THE WONDERERS

(Qui brille au combat)

North American Premiere | France | 2025 | Drama | 100 min | In French with English subtitles

Directed by: Joséphine Japy
Written by: Joséphine Japy, Olivier Torres
Produced by: Antoine Playoust (Cowboys Films), France 3 Cinéma
Cinematography: Romain Carcanade
Original Score: Odezenne
Film Editing: Nicolas Desmaison
Cast: Mélanie Laurent (Madeleine), Pierre-Yves Cardinal (Gilles), Sarah Pachoud (Bertille), Angelina Woreth (Marion), Félix Kysyl (Thomas), Stéphane Varupenne (François), Anne Loiret (Professor Morgane Janson), Thomas Gioria (Antoine)
International Sales: Pulsar Content

Synopsis

Madeleine, Gilles and Marion Roussier live their lives in a continual state of fragile equilibrium, hinged upon the wildly capricious – at times, physically dangerous – behavior of the family’s younger daughter, Bertille, who is severely disabled. Still undiagnosed at the age of 15 and given to occasional seizures and vanishing acts, Bertille can no longer speak and seems unable to understand or communicate with others. Yet, while it feels as though everyone’s life is on pause, waiting for the other shoe to drop, the film is buoyed by moments of joy and the family’s unequivocal love for one another. Actor Joséphine Japy moves into the director’s chair to recount her personal experience of growing up with a severely disabled younger sister… whose name also happens to be Bertille.

Director’s Biography

Actor-turned-director Joséphine Japy made her screen debut at the age of 11 in Yves Angelo’s Grey Souls (COLCOA 2006). She appeared in Gabriel-Julien-Laferrière’s comedy Neuilly Yo Mama! (2009) and its sequel Neuilly sa mère, sa mère (2018), and played French singer France Gall in the Claude François biopic My Way (COLCOA 2012). She was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for her powerful performance in Mélanie Laurent’s Breathe (2014), which was followed by Hugo Gélin’s sci-fi romantic comedy Love at Second Sight (2019). She portrayed Balzac’s titular heroine in Marc Dugain’s fim adaptation of Eugénie Grandet (2021), and the wife of scandal-ridden business tycoon Bernard Tapie in the Netflix miniseries Class Act (TAFFF 2023). The Wonderers, which is Japy’s directorial debut, had its world premiere in the Special Screenings section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film is presented at TAFFF before its release in France on December 31, 2025.