Studiocanal has unveiled a first look still of Cesar-winning French actor Leïla Bekhti (“Once Upon My Mother”) in “Violette,” the next film by”Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
The movie, which wrapped shooting on location in France in September, is an adaptation of Valérie Perrin’s literary sensation “Fresh Water for Flowers” (“Changer l’eau des fleurs”), which sold over 3 million copies worldwide. One of the French-language highlights of Studiocanal’s 2026 slate, the movie also stars Matthias Schoenaerts (“Rust and Bone”), Melvil Poupaud (“Jeanne du Barry”), Anouk Grinberg (“The Innocent”), Sergio Castellitto (“Conclave”), Alban Lenoir (“Lost Bullet”), as well as Elodie Batard Gaultier who is pictured above with Bekhti.
Bekhti (who’s recently earned critical acclaim in France for her emotional performance in “Once Upon My Mother”) plays Violette Toussaint, a cemetery caretaker in a small town in Burgundy, who a compassionate listener. “Her peaceful life is filled by conversations with quirky cemetery workers and the many visitors who share their stories of love, loss, and life. However, her routine is disrupted when a local police chief arrives at her door with an unusual request. As they grow closer, Violette comes to understand that the truth behind long-buried mysteries in her past must be uncovered if she wants to take another chance on life and, against all odds, love,” the synopsis reads. Jeunet co-wrote the script with Guillaume Laurant, whose credits include Jeunet’s cult films, from “Amelie” to “The City of Lost Children” and “A Very Long Engagement.”
“Violette” is produced by two Mediawan labels — Carlo Degli Esposti and Nicola Serra at Palomar (“Piranhas,” “The Count of Monte Cristo”), and Thibault Gast and Matthias Weber at 24 25 Films (“Black Box,” “Kabul”).
Studiocanal is co-producing the film, handling international sales, and distributing it directly in key territories including France, the U.K., Benelux, Germany, Austria, Poland, Australia, and New Zealand.
