Felix van Groeningen‘s last film, 2018’s “Beautiful Boy” with Steve Carrell and Timothée Chalamet, was his English-language debut. But Groeningen returns to his roots, at least artistically, for his latest. The director teams up with his wife, Charlotte Vandermeersch, for the fourth time to co-direct “The Eight Mountains,” which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
The couple have worked together before on “The Misfortunates,” “Belgica,” and “With Friends Like These,” though in each case Groeningen was behind the camera and Vandermeersch was in front of it. With “The Eight Mountains,” their first collaborative directing job, Groeningen and Vandermeersch adapt the popular 2016 Italian novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, which charts the friendship between Pietro, a city boy, and Bruno, a cowherd from a mountain village.
Here’s an official synopsis “The Eight Mountains”:
The Eight Mountains is the story of a friendship. Of children becoming men who try to erase the footprints of their fathers, but who, through the twists and turns they take, always end up returning home. Pietro is a boy from the city, Bruno is the last child of a forgotten mountain village. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his mountain, while Pietro is the one who comes and goes. Their encounters introduce them to love and loss, reminding them of their origins, letting their destinies unfold, as Pietro and Bruno discover what it means to be true friends for life.
The cast includes several rising stars in world cinema, with the leading roles of Pietro and Bruno played by Luca Marinelli (“The Old Guard”) and Alessandro Borghi (“On My Skin”). Elena Lietti (“Three Floors,” “Like Crazy”) and Filippo Timi (“The American”) also feature in supporting roles.
Groeningen’s long-time cinematographer Ruben Impens (“Beautiful Boy,” “The Broken Circle Breakdown”; he also shot “Titane” and “Raw”) joins him again for this one. So expect more of the luscious countrysides and softly lit cityscapes Impens captured in “Beautiful Boy”—but this time in Italy.
“The Eight Mountains” hits theaters in New York City on April 28. Watch a trailer for the film below.
