A Happy Event

Un heureux événement (2011)

Timing: 1:47 (107 min)

6/10
208

6.83/10
9783

6.5/10
4800

All about film

Video 1

Photo 14

Actors and characters

Release date

2011-09-27

Country

Belgium, France

Production

Gaumont, SCOPE Pictures, France 2 Cinéma, Mandarin Cinéma, RTBF

Genre

Drama, Comedy

Budget

$0

Revenue

$4 000 000

Website

Director

Rémi Bezançon

Actors

Louise Bourgoin, Pio Marmaï, Josiane Balasko, Thierry Frémont, Gabrielle Lazure, Firmine Richard, Anaïs Croze, Daphné Bürki, Lannick Gautry, Nicole Valberg
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Operator

Antoine Monod

Composer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Sophie Reine
All team (10)

• The film is based on the novel of the same name by French writer Élit Abécassis, which was published in France in 2005.
• The central scene in the film depicting childbirth was filmed in studio interiors over two days. Louise Bourgoin, who experienced considerable discomfort throughout the process (a prosthetic belly, mock injections, constant blood pressure monitoring, cameras and lights pointed from all directions, and all of this in exhausting heat), fainted at one point. The director decided to leave this scene in the film.
• Pio Marmaï and Louise Bourgoin spent a lot of time together, communicating and getting to know each other in order to appear as a real family on screen.
• Actress Josiane Balasko met director Rémy Bezançon at the Athens Film Festival. Unfamiliar with each other’s films, they simply had drinks and chatted about unrelated topics. Their next meeting was at the Los Angeles Festival, where the director decided to send the actress a script with an offer to play the role of Claire. Enticed by the interesting character and its nuances, she accepted.
• Before starting work on the film, actress Louise Bourgoin had practically no experience interacting with infants. Working with them was very difficult for her, but over time she began to stay and play with the babies during breaks in filming. In some cases, she even spent Sundays with their families.
• The fifty-person film crew had to constantly adjust to the babies’ feeding and sleep schedules.
• French veteran director Jean-Paul Rapno planned to film his movie called "Foreign Ties", starring Louise Bourgoin, Pio Marmaï and Josiane Balasko. Since this project never materialized, its developer suggested the director Rémy Bezançon take all these performers for his future film.
• Cinematographer Antoine Monod and director Rémy Bezançon spent a lot of time together preparing for the filming of the picture. With the parents' permission, they filmed childbirth scenes, practicing choosing the right shots and capturing all the emotions of what was happening as realistically as possible.