It’s been a few years since Abdellatif Kechiche released “Blue Is The Warmest Color,” and embarked on a rocky press tour which saw the film’s stars Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos publicly battle the filmmaker about their experience making the movie, and the director himself declaring his movie shouldn’t be released, before changing his mind, and then saying he was going to put together a director’s cut that was forty minutes longer (which hasn’t yet happened) while also considering a possible sequel. Through all of this, Kechiche was figuring out what his next picture might be, with a biopic about ’70s porn star Marilyn Chambers, and a movie about Héloïse and Abélard tossed around. However, it’s the adaptation of “La Blessure, la vraie” by François Bégaudeau which is now rolling in front of cameras.
Cineuropa reveals that the film, going with the working title “Mektoub is Mektoub,” has been secretly filming for nearly a month, and things are so under wraps that not even the cast is known at this point. And while it was previously reported would be a coming-of-age story about a fifteen year old, that has changed, and “Mektoub Is Mektoub” appears to be a movie about the movies, and another tale of complicated love. It will tell the story of Amin, a young screenwriter, who goes to his hometown in the Mediterranean for his summer vacation, where he falls for Jasmine, and meets a producer who agrees to finance his first film. However, the producer’s wife starts to show interest in Amin as well, leaving him to decide to between her and Jasmine (and presumably not screwing up his career).
I can only assume that Kechiche and the film’s producers are hoping the movie is done in time for the director can return to Cannes next spring, where he won the Palme d’Or for “Blue Is The Warmest Color.” At the very least, “Mektoub Is Mektoub” is one that’s immediately on our radar for 2017, and it’ll be interesting to see the director does next.