THE WALL-CROSSER/ Le Passe-muraille

 

International Premiere • TV Movie • Comedy, fantasy • France, 2016

Blu-ray • Color • 16/9 • Dolby 5.1 • 94 min

Directed by: Dante Desarthe

Written by: Dante Desarthe, from Le Passe-Muraille by Marcel Aymé

Produced by: Les Films du Poisson

Cast: Denis Podalydès, Marie Dompnier, Scali Delpeyrat, Claude Perron, Maryvonne Schiltz 

International Sales: Lagardère Studios Distribution

Original Broadcast: Arte, 2016

 

The Arte-produced, Dante Desarthe-directed Ponzi’s Scheme (COLCOA 2015) was among the first crop of TV movies presented at COLCOA. Now Desarthe is back with another Arte-produced adaptation, this time taking more comedic inspiration from a short story by beloved French novelist, Marcel Aymé. Denis Podalydès, who over the course of his long career has portrayed the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre, André Malraux and Nicolas Sarkozy, stars as Émile Dutilleul, a modest office worker living a quiet, loveless life in Montmartre. Then he meets Ariane, an office newbie whose vivaciousness lights up his dull existence like a shooting star. As a matter of fact, Émile discovers that he now possesses the remarkable ability to pass through walls with ease. For the longest time, Émile’s been wondering what to do with his life. But with new possibilities opening before him, he suddenly has to ask himself what he shouldn’t do.