Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2021: #89. Emmanuelle Bercot’s De son vivant

Published on January 2, 2021

De son vivant

Emmanuelle Bercot reteams with Catherine Deneuve for her sixth feature, De son vivant (In His Lifetime) but unfortunately, Deneuve suffered a minor stroke (ironically, while filming a scene set in a hospital) back in November of 2019. Produced by Les Films du Kiosque and France 2 Cinema, this was written by Marcia Romano (who also wrote Bercot’s 2015 title Standing Tall – read review). Joining Bercot’s team is DP Yves Cape (Carax’s Holy Motors; Bruno Dumont’s Humanite and 2006 title Flanders), who recently filmed Bercot on the set of Cedric Kahn’s Happy Birthday (2019), which co-starred Deneuve as well. De son vivant sees the actress surrounded by the likes of Cecile de France, Gabriel Sara and Benoit Magimel (also from Standing Tall).

Bercot’s 2001 ddirectorial debut Clement premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, and her Emmanuelle Seigner headlined Backstage played out of competition in Venice in 2005. Bercot had a breakout year at Cannes circa 2015 with her fourth feature Standing Tall (starring Deneuve) opening Cannes (out of competition) and she won Best Actress for her role in Maiwenn’s My King. Her 2013 title On My Way (starring Deneuve) competed in Berlin while her 2016 title 150 Milligrams, which starred Sidse Babett Knudsen, premiered in Toronto and competed in San Sebastian. Bercot was also amongst the cast of the Cannes competing Girls of the Sun from Eva Husson in 2018, and recently starred in the 2020 Sundance entry Jumbo (review) with new projects directed by Melanie Laurent and Frederic Tellier in the the future mix.

Gist: Bercot’s latest concerns three people over the course of a year, including a cancer patient (Magimel), his distressed mother (Deneuve) and his doctor (De France).

Release Date/Prediction: While production was halted due to Deneuve’s health, filming was completed over the summer of 2020. Bercot could potentially score her first slot in the Cannes main competition in 2021.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.