The 62nd international Cannes Film Festival, which culminated with the Palmes-winning ceremony on the 24th of May, hosted, in the non-competitive run, a French fictional film directed by Fanny Ardant and inspired by the literary opus of the Albanian writer, Ismail Kadare.
Cendres et Sang (Ashes and Blood) is the first long film which displays Fanny Ardant’s newly-discovered talents as a screen play writer and as a film director. On her way to conversion into film-making, Fanny Ardant the renowned French actress, is reported to have taken inspiration for her screenplay from Kadare’s, Eschyles or the eternal loser, written in 1985. But images and descriptions of the film may suggest inspiration from a larger opus of the Albanian writer.
The film which lasts one hour and forty-five minutes, is a Franco-Romanian co-production and was shot in Romania. Fanny Ardant is reported to have chosen Romania since she had appreciated the professionalism of local actors and technicians while shooting the biographical film Callas Forever, on which Ardant had the main role and which was produced in Romania a year before her own film. The scenery chosen for Cendres et Sang (Ashes and Blood) was located near the town of Sfantu Gheorghe and shooting began on the 30th of September 2008. I chose Romania “for its authentic cinematographic tradition concerning studios, technicians and actors. My story could not be shot in Paris and I had to turn to a foreign country. I thought of Greece, I thought of Albania and my choice finally stayed with Romania.” – declared Fanny Ardant at the beginning of the shooting.
Synopsis
A summer in Marseille, a port city in southern of France. Judith, a foreigner exiled from her country since her husband’s murder a dozen of years ago, lives in Marseille with her children. Since the murder of her husband, she raises her three children alone. The elder one, Isma쬬 is a 22 year old, livid and animated boy. His brother, Pashko, aged 20, is much more silent. Then, Mira, 15, is a cheerful young girl despite her deafness. After having refused to see her family for years, Judith, in spite of her fears and secrets, allows herself to be influenced by her children’s wishes and accepts an invitation to their cousin’s wedding. Judith takes the decision to go back to her country with her children after eighteen years of absence. They set off to spend a summer in the old country, discovering their roots and their past. But Judith’s return revives old hatreds between rival clans. In part due to Judith’s actions, there is a visceral vendetta between the families, which could have been avoided by the forthcoming wedding. Instead, the presence of Judith and her sons, particularly the hotheaded and uncontrollable Pashko, breed even more animosity, reaching the inevitable climax in another death. Unrelentingly, the fire of violence is kindled, spilled blood calling blood to be spilled, blood calling for blood.
Some of the characters in the film bear Albanian names: like the children of Judith, Pashko and Mira. Isma쬬 a Semitic name, the name of their elder brother, is also a commonplace name in Albania. Short releases of the film also show mention of Albanian clan names, like the Drins. But the critic Alissa Simon points out that the scenery is “set mostly in an unspecified Eastern European country” … “where the women over-apply their eyeliner and the belligerent men are ever-ready to fight” (Variety, 22.05.2009).
Actors
Starring is the Israelian actress Ronit Elkabetz, interpreting Judith, the left-alone mother. Equally in the casting Abraham Belaga (Pashko), Marc Ruchmann (Isma쬩, Claire Bouanich (Mira), Madalina Constantin (Ilaria), Olga Tudorache (Venera), as well as Oana Pellea and Razvan Vasilescu (Samir). As she had declared, Fanny Ardant found the Romanian actors professionally alert and reliable for her filming project. And indeed, a good part of the casting is composed of Romanian actors.
The music is by David Moreau.
Production
Produced by Paolo Branco for Alfama Films, Cendres et Sang (Ashes and Blood) whose budget is close to 3 million Euro is co-produced by French Hirsch et DD Productions and Romanian Libra Film (Tudor Giurgiu). Portuguese Clap Filmes The has been pre-sold to Canal+ (a French pay TV) and was supported with a forward on sales by the French Centre National de la Cinꮡtographie (National Center of Cinematography, CNC). Shooting seven weeks in Romania was photography director G곡rd de Battista. Rezo Film will distribute the film in France in May 2009 while international sales are piloted by Alfama Films / Mad Filmes.
Cendres et Sang at Cannes – A special tribute to Fanny Ardant
A special tribute was made to French actress Fanny Ardant at the Cannes film festival. Fanny Ardant got a special slot for her directorial beginnings on the 22nd of May as her first film as a director, Cendres et Sang (Ashes and Blood), was screened out of competition on the eve of the finale of the festival. Ardant, now in her sixties, was one of the leading stars in European cinema during the eighties (1980s). She was the last companion of “New Wave” director Francois Truffault, who died in 1984.
Posters at Cannes on the 22nd of May read:
62nd CANNES FESTIVAL 2009
OFFICIAL SELECTION
OUT OF COMPETITION
TRIBUTE TO FANNY ARDANT
SPECIAL SCREENING
Though the first critics have not favorably worded the film, many people seem to have been curios or interested by the film and some critics expect a powerful drawing effect from the combination of the powerful Kadaerean universe and the spring-up expressiveness expected out of the beginnings of a long-worn router of the cinema, the much-sympathized Fanny Ardant.
