Sydney-based production company Aurora Films is developing an adaptation of late French writer and photographer Hervé Guibert’s 1989 novella Crazy for Vincent.
The autobiographical work charts the author’s infatuation with the titular Vincent Marmousez, a young tearaway who came in and out of his life over the course of six years, before falling to his death from a third-floor window while under the influence of drink and drugs.
The company has optioned the novella and is planning a French-language production which will shoot in France and Europe, with post-production taking place in Australia. Casting is underway with the company aiming to announce a start of shoot date by Cannes in May.
Australian director Jamieson Pearce, a recipient of the Lexus Short Film Fellowship with credits including Adult (SXSW) and Strangers, has adapted the novella and will make his feature directorial debut with the production.
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“Hervé Guibert’s writing is fearless and unflinching. To adapt his work demands a similar boldness,” said Pearce. “On the page, the moments of tender intimacy sit centimetres from brutal dejection, creating an emotional landscape that is as compelling as it is destabilising.”
“Guibert’s reflections on the artist’s role — treating life as an extension of artistic practice — resonate and serve to explain, if not justify, the moral ambiguity of his choices. This maze of moments is perfectly suited to cinematic adaptation.”
Pearce, who has built a body of shorts exploring morally complex, sexually charged narratives, wrote the screenplay adaptation while in residence at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris.
“Guibert’s fearless interrogation of desire’s darkest corners finds its match in Jamieson’s filmmaking. This collaboration is a lightning strike for contemporary cinema,” said producer Ákos Armont and Managing Director at Aurora Films.
Distributor Pivot Pictures, which has previously released titles such as Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan and The Swallows of Kabul, has taken Australia and New Zealand rights and is an executive producer on the film.
“Jamieson Pearce’s vision is both daring and ambitious, and I’m excited to champion this ground-breaking production that dares to explore the raw beauty of human connection and desire with unflinching honesty. This is a visionary project that has the potential to redefine boundaries in cinema, and I’m eager to see it come to life,” said Pivot Pictures MD Louisa Balletti.
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