Preview: Jean-François Laguionie's Louise in the Winter

 Louise in the winter (Louise en hiver) is a  co-production of JPL Films   /Tchack (France), La Fabrique Production SAS (France), Unité Centrale (Canada), and Arte France Cinema .

It is the 5th feature of the French director Jean-François Laguionie tells the story of Louise, a grandmother who lives alone in an abandoned village in Bretagne during the last day of summer. In the mode of Benjamin Button, she miraculously grows younger as the winter months go by.

 Almost unknown in the US, the Cannes-awarded Laguionie (b. 1939) has since 1965 employed his specific lyrical style to subject matters that transcend kids' stories (Gwen in the Sand) or fuel them with a sense of poetic adventure  (A Monkey Tale, The Island of Black Mor).

 His latest opus is the César-nominated The Painting (Le tableau) [review].

 Here's the extract as presented in the 2016 Cartoon Movie (via Catsuka )

Louise in the winter  led the list of the 15 most-attended pitches at the 2013 Cartoon Movie (6-8 March 2013).

It employs the same painterly style as Laguionie's previous works, and uses 3D animation (as in Le Tableau) to achieve this effect.

But, Julliot notes, that it boasts pastel colors rather than vivid shades.

Producer Jean-Pierre Lemouland (JPL Films) states that financing was finished at Christmas 2015.

Since May 2015 a dozen of JPL animators worked in 3D animation (Rennes), a style that was flattened out (the same process that was folowed in The Painting) to reflect Laguionie's painterly world, but with pastel colors rather than vivid shades.

Tchack studio (Lille) worked on the special effects, while the Canadian team was assigned the image composiiting before the final editing. In total, 26 partners are on board (both regional, French national and international) for the film.

 

The French actress Dominique Frot (La cérémonie, Sarah's Key) voices Louise. Some of the early animatic  of the films is really beautiful and meditative.

 

French release for Louise in the winter is now scheduled for 19 November 2016 via Gebeka Films.