Sébastien Laudenbach, director of The Girl Without Hands, is readying his latest feature. Prends garde à toi! (Be on Your Guard!) will adapt Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen and the eponymous novella by Prosper Mérimée on which it is based (the title comes from a famous refrain in the opera).
In Seville, beautiful, free-spirited Carmen encounters the controlling soldier Don José, as in the opera. But the film will focus on two teenagers who learn that Carmen is fated to be killed by a man who tries to make her fall in love with him. It is described as a “socially committed, feminist” retelling of the classic tale, aimed at eight-year-olds and up.
Prends garde à toi! is set up at Folivari (Pachamama, The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales), the prominent French studio led by Didier and Damien Brunner. Pierre-Henri Leon is co-producing at France’s La Garde Montante. Enticingly, renowned French comics artist Cyril Pedrosa (Portugal) is onboard as art director.
