A FILM BY CHARLES GUERIN SURVILLE

82 minutes

LUPUS present

Jeanne DAMAS

Charles PEPIN

Manon PALMER

Jacky TERRASSON

Charleyne BIONDI

Annika STENVALL

SINCERITY

PRESS & DISTRIBUTION

LUPUS PRODUCTIONS

Charles GUERIN SURVILLE Mob. : 06 11 49 75 27 charlesgsu@gmail.com

SYNOPSIS

To seduce Louise, a young actress, Jean decides to shoot a film. Joined by his friends and muses

Mia and Alma, a famous jazz pianist Jimmy and a philosopher called Guillaume, who arrives with a

brainy neuroscientist, the team composes the script of the film each day.

Little by little, feelings and creativity are taking more importance than the characters everyone are

supposed to play. Does sincerity require the fiction to reveal itself?

INTERVIEW Charles GUERIN SURVILLE

Where does this idea come from?

Next to a swimming pool in Los Angeles, the actress Paz de la Huerta hired me as her driver, assistant, reader for her role in « Dream of summer night » with Ted Levine. At one moment, Paz looked at straight in the eyes: “You, you are sincere. I know that!”, she said it seriously. I did not know exactly what she was meaning. But the idea of the film came from there.

Why these characters of the philosopher, pianist, singer and comedian?

The philosopher character is originates from Charles Pépin’s conferences, at the Mk2 Odéon, that I had been filming for years. We even made a DVD box from them! His metaphysical improvisations have been reminding me the One Man Show of Alvy Singer in “Annie Hall”! For Jimmy the pianist, it comes from Jacky Terrasson’s participation in « Mae West », a medium short film adapted to Dan Fante’s novel. I was asking myself how Charles Pépin and Jacky Terrasson would perform as actors? Would they hold their own with Joaquin Phoenix when playing an alcoholic philosopher in ”Irrational Man”, or Sean Penn a prodigy guitarist in “Sweet and Lowdown” from Woody Allen. My response a posteriori is yes, but I am not sure if I am objective…  

You often refer to Woody Allen! Is he your model?  

I’m self-educated. Woody Allen became my tutor without him knowing it. Often, I have been imagining how he would direct Scarlett Johansson or Penelope Cruz and giving indications to the actors. These last months, after seeing “La La Land”, I also think of Damien Chazelle… How would he perceive Jacky Terrasson’s and Jeanne Dama’s performances ? 

We heard there was no script?

I can’t answer to this question. This is an important aspect of the film. The spectator shall discover the film without knowing the response and make up his own mind...

With this film in the film, Sincerity is like a film post “Day for Night” by Truffaut ?

In “Day for Night”, Truffaut tells the difficulties of making a film while staging himself. In Sincerity, difficulties were appearing during the shooting, most of them being unexpected. For example, each morning, I was waking up with new insect bites. We could have thought of a skin irruption due to the unpleasantness feelings of my character! Numerous directors, like Lars van Trier, are prohibiting make up. In our case, each of us was responsible of his own wardrobe and image. The make up artist’s absence during our shooting helped us forget the camera and to live in character. This said, Jeanne Damas has been launching her own ready-to-wear brand, Rouje, and Isabel Marant lent us 13 outfits, which was a real help. The toughest was having to return them after the shooting.

Which difficulties did you meet?

The first was to gather our team from New-York, Helsinki, Toulon, Paris, in middle of the summer. A little like an international production. The first evening, before nightfall, we arrived all pretty tired. Mikaël Lubtchansky made a camera test. This is one of the first scenes of the film…

Is the film an abyss?

It stands on a paradox. How to lose balance totally without really losing it? What happened to our characters was pure fiction, but it was allowing us to reach a deep part of ourselves. In my case, defending a character of a director falling crazily in love of an actress was really interesting me, even if it was (unfortunately!) not reality. At certain moments, I was losing balance for real. The worst was that I was certain times credible! Numerous persons would have gone running, in front of this necessary dose of danger. But here, characters were adapting. The film could have been called «  fragility  ». Anyway, a nice and beautiful star was lighting us. We just needed to discover its sense. Alice Moine, our editor, was our second star…          

And Jeanne Damas?

During auditions, her brightness and temperament marvelled me. If I was able to play the character of Jean, crazy for his muse, this is only because she was inspiring me trust. This is because of this general trust that the film has been possible. The trust of Jeanne, Charles, Jacky, Manon, Charleyne, Annika, Mikaël, Corentin, Alice, Loïc, Rodney, Jean-Batiste. Indeed, the film could have been called “trust”.

BIOGRAPHIES

Jeanne DAMAS

At 14 years old, Jeanne Damas launches a Tumblr of photos. Today, she represents an unavoidable symbol of French fashion. In 2017, she plays a journalist in the Guillaume Canet feature film, “Rock&Roll”, and launches her ready to wear brand, Rouje. Her first book of Parisian French fashion portraits, with the journalist Lauren Bastide, is about to be published. 700.000 fans are following her on Instagram. Jeanne Damas is LOUISE, an aspiring actress.

Charles PEPIN

Associate Professor of Philosophy, writer of numerous essays, novels and best seller cartoons, Charles Pépin is known as the coolest philosopher in France. The day before his departure to Ardèche, he was correcting the last version of his last essay « The Vertues of Failure», published by Allary Editions. Charles Pépin is Guillaume, a philosopher lying to himself.

Jacky TERRASSON

In 1993, Jacky Terrasson won the prestigious international Thelonius Monk price. His concerts are attracting a large public all over the world. In 2015, he composes the original music of « Mae West  », medium short adapted by Dan Fante novel, starring with Olivier Marchal and Cécile Cassel. Jacky travelled for 24 hours non-stop to reach the Ardèche region from New York. Jacky Terrasson is Jimmy, an instinctive jazz pianist.

MANON PALMER

Manon is a French American Soul singer. She begins her career at The Voice. Her first album is about to be launched through the label Capitol, under the name Palmer. Manon Palmer is Alma, a young singer observing life.

Charleyne BIONDI

Charleyne was a student of Charles Pépin at the Lycée de la Legion of Honor School and at Sciences Po Paris. Today, she lives in New York where she works on a thesis regarding personal integrity. Charleyne Biondi is Diane, a crafty neuroscientist.

Annika STENVALL

Annika Stenvall is a finnish actress. She plays an army nurse in the next film by Aku Louhimies, “The Unknown soldier”. Annika Stenvall is Mia, an épicurian photographer.

Charles GUERIN SURVILLE

After writing the novel «  Do you like your job  ?» published by Hachette Littératures, Charles Guerin Surville had a career in developing start-ups internationally. In parallel, he begins directing and producing films. After ”Mae West”, a short film adapted of a Dan Fante’s novel,  «  Sincerity  » is his first long feature.

CAST JEANNE DAMAS LOUISE

CHARLES PÉPIN GUILLAUME

JACKY TERRASSON JIMMY

MANON PALMER ALMA

CHARLEYNE BIONDI DIANE

ANNIKA STENVALL MIA

CHARLES GUÉRIN SURVILLE JEAN

TECHNICAL LIST DIRECTOR CHARLES GUERIN SURVILLE

CYNEMATOGRAPHER MIKAËL LUBTCHANSKY

EDITOR ALICE MOINE

SOUND LOÏC GOURBE

CORENTIN DELENTE

COLORIST RODNEY MUSSO

ORIGINAL MUSIC JACKY TERRASSON

VOICE MANON PALMER

LYRICS CHARLES PÉPIN

ASS. LOCATION MANAGER MARINE MACHI

ARTISTIC ADVISER FRANÇOIS THÉBERGE

ALBAN GUÉRIN SURVILLE

PRODUCTION LUPUS CHARLES GUERIN SURVILLE