Now that Arnaud Desplechin‘s “Ismael’s Ghosts” is set to open the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, the film has released its first official trailer, complete with its brand new Sundance badge. “Ismael’s Ghosts” and Cannes are a strong match: not only is Desplechin a five-time Palme d’Or nominee — beginning with his 1992 film “La sentinelle” and continuing through 2013’s “Jimmy P.” — both festival director Thierry Fremaux and star Marion Cotillard received awards at this past January’s Lumieres Awards, a nice tie-in given the upcoming Cannes connection. And while the trailer is currently only available in French, its American distributor should quickly follow with a new version (as noted by Variety, the film was purchased by Magnolia Pictures while still in pre-production last May, meaning this one is off the market come Cannes).
Here’s the full plot synopsis for the film:
Ismaël Vuillard makes films. He is in the middle of one about Ivan, an atypical diplomat inspired by his brother. Along with Bloom, his master and father-in-law, Ismaël still mourns the death of Carlotta, twenty years earlier. Yet he has started his life over again with Sylvia. Sylvia is his light. Then Carlotta returns from the dead. Sylvia runs away. Ismaël rejects Carlotta. Driven mad by these ordeals, he abandons the shoot for his family home in Roubaix. There, he lives as a recluse, besieged by his ghosts.
“Ismael’s Ghosts” will also star Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Louis Garrel.
