Screened as part of NZIFF 2009

Louise-Michel 2008

Directed by Gustave Kervern, Benoît Delépine

“Constantly outrageous… this tale of factory workers avenging themselves against their bosses is… a wickedly hilarious, marvellously calibrated exercise in deadpan style owing as much to Buñuel as to the Coen brothers.” — Variety

France In English and French with English subtitles
94 minutes 35mm

Producers

Mathieu Kassovitz
,
Benoît Jaubert

Photography

Hugues Poulain

Editor

Stéphane Elmadjian

Production designer

Paul Chapelle

Costume designer

Cécile Roulier

Sound

Guillaume Le Braz

Music

Gaëtan Roussel

With

Yolande Moreau (Louise)
,
Bouli Lanners (Michel)
,
Robert Dehoux (the priest)
,
Mathieu Kassovitz (farm's owner)
,
Albert Dupontel (Miro)
,
Jean-Luc Ormières (billionaire)

Festivals

San Sebastian, London 2008; Sundance, Rotterdam, New Directors/New Films 2009

Elsewhere

Political correctness is shredded in an assault on contemporary ills so authentically tasteless it's inspirational. After a children's clothes factory closes, leaving its female staff jobless, hulking ex-con worker Louise (Yolande Moreau), a woman of few words, suggests the workers pool their redundancy, recruit a hitman and kill the boss. Enter Michel, an inept security specialist who quietly subcontracts to his terminally ill sister and drags her out of hospital to perform the hit. She's going to die anyway. Nice, huh? — BG

“Side-splittingly funny and constantly outrageous... Skewering rampant capitalism, eco-tourism, and a host of genres, this tale of factory workers avenging themselves against their bosses is not only the duo's (Aaltra directors, Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern) best work yet, but a wickedly hilarious, marvellously calibrated exercise in deadpan style owing as much to Buñuel as to the Coen brothers.” — Jay Weissberg, Variety