Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2021: #87. Joachim Lafosse’s Les Intranquilles

Les Intranquilles

Belgian director Joachim Lafosse returns to familiar territory with a troubled couple in his ninth feature, Les Intranquilles (The Restless). Luxbox presold the film at this year’s online Marche du Film on the title produced by Anton Iffland Stettner and Eva Kuperman of Stenola Productions. Lafosse’s cast is led by Damien Bonnard (Les Miserables; Standing Vertical) and Lelia Bekhti (Damien Chazelle’s The Eddy) – both starlets replaced the originally attached duo of Matthias Schoenaerts and Jasmine Trinca. Lafosse penned the script alongside five other credited screenwriters and his usual DP Jean-Francois Hensgens lensed the feature. Lafosse has competed in many major film festivals, twice in Locarno with Private Madness (2004) and Ca rend heurreux (2006) and once in Venice with the Isabelle Huppert headlined Private Property (2006). In Cannes, Lafosse has been programmed in Directors’ Fortnight with Private Lessons (2008), Our Children (2012) and After Love (2016). In 2015, he competed in both TIFF’s Platform and San Sebastian with The White Knights, which won him Best Director in the latter fest. His last title, Keep Going (2018), premiered in Venice Days.

Gist: Lafosse’s latest is about a loving couple named Leila and Damien. While Damien battles with the highs and lows of bipolar disorder, his partner does her best to weather the emotional rollercoaster alongside him.

Release Date/Prediction: The project was pushed back to a mid-summer shoot, which means Lafosse would likely aim for a return to Cannes, where a return to Directors’ Fortnight would be his likeliest bet.