original title:
L'expérience Zola
directed by:
cast:
Anne Barbot, Benoît Dallongeville, Jean-Christophe Laurier, Nikolai Delawarde, Agathe Peyrard, Philippe Risler, Minouche Nihn Briot, Romain Cottard, Jan Czul, Anthony Fulrad, Benoît Seguin
screenplay:
Gianluca Matarrese, Gianluca Matarrese, Anne Barbot, Benoît Dallongeville
cinematography:
Gianluca Matarrese, Kevin Brunet
editing:
music:
Cantautoma
producer:
production:
distribution:
world sales:
country:
France/Italy
year:
2023
film run:
101'
format:
colour
release date:
13/09/2023
festivals & awards:
Anne is a stage director. She has separated from her husband and is moving as well, yet she’s apathetic, drained of energy. Ben, an unemployed actor, is her friendly neighbor and seems very interested in her, but she wants nothing to do with another man. When Anne decides to stage Emile Zola’s L’assommoir, however, it’s Ben she asks to play Coupeau against her Gervaise. As the story unfolds, the line between real life and the stage production becomes finer and finer. When the two read the script, work on the characters and start rehearsing, reality is overtaken by fiction, and the pair seem to be retracing every step of the story of Coupeau and Gervaise, right up to the disastrous ending.