My Friend Victoria

Director: Jean Paul Civeyrac
Watch the trailer

Film Info

  • Year: 2014
  • Film Format: DCP and Blu-ray
  • Origin: France
  • Runtime: 95
  • Color
  • Language: French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Rating: Not rated
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An 8-year-old black child named Victoria (Keylia Achie Beguie), is taken in for a night by the wealthy, white, well-intentioned family of one of her schoolmates. The experience haunts her for years to come, shaping her desires and offering a mirage of privilege that she dreams of but finds impossible to attain. As an adult (beautifully played by newcomer Guslagie Malanda), she drifts from job to job, but then unexpectedly reconnects with the family’s youngest son (Pierre Andrau) in an encounter that will reshape her life yet again. Adapting Nobel laureate Doris Lessing’s story “Victoria and the Staveneys,” Civeyrac relocates the story from London to Paris to craft a probing and intimate look at the politics of race and class identity. Veteran actors Catherine Mouchet (Thérèse, Late August, Early September) and Pascal Greggory (Pauline at the Beach, Queen Margot, Gabrielle and others) round out the cast.

MY FRIEND VICTORIA is now available on iTunes.

Jean Paul Civeyrac

Jean Paul Civeyrac—whom Jonathan Romney in Film Comment called "one of French cinema’s best-kept secrets"—has made eight feature films to date : Neither Eve Nor Adam (1997), Les Solitaires (2000), Fantômes (2001), Man's Gentle Love (2002), All the Fine Promises (2003), Through the Forest (2005), Young Girls in Black (2010) and My Friend Victoria (2014).

Victoria GUSLAGIE MALANDA

Fanny NADIA MOUSSA

Elena CATHERINE MOUCHET

Lionel PASCAL GREGGORY

Edouard ALEXIS LORET

Thomas PIERRE ANDRAU

Diouma ELISE AKABA

Sam TONY HARRISSON

Victoria as a child KEYLIA ACHIE BEGUIE

Fanny as a child KEEMYAH OMOLONGO

Marie MAYLINA DIAGNE

 

Screenplay & Directed by JEAN PAUL CIVEYRAC

Produced by PHILIPPE MARTIN

Coproduced by JACQUES-HENRI & OLIVIER BRONCKART

Director of Photography DAVID CHAMBILLE

Sound FRANÇOIS MEREU, STÉPHANE THIÉBAUT

Script clerk MATHILDE PROFIT

Set design BRIGITTE BRASSART

Costumes CLAIRE DUBIEN

Make up/Hairdresser PASCALE GUEGAN

Editing LOUISE NARBONI

First assistant director MARIE DOLLER

Production manager HÉLÈNE BASTIDE

A production of LES FILMS PELLÉAS

In coproduction with VERSUS PRODUCTION

“So poignant... so beautiful... an intensely beguiling film, and an altogether surprising one, from a director whose signature is entirely his own... Jean Paul Civeyrac [is] one of French cinema’s best-kept secrets” – Jonathan Romney, Film Comment
“A subtle disquisition on race and class in contemporary France.” – Scott Tobias, The Village Voice

Photos

Guslagie Malanda as Victoria in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac Guslagie Malanda as Victoria in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac
Guslagie Malanda as Victoria and Pierre Andrau as Thomas in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac Guslagie Malanda as Victoria and Pierre Andrau as Thomas in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac
Nadia Moussa as Fanny (left), Maylina Diagne as Marie and Guslagie Malanda as Victoria in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac Nadia Moussa as Fanny (left), Maylina Diagne as Marie and Guslagie Malanda as Victoria in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac
Pascal Greggory (left) as Lionel, Guslagie Malanda as Victoria and Maylina Diagne as Marie in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac Pascal Greggory (left) as Lionel, Guslagie Malanda as Victoria and Maylina Diagne as Marie in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac
From left: Guslagie Malanda as Victoria, Pascal Greggory (left) as Lionel, Pierre Andrau as Thomas, Maylina Diagne as Marie, Catherine Mouchet as Elena and Alexis Loret as Edouard in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac From left: Guslagie Malanda as Victoria, Pascal Greggory (left) as Lionel, Pierre Andrau as Thomas, Maylina Diagne as Marie, Catherine Mouchet as Elena and Alexis Loret as Edouard in MY FRIEND VICTORIA, a film by Jean Paul Civeyrac
MY FRIEND VICTORIA director Jean Paul Civeyrac. Photo: Carole Bethuel. MY FRIEND VICTORIA director Jean Paul Civeyrac. Photo: Carole Bethuel.

Trailer