Original Title: L’enfance d’Icare
Synopsis
Jonathan Vogel (Guillaume Depardieu) would like to turn back the clock and undo the accident that led to his disability and destroyed his life. When he learns that Stivlas Karr (Carlo Brandt), a well-known professor and geneticist, has developed a gene therapy for regenerating the human body, he makes an appointment with him for some clinical tests. But the therapy doesn’t go according to Professor Karr’s plan and leads to unexpected results. Jonathan, whose life is now in danger, has become aware that there is only one person who can help him: Alice (Alysson Paradis), the professor’s daughter.
Technical Information
2009; Switzerland, Romania, France; Drama, Sci-fi; 96 minutes; 35mm, HDCAM-SR; 1:1.85; Dolby SRD; Original Language: French; Subtitles: English
DIRECTOR
Alexandre Iordachescu
WRITER
Alexandre Iordachescu, Marianne Brun, Marcel Beaulieu
D.O.P.
Marius Panduru
EDITOR
Catalin F. Cristutiu, Alexandre Iordachescu
MUSIC
The Young Gods
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Elefant Films Sàrl, Elefant Film, Freshline Productions
PRODUCER
Ruxandra Zenide, Dan Burlac, Alexandre Iordachescu
ART DIRECTION:
Calin Papura
Jonathan Vogel
Guillaume Depardieu
Alive Karr
Alysson Paradis
Stivlas Karr
Carlo Brandt
Anna Vogel
Sophie Lukasik
Infirmière Jonathan
Doroteea Petre
La Consultante
Patricia Bopp
Jacques Becker
Jean-Pierre Gos
Cassandre
Madalina Constantin
ALEXANDRE IORDACHESCU
Born in 1974 in Bucharest, Romania. Joint Swiss and Romanian citizenship. Since 1989 lives in Switzerland. 1990-93 Attends EAD (École des Arts Décoratifs) in Geneva, Artistic Expression Department. 1991-93 Attends ETM (École des Technologies Musicales) in Geneva. Involved in various installations, shows and performances. 1993-98 Attends ESAV (École Supérieure d’Art Visuel Genève), Mixed-Media and Videography Department. 1995-96 Works as web designer. 1997 Co-manages a cyber-café and designs websites. 1998 Receives degree from ESAV. 1999 -2004 Creative Director for marchFIRST and Blue Infinity. 2005 Cofounder of Elefant Films, production company.
Selective Filmography
Feature Film
2012 Lullaby to My Father
2007 Die andere Hälfte
2005 Ryna
Short
2010 Guillaume Depardieu – Es ist die Hölle!
2010 Soap Opera in Wonderland
2005 Le tramway d’Andréa
2003 Les démolisseurs
2000 Le jardin des autres roses
2011
FRENCH FILM WEEK
May 09 – 22
2010
TRANSILVANIA INT. FILM FESTIVAL
May 28 – Jun 06
Apr 15 – 24
FESTIVAL INT. DU FILM FRANCOPHONE
Apr 08 – 13
PREMIERS PLANS FESTIVAL D’ANGERS
Jan 21 – 22
Jan 21 – 28
2009
Nov 10 – 17
KYIV INT. FILM FESTIVAL MOLODIST
Oct 24 – Nov 01
Aug 27 – Sep 10
24 heures
The result on the big screen arouses fascination with the final appearance of the actor, his face ravaged with pain, the heavy gait, in the sanitized corridors of a hospital. And yet, he seems as fragile as porcelain. Probably a part of the legacy he wanted to leave to the world.
Mata Hari Mag
The movie touches the science fiction and its strength lies in the fact that, exactly, it is difficult to classify in a genre. The sound conception is excellent, it contributes to create an alarming but bearable atmosphere for the spectator who wonders how the character can go out of the dead end in which he is. The cold colors used by the chief cameraman stress the sensation of strangeness which feels the character and Guillaume Depardieu’s humanism bursts the screen. His warm heart comes to counterbalance all the lugubrious atmosphere which surrounds him. He interprets magnificently his role. He is poignant, we want to follow him up to the end.
Alexandre Iordachescu leaves us in a redoubtable suspense as for the future of this man exploited by the science. We have to recognize that there is a parallel suspense for the spectator: how and why did Guillaume Depardieu end his career here? What did he want to say?
What are the images that he wanted to leave us? The movie is a schemer and attaching. It bitterly makes us regret the death of this outstanding comedian who pulled a perfect character of victim but who had to mysteriously leave it the skin. We also appreciate the invitation of the director to meditate on the power of the science and to envisage its limits. Let us note to finish, the beautiful performance of Alysson Paradis (sister of the singer Vanessa Paradis) who interprets a very attractive role as well as a song of Young Gods which you will have difficulty to chase away of your head when leaving the cinema.
Le Matin
The tenacity of the director and the feverish presence of Guillaume Depardieu command respect.
Le Courrier
THE WAY BEYOND relies almost entirely on the performance of Guillaume Depardieu. An interpretation necessarily inhabited by a deaf emergency that fascinates.
Le Figaro
To this character trapped, he gives a passionate melancholy, a beautiful momentum of suffering and love intertwined.
GUILLAUME DEPARDIEU
Revealed in 1992 in Alain Corneau’s All the Mornings of the World, for which he learned to play the viola da gamba, Guillaume Depardieu’s talent was confirmed in Pierre Salvadori’s comedy, The Apprentices, in an amusing scene in which he skies down a staircase. Parallel to these comedies in which he was so brilliant, he was Josée Dayan’s favourite actor in several of her TV productions (The Count of Monte Cristo in 1998, Castle in Sweden in 2008).
He also played a tormented hero for Leos Carax and, more recently, a crazily in love army general for Jacques Rivette, a lost soldier for Serge Bozon and a homeless person in Pierre Schoeller’s first feature.
He was never better than in the extreme roles of marginal characters, played with a subtle panache, echoing his own personal borderline lifestyle.
Selective Filmography
Feature Film
2009 Au voleur
2008 Les inséparables
2008 De la guerre
2008 Versailles
2007 Peur(s) du noir
1999 Pola X
1995 Les apprentis
1991 Tous les matins du monde
