27/08/2021 - Flanked by Ariane Labed, Souheila Yacoub and Myriem Akhheddiou, the actor leads the cast of Alice and Benoît Zeniter’s first feature film, an Elzévir Films production sold by Pyramide

Since 9 August, novelist Alice Zeniter (notably the recipient of the 2017 High School Goncourt Prize for The Art of Losing) and her husband Benoît Zeniter have been shooting their first feature film, Before We Collapse [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], whose cast is led by French-Quebecan actor Niels Schneider (awarded the 2017 Best New Hope César for Dark Inclusion [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arthur Harari
film profile], nominated this year in the Best Actor category for Love Affair(s) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile], likewise well-received in Sympathy for the Devil [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ella Rumpf
interview: Guillaume de Fontenay
film profile] and An Impossible Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], among other works, and whom we’ll be seeing next year in Sentinelle Sud).

Names standing out alongside him include that of French-Greek talent Ariane Labed (who was named Best Actress in Venice in 2010 for Attenberg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Athina Rachel Tsangari
film profile], nominated for the 2015 Best New Hope César via Fidelio: Alice’s Journey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucie Borleteau
film profile], and who has just finished filming Flux Gourmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Strickland
film profile] by English director Peter Strickland), Switzerland’s Souheila Yacoub (well-received in Climax [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Souheila Yacoub
film profile], The Salt of Tears [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Souheila Yacoub
film profile] and, recently, in Cannes in A Brighter Tomorrow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Souheila Yacoub
film profile]), Belgium’s Myriem Akhheddiou (who scooped the 2020 Best Supporting Role Magritte for Young Ahmed [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile]) and Séphora Pondi.

Written by the neo-filmmaking duo, the story (which was a finalist for the 2021 Prix du Scénario) unfolds in a slightly dystopic and scorching-hot Paris that’s more polluted than ever before. A campaign manager for a parliamentary election candidate, Tristan is knocked sideways when he receives an anonymous letter containing a positive pregnancy test. Potentially suffering from a fatal and incurable genetic illness, Tristan becomes obsessed with the idea of finding the woman who sent him this test. He decides to carry out an investigation, risking his love life and his career in the process…

Before We Collapse is produced by Marie Masmonteil on behalf of Elzévir Films, and co-produced by Après le Déluge and France 2 Cinéma. Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature film also enjoys the support of the Brittany region and of the SOFICA companies Indéfilms, Palatine and Cinéventure. The film shoot will wrap on 17 September at the end of six weeks’ work in Paris and Brittany, with Jean-Louis Vialard (recently well-received in Cannes via Moneyboys [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: CB Yi
film profile]) at the helm of photography. Distribution in France and international sales are steered by Pyramide.

For the record, Elzévir Films, notably the producers of Party Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire B…
film profile] (awarded Cannes’ Caméra d'Or in 2014), were recently responsible for Flore Vasseur’s documentary Bigger Than Us [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (unveiled in Cannes in July as part of the Cinema for the Climate line-up and due for release in France on 22 September), Émilie Carpentier’s L’horizon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (read our article – screened this week in the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival) and Ismaël Ferroukhi’s Mica [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (article – to be released in France on 24 November).

(Translated from French)