The official premiere will be held on June 5th, in Cluj-Napoca, at Transilvania International Film Festival (2-11 June), with Radu Mihăileanu and famous British actor Derek Jacobi in attendance. The director will also meet the Bucharest-based viewers in Bucharest at a special screening on June 8th.
Based on the bestseller book with the same title written by Nicole Krauss and translated in over 35 languages, the film follows the love story between Léo (Derek Jacobi) and
Alma (Gemma Arterton), two young Jews from Poland, who seem to get separated forever by the horrors of the 2nd World War.
Once upon a time there was a boy, Léo, who loved a girl, Alma. He called her „the most beloved woman in the world” and promised her to make her laugh for the rest of her life. The war separated them and she left to New York. He overcomes all obstacles in order to meet her and keep his promise. In present day, in Brooklyn lives a fiery teenager girl, very imaginative, whose name is also Alma. She was promised she would be the most loved woman in the world. But to love and be loved is not that simple. Between Léo and young Alma seems to be no connection. However, from the Poland of the `30s until the Central Park of our days, a voyage over years and continents is to join their destinies.
“All my films are love stories,” Radu Mihăileanu said. „Desperate love stories about regular people who struggle to overcome obstacles and start all over again, overwhelming us with their grandeur and splendour. None of them breaks, they all continue to love and exist.”
About the actors in
History of Love, Radu Mihăileanu says fate smiled upon him. Derek Jacobi is “a complete actor, with an open heart, who switches from comedy to tragedy as easily as he crosses the street”. Britanica Gemma Arterton, former Bond girl, “had the difficult task to be credible in the role of
the most loved woman in the world, and managed to play her character at all ages, from 18 to 75 years, with such intensity”.
About Sophie Nélisse, known for her part in
The Book Thief, he said she is “a 15-year old genius, full of energy, making the leap from drama to comedy in a second, understanding all dramatic stakes and having the rare ability to have everything under control and to forget herself when playing”. Then there is William Ainscough, only 11, and who asked the director from the get-go to treat him as an adult on set. And “the cherry on the cake: Elliott Gould, a crazy, generous, funny, available guy who kept telling me: «Radu, I'm here to do everything you want me to»”.
History of Love is a France-Canada-Belgium-Romania co-production, the Romanian co-producer being Libra Film.
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Povestea iubirii | The History of Love - trailer oficial
