After winning the Palme d’Or for his latest drama Shoplifters (our review), the always-prolific Hirokazu Kore-eda is already embarking on his next project, and it’s perhaps fitting after his win on the Croisette that he’ll be directing two of France’s greatest stars. Last month it was confirmed that Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve would be leading his new feature, and now a title, synopsis, and additional cast & crew have been unveiled.
Titled The Truth About Catherine, actress Ludivine Sagnier (The Young Pope, Swimming Pool), has also joined the film, which marks Kore-eda’s first film set outside Japan and it will be shot by cinematographer Eric Gautier, who most recently worked on Jia Zhangke’s stellar Cannes premiere Ash Is Purest White.
“Kore-eda’s another member of the Wild Bunch family who is back… this film is completely different from his past works,” producer Vincent Maraval told Screen Daily. “It’s sort in the vein of Sunset Boulevard… in the way it revolves around the myths and reality of an actress.” Check out the new synopsis below, which tells a meta story involving a star of French cinema (Deneuve) and the relationship with her daughter, played by Binoche.
Catherine is a star; a star of French cinema. She reigns amongst men who love and admire her: her new partner, her former husband, her agent… When she publishes her memoirs, her daughter Juliette (who has moved to the States to get away from her overbearing mother) returns to France with her husband and young child. The reunion between mother and daughter will quickly turn to confrontation: truths will be told, accounts settled, loves and resentments confessed. All under the astonished eyes of the men. At the same time, Catherine is acting in a sci-fi movie, playing a mother who never grows old… For his first feature set outside Japan, Kore-eda unites French screen legends Deneuve and Binoche in a powerful and emotional story of family conflicts.
The Truth About Catherine will likely premiere in 2019.
Read more: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 10 Favorite Films
