dp-soldat vierge eng

THE VIRGIN SOLDIER
A film by Erwan Le Duc
WITH
Christophe Montenez
de la comédie française
10:15! PRODUCTIONS
182 rue La Fayette
75010 Paris
+33 (0)1 80 27 02 58
contact@1015productions.fr
Nicolas Chupin
Maud Wyler
Atmen Kelif
Yan Tassin
Thomas Morris
Alexandre Steiger
STATEMENT OF INTENT
« The hero of poetic narration is a being who is fascinated, yet
empty. » (Jean-Yves Tadié)
A young soldier awakens, a hole in his belly.
Blood is pouring out; he is dying; he is sure; he knows it; he can
feel it.
Yet now, he is open to all experiences: open to a desire which
has never been assuaged – anything but to die a virgin, open
to the memory of a Finnish magician who resided in his childhood, to visions of a death who, under the guise of a Japanese
deity, pursues him with a Mona Lisa smile…
Our hero is finally empty, yet fascinated.
Le soldat vierge is a film born from a somewhat “monstrous”
wish to combine several ideas which have absolutely no
common ground. My ambition was to make a film which could
play out within the cracks in the space-time continuum, a film
capable of surprising the viewer without losing its bearings, of
thriving upon its many shifts in register without ever becoming
complacent towards them. Its references – literary or cinematographic – should not act as a smokescreen but instead,
deeply sediment the tale.
As we follow Jérôme and Daniel in their escape, the film
moves from one encounter to the next - enemies, colonel and
sniper, gun in hand, watching, then static - disarmed; the
madman, reeling off words by German writer Ernst Jünger
(taken from his 1914-18 war diaries), as if he were possessed;
goddess Shinigami; depressed magician Vainamoïnen, vertigo,
hallucination, the last stop before…
So we started out with a pretty risky script, but one which was
at least as exciting, as it raised fascinating issues based on
staging and directorship.
With head cameraman Nicolas Mesdom, we quickly defined a
frame to stage the film: we would shoot in 1:33 format (to work
on the verticality of the image, off-screen elements and
"frame" our actor’s faces) thus offering a unique visual world
and the same “image” for the different levels of reality within
the narration, therefore giving free reign to a certain lyricism,
from the very first seconds onwards.
This was our roadmap, we then had to explore the territory,
the playing field, the action. This was the film’s second challenge: finding the right tone to recount this tragic tale which is
exempt from all sadness, and especially, to avoid hyperbole, to
keep the right amount of distance so that emotion could take
hold in the most literal sense, and then more figuratively, when
the commentary travels further back into itself, and more obviously, through the incarnation of the camarde, of death lurking
in the undergrowth.
And this focus on emotion is very important, as the film is, in all
its aspects, somewhat unrealistic. In fact, I hope that this is precisely where the viewer will find their footing – it is through
emotion and belief, modest yet complete, that fiction may be
summoned in order to defy death itself.
I wanted the film to narrate itself instead of unfolding its plot.
During the trial readings, when casting our actors, I asked them
to read out a fairy tale, an exercise which allowed each of
them to reveal the imagination they carried within them, their
inner spirit as well as their own rhythms. They all had quite different approaches, yet each of them had to find a personal
note, light hearted and as anti-dramatic as possible - something a little surreal yet always calling upon deepest emotion.
Erwan Le Duc
« I’m going to tell you a story and you’re going to stay alive,
okay? »
ERWAN LE DUC
Born in 1977 in Les Lilas, near Paris, Erwan Le Duc has written
and directed four short films. He is currently working on his first
full length feature, Yalta (selected by the Fondation Emergence and winner of the UniversCiné prize, Claude Miller
workshop, 2013).
After graduating in political sciences (Sciences Po Paris), he
has worked for over ten years as a journalist for daily newspaper Le Monde, as well as its web edition, for which he has occupied the position of assistant editor. He headed a cultural
mission for the French embassy in Yemen between 2003 and
2005, and subsequently worked in the architecture division of
the French ministry of Culture in Paris, in 2006.
When he resigned from this position, he realised it might be
time to do something about his dream to shoot films, a throwback from his teenage years, during which he created several
films with an amateurism which could only be described as
complete - his 13-year-old sister was head cameraman, his
brother, stuntman/set manager and his cat occupied the starring role.
He began working on several projects as a scriptwriter before
writing his first film. His brother and sister having found other
occupations, he had no choice but to call upon professionals
from the world of cinema, and subsequently directed his first
film, Le commissaire Perdrix ne fait pas le voyage pour rien
(Superintendent Perdrix didn’t leave home for nothing, 2012).
He then shot Jamais Jamais (Never ever, 2014, CNC quality
prize) and Miaou miaou fourrure (Meow, meow, fur, 2015),
which have been screened in many festivals (Rio, Brussels,
Namur, Rhode Island, Pantin, Vendôme, Brest and so on), as
well as his latest film, Le soldat vierge (The Virgin soldier, 2016).
CHRISTOPHE MONTENEZ
NICOLAS CHUPIN
MAUD WYLER
ATMEN KELIF
After having trained at l’Ecole supérieure de théâtre de Bordeaux Aquitaine, he acted under the directorship of Yann
Joël Collin and Galin Stoev before becoming a member of the
Comédie-Française on July 8th 2014. He has since featured in
plays directed by Marie Rémond, Jean Louis Benoît, Maelle
Poésy, Denis Podalydès, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Clément
Hervieux Léger and more besides. This July, he is to play the
role of Martin von Essenbeck in Ivo van Hove’s version of the
Damned for the opening of the 70th edition of the Avignon
festival, in Court of Honour of the Pope’s Palace. Besides his
work at La Comédie-Française, Christophe is also a member
of a collective called “Les Bâtards Dorés" (The Golden bastards), with whom he will soon present a new piece in Paris,
“Méduse” (Jellyfish)..
Nicolas Chupin is a former student of the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique in Paris. On stage, he has
worked with many directors including Michel Didym for Invasion, Philippe Calvario - Big and Small, Richard 3, The game of
love and chance, Philippe Torreton - Don Giovanni, Dominique Pitoiset - Cyrano de Bergerac, and Pauline Bureau Roberto Zucco, The best part of men and Mermaids. When it
comes to cinema, he has featured in Les Saveurs du Palais
(The flavours of the palace) by Christian Vincent, On my Way
by Emmanuelle Bercot, Joséphine s'arrondit (Josephine is
getting rounder) by Marilou Berry, and will soon grace our
screens in Patients by Fabien Marsaud and Medhi Idir as well
as Aurore Tabort by Blandine Lenoir.
He is currently playing in Dormir 100 ans (Sleeping for a hundred years) written and directed by Pauline Bureau.
Former student at the Conservatoire National, Maud Wyler
has played Roxane with Philippe Torreton in Cyrano de
Bergerac, Armande in Moliere’s Les femmes savantes, directed by Macha Makeïeff, and has worked for the theatre alongside a host of directors including Emmanuel Meirieu and Nicolas Maury. She has also worked with many moviemakers such
as Nicolas Klotz, Amos Gitaï, Cyril Mennegun, Jacques Maillot,
Benoît Jacquot and Sébastien Betbeder, and has also starred
in three short films by Erwan Le Duc.
Atmen Kelif studied at the Cours Florent and the Conservatoire National before being chosen by Jérôme Deschamps
and Macha Makeïeff to join the Deschiens comedy troupe. He
acted in his first films alongside Éric Rochant and has since featured in forty-odd films and TV dramas with directors as varied
as Pierre Jolivet, Marion Vernoux, Nadir Mokneche, Djamel
Bensalah and Édouard Baer, including the latter’s latest film,
Ouvert la nuit (Open at night). He has even appeared in work
by Woody Allen.
YAN TASSIN
THOMAS MORRIS
Yan Tassin trained at l’Ecole du Studio-Théâtre, Asnières, at
l’Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq and at the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. For the theatre,
he has worked alongside directors such as Antoine Bourseiller,
Patrick Chesnais, Nicolas Bouchaud, Emmanuel Darley and
Gilone Brun. In the movies, he has taken part in Lights Out by
Fabrice Gobert, selected at Cannes in 2010. He has also
been filmed by Anne Le Ny and Marine Place, and was involved in Talents Cannes Adami 2012.
Thomas Morris was born in Paris. Having trained as a tenor, he
has sung in operas on the most prestigious stages in the world
and taken part in many recordings. Since 2010, he has regularly collaborated with Macha Makeïeff for the Paris Opera and
for the theatre. This season, the press has unanimously lauded
his interpretation of Bélise, the erotomaniac aunt in Moliere’s
Trissotin ou femmes savantes. In 2011, Jean-Michel Ribes offered him the leading role of René l'énervé at the Rond-Point
theatre, Paris, and in 2013, he starred in “Ali Baba Marseille”,
40 short films directed by Macha Makeïef and written by Marie
Mandy for the Arte TV station.
ALEXANDRE STEIGER
Alexandre Steiger trained at the Conservatoire National
Supérieur d’Art Dramatique. For the theatre, he has worked
with many directors including Anne Kessler, Jean-Baptiste
Sastre, Denis Podalydès, Emmanuel Bourdieu, Olivier Treiner
and Karine Saporta. In the movies, he has been filmed by
Mathieu Kassovitz in Rebellion, Solveig Anspach in Louise
Michel and Queen of Montreuil, Nicolas Saada in Espions
(Spies), Anne Fontaine in The Girl from Monaco, Emmanuel
Bourdieu in Poison friends and Jalil Lespert in Yves-Saint Laurent. He has also been cast in three short films by Erwan Le
Duc.
WITH
Christophe Montenez
de la comédie française
Nicolas Chupin
Maud Wyler
Atmen Kelif
Yan Tassin
Alexandre Steiger
Thomas Morris
Directing and script ERWAN LE DUC - Photography NICOLAS MESDOM - 1st assistant directing CELIE VALDENAIRE - Script supervising
MARIE PRUAL - Sound MATTHIEU DESCAMPS - Editing LEA MASSON - Sound editing ALEXANDRE HECKER - Sound mixing GILLES BENARDEAU - Set design CHARLOTTE LUNEAU - Costume design JULIE MIEL - Production SEBASTIEN HAGUENAUER
FRANCE- COLOR - DCP - 1:33 - 39 MINUTES - 2016
Trailer : https://vimeo.com/163402145