Orange Studio has boarded true-crime-tinged psychological thriller “An Ordinary Case” and will launch sales at this week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris. Top-lined, co-written and directed by French cinema stalwart Daniel Auteuil, this pulled-from-the-headlines drama also boasts “Borgen” and “Westworld” star Sidse Babett Knudsen alongside acclaimed actor Grégory Gadebois (“An Officer and a Spy”).
Auteuil adapted the feature from the work of Jean-Yves Moyart – a jurist-turned-blogger-turned-bestselling author who wrote of his experiences in the French legal system – and will star as Jean Monier, a disillusioned lawyer defending a man accused of murdering his wife. While all signs point to the accused’s guilt, Monier remains steadfast in his presumption of innocence. What begins as an ordinary case turns out to be anything but.
Following in the footsteps of Alice Diop’s Venice and César winner “Saint Omer,” of Cédric Kahn’s Cannes-acclaimed “The Goldman Case,” and of Justine Triet’s awards juggernaut “Anatomy of a Fall,” this latest legal drama once again proves that the courtroom has become a galvanizing setting in contemporary French cinema.
“[‘An Ordinary Case’] really focuses on what it means to be a criminal lawyer,” says Orange sales chief Charlotte Boucon. “Everything falls on their shoulders, so what does that mean, how does that affect someone in a personal and professional way? This is also an important film for Daniel Auteuil, who we all know as an actor, and who has really emerged as an auteur.”
The upcoming Unifrance Rendez-Vous will also host the market premieres of Tamer Ruggli’s “Back to Alexandria,” with Nadine Labaki (“Capernaum”) and Fanny Ardant (“The Young Lovers”), Isabelle Brocard’s “Madame de Sevigné,” led by Karin Viard (“La Famille Belier”) and Ana Girardot (“Back to Burgundy”), and Baptiste Debraux’s “Chasing Johnny,” which stars Bastien Bouillon (“The Night of the 12th”) and Léa Drucker (“Last Summer”).
Rounding out Orange Studio’s slate are Aude Léa Rapin’s sci-fi thriller “Planet B,” with Adèle Exarchopulos, Carine Tardieu’s starry family drama “The Ties that Bind Us,” led by Pio Marmaï (“The Three Musketeers”), Raphaël Quenard (“Junkyard Dog”) and Vimala Pons (“Elle”), and the 1940s war drama “The Last Men,” from “Close Enemies” director David Oelhoffen.
