The Scapegoat – or, Au bonheur des ogres, in the original French – adapts the first novel of the same name in Daniel Pennac’s popular ‘La Saga Malaussène’ series, making it a very promising crime-comedy to look forward to next year.
The first three posters for the French-language film have made their way online, giving us a look at leading man, Raphaël Personnaz as the series’ eponymous Benjamin Malaussène.
Starring alongside him will be the lovely Bérénice Bejo, the Oscar-nominated star of last year’s success story, The Artist, as well as Emir Kusturica, Thierry Neuvic, Guillaume de Tonquedec, and Mélanie Bernier.
“There is something strange and fishy – some would even say abnormal – about the Malaussène tribe. But if you take a closer look, no one could be happier than this cheerfully chaotic family, even though their mother is usually off on one romantic junket or other, leaving behind a slew of children’s fathers as she goes. Life is never a bore for Benjamin Malaussène, professional scapegoat and the older brother responsible for this horde of kids. But when incidents happen wherever he goes, police and colleagues begin to eye him suspiciously. It soon becomes a matter of life and death to find out how and why this is happening, but even more so, who can have it out for him this much.”
Though its production company, Chapter 2, lists the film as a comedy, Pennac is compared to the likes of Raymond Chandler for the original series, so I think we can expect some excellent crime to go alongside the humour, too.
Nicolas Bary helmed the film, which shot in Luxembourg and Paris earlier this year, directing from a script he co-wrote with Jérôme Fansten (The Incident / Asylum Blackout) and Serge Frydman (The Girl on the Bridge).
Pathé are set to release The Scapegoat in the first quarter of 2013, so make a mental note, because this looks like it could be something to look forward to. As usual with the first poster below, you can click to enlarge.
REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE STUDIO
Source: The first via KinoPoisk, the second and third via Chapter2.
