2012 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Alice Winocour’s Augustine

Gist: A period piece that reads like Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, up-and-comer actress Soko (from the Cannes selected In the Beginning) takes on the title role of a young woman with hysteria, while Vincent Lindon plays doctor with an  invested interest. Set in 1885’s Paris set Pitié Salpêtrière hospital, the young patient moves from an object of study to an object of desire. Supporting players include Chiara Mastroianni, Grégoire Colin and (from the pic above) Roxane Duran — the young thesp in Cannes selected titles such as The White Ribbon and 17 Girls.

Prediction: Alice Winocour already has a rich history with the festival – as a short film helmer (her 2005 short film, Kitchen was selected in the Short Film Comp – watch here) and as a scribe in the co-written Home (2008) starring Isabelle Huppert, which made a huge splash in the section back in 2008, and with Ordinary People (2009). Both of those features were included in the Critics’ Week line-up, so this Cannes 2011 Atelier project would be an ideal selection for the section because of such patronage, but I wouldn’t discount a Directors’ Fortnight showing either.