Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #5. Guillaume Nicloux’s The Valley of Love

The Valley of Love

Director: Guillaume Nicloux // Writer: Guillaume Nicloux

Even with eleven feature films under his belt, director Guillaume Nicloux remains the least recognizable name on our top ten list, but his last two features have significantly elevated his international status, including his 2013 remake of the Jacques Rivette film The Nun (based on the novel by Denis Diderot, which starred Isabelle Huppert, Martina Gedeck, Louise Bourgoin and newcomer Pauline Etienne. While that film never received US distribution, his 2014 title, The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq was picked up by Kino Lorber after winning Best Screenplay at Tribeca and will receive a theatrical release in the US next spring. Nicloux’s latest promises to be his most anticipated to date, reuniting film stars Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu, who last worked together in the excellent Maurice Pialat film, Loulou (1980). Filming in California, the film concerns the story revolves around Isabelle and Gérard, who lost their son six months ago. However, before he died, he sent them a letter in which he invites them to go to Death Valley, at the very heart of the United States. Despite the apparent absurdity of the situation, the mother and father decide to go there anyway and wait for him. Anything Huppert is in should be of immediate interest, an international auteur darling, and Depardieu looks to have an exemplary year ahead with this and his presence in Kechiche’s The Real Wound.

Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Gerard Depardieu

Producers:  Les Films du Worso’s Sylvie Pialat and Benoît Quainon (Jauja), LGM Cinéma’s Cyril Colbeau-Justin and Jean-Baptiste-Dupont (Les garçons et Guillaume, à table!)

U.S. Distributor: Rights available.

Release Date: Prior to The Nun premiering in Berlin, Nicloux hasn’t had a strong festival presence (though his 1992 film La Vie Crevee played at Locarno). The iconic French pedigree in front of the camera for this title seems to prime it for a Cannes berth, perhaps Director’s Fortnight.

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