A DANGEROUS FRIENDSHIP

(Une amitié dangereuse)

TELEVISION COMPETITION
MELVILLE THEATRE
Series, History / Drama / Romance, Episodes 1 & 2

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 30
10:50 am (Screening ends at 12:45 pm)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 31
5:50 pm (Screening ends at 7:45 pm)
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2
5:15 pm (Screening ends at 7:10 pm)
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3
11:00 am (Screening ends at 12:55 pm)

Presented in association with:
Mediawan Rights
France Télévisions
TITRAFILM

Directed by: Alain Tasma
Created by: Alain Tasma, Henri Helman
Written by: Alain Tasma, Henri Helman, Ève de Castro
Based on the Historical Saga by: Juliette Benzoni
Produced by: Thomas Anargyros (Storia Television), Frédéric Bruneel, Martin du Guerny, FIT Production, France Télévisions
Cinematography: Virginie Saint-Martin
Film Editing: Romain Namura, Vincent Zuffranieri
Original Score: Cyrille Aufort
Cast: Kelly Depeault (Marie de Rohan), Stephanie Gil (Anne d’Autriche), Jérémy Gillet (Louis XIII), Stanley Weber (Duc de Chevreuse), Arthur Dupont (Luynes), Clémentine Poidatz (Louise de Conti), Raïka Hazanavicius (Helen du Laz), Grégoire Colin (Cardinal Richelieu), Jack Laskey (Holland), Patrick D’assumçao (Ornano), Maya Sansa (Marie de Médicis)
International Sales: Mediawan Rights
Original Broadcast: France 2 (Date TBA)

Adapted from Juliette Benzoni’s historical romance novels, Marie des Intrigues and Marie des passions, Alain Tasma’s four-part series delves into the fierce bond that develops between two startlingly different, yet equally powerful, women in 17th century France. The free-spirited Marie de Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse, is as sensual as she is daring, and fearless when it comes to using her sexuality to wield political influence. Anne of Austria, Queen of France, is a shy, extremely proud, straight-laced young woman who was married to Louis XIII at the age of 14, then quickly abandoned by the feverish, impotent monarch. Marie sets out to bring the royal couple back together, bringing a lust for life and spontaneity into the staid household… as well as more than a few scandals.

Prolific writer-director Alain Tasma began his career in 1980, as assistant director on films by François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Barbet Schroeder and Arthur Penn. In 1988, he wrote and directed his first short, Jours de vagues, which nabbed three prizes — the Audience Award, the Press Award, and Best First Film — at the 1989 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. He has gone on to write scripts for 20 film and TV projects, including 35 episodes of Les bleus: premiers pas dans la police (2006-2010), a series he co-created and co-directed. He also wrote and directed all six episodes of the powerful War on Beasts (2018) and all four episodes of the innovative mini-series Voltaire in Love (2021). His other directing credits include some 43 series and TV movies. A Dangerous Friendship had its world premiere at this year’s Series Mania festival, in March, where Jérémy Gillet was named Best Actor in the French Competition.