Movies - Mon héroine: The movie event to discover in France this Wednesday

By Mulder, 10 december 2022

"20 years ago, when I was a film student in Rouen, the city where I grew up, I made a short film: Calling Julia Roberts, which told the story of a young girl who wanted to give her script to the American star. The reality exceeded the fiction because I went on a whim to New York to give my short to Julia Roberts. This story was the starting point for the writing of Mon héroine. I went back to the images of my trip to New York in 2001. I was struck by the recklessness, the energy, the tenacity of my 20s, that feeling that anything was possible. I wanted to tell the story of a young woman who believes in her dreams and goes all the way. I also wanted to explore the theme of the passage to adulthood, a universal subject, and the preponderant place of our loved ones in this key transition period in our lives. This project is my childhood dream. And like Alex in the film, I left with a short film for Julia... and I came back with a film for myself. Dreaming is like breathing, it's vital. And in Normand, nothing is impossible!" Noémie Lefort

This Wednesday, December 14, 2022, the first film co-written and directed by Noémie Lefort will be released in France.

Born in Rouen in 1980, Noémie Lefort has always had a passion for cinema. With a small camera, she directed fake commercials, clips and short films before joining the BTS in audiovisual cinema at Pierre Corneille high school in Rouen. A fan of Julia Roberts, she dreamed of making a film with her and to prove that it was possible, she shot a short film entitled Calling Julia Roberts which told the story of a young girl who wanted to give her script to the American star. In June 2001, at the age of 20, armed only with her determination, she decided to go through with the adventure and flew to New York to give her short film to Julia Roberts' production company. Her bet succeeded and she returned to France.

Daring pays off. Thanks to her New York adventure, she is entrusted with the animation, direction and production of a film program on France 3 Normandie: Clap! (2001/2005). She also presents theatrical releases every Wednesday live in the 12/14, still on France 3 Normandie. Then she became a journalist on M6 for Grand écran (2005/2006). In 2007, she started producing and two years later founded her company "Little Frog Production" which produces video content: Epk, clips, documentaries, making of for Disney, Universal, Paramount, Sony and Netflix. It is within this framework that she directs for Disney the Clip of "Bleu lumière", the flagship song of the animated film Vaiana : la légende du bout du monde. In 2015, she directed her short film Le tourbillon with Diane Dassigny, distributed internationally by the short film agency. Mon héroine, produced by Universal is her first feature film.

Noémie Lefort had managed to contact Shoelace Productions, Julia Roberts' company, through Thea De Sousa, who was in charge of reading the scripts and writing reading notes. She told Lefort that there was a process to follow and that things didn't work that way. "I then told her that next time I would try with Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts' great rival at the time, and maybe it would work. I think she laughed at the line of humor, and she gave me a date. In the elevator, I wasn't laughing at all, because I was a film student and I had just made a short film for which I had, in addition, pirated Julia Roberts' films. In fact I was very well received by Thea, even if she didn't really know what to do with me. I didn't come with a script, but with a finished short film which was my end of year project, and I came just to say thank you to Julia. By the way, I was the only one who entered the production house. You have to know that she was not allowed to do that, she could lose her job. But I think she liked me, due to the fact that I came from France just to prove my love to Julia and say thank you." Eventually, the members of the production company viewed and appreciated her short film. On her last visit to their offices, Noémie Lefort passed a woman with sunglasses on her way out: it was the American star! "The elevator doors closed on her iconic smile and I was paralyzed in the lobby. I decided not to go back up, so as not to ruin everything I had achieved and I'm glad I didn't."

Mon héroine was the first film shot in New York after the lockdown. When filming began in France, the borders were still closed in the United States. Fortunately, they reopened in time, but the crew had no preparation time on location. The preparation was therefore done remotely, via Google Maps or Face Time, including the casting of the American actors.

My review will be online this Wednesday evening because I could not free myself during the day to discover this film in a press screening and also because of the absence of invitation for the preview in Paris or one close to our headquarters in Magny-Le Hongre. 

Synopsis : 
Since his youngest age, Alex has only dreamed of one thing: making films. But in Rouen, her daily life is far from the Hollywood glamour. Overprotected by her mother Mathilde, she hopes to enter a prestigious film school in New York. Unfortunately, everything doesn't go as planned and her dreams are brutally shattered. Refusing to accept her fate, Alex decides to leave for the Big Apple with the help of her eccentric aunt Juliette for a crazy project: to give her script to Julia Roberts. Quickly joined by Mathilde, this New York adventure will mark for the three women the beginning of a new stage in their lives and bring them closer than ever.

Mon Héroine
Directed by Noémie Lefort
Produced by Matthieu Zeller, Matthieu Gondinet
Written by Noémie Lefort, Fadette Drouard
Starring Chloé Jouannet, Pascale Arbillot, Louise Coldefy, Brigitte Fossey, Firmine Richard, Chris Marques, Zoé Schellenberg, Tricia Merrick, Jean-François Cayrey, Frédéric Épaud, Astrid Roos , Diane Dassigny 
Music by Pur-Sang
Cinematography : Nathalie Durand
Edited by Riwanon Le Beller 
Production companies : Universal Pictures, Indy Films Production, Octopolis
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date : December 14, 2022 (France)
Running time : 108 minutes

Photos : Copyright Universal Pictures

(Source : press kit)