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French filmmaker turns novel 'Hedgehog' into rich affair

31.12.69

Mona Achache possesses the power of persuasion. The 30-year-old French filmmaker managed to persuade a seasoned producer to make her first feature film, the coming-of-age drama "The Hedgehog" (which opened here Friday), and persuade the author of the novel on which the film is based to grant her the rights to the book.

"She really has something," says producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint.

"I met her when she was 26, and she was very talented. I had seen one of her short films she had done and I told her, 'I like your work, and if you have a good script or idea, I would like to produce you one day.' "

Achache took up Toussaint on her offer and brought her an original script. "It was very dark," Toussaint says. "I says, 'I don't want this story. If you find another story that is more light or more positive, I can do it.' "

So Achache, who began her film career in 2003 as assistant director to Michel Boujenah on "Peres et Fils," found the right property in Muriel Barbery's bestselling "The Elegance of a Hedgehog," about an 11-year-old girl, Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic), who, fed up with what she sees as the hypocrisy of adults, decides to commit suicide on her 12th birthday. That all changes, however, when she befriends Renee (Josiane Balasko), the building's grumpy concierge who is not exactly what she seems, and an elegant Japanese man (Togo Igawa) who moves into the building.

Source: The Detroit News