One of the most puzzling (non-) happenings in international cinema this year is the lack of U.S. distribution for Philippe Garrel’s stellar new drama The Plough. A family affair starring Louis Garrel, Damien Mongin, Esther Garrel, Lena Garrel, Francine Bergé Aurélien Recoing, Mathilde Weil, and Asma Messaoudene, the film about a company of puppeteers premiered at Berlinale this year and is still looking for a home here. However, it’ll open in France this September, and with it the first trailer has arrived.
Rory O’Connor said in his Berlinale review, “In 1947, ten years before becoming an actor, Philippe Garrel’s father, Maurice, joined a company of puppeteers. That piece of history is like a well of inspiration in The Plough, Garrel’s latest cinematic family affair and a film as effortless as they come. It stars all three of Philippe’s children––Louie, Lena, and Esther––as brother and sisters; the patriarch role is filled by Louie’s godfather, Aurélien Recoing, whose own father worked alongside Maurice all those years ago. The grandmother is played by Francine Bergé––no relation, but maybe the performance of the lot. A briskly charming, bracingly anachronistic, sometimes achingly sensual film, it tracks the company in their late halcyon days as well as the siblings’ strained attempts to keep things going once their father dies.”
See the international trailer below, and we’ll update if English subtitles arrive.
The Plough opens on September 13 in France and is seeking U.S. distribution.