Strange Case of Serge Bozon: Huppert, Depardieu & Duris Join “Madame Hyde”

Arte France Cinéma’s Director General Olivier Père dropped development news on future French cinema offerings with three new projects that will be supported by the entity. Thierry de Peretti will be directing Une vie violente (produced by Les Films Velvet) and The Secret of the Grain actress Hafsia Herzi will make her directorial debut with Bonnes Mères — she’ll see Quat’sous Films’ Abdellatif Kechiche on board as producer. And the focus of our interest here is: the cast and project info on Serge Bozon‘s fifth feature film. Scoring a career high with Tip Top, there are some creative pairings who’ll be doing some reuniting on Bozon’s Madame Hyde. Bozon reteams with scribe Axelle Ropert and Isabelle Huppert Tip Top, while  the actress reteams with Valley of Love co-star Gérard Depardieu. Romain Duris also joins the Films Pelléas production.

Gist: Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” and written by Bozon and Axelle Ropert, Mrs Géquil (Huppert), is a shy technical teacher in a professional high school who after a failed experiment, feels a mysterious new energy rising in her. Gérard Depardieu plays her husband and Romain Duris takes on the role of the school principal.

Worth Noting:  Axelle Ropert last directed Cédric Kahn, Laurent Stocker and Louise Bourgoin in 2013’s Tirez la langue, mademoiselle — the title was not released stateside.

Do We Care?: Tip Top was clearly Bozon’s best work to date — Nicholas Bell’s four star review mentioned how the film “resists traditional codes and cues, presenting a universe where nothing is in the kind of organized shape its title promises. For those reveling in the perverse and uniquely offbeat (especially when you throw Huppert and Kiberlain into the mix), Bozon’s Tip Top is not to be missed.” If this begins lensing next year — we’re thinking 2017 Cannes Film Fest inclusion is in the cards and with the framework of a more contempo setting (e.g:Kornél Mundruczós’ Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project), we’re extra thrilled — as we’ve had enough of the traditionally rehashed sloppy “monster” type film.