THE DREAMER

L’Homme d’argile

North American Premiere | France | 2023 | Drama, Comedy, Romance | 94 min | In French with English subtitles
Directed by: Anaïs Tellenne
Written by: Anaïs Tellenne
Produced by: Céline Chapdaniel, Diane Jassem (Koro Films), Thomas Carillon (Micro Climat Studios)
Cinematography: Fanny Mazoyer
Film Editing: Héloïse Pelloquet
Original Score: Amaury Chabauty
Cast: Raphaël Thiéry (Raphaël), Emmanuelle Devos (Garance), Mireille Pitot
International Sales: Be for Films

Anaïs Tellenne‘s eloquent début feature quietly recounts the touching story of a golem —  a clay figurine that magically comes to life. Raphaël is a 58-year-old one-eyed man, the caretaker of a deserted family mansion. He lives with his mother in a small cottage on the grounds and spends his days trapping moles, tending the garden and playing haunting tunes on his bagpipes — as forsaken man grappling with the desolate existence life has dealt him. One stormy night, Garance, the heiress of the estate, appears and takes over the great manor house. An artist in search of a subject, as well as a will to live, she too has her demons to appease. The Dreamer is a stirring tale of longing and heartbreak, of shame and yearning, of creative expression and unrequited love.

Writer-director Anaïs Tellenne has worked as an actress for the past fifteen years, appearing in numerous theatrical productions and films, including the TV series Au nom de la vérité (2013) and Le Jour où tout a basculé à l’audience (2013); the TV movies Murdered (2012) and Underground Time (2015); and Danièle Thompson’s feature film, It Happened in Saint-Tropez (COLCOA 2013). She has written and directed four short films, Dora (2011), June 19 (2018), Modern Jazz (COLCOA 2019) and Le Mal bleu (2018), which was screened at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and the Bordeaux Independent Film Festival. Developed at Le Groupe Ouest in 2019, The Dreamer had its premiere in the Horizons section of this year’s Venice Film Festival.