The Girl from Monaco (2008) La fille de Monaco (original title)

Director:

Anne Fontaine

Writers:

Anne Fontaine (writer)
Benoît Graffin (writer)

Release Date:

20 August 2008 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Bertrand Beauvois, a well-known attorney, is in Monte Carlo to defend a businessman's mother who murdered a gigolo with ties to gangsters...

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Bodyguard | Promiscuity | Weather Girl | Gigolo

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Fabrice Luchini	...	Bertrand Beauvois
Roschdy Zem	...	Christophe Abadi
Stéphane Audran	...	Édith Lassalle
Gilles Cohen	...	Louis Lassalle
Alexandre Steiger	...	Alain
Philippe Duclos	...	Inspecteur Taurand
Jeanne Balibar	...	Hélène
Hélène de Saint-Père	...	Carolina
Louise Bourgoin	...	Audrey Varella
Christophe Vandevelde	...	Tony
Pierre Bourgeon	...	Boulie
Claire Joseph	...	La fille du groupe
Denis Dallan	...	Denis
Marine Renoir	...	Danseuse à la piscine
Francisca Viudes	...	La cliente de l'hotel
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mario Barravecchia	...	Mario
Iliona Blanc	...	The friend at the party
Antoine Blanquefort	...	Le présentateur JT
Patty Demedikle	...	La mère d'Audrey
Antonio Esposito	...	Le père d'Audrey
Jean-François Fagour	...	Le vigile du Carrément
André Ferran	...	Le président du tribunal
Jack-Alexandre Gouillard	...	Le copain d'Audrey scooter
Marie Grujicic-Delage	...	Danseuse a la piscine (as Marie Grujicic)
Eric Haldezos	...	Playboy in nightclub
Marco Panzani	...	Le patron du restaurant
Jo Prestia	...	Aldo le prisonnier
Bernard Rosselli	...	Roberto
Marie-Agnès Sibertin-Blanc	...	L'avocate de la partie civile
Anton Yakovlev	...	L'homme slave
Nadine François	...	La femme aux paillettes (uncredited)

Directed by
Anne Fontaine

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Anne Fontaine		writer
Benoît Graffin		writer

Produced by
Philippe Carcassonne	....	producer
Bruno Pésery	....	producer
Christine Raspillère	....	line producer

Original Music by
Philippe Rombi

Cinematography by
Patrick Blossier

Film Editing by
Maryline Monthieux

Casting by
Antoinette Boulat

Production Management
Germain Robin	....	assistant unit manager
Sophie Vermersch	....	post-production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mallorie Ballestra-Duquesnoy	....	trainee assistant director
Aurore Coppa	....	additional third assistant director
Olivier Coutard	....	first assistant director
Anne Gilles	....	second assistant director
Stephane Martel	....	third assistant director
Nathalie Nouaili	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Lionel Callari	....	property master
Britta Demasse	....	set dresser
Jérôme Poirier	....	property master

Sound Department
Laurent Boudaud	....	sound re-recording mixer
Franck Desmoulins	....	sound editor
Thomas Gastinel	....	boom operator
Anne Gibourg	....	additional sound editor
Jean-Pierre Laforce	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jean-Claude Laureux	....	sound editor
Guillaume Leriche	....	adr engineer
Rafael Ridao	....	boom operator
Brigitte Taillandier	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Alexandre Bon	....	visual effects supervisor
Berengere Dominguez	....	visual effects coordinator
Christian Guillon	....	visual effects producer
Audrey Kleinclaus	....	visual effects producer: L'EST
Sabine Lineres	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Catherine Robert	....	stunt double
Sébastien Seveau	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Blanckaert	....	first assistant camera
David Chambille	....	second assistant camera
Baby Mathieu	....	video assistant
Jean-Claude Moireau	....	still photographer
Charlet Recors	....	aerial cameraman

Casting Department
Dorothée Chesnot	....	additional casting
Frederic Dagmey	....	extras casting assistant (as Fred Dagmey)
Stéphanie Doncker	....	extras casting assistant
Kasia Krynska	....	additional casting
Sandie Perez	....	extras casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Céline Collobert	....	set costumer
Karen Muller Serreau	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Jerome Brechet	....	dailies color grader
Karen Cerutti	....	assistant editor
Gilles Granier	....	dailies color grader (uncredited)

Music Department
Jean-Pierre Arquie	....	music consultant
Benjamin Caillaud	....	music editor
Cecile Coutelier	....	music assistant engineer
Alexis Rault	....	music supervisor
Stéphane Reichart	....	music scoring mixer
Marie Sabbah	....	music consultant

Transportation Department
Damien Clement	....	driver: cast

Other crew
Marie Barré	....	location scout
Lionel Berner	....	assistant location manager
Aurélie David	....	assistant script
Corinne Devaux	....	choreographer
Agathe Grau	....	script supervisor
Nicolas Leclerc	....	production assistant
Salvadori Olivier	....	production staff
Nicolas Piechaczek	....	location manager
Guillaume Plumejeau	....	location scout
Manuel Pouet	....	location scout
Pauline Pésery	....	production assistant
Jennifer Simonnet	....	assistant location manager

Production Companies

• Canal+
• CinéCinéma
• Cofinova 4 (in association with)
• Soudaine Compagnie

Distributors

• Alliance Lumiere (2009) (India) (theatrical)
• Films de l'Elysée, Les (2009) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Filmtrade (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Hagi (2009) (Poland) (theatrical)
• Imovision (2009) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Luxor Entertainment (2009) (Russia) (theatrical)
• MFA Filmdistribution (2009) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2009) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Pathé (2009) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Seville Pictures (2009) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Audio Visual Entertainment (2009) (Greece) (DVD)
• Imovision (2009) (Brazil) (all media)
• Prorom Media-Trade (2009) (Romania) (all media)
• Warner Bros. (2008) (France) (all media)
• Warner Vision France (2008) (France) (all media)

Special Effects

• L'Etude et la Supervision des Trucages (L'E.S.T.) (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Film Music Services  music consulting

Also Known As:

"La fille de Monaco" - France (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content and language

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Italian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Malaysia:18 | Australia:M

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Teen Wolf: The Tell (#1.5)" (2011)

Le flop de Monaco...

Director Anne Fontaine ambitiously tries to mix traditional rom-com elements with drama. If she had succeeded, La fille de Monaco could have been a standout movie in 2008. Unfortunately, the end result feels awkward and we are left unable to connect with the movie or the characters.

Fabrice Luchini plays Bertrand Beauvois, an elite lawyer coming to Monaco to work a high- profile case. He is assigned a bodyguard, Christophe (Roschdy Zem) and while in Monaco, develops a relationship with a quirky weather girl (Louise Bourgoin) who was formerly romantically involved with the man assigned to protect him.

Audrey, our weather forecast girl is considerably younger than Beauvois and her behaviour will remind many viewers of traditional movies where a (usually stuck up) guy sees his life turned a little upside down by a wild woman. It helps that Louise Bourgoin is absolutely stunning. The classic European look you would expect in a Bond Girl. Unfortunately, her acting is not as great as her looks, which makes this Love Triangle of a sort rather inefficient.

Luchini and Zem have slightly more chemistry and the bound they form as protector and protected is potentially interesting but never fully realized. The contrasts between the two (social class, education, outlook on life) still provides for the only interesting bits in the film.

Unfortunately, the film suddenly and unexpectedly slides into very dramatic territory. I do love when a movie elegantly does this but because of lack of character development, it is difficult to buy the turn of events experienced here.

I would be curious to see more of Fontaine's work because I love the general direction and tone this movie was going for, but it failed in the execution. Better casting and more work on the script could have led to a balanced movie that would have been haunting and powerful.

But in its actual state, it just ends up being a forgettable movie because it fails to engage us enough to care about the events unfolding.