Guide for Film Production Activities. With this in mind, the crew has been reduced by half and certain sequences have been re-written (with one, in particular, now featuring 4 extras instead of 120).

Produced by Philippe Rousselet on behalf of Vendôme Production (The Bélier Family [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], The Women on the 6th Floor [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Farewell Mr Haffmann is co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, Daï Daï Films and Belga Productions. Also pre-purchased by OCS, the film will enjoy a total of 10 weeks filming, with Denis Rouden at the helm of photography. Its French release will be managed by Pathé and Orange Studio, with international sales in the hands of Pathé.

(Translated from French)