Among the films pegged for next year’s Cannes is the already completed Love and Bruises. We collected some stills of Lou Ye’s film which began filming three weeks after winning Best Actor and Best New Actor at the French Oscars for his role in A Prophet and ended in May. We found out that Ye was interested in Rahim taking the lead based on a photo of the actor and not the role that catapulted him to fame – Ye had yet to see the Jacques Audiard prison drama.
Ye didn’t switch up his brand of filmmaking – working with long takes and keeping the cameras rolling on Rahim and newbie actress Corinne Yam. Jalil Lespert (Human Resources) and Sifan Shao (Eden Log) also star, and I imagine that Hao Qin (who was in Ye’s Spring Fever) might have grab a cameo role or was visiting the set for the day (see bottom pic below). The love story follows Hua, a young teacher from Beijing recently arrived in Paris who drifts between former lovers and recent French acquaintances until she meets Mathieu, a young worker who falls madly in love with her. But, possessed by an insatiable desire for her body, he treats Hua like a dog. As the intense love affair progresses, Hua decides to leave her lover only to discover the strength of her addiction, and the vital role he has come to play in her life.
