Festivals - Gerardmer 2024 : Sous la Seine - Work in Progress : A meeting with Xavier Gens and Bérénice Béjo

By Mulder, 11 january 2024

The Gérardmer Fantastic Film Festival will host the Sous la Seine - Work in Progress session on Saturday January 27 at 11:30 am at the Maison de la Culture et des Loisirs. Xavier Gens, director well known to Gérardmer audiences, will present a preview of exclusive images from his latest feature, Sous la Seine, which will be available this year on the Netflix platform.

Accompanied by actress Bérénice Bejo, co-president of last year's festival, Gens will share with the audience the secrets behind the making of the film, from its writing to its shooting in Paris, Spain and Belgium, including production and special effects. The meeting will be hosted by journalist Caroline Vié.

The story takes place in the summer of 2024, when Paris hosts the world triathlon championships on the Seine for the first time. Sophia, a brilliant scientist, alerted by Mika, a young environmental activist, discovers the presence of a great shark in the depths of the river. Forced to team up with Adil, commander of the river police, they seek to avoid a bloodbath in the heart of the city.

Dunkirk-born Xavier Gens has already made his mark with his first horror film, Frontière(s), presented at the Gérardmer Festival in 2008. With international successes such as the adaptation of the video game Hitman in 2007 and his post-apocalyptic horror film The Divide in 2011, Gens is a regular at the festival. In 2017, his fantasy fable Cold Skin also screened at Gérardmer, demonstrating his artistic versatility. In 2019, he produced Mounia Meddour's Papicha, selected at Un Certain Regard, then returned to cinema in 2023 with the action film Mayhem!(released last Friday in the United States).

The film is a political satire, linked to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo's promises to clean up the Seine in preparation for the swimming events. The film's story is also an ecological fable, dealing with the destruction of the planet and the influence of pollution and climate change on living species such as sharks. In what could be described as a remake of Jaws, the film explores the need to neutralize the shark to avoid a bloodbath in the heart of Paris. The shark in the film acts in self-defense rather than attacking for food, giving a unique perspective to this fantastical scenario.

The Sous la Seine - Work in Progress session promises to be a captivating moment for fans of fantastic cinema, offering a tantalizing foretaste of what Xavier Gens has in store for audiences with his new film. Admission is free with reservation, offering a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of this intriguing cinematic adventure.

Synopsis:
Summer 2024, Paris hosts the world triathlon championships on the Seine for the first time. Sophia, a brilliant scientist, is alerted by Mika, a young activist devoted to ecology, to the presence of a great shark in the depths of the river. They have no choice but to team up with Adil, commander of the river police, to prevent a bloodbath in the heart of the city.

Sous la Seine
Directed by Xavier Gens
Produced by Vincent Roget
Written by Yannick Dahan, Maud Heywang, Olivier Torres
Starring Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Anaïs Parello, Iñaki Lartigue, Julien Jakout, Léa Léviant
Music by Alex Cortés, Anthony d'Amario, Edouard Rigaudière
Cinematography : Nicolas Massart
Edited by Riwanon Le Beller
Production companies : KHV Films
Distributed by Netflix
Release date : 2024
Running time : NC