The Crusade

Third feature film directed by actor Louis Garrel, presented in the Special Screenings section at the 74th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival, as well as in the Pearl category at the 69th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival. A 67-minute comedy with which he repeats with Laetitia Casta and Joseph Engel, also main roles of his previous film, 'A Faithful Man', which he won the award for best screenplay at the 66th edition of the San Sebastian Festival, as well as being screened at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival.

Abel (Garrel) and Marianne (Casta) are a bourgeois couple who have a son, Joseph (Engel), a 13-year-old teenager. One day, Abel and Marianne discover that Joseph has secretly sold their most precious possessions. Horribly taken aback by the attitude of their son, they soon realize that they are not the only parents who have seen their children put their valuables up for sale. Well, Joseph, along with hundreds of children from around the world have come together to finance a mysterious environmental project in Africa. Their mission? Save the planet Earth.

A production that arose after an idea proposed by Jean-Claude Carrière, who died on February 8, 2021, and which, initially, Louis Garrel ruled out. "I thought it was an adult idea that we put into children's heads, it bothered me, it didn't seem fair. I talked about it with friends, I read the scene to them and they all thought, like me, that it sounded bad. Jean-Claude was a little offended, because he was sure of himself". Three months later, the environmental phenomenon led by teenage activist Greta Thunberg emerged, proving Carrière right. "He advised me to hurry up to make this film, otherwise I would seem to be running after the event. And that is precisely what is happening", Garrel noted.

Directed by Louis Garrel and written by Garrel and Jean-Claude Carrière. Starring Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta and Joseph Engel. Produced by Pascal Caucheteux. A Why Not Productions production with Wild Bunch handling French distribution and international sales.