Finally one Paris-based project might have leap-frogged another (Our Apprenticeship) as Variety reports that Ryusuke Hamaguchi will direct All of the Sudden – and has Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto toplining. Hamaguchi is in prep mode, Cinefrance International is in sales mode and among the producers we find Cinefrance Studios’ David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Jean-Luc Ormières and Renan Artukmaç, Office Shirous & Bitters End’s Hiroko Matsuda, Kosuke Oshida and Yuji Sadai, Heimat Film’s Bettina Brokemper and Tarantula’s Joseph Rouschop. No production start date has been provided – but we imagine this is a mid 2025 shoot with a 2026 Cannes Film Festival drop being eyed. Before we get into the gist of the project – I like how the Japanese filmmaker describes his approach:
“When they started developing the project, Hamaguchi explains that they thought about what could create this bridge between France and Japan, and came up with a treatment approach called ‘humanitude.’ “It’s French method that was imported in Japan and is now practiced in several venues there, and puts the human dimension at the heart of the treatment care, for the integrity of each human being.” The concept of ‘humanitude’ is applied to other fields, including the film world.”
Co-written by Hamaguchi and Léa Le Dimna, loosely inspired by a collection of real-life exchanged letters published in the book “Youn and I – The Illness Suddenly Get Worse,” by Makiko Miyano and Maho Isono, this revolves around the bond between two women, a Japanese theater director and a French nurse. A philosopher and an anthropologist are exchanging letters discussing their thoughts on chance and risk, and their relationship develops into something more personal when the philosopher’s health suddenly deteriorates.
