Four years have now passed since director Abdellatif Kechiche brought his explicit, emotionally raw “Blue Is The Warmest Color” to the Cannes Film Festival. Many prognosticators had him pegged to return to the Croisette this year with his new film “Mektoub Is Mektoub” (now titled “Mektoub, My Love“) but as we learned just a couple of months ago, the film has mutated. The film adaptation of “La Blessure, la vraie” by François Bégaudeau had grown into two movies, “Les dés sont jetés” (“The Die Is Cast“) and “Pray for Jack,” which threatened to lead to some legal wrangling. Instead, it looks like money is the real problem, as the filmmaker needs to raise funds to finish post-production, so he’s going to take some drastic measures.
French production and distribution company Quat’Sous is auctioning off Kechiche’s film memorabilia, including most notably, his Palme d’Or for “Blue Is The Warmest Color.” No word yet on how the festival feels about their award being put on the block, but I can’t imagine they’d be pleased.
Starring Lou Luttiau, Shain Boumediene and Ophelie Bau, “Mektoub, My Love” was initially said to be about a young screenwriter who travels to the Mediterranean and gets involved in a love triangle, but is now being describing as an epic “familial saga.” Fingers crossed that Kechiche can actually finish his movie because, potential auction controversy aside, it sounds nothing if not fascinating and ambitious. Perhaps Cannes will overlook his unorthodox fundraising methods and invite him to the Croisette next year. We’ll just have to wait and see. [THR]
