Making Of
In this metafictional drama that elicits comparisons to Day For Night, we follow a film crew as they try to make a movie about a factory closure. Naturally, nothing goes right, egos clash, the money runs out, and everything is captured in a warts-and-all, behind-the-scenes “documentary.”
Featuring a cast list that reads like a who’s who of French actors—some of whom are also directors—Making Of is an insiders’ send up of the trials and tribulations of filmmaking. There’s Denis Podalydes as the beleaguered auteur, trying to stay true to his vision for the story of striking workers fighting to save their factory—in spite of his financier’s insistence on a happy ending. There’s Xavier Beauvois, as the producer who must find new financiers when the director decides to stick to his guns. Emmanuelle Bercot is the line producer who’s trying to hold it all together when the new financiers can’t be found, and Valérie Donzelli is the director’s wife, who just wants a divorce. There’s the unbearable lead actor who keeps stealing lines from the increasingly fed up lead actress. There’s the crew who must decide whether or not to keep working when the money runs out. (It is at this point that the story of the factory workers and the story of the filmmakers start to meld.) And last but not least, there’s the extra who secretly dreams of directing and, in a lucky break, gets tasked with shooting the “making of.” Director Cédric Kahn, himself also an actor, has managed to direct and star in this film about the making of a film. The cast of Making Of is producers scheming, self-centered actors, and stressed-out crew members, and he quickly finds himself overwhelmed by the events. In this hellish shoot, his only ally is the young extra to whom he entrusts the making of the behind-the-scenes. After The Goldman Case, Cédric Kahn reveals, in less than a year, a brilliant and humorous second opus that navigates between dreams, absurdity, and the tribulations of the art of making movies.
- Director: Cédric Kahn
- Principal Cast: Denis Podalydès, Jonathan Cohen, Stefan Crepon, Emmanuelle Bercot, Souheila Yacoub, Xavier Beauvois, Valérie Donzelli, Riad Gahmi
- Premiere Status: U.S.
- Country: France
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 114 min.
- Producer: Olivier Delbosc, Bastien Sirodot, Cédric Iland
- Screenplay: Cédric Kahn, Fanny Burdino, Samuel Doux,
- Cinematographers: Patrick Ghiringhelli
- Editors: Yann Dedet
- Awards: Mostra Venice 2023 (Cinema and Arts Award)
- Filmography: The Goldman Case (2023), Happy Birthday (2019), The Prayer (2018), A Wild Life (2014), A Better Life (2011), Regrets (2009), L’avion (2005), Red Lights (2004), Roberto Succo (2001), L’ennui (1998), Trop de Bonheur (1994), Bar des rails (1991)
- Language: French
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Elle Driver