Renard et l'enfant, Le (2007)

Director:

Luc Jacquet

Writers:

Luc Jacquet (writer)
Eric Rognard (scenario)

Release Date:

12 December 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family

Plot:

It has been described as both a nature doc and "fairy tale" look at the story of young girl and her friendship with a fox. |

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Bertille Noël-Bruneau	...	L'enfant
Isabelle Carré	...	Narrator / L'enfant adulte
Thomas Laliberté	...	Le petit garçon

Directed by
Luc Jacquet

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Luc Jacquet		writer
Eric Rognard		scenario

Produced by
Yves Darondeau	....	producer
Kali Ligertwood	....	coordinating producer
Christophe Lioud	....	producer
Laurence Picollec	....	executive producer
Emmanuel Priou	....	producer

Original Music by
Evgueni Galperine
Alice Lewis
David Reyes

Cinematography by
Eric Dumage
Gérard Simon

Film Editing by
Sabine Emiliani

Casting by
Tatiana Vialle

Makeup Department
Marie-Anne Hum	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Jean-Christophe Barret	....	post-production supervisor
Benjamin Dewaele	....	assistant unit manager
Asen Kanchev	....	music production manager
Pascal Roussel	....	production manager

Sound Department
Jean-Baptiste Benoit	....	sound
Germain Boulay	....	supervising sound editor
Soazic Veillon	....	dialogue editor
Jean-Marie Viollet	....	sound mixer trainee

Visual Effects by
Béatrice Bauwens	....	visual effects coordinator
Lucie Bories	....	digital compositor
Bastien Chauvet	....	digital compositor
Cédric Fayolle	....	visual effects supervisor
Amélie Guyot	....	matchmover
Thomas Larocca	....	digital compositor
Sabine Lineres	....	digital compositor
Peregrine MacCafferty	....	matchmove artist
Hugues Namur	....	visual effects supervisor
Jean-René Nébot	....	digital color timer
Alexandre Rouil	....	3D matte painter
Julien Rousseau	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
Cyril Barbancon	....	camera operator
Simon Bérard	....	gaffer
Olivier Bertrand	....	assistant camera
Vincent Blasco	....	key grip
Jérôme Bouvier	....	camera operator
Marc Caro	....	still photographer
Pascal Chantier	....	still photographer
Pierre Chevrin	....	focus puller
Jean-Marie Delorme	....	assistant camera
Alexandre Léglise	....	assistant camera
Jérôme Maison	....	camera operator
Pierre Mazard	....	assistant camera
Pierre Stetin	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Jean-René Nébot	....	digital color timer
Soazic Veillon	....	assistant editor
Emmanuelle Zelez	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Vladislav Boyadjiev	....	music technical supervisor
Hervé Jamet	....	orchestrator
Alice Lewis	....	musician
Deyan Pavlov	....	conductor
David Reyes	....	musician
David Reyes	....	orchestrator

Production Companies

• Bonne Pioche

Distributors

• Buena Vista International (2007) (France) (theatrical)
• Cinema Mondo (2008) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2008) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Kinowelt Filmverleih (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Paradiso Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Picturehouse Entertainment (2007) (USA) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• SIF309 Film & Music Productions  film score recording

Also Known As:

The Fox & the Child (International: English title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | Germany:o.Al. | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Finland:K-7 | Ireland:G | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva)

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Bonne Pioche

Trivia:

Actually, there were used about 10 foxes as "le renard".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in On the Trail of the Fox (2008)

The direction of the animal characters is brilliantly executed -- as good as you will find on any of Attenborough's efforts.

THE FOX AND THE CHILD is the latest film from MARCH OF THE PENGUINS filmmaker Frenchman Luc Jacquet. The movie, which boasts just one human being in its cast, young actress Bertille Noël-Bruneau, tells the story of the rather rare, though seemingly believable relationship between a child and a wild fox.

Part-nature documentary, and part-fairy tale, the film focuses on L'Infant, the child, who on her way to school one day comes across the path of a wild fox in a picturesque setting, possibly France, though the exact location is never mentioned. Over the coming weeks the child revisits the place where she found her fox hopeful that one of said days she will see said fox, who she begins to call Lily, once again. And so it goes on. Days turn to weeks, and then the summer disappears, turning to fall and then winter, promting some superb cinematography of the sweeping, white winter landscape. Eventually, spring comes around again, and the young child finds her fox, and indeed does strike up a friendship with the animal. And so on.

I had little to no expectation for THE FOX AND THE CHILD. I had seen MARCH OF THE PENGUINS and was simply in awe at the film-making contained in that movie. Luc Jacquet is a hugely talented, and indeed rare film-maker, and I was expecting some superb, breathtaking cinematography, sweeping vistas and brilliant footage of the wildlife. This was delivered in spades. But here Jacquet has a screen writing credit, and not knowing anything about the movie prior to the screening, I expected something a little different than what had previously been seen in 'March'. A fictional story.

The child and the fox And the story is simple. A young, seemingly lonely child lives in a house in the middle of nowhere and walks to school, seemingly on her own, every day, seemingly without a care in the a seemingly perfect world. Without the hint of an adult in sight. Brilliant. So she strikes up a friendship with a fox.

With a film like this, you have to dismiss your own opinion of the movie and put yourselves in the shoes of the target audience. This is a film which is aimed directly at children from the age of, I'd say, six and up. Or to families who fancy a trip to the cinema with their breed one wet Sunday afternoon. Not a 31-year-old male who gets his kicks from films like the recent, brilliant WANTED and the like. But, me being the newbie London critic, I put myself in the shoes of an excited eight-year old girl for the 95 or so minutes of THE FOX AND THE CHILD. Now, I have a few problems with this film. As a 31-year-old lad, and loyal lover of all things cinematic, I loved the wildlife and landscape photography. It's visually stunning. The direction of the animal characters is brilliantly executed -- as good as you will find on any of Attenborough's efforts. As an impressionable, short attention spanning eight year old, I loved about the first half hour -- then I lost interest. It's a little repetitive and in places quite harrowing and bloody scary for a younger child, particularly the rather dark ending. As a 31-year-old male -- I was a little frightened in places. Wuss.

So, it's not a child's film. It's not really an adult film and I felt a little let down. Is it a good family film. Depends. It's educational maybe, and the film carries a message. It's definitely not a film I would pay the hard earned green to go see and I'm racking my brains to try and recommend it to a certain type of film goer. It's hard, but I know some will go see and fall in love this film. It's very European in feel and certainly if you are a fan of wildlife themed flicks, give it a try. Unsure? Well I'd wait for the DVD for a wet Sunday afternoon in then. -- Paul Heath, http://www.thehollywoodnews.com, July 2008.