CANNES — French thesp-turned-helmer Mathieu Amalric, who won Cannes’ director nod two years ago for “On Tour,” is preparing a big screen adaptation of Stendhal’s classic novel “The Red and the Black.”
Amalric is reteaming with his regular producers, Yael Fogiel and Laetitia Gonzalez at Paris-based Les Films du Poisson.
Pic will center on an ambitious young teacher whose passionate liaison with a wealthy married woman leads to his downfall.
The novel was previously turned into a feature film by Claude Autant-Lara in 1954.
Gonzalez told Variety that the as yet untitled film will be Amalric’s most ambitious directorial effort (notably in terms of budget), and will likely be set up as an international co-production. Amalric is currently writing the script.
Meanwhile, Les Films du Poisson is also developing Julie Bertuccelli’s “Differences,” a documentary feature centering on a Paris school that welcomes foreign students. Bertuccelli followed the students, who emigrated from Romania, Ukraine, Chile, Tunisia, Poland, China, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, over the course of a year. Bertuccelli’s last film, the Charlotte Gainsbourg starrer “The Tree” closed Cannes Film Festival in 2010.
The shingle’s production slate also includes Yossi Aviram’s mystery drama “The Dune,” which is repped and will be released in France by Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte.
