CASSANDRE

(Cassandre)

XXX Premiere | France | 2025 | Drama | 103 min | In French with English subtitles | 17+

Directed by: Hélène Merlin
Written by: Hélène Merlin
Produced by: Emma Javaux (Une Fille Productions), Claire Franzoni (Daylight Films), Zinc Film, France 2 Cinéma
Cinematography: David Cailley
Original Score: Delphine Malaussena
Film Editing: Nassim Gordji Tehrani
Cast: Billie Blain (Cassandre), Zabou Breitman (the mother), Eric Ruf (the father), Guillaume Gouix (Fred), Laïka Blanc-Francard (Laetitia), Florin Lesieur (Philippe)
International Sales: Bac Films

Synopsis

The year is 1998. Fourteen-year-old Cassandre comes home from military school for summer vacation.  The apple of her father’s eye, she shares his passion for all things equestrian. Her mother, however, favors her backward, somewhat perverse brother. Sadly, much like her mythological namesake, when Cassandre sounds an alarm, no one listens. Based on a true story, Hélène Merlin‘s poetic coming-of-age film gingerly pierces the personal trauma of adolescent incest and depicts one young woman’s resilience to break free of a suffocating, abusive, highly dysfunctional family.

Director’s Biography

Hélène Merlin began her career as a theater actor at the age of 19 and went on to win the Most Promising Actress award for her performance in Jimmy Bemon’s short film Poison d’avril at the 2006 Festival Jean Carmet in Moulins. She has worked as a cultural columnist for France Musique at Radio France, hosted radio workshops for young people at the Maison de la Radio, and directed the web series En voiture Simone from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, she made the experimental short, Un commencement, which won an award at the Great Lakes International Film Festival. Cassandre is her first feature.