EXCLUSIVE: French director Philippe Garrel has joined forces with his son and daughters Louis, Esther and Léna Garrel on his new film The Plough, which will debut in Competition at the Berlinale later this month.
The feature marks the first time the siblings have appeared in one of their father’s films at the same time. Paris-based sales company Wild Bunch International has unveiled the first clip of them on screen together ahead of the world premiere.
Garrel uses France’s rich marionette culture as the backdrop for a personal story about family and longing.
The drama follows three siblings who belong to a family of puppeteers as they come to terms with the sudden death of their father, who drove the troupe featuring marionettes created by their living grandmother.
Louis Garrel made his big screen debut in his father’s film Emergency Kisses in 1989. The actor then appeared in another six of his films, including Frontier Of The Dawn, A Burning Hot Summer, Jealousy and their last collaboration In The Shadow of Women in 2015, on which he was the narrator.
He now has more than 50 credits to his name, working with the likes of Bernardo Bertolucci, Christophe Honoré and Michel Hazanavicius among others. The actor has also forged his own career as a director and leads the César nominations this year with his film The Innocent.
Esther Garrel made her big screen debut with a small part in Garrel’s 2001 film Sauvage Innocence and has also since made her name as an actress with credits including Call Me By Your Name and Adventures Of A Mathematician.
Their younger step-sister Léna Garrel, who was seen recently in Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Forever Young, has never appeared in one of her father’s films.
The Garrels are joined in the cast by Damien Mongin and prolific, veteran actor Aurélien Recoing, whose father was the late real-life puppet master Alain Recoing.
The Plough marks Garrel’s second time in Competition at the Berlin Film Festival after The Salt Of Tears in 2020.
The film is produced by Rectangle Productions (Happening), Arte France Cinema, Close Up Film and Tournon Films.
Ad Vitam have taken French rights.
