Louise-Michel (2008)

Directors:

Gustave de Kervern
Benoît Delépine

Writers:

Benoît Delépine (screenplay)
Gustave de Kervern (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 December 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

What to do when the workers of a factory have been laid off overnight? Louise has an original idea: why not pool the compensation money to ...

Plot Keywords:

Factory | Money | Boss | Watching TV | Hyphen In Title

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Yolande Moreau	...	Louise Ferrand
Bouli Lanners	...	Michel Pinchon
Benoît Poelvoorde	...	Guy l'ingénieur
Albert Dupontel	...	Miro
Joseph Dahan	...	L'employé des pompes funèbres
Mathieu Kassovitz	...	Le propriétaire de la ferme
Agnès Aubé	...	La veuve
Kafka	...	Flambart, le sous-directeur (as Francis Kuntz)
Hervé Desinge	...	Le directeur de l'usine en Picardie
Fabienne Berne	...	La secrétaire
Terence Debarle	...	Terence
Yannick Jaulin	...	L'employé de banque
Jacqueline Knuysen	...	Jackie
Sylvie Van Hiel	...	Sylvie, la déléguée syndicale
Pierrette Broodthaers	...	Pierrette
Christine Ancelin	...	Christine
Patricia Sageot	...	Patricia
Sylvie Sageot	...	Sylvie
Béatrice Croisille	...	Béatrice
Stéphanie Davergne	...	Stéphanie
Marguerite Ducroquet	...	Marguerite
Jackye De Nayer	...	La patronne du bar à hôtesses
Garance Fiévet	...	Garance
Lumir Richet	...	Lumir
Jean-Michel Carlier	...	1er client
Philippe Arezki	...	2e client
Benoît Delépine	...	3e client
Jawad Enejjaz	...	Le serveur du bar louche
Lémi Cétol	...	L'homme à la collerette
Eric Martin	...	L'homme qui rit
Catherine Hosmalin	...	Madame Pinchon - la mère de Michel
Siné	...	M. Pinchon - le père de Michel
Alanis Freitag	...	Michel Pinchon enfant
Pierre Renverseau	...	Le prof de gym
Miss Ming	...	La cousine Jennifer
Jean-Louis Barcelona	...	Le serveur de fromages
Aurore Lagache	...	La femme du propriétaire de la ferme bio
Jacky Lambert	...	Le réceptionniste
Philippe Katerine	...	Le chanteur de cabaret
Dominique Delhotte	...	Le barman du cabaret
Christophe Salengro	...	Le gogo-dancer
Olivier Simola	...	Un client du cabaret
Pascal Rabaté	...	Le père de famille au petit-déjeuner
Clotilde Delcommune	...	L'hôtesse d'accueil du siège Nin-Nin
Aurélia Petit	...	L'hôtesse en Segway
Nicolas Crousse	...	Le cadre miraculé
Gustave de Kervern	...	Le capitaine du bateau (as Gustave Kervern)
Frédéric Pierre	...	Le second du bateau
Stephane Canda	...	Le cadre pressé
Guillaume Le Bras	...	L'avocat (as Guillaume Le Braz)
Denis Robert	...	Le vigile
Jean-Luc Ormières	...	Le businessman
Charles Steve Davey	...	Le vieux rocker
Aliette Langolff-Colas	...	La femme du businessman (as Aliette Langolff)
Anaïs Samoko	...	Le bébé adopté
Duarte Prioste	...	Le vigile 'nain de jardin'
Robert Dehoux	...	L'aumônier prison
Isabelle Delépine	...	La sage-femme
Manaël Simola-Bourgaux	...	Le bébé
Frank Benoist	...	Le policier (as Franck Benoist)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dodo Avrel	...	Bar tender

Directed by
Gustave de Kervern
Benoît Delépine

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gustave de Kervern		screenplay (as Gustave Kervern)
Benoît Delépine		screenplay

Produced by
Rémi Burah	....	co-producer
Benoît Jaubert	....	producer
Mathieu Kassovitz	....	producer
Elisa Larrière	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Gaëtan Roussel

Cinematography by
Hugues Poulain

Film Editing by
Stéphane Elmadjian

Production Design by
Paul Chapelle

Set Decoration by
Laurent Weber

Costume Design by
Cécile Roullier

Makeup Department
Frédéric Balmer	....	special makeup effects artist
Geraldine Garetier	....	key makeup artist
Alexis Kinebanyan	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Anne Bennet	....	production manager
Loïc Jouanjan	....	unit production manager
Elisa Larrière	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gérard Bonnet	....	first assistant director
Cécile Roullier	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Galina Bouquet	....	assistant property master
Sylvie Cousin	....	painter
Alexis Kinebanyan	....	assistant property master
Fabrice L'Hereec	....	carpenter
Nicolas Lefèbvre	....	second assistant production designer
Franz Merckling	....	carpenter
Julien Poitou-Weber	....	property master
Fabien Tuizat	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Laurent Cercleux	....	boom operator
Gregoire Couzinier	....	sound re-recording mixer
Thomas Couzinier	....	supervising sound editor
François Devin	....	boom operator
Florent Lavallée	....	foley recordist
Guillaume Le Bras	....	sound
Alexis Place	....	sound editor
Matthieu Roche	....	assistant sound

Visual Effects by
Chadi Abo	....	visual effects supervisor
François-Xavier Aubague	....	visual effects producer
Xavier Perol	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Jacques Ballard	....	electrician
Stephane Canda	....	key grip
Julie Conte	....	first assistant camera
Michel Foropon	....	gaffer
Rachel Perez	....	first assistant camera: first week
Synchro X.	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Géraldine Bastien	....	costumer
Natacha Diehl	....	seamstress
Catherine Duros	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Mélanie Bénard	....	assistant editor
Jonathan Lepage	....	post-production assistant
Nadine Makris	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Thomas Couzinier	....	music editor

Other crew
Jean-Yves Achard	....	weapons designer
Hélène Grand	....	script supervisor
François Guerrar	....	press attache (as François Hassan Guerrar)
Laurent Hanon	....	location manager: Brussels
Jean-François Landon	....	caterer
Yann Landon	....	caterer
Stephane Lieser	....	lawyer
Christophe Mahé	....	production administrator
Marine Meillan	....	assistant: Mathieu Kassovitz
Marine Meillan	....	production assistant
Julie Sadeg	....	production secretary
Charlotte Tourret	....	press attache

Production Companies

• MNP Entreprise
• No Money Productions (co-production)
• arte France Cinéma (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Région Picardie (support)
• Département de l'Aisne (support)

Distributors

• KOOL Filmdistribution (2009) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Kosmorama (2009) (Norway) (theatrical)
• Polyfilm Verleih (2009) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Sunrise Film Distribution (2009) (Denmark) (theatrical)
• Ad Vitam Distribution (2008) (France) (all media)
• Alambique Destilaria de Ideias Unipessoal (2010) (Portugal) (all media)
• ArtCam (2009) (Czech Republic) (all media)
• Axiom Films (2010) (UK) (all media)
• Cirko Film (2008) (Hungary) (all media)
• Columbus Film (2008) (Switzerland) (all media)
• Demiurg (2009) (Slovenia) (all media)
• Fandango (2009) (Italy) (all media)
• Films de l'Elysée, Les (2008) (Belgium) (all media)
• Funfilm Distribution (2009) (Canada) (all media)
• Funny Balloons (2008) (worldwide) (all media)
• Independenta Film (2009) (Romania) (all media)
• Indigo (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
• Maywin Media (2009) (Russia) (all media)
• Vendetta Films (2009) (New Zealand) (all media)

Special Effects

• BUF

Other Companies

• Diot Belan  insurance
• Kouz Production  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Argentina:94 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | France:94 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

France:U | Germany:16 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company:

MNP Entreprise

Trivia:

Award: Amphore d'or du meilleur film grolandais à Quend (Somme), 2008.

Movie Connections:

References RoboCop (1987)

Soundtrack:

Ouais Ouais Ouais Formidable !

pure nonsense

"Louise-Michel" is an independent French black comedy, where being "alternative" becomes something for its own sake, and at the end we can't make out where the point is. The first part shows a sarcastic, sometimes alienating, mix of contrasting situations and moods, arousing contrasting feelings, from fun to sadness: if we think of the contrast between the dying cousin and really funny scene with the dog, we fell disoriented. The overall tone may appear too sardonic, lacking sensitivity, but I thought it was something searched for in order to avoid too melodramatic and attitude, when portraying the mutability of human life, with its sudden turns from joy to sadness. But as the story progresses, the movie goes deeper and deeper into the purest nonsense and it is almost impossible to find a meaning, except the total absence of meaning in human life. The scene where Louise and Michel dance drunk after having killed some people reminded me of the two protagonists of "Waiting for Godot", the most representative piece of drama of the theatre of the absurd by T. Beckett, where two tramps treat themselves violently and dance in a complete world of pure nonsense, where absurdity prevails. Used as I am to make out some sense in everything I experience and also in every movie I see, I think this movie prevents me from doing this, being the denial of any sense at the core of its intention. I don't know if the final scene may have been devised as a kind of redemption from all the evil we have seen, but I did not perceive it as such, being moreover mixed up with some pointless gender confusion. Rather ridiculous.