IN THE BEGINNING À l’origine 2010 Lumière award - Best Cinematography for Glynn Speeckaert 2010 César Awards - 11 nominations and Best Supporting Actress for Emmanuelle Devos 2010 Étoile d'Or – Best Actor for François Cluzet Festival Selection: New York Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Today (2010), Cannes Film Festival (2009), Namur International Francophone Film Festival, Regards du présent (2009), Prague French Film Festival, Czech Critics Choice (2009) West Coast Premiere Drama France, 2009 In French with English subtitles 35mm/Scope/Color/Dolby Digital/128 min Directed by: Xavier Giannoli Written by: Xavier Giannoli, Marcia Romano Cinematography by: Glynn Speeckaert Editing by: Célia Lafite Dupont Music by: Cliff Martinez Produced by: Édouard Weil, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam Production Company: EuropaCorp, Rectangle Productions Coproduction: France 3 Cinéma, Studio 37 International Sales: EuropaCorp 137, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré 75008 Paris France Phone: +33 1.53.83.03.03 www.europacorp.com Cast: François Cluzet (Philippe Miller / Paul), Emmanuelle Devos (Stéphane), Gérard Depardieu (Abel), Vincent Rottiers (Nicolas), Soko (Monika), Brice Fournier (Louis), Stéphan Wojtowicz (Marty) http://www.alorigine-lefilm.com When he stumbles upon an abandoned construction site, small-time crook Philippe Miller (François Cluzet, One for the Road, Tell No One (COL•COA 2007), Too Beautiful For You) sees an opportunity to make some money. Claiming to be in charge of reviving the site to build a highway, he convinces everyone of his good will, including the mayor Stéphane (Emmanuelle Devos, A Christmas Tale, Read My Lips, Kings and Queen). But Miller quickly loses control of his own scheme, as this illegal highway gives hope to an entire region plagued with unemployment, giving him a sense of responsibility he had never felt before. XAVIER GIANNOLI co-wrote and directed various short films, including Le Condamné (1993), Terre Sainte (awarded Best Short at the 1995 Cognac Film Festival) and Dialogue au Sommet, nominated for Best Short at the 1997 César awards. He made his mark with L’interview, 1998 Palme d’Or and 1999 César award for Best Short, and a critically acclaimed first feature, Eager Bodies (COL•COA 2004). After a second feature, Une Aventure (2005), he wrote and directed the highly praised The Singer, starring Gérard Depardieu and Cécile de France (COL•COA 2007), presented in official competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. A few years ago, Giannoli read an intriguing story in the press about a con man who had built a piece of highway leading nowhere. After meeting with the judge in charge of the case and the con-man himself, he decided to make In the Beginning. PRESS "Thanks to Cluzet and Devos, the story's central relationship and the deception that lies at the heart of it is always credible. There is much emotional danger at every step, as each character gets deeper and deeper into a situation whose muddiness is trapping them faster than the asphalt hardening on the highway." Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter. "Giannoli goes to great lengths to maintain the story's essential mystery. Is it a comedy or a redemption story? An off-kilter study of French industrial relations in the mould of Laurent Cantet's Time Out, it's also a very timely fable about huge swathes of the Western economy are built on lies." Sukhdev Sandhu, The Daily Telegraph.