Movies - On the black roads : Discover the trailer

By Mulder, 17 january 2023

On the black roads  (Sur les chemins noirs) is a French film directed by Denis Imbert and scheduled to be released on March 22, 2023 in France. It is an adaptation of the story of the same name by Sylvain Tesson. Filming begins on September 14, 2021 in Tende. It will take place until November in several regions, in order to take into account the route taken by Sylvain Tesson, from the Alpes-Maritimes to the English Channel, including the Cantal5, Creuse6 and Indre-et-Loire.

Sylvain Tesson was the victim on August 21, 2014 of a fall of several meters while climbing, drunk, the facade of the chalet of his friend Jean-Christophe Rufin in Savoie. Plunged into a coma for several weeks in the hospital in Annecy, suffering from multiple fractures, he is a victim of facial paralysis and must perform extensive rehabilitation sessions to regain his motor skills. To this end, he decided to undertake a journey in France in all its south-east/north-west diagonal by taking only the small black roads indicated on the IGN maps at 1/25 000e. The book at the genesis of this film is the story of this journey of reappropriation of his body. This journey is an opportunity to rediscover what the author calls the black paths: trails, tracks, historical traces of rural France. The black paths will allow Sylvain Tesson to recover his physical capacities as a walker, but also to enjoy the passage of time, silence and immobility. The black paths allow him for a time to escape from a globalized society, called the age of flux by the author.  A true bestseller, Sur les chemins noirs has sold more than 230,000 copies in its large format edition alone.

On the black roads has already been adapted for the stage by actor and director Laurent Soffiati (Ideal Cinema Company). The adaptation follows the story of this man who walks, his desire for exploration and physical reconstruction through the movement of the body, between the beauty of the landscapes and intimate journeys. The show was created on June 11, 2021 at the Scènes des Trois Ponts theater in Castelnaudary.

Synopsis
After a stupid accidental fall that put him in a coma and left him with heavy physical after-effects, Pierre, a well-known writer, decides, despite the opposition of his doctors, to walk from the Mercantour Park to the nose of Jobourg, following the diagonal of France's void. Throughout his hike, he regularly recalls his past before his accident, where he had a dissolute and alcoholic life, which leads him to wonder about the meaning of life.

On the black roads 
Directed by Denis Imbert
Produced by Clément Miserez, Matthieu Warter
Written by Denis Imbert and Diastème
 based on the story Sur les chemins noirs by Sylvain Tesso 
Starring Jean Dujardin, Joséphine Japy, Jonathan Zaccaï, Dylan Robert, Anny Duperey , Izïa Higelin
Cinematography: Magali Sylvestre de Sacy 
Production companies: Radar Films
Distributed by Apollo Films / TF1 Studio (France)
Release date : march 22, 2023 (France)
Running time : NC