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EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas has acquired world sales rights for Pierre Salvadori’s offbeat period drama Vénus Electrificata, set against the backdrop of the early 20th century Paris art world and starring Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche and Vimala Pons.
The company is launching sales on the title at the 28th Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris which kicks off today and runs until January 20.
Marmaï, seen recently in Netflix’s period drama Nero the Assassin and the hit The Three Muskeeters duology, stars as painter Antoine who has lost all inspiration and slipped into alcoholism since the death of his wife Irène, a loss he blames himself for.
Demoustier (The Count of Monte Cristo) plays Suzanne, a penniless sideshow performer pretending to be a clairvoyant, whom Antoine consults in a bid to connect with Irène, played by Pons (Vincent Must Die).
Antoine’s art dealer Armand (Lellouche), desperate to keep Antoine from falling apart, urges Suzanne to keep the ruse alive. She stages a series of improvised hypnosis sessions, claiming she can channel Irène in exchange for having her debts paid by Armand. An unexpected bond begins to grow.
The cast also features actor and director Gustave Kervern (Delete History) and Madeleine Baudot (Happening).
Actor, director and writer Salvadori previously made waves with romantic action comedy The Trouble With You, co-starring Marmaï opposite Adèle Hanael and Audrey Tautou. It world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2018, winning the SACD prize.
He co-wrote the screenplay for his new feature with Benjamin Charbit and Benoît Graffin from an original idea by Rebecca Zlotowski (A Private Life) and Robin Campillo (Enzo).
Philippe Martin at Les Pelléas Films, which is enjoying a buzzy awards season as producer of Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Canne Palme d’Or winner and Oscar hopeful It Was Just An Accident, lead produces
Coproducers are Sandrine Dumas at Paris-based Pio & Co and Jacques-Henri Bronckart and Tatjana Kozar at Belgium’s Versus Production as well as Salvadori, under his Tovo Films banner, with French broadcaster France 2 also on board. Les Pelléas Films’ David Thion takes an associate producer credit.
Diaphana has taken French rights for the film, which it plans to release under the title of La Venus Electrique, while O’Brother has Benelux rights, via its parent company Versus Production.
Goodfellas is showing a promo-reel for the feature which is currently in post-production and aiming for a late spring-early summer festival debut.
The company is also working on consolidating sales on Claire Denis’ The Fence and Arnaud Desplechin’s Two Pianos at the French cinema-focused Unifrance Paris Rendez-Vous, while upcoming international titles on its wider slate include Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, Hanna Bergholm’s Nightborn and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Sheep in the Box.
English (US) ·