Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has released the trailer (below) for Swiss director Maxime Rappazs debut feature Let Me Go, which will open the Cannes ACID sidebar on Wednesday.
Set in a remote town in the Swiss mountains, the film features French actress Jeanne Balibar in the lead role. She plays the character of Claudine, a mother who has devoted her life to taking care of her son, sacrificing her own needs and desires. An unexpected love affair causes Claudines carefully controlled world to unravel, reviving in her an intense thirst for freedom and, at the same time, a painful questioning about her future, Rappaz says.
M-Appeal, who are celebrating their 15th birthday this year, are representing a Cannes ACID title for the second year in a row, following the success of 99 Moons last year.
Maren Kroymann, managing director of M-Appeal, says: Both films, although very different, center on female desire, which goes against normative expectations.
Let Me Go is produced by Swiss company GoldenEggProduction, and is co-produced by Frances Paraso Production and Belgiums Fox the Fox Productions.
The film has been sold to Alamode for distribution in Germany and Austria, and will be released by Frenetic in Switzerland, by Eurozoom in France.
The producers are Gabriela Bussman and Yan Decoppet. The cinematographer is Benoit Dervaux, the editor is Caroline Detournay, and the composer is Antoine Bodson.
It is supported by Frances CNC, Switzerlands Office Federal de la Culture, Cinforom and Swiss Television.
A regular on the Croisette and a well-known figure of French cinema, Balibar won the Csar Best Actress prize for her lead role in Cannes Un Certain Regard title Barbara, directed by Mathieu Amalric (2017). She was on the Cannes Competition Jury in 2008, and has starred in award-winning films including Cold War, Les Misrables and Memoria. She starred in the HBO TV series Irma Vep, her third collaboration with Olivier Assayas following his 1998 film Last August, Early September (for which Balibar won the Best Actress Award at San Sebastian Film Festival), and his 2004 Cannes Competition title Clean.