THE ELECTRIC KISS

(La Vénus électrique)

Los Angeles Premiere | France | 2026 | Comedy, Romance | 122 min | In French with English subtitles

Directed by: Pierre Salvadori
Written by: Pierre Salvadori, Benoît Graffin, Benjamin Charbit
Based on an original idea by: Rebecca Zlotowski, Robin Campillo
Produced by: Philippe Martin (Les Films Pelléas), Sandrine Dumas (Pio & Co), Pierre Salvadori (Tovo Films), Jacques-Henri Bronckart & Tatjana Kozar (Versus Production), France 2 Cinéma
Cinematography: Julien Poupard
Original Score: Camille Bazbaz
Film Editing: Anne Sophie-Bion
Cast: Pio Marmaï (Antoine Balestro), Anaïs Demoustier (Suzanne), Gilles Lellouche (Armand), Vimala Pons (Irène), Gustave Kervern (Titus), Madeleine Baudot (Camille)
International Sales: Playtime

Synopsis

Paris, 1928. Wracked with grief, drunk, and unable to paint since his wife’s tragic death, Antoine begs a carny performer to do a seance. Suzanne is not a medium, but needs the cash, so she fakes one. When Antoine miraculously begins painting again, his crafty art dealer ups the ante, bribing Suzanne to perpetuate the con. Pierre Salvadori is back with yet another farce and a few of his nimblest comic players, this time in a mischievous jazz-age romp — this year’s sprightly Cannes opener — exploring some of his favorite topics: hope and hopelessness, love and illusion, secrets and lies, guilt and betrayal… and quite a few electrifying kisses!

Director’s bio

A native of Tunisia, Pierre Salvadori studied literature and cinema studies at the Sorbonne, in Paris, before training as an actor. He wrote and directed his first feature, Wild Target, in 1993, which was followed by nine additional features, a TV movie and a series. Inspired by the work of the great Ernst Lubitsch, his films veer from screwball comedy (Priceless, COLCOA 2007) to film noir (The Sandmen, 2000) to dramedy (In the Courtyard, COLCOA 2014). Yet they pull no punches in their sharp observations of the society we live in. Other titles include Beautiful Lies (COLCOA 2011); La petite bande (2022), and the truly wacky The Trouble with You (COLCOA 2019), which won the SACD Prize in Cannes, a Lumière Award for Best Screenplay, and was nominated for three César Awards.