There were the three musketeers and now…we can expect to see that number shoot up to four in Houda Benyamina‘s long-awaited sophomore film project. Lou de Laâge leads Daphné Patakia, Héloise Letissier with Oulaya Amamra and Déborah Lukumuena (who both broke out in Benyamina’s debut) in Toutes pour une (which translates to All For One). Production takes place this month in France. Production companies include Easy Tiger and Haut et court in France, and Versus Production from Belgium.
They’ve cut their hair, strapped their chests, and slipped leather pieces under their pants, but they’re women. When Sara, a young Morisco on the run, unmasks the three musketeers protecting the Queen of France, she has only one thing in mind, to cling to these women and their brilliant idea: to dress up to be free. Set in 1625’s France, the friendship of four women ready for anything will prove stronger than political intrigues and intimate heartbreaks… Our three musketeers are women disguised as men. By transforming themselves into musketeers, they find freedom that they did not have as women.
The French-Moroccan filmmaker won the prestigious Camera d’Or award for Divines in 2016 – it was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight. She would then claim the César Award for Best First Feature Film right after. The swashbuckler Toutes pour une could be a candidate for the Croisette showing next year. Benyamina was setting up shop for Pour Assia back in 2017 – but there have been no updates on that project for a while now.
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
