Action! Poitou-Charentes plays host to Gérard Depardieu and other  film stars


The Poitou-Charentes is rightly known for its beautiful countryside, great beaches, historic towns and food, wine, cognac and pineau. But it is increasingly being known, too, as a major venue for France’s film industry. While it may be a tad premature to talk about Poitou-Charentes rivalling Hollywood or Bollywood, the film industry has been increasingly keen to use this region to shoot movies and TV dramas.
During the summer of 2009 a number of major films have been shot in Poitou-Charentes, and have attracted some of the biggest names in cinema. The first to be shot was ‘Aux quatre vents’ by director Jacques Doillon which features Julie Depardieu, daughter of the French film great Gérard Depardieu.
Meanwhile director Benoît Delépine has been filming ‘Mammuth’ which is being made in both the Charente and the Charente-Maritime. The stars of this production are Gérard Depardieu himself plus another leading figure in French film, Isabelle Adjani.
During the making of the film Gérard Depardieu shot scenes at Angoulême-based meat processing plant firm Sodiporc. Its owner Emmanuel Geoffroy, a former prop forward for SCA, the Angoulême rugby club, admired not just Depardieu’s friendliness and qualities as an actor but also his physical presence. ‘He’d have made a good prop for the SCA,’ says Emmanuel Geoffroy of the burly star.

 

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS IN POITOU-CHARENTES

In addition the director Lola Doillon – daughter of Jacques Doillon – has returned to the Charente to make a film called ‘Sous ton emprise’ . This stars Kristin Scott Thomas in a love story with a difference; she plays a woman who falls in love with her attacker, in an example of the psychological condition that is known as Stockholm Syndrome. The actor Antoine de Caunes – best-known to British audiences as the presenter of TV show Eurotrash - has meanwhile been making a film called ‘Brasse Coulée’, which, too, is being filmed in Poitou-Charentes.
The arrival of so many big names to shoot three high-profile films in the region is seen as good news for the area and the regional body Poitou-Charentes Cinéma.
The making of films and TV shows generally boosts an area’s profile and brings in money. In particular, the fact that director Jacques Doillon is making use of local technicians and crew and that his daughter is returning to film here having already made one movie in the area is seen as a good sign for the future of the local media industry. Angoulême, the capital of the Charente, has a growing reputation as a centre for TV and film technicians and production as well as being France’s top venue for comic strips or bandes dessinées.

Words: Michael STREETER

See also:

Royan - the Sarkozy connection
Ideas for days out in Poitou-Charentes