Les passagers de la nuit (Night Birds)
His film festival bingo card includes Locarno (2010’s Memory Lane), Rotterdam (2016’s This Summer Feeling), and Venice (2018’s Amanda – read review) and you can bet your bottom dollar with the star wattage in the trio of Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Noée Abita that his fourth feature will be heading to a major European comp premiere as well. Mikhaël Hers‘ Les passagers de la nuit (Night Birds) began production back in February of 2021 (not too obvious during the pandemic) for a set in the 80’s drama. Co-written alongside the prolific scribe Maud Ameline, this is the third project collab between Hers and Nord-Ouest Films’ Pierre Guyard. Sébastien Buchmann (whose 2022 output will include Don Juan and Le Parfum vert). Again Hers favors portraits on fractured families.
Gist: Taking place in 1980’s Paris, abandoned by husband, Elisabeth finds herself alone, responsible for the day-to-day care of her two teenage children. She picks up a job on a night-time radio show, where she meets Talulah (Noée Abita), a listless youngster living on the margins whom she promptly decides to take under her wing.
Release Date/Prediction: This might be a contender for the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlinale.
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