07/04/2022 - This week sees the Belgian director kicking off filming on his fourth feature, starring Olivier Gourmet and Dave Johns

Actors Olivier Gourmet (© Dominique Dardenne) and Dave Johns

David Lambert has commenced filming this week on his fourth feature-length movie Les Tortues. The Belgian filmmaker first turned heads on the international scene in 2012 by way of his debut feature Beyond the Walls [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile], which is an intense and tragic love story about a young Albanian homosexual man and a bisexual Brussels-born pianist. The film was selected for Cannes’ Critics’ Week and was followed by a further two feature films: All Yours [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile] (selected within the Karlovy Vary Festival in 2014) and Troisièmes noces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Lambert
film profile] (2018).

Having previously explored a romantic encounter, impossible love and grieving a loved one in his first three films, the director is now gearing up to tackle the end of a relationship. The movie follows in the footsteps of Thom and Henri, who are thrilled to have known the joys of gay marriage but, after 35 years of living together, they’re forced to face up to the fact that love has a tendency to turn bad. Divorce beckons.

To play these two heroes, David Lambert has opted for two actors whom we wouldn’t necessarily have put together, but who both have the Dardenne brothers in common. In this respect, he’ll be working with brilliant Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet, who was unearthed by the Dardenne brothers in The Promise, which was released in 1996 and presented within the Directors’ Fortnight. The actor also won Cannes’ Best Actor award in 2002 for Le Fils, likewise by the Liege-born directors. Viewers might recently have seen him in Eugénie Grandet [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Red Soil [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] or De Gaulle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and will soon get to enjoy him in On The Edge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giordano Gederlini
film profile] and Simone, A Woman of the Century.

Starring opposite him is Dave Johns, the unforgettable hero of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was co-produced by none other than the Dardenne brothers themselves.

Previously produced by Frakas Productions, David Lambert has now joined Patrick Quinet’s team at Artemis Productions. Les Tortues is co-produced by Daniel Morin on behalf of Christal Films (Canada) and by Willem Wallyn for W2 (Belgium). International sales are entrusted to Outplay Films (France) while distribution in Belgium falls to O’Brother Distribution.

(Translated from French)