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2010 Festival Feature Films (March 25-28)

French director Mona Achache and actress Josiane Balasko present Le Hérisson

director Mona Achache screenplay Mona Achache, Muriel Barbery based on the novel L’Elégance du Hérisson by Muriel Barbery starring Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride, Wladimir Yordanoff, Sarah Le Picard, Jean-Luc Porraz, Gisèle Casadesus, Mona Heftre, Samuel Achache, Valérie Karsenti, Stephan Wojtowicz running time 1 h 40 min general audience

Synopsis

The story of an unlikely encounter: that of Paloma Josse, a highly intelligent, yet suicidal, 11-year-old girl; Renée Michel, an unassuming and reclusive Parisian concierge; and the mysterious Mr. Kakuro Ozu.

director/screenwriter
Mona Achache

actress/director
Josiane Balasko

selected filmography

accomplishments

theater

bibliography

actress
Garance Le Guillermic

actor
Togo Igawa

Interview with Mona Achache (director/screenwriter)

What is it that touched you about this story?
The absurdity of prejudice, the magic of unlikely encounters. The apartment building reminded me of the one that I grew up in, but more bourgeois. When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by the layering of such different lives, by chance and circumstance. But the starting point for me was above all Paloma and Renée. This shaggy woman who is so transformed when she meets the other … and this secretive little girl, so serious and full of certainty, who in meeting Renée and Kakuro comes to understand that life is much more complex and surprising than she had thought. I completely identified with this little girl and this concierge.

The meeting between Renée and Mr. Ozu seems almost like a modern fairy tale.
The story has all the ingredients of a fairy tale and I tried to film it like one. Renée, she’s Cinderella; Paloma, the little fairy; Kakuro, Prince Charming. The love story between Kakuro and Renée has something charmingly old-fashioned about it. The gift, the invitation, the polite kiss on the woman’s hand, the restaurant, the walk down the street. When Renée receives the scarf sent to her by Kakuro, she becomes as nervous and excited as a teenager before a first date. These three characters are realistic but, at the same time, shifting, timeless and out of the ordinary. I wanted to create a universe around them that would be somewhat the same way.