THE RESTLESS
(LES INTRANQUILLES)
Tuesday, November 2 – Renoir Theatre – 7:45 pm
(Screening ends at 9:55 pm)
+ Short Film Presentation: INSPECTION
Followed by a discussion with actor Damien Bonnard
WORLD CINEMA COPRODUCED BY FRANCE
Presented in Association with:
Lux Box,
Alliance Française de Los Angeles
North American Premiere | Belgium, France | 2021 | Drama | 118 min |
In French with English subtitles
Directed by: Joachim Lafosse
Written by: Lou du Pontavice, Juliette Goudot, Anne-Lise Morin, François Pirot, Chloé Léonil, Pablo Guarise,
Produced by: Anton Iffland Stettner, Éva Kuperman (Stenola Productions), Antonino Lombardo (Prime Time), Jani Thiltges (Samsa Film), Alexandre Gavras (KG Productions),
Cinematography: Jean-François Hensgens
Film Editing: Marie-Hélène Dozo
Original Score: Òlafur Arnalds, Antoine Bodson
Cast: Leïla Bekhti (Leïla), Damien Bonnard (Damien), Gabriel Merz Chammah (Amine), Patrick Descamps (Patrick), Jules Waringo (Jérôme), Alexandre Gavras (Serge)
International Sales: Lux Box
Damien Bonnard (Les Miserables – COLCOA 2019) and Leïla Bekhti give tour-de-force performances in this tense, tender, often-heartbreaking portrait of a family torn apart by mental illness. Damien is an impassioned painter who happens to be bipolar. Leila spends her days worrying about him and trying to keep their little boy safe. Yet the film’s intimacy and incandescent moments of joy and love — and an up-close-and-personal camera style — provide warmth and specificity, rendering three extraordinarily complex characters in vivid, merciless detail. The fact that the director’s own father suffered from bi-polar disorder partially explains the extraordinary level of truth in this beautiful, moving, very powerful film.
Belgian writer/director Joachim Lafosse has made nine feature films to date. His first short Tribu (2001) won the Best Belgian Short Award at the Namur Film Festival. His first feature, Folie privée (2004), won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Bratislava International Film Festival. His semi-autobiographical What Makes You Happy (2006) took the Grand Prize at the Premiers Plans d’Angers Festival. Nue Propriété (2006) debuted at the Venice Film Festival, where it won a SIGNIS Award, and received a Best Film Award by the Belgian Film Critics Association. Our Children (2012 – now on COLCOA Virtual Cinema) premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, where Émelie Dequenne was honored with the Best Actress Award; the film also won four Magritte Awards (Belgian Oscars), including Best Film and Best Director. Four years later, After Love (now on COLCOA Virtual Cinema) was in selection in the Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight section. The Restless premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
