Movies - Notre-Dame on Fire : From tomorrow in all good theaters in France

By Mulder, 15 march 2022

"I immediately felt the extraordinary cinematographic merits. Beyond the disaster and the sorrow, of course, there is the emotion and the spectacle of fire. "Jean Jacques Annaud

Notre-Dame on Fire is a disaster film based on the Notre-Dame de Paris fire that occurred on April 15, 2019. The film is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud from a script written by Annaud and Thomas Bidegain. Produced by Pathé Films and TF1 Films Production, it is an international coproduction between France and Italy.

In April 2020, Jean-Jacques Annaud announced that he wanted to make a film about fire. He explains this choice later: "Obviously, I immediately felt the extraordinary cinematic merit. Beyond the catastrophe and the mourning, of course, there is precisely the emotion and the spectacle of the fire". The filmmaker had initially thought of making a documentary. The filming will begin in March 2021 in Bourges. The cathedral of Bourges is used for its resemblance to Notre Dame. The team then began shooting in the studio at the Cité du Cinéma. A sequence was then shot in mid-April in Versailles, in the station Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche. Sequences were also shot in the Notre-Dame cathedral in Amiens, whose spire and parts of the building are similar to those of Notre-Dame. The scenes of the beginning of the fire take place in the 13th century frame of the cathedral of Saint-Etienne de Sens. In this location, shots are also taken on the square, in the stairs of the towers and in the nave.

Notre-Dame en feu will be released in France on March 16, 2022, by Pathé Distribution, in IMAX, Dolby Cinema and standard formats.

Synopsis:
Jean-Jacques Annaud's feature film, reconstructs hour by hour the improbable reality of the events of April 15, 2019 when the cathedral suffered the most important disaster in its history. And how men and women put their lives at risk in a rocky and heroic rescue.

Notre-Dame on Fire
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Produced by Jérome Seydoux, Ardavan Safaee
Written by Thomas Bidegain, Jean-Jacques Annaud
With Samuel Labarthe, Jean-Paul Bordes, Mikaël Chirinian, Jérémie Laheurte, Maximilien Seweryn, Dimitri Storoge, Chloé Jouannet, Pierre Lottin, Jules Sadoughi, Vassili Schneider, Ava Baya, Nathan Gruffy, Sébastien Lalanne, Bernard Gabay, Oumar Diolo, Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Élodie Navarre, Chloé Chevallier, Tony Le Bacq, Miguel Facchiano, Maxime Grandemange, Daniel Horn, Pascal Rénéric
Music : Simon Frangien
Cinematography : Jean-Marie Dreujou
Editing : Reynald Bertrand
Production companies: Pathé, TF1 Films
Distributed by Pathé
Release date: March 16, 2022 (France)
Running time: 110 minutes