NOT MY TYPE / Pas Son Genre

 

North American Premiere • Romance • France, Belgium 2014

DCP •2.35 • Dolby 5.1 • Color • 111 min

 

Directed by: Lucas Belvaux

Written by: Lucas Belvaux after the novel by Philippe Vilain

Cinematography: Pierric Gantelmi d’Ille

Film Editing: Ludo Troch

Original Score: Frédéric Vercheval

Produced by: Patrick Sobelman (AGAT Films & Cie ex nihilo) and Patrick Quinet (Artemis)

Coproduced by: France 3 Cinéma

Cast: Émilie Dequenne (Jennifer), Loïc Corbery (Clément), Sandra Nkake (Cathy), Charlotte Talpaert (Nolwenn)

International Sales: Films Distribution

 

Everyone knows that opposites attract, but does that mean they can sustain a relationship? That’s the question posed when philosophy professor Clément is sent to teach in the northern town of Arras. Feeling like he’s been sentenced to a year in the sticks, things change when he meets Jennifer, a hairdresser. As she introduces Clément to the town’s hidden attractions, he is drawn to her warmth and directness, while she is smitten by his confidence and charm. On paper, the relationship shouldn’t work, after all, where he’s Kant she’s karaoke, where he’s high culture she’s celebrity culture, where he’s all about PhDs she’s all about BFFs. But there is simply no denying the heat they generate together. Émilie Dequenne and rising La Comédie Française star Loïc Corbery give us an object lesson in chemistry in this bittersweet across-the-tracks romance.

 

Belgian actor/writer/director Lucas Belvaux heard a radio report about author Philippe Vilain and secured the film rights to his novel that same day. Social division has been a recurrent theme throughout his nine films. His The Law of the Weakest (COLCOA 2007), nominated for a Palme d’Or, explores the harsh life of four unemployed social outcasts planning a hold-up, while Rapt (COLCOA 2010), nominated for a Best Film César, focuses on a wealthy financier’s unscrupulous family after he is kidnapped. Belvaux’s 2002 film Cavale, which critic James Travers called the “best French thriller for over a decade,” was the third installment of a trilogy that overlapped characters and storylines, but employed the comedy, melodrama and thriller genres respectively. His previous film 38 Witnesses also premiered at COLCOA in 2012. Belvaux has enjoyed a long career as a character actor, having appeared in dozens of films, including Olivier Assayas’ Disorder (1986). Not My Type will have its North American Premiere at COLCOA just before its French release.