Top 200 Most Anticipated Films for 2014: #154. Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s My Friend Victoria

My Friend Victoria (Mon amie Victoria)

Director: Jean-Paul Civeyrac
Writers: Jean-Paul Civeyrac
Producer(s): Les Films Pelleas
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Catherine Mouchet, Pascal Greggory, Aurore Broutin

Director Jean-Paul Civeyrac has debuted his films at notable festivals for years now, yet his works don’t seem to get US distribution. Now, with his 8th feature, he turns to Doris Lessing for inspiration, a British author whose works seem to be an inspiration for many French directors (last year Anne Fontaine made her English language debut with Adore, an adaptation of a Lessing story). Mouchet and Broutin are actresses that have popped up in a number of notable features, while Pascal Greggory is always a welcome addition to any cast (he also headlined 2007’s La France, from Civeyrac’s contemporary, Serge Bozon).

Gist: Based on the novel by Doris Lessing, Victoria, an 8 year-old black girl from a poor background, who by chance discovers the life of a bourgeois family and marvels at it. Years later, she meets Thomas again, one of the sons of this family. Marie is born of their short love story. Victoria decides not to tell Thomas about her and raises her child alone. When Marie is seven years old, Victoria decides that her daughter should have a better future than she did and turns to this family she had lost sight of.

Release Date: Shooting commenced in August of last year. His last film, 2010’s Young Girls In Black premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight, so we’re assuming this may make an appearance there or in the Un Certain Regard.

[related]Top 200 Most Anticipated Films of 2014[/related]