Pearl

  • 80'
  • France
  • 2018

72 hours before French bodybuilder Lea Pearl is due to take part in an international competition, she is staying with her severe trainer in a conference hotel attached to the tournament. All the rooms are occupied by highly trained athletes and their entourages. They hunger and thirst for eternal glory. Lea Pearl has been reduced to her body: she is no longer a woman, or a lover – let alone a mother. Until her ex-boyfriend unexpectedly turns up at the hotel, with their six-year-old son; a child she hasn’t seen for years.

In her debut feature, director Elsa Amiel shows a wondrous, navel-gazing world that brooks no distractions. Visually, she makes the best possible use of the exceptional, chiselled bodies and the dull, soullessly decorated conference rooms and anonymous hotel rooms that are all about presentation. But this psychological drama also shows moments of heart-breaking fragility between the child and the sportswoman who doesn’t want to – and can’t – be a mother.

  • 80'
  • France
  • 2018
Director
Elsa Amiel
Countries of production
France, Switzerland, Monaco
Year
2018
Festival Edition
IFFR 2019
Length
80'
Medium
DCP
Languages
English, French
Producers
Caroline Nataf, Bruno Nahon, Lionel Baier
Production Companies
Unité de Production , Bande à part, Radio Télévision Suisse, knm
Sales
mk2 Films
Screenplay
Elsa Amiel, Laurent Larivière
Cinematography
Colin Lévêque
Editor
Sylvie Lager, Caroline Detournay
Production Design
Valérie Rozanes
Sound Design
Marc von Stürler
Music
Fred Avril
Cast
Julia Föry, Peter Mullan, Arieh Worthalter, Vidal Arzoni, Agata Buzek
Local Distributor
September Film
Director
Elsa Amiel
Countries of production
France, Switzerland, Monaco
Year
2018
Festival Edition
IFFR 2019
Length
80'
Medium
DCP
Languages
English, French
Producers
Caroline Nataf, Bruno Nahon, Lionel Baier
Production Companies
Unité de Production , Bande à part, Radio Télévision Suisse, knm
Sales
mk2 Films
Screenplay
Elsa Amiel, Laurent Larivière
Cinematography
Colin Lévêque
Editor
Sylvie Lager, Caroline Detournay
Production Design
Valérie Rozanes
Sound Design
Marc von Stürler
Music
Fred Avril
Cast
Julia Föry, Peter Mullan, Arieh Worthalter, Vidal Arzoni, Agata Buzek
Local Distributor
September Film