Private Project

The Open

Bombs have exploded. The war is global.

Yet André and Stéphanie won’t give up: Roland Garros is their life, the reason why they live – their history. And come what may, they will organize their Open, whatever the cost. Even without rackets, even without balls, by the sheer strength of their faith.

They believe in it.

So hard they could even convince Ralph – a guerrilla from the plain – to join them, lay down his weapons, take his racket once more and try his luck in the final: Roland Garros!

Three misfits, playing air tennis in the middle of nowhere, strive to dream – even though life is turning into a farce, even though the world is coming to an end.

  • Marc Lahore
    Director
  • Marc Lahore
    Writer
  • Cyril Cadars
    Producer
  • James Northcote
    Key Cast
    The Last Kingdom, A United Kingdom, The Imitation Game, Anna Karenina, Wuthering Heights, Nymphomaniac
  • Maia Levasseur-Costil
    Key Cast
  • Pierre Benoist
    Key Cast
    Pour elle, A bout portant, Mea culpa
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    The Open
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Sports, Sci-Fi
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 43 minutes 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 22, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    110,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:89
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 56 festivals, français et internationaux, entre 2016 et 2017 - incluant notamment les festivals de Munich, Fantasporto, CPH PIX, Trieste, Malaga, Cork, Calgary, Leeds, le BIFFF, le Bucheon BiFan, le FEFFS de Strasbourg, le Festival international du premier film d’Annonay, le Lund Fantastik Filmfestival, Fantaspoa ou encore le FIFIB de Bordeaux.
    (Ceci dans une vingtaine de pays.)
    France
    January 1, 2018
    Essentiellement des premières.
    Un total, tous festivals confondus, de 25 prix.
Distribution Information
  • None yet. Sadly.
Director Biography - Marc Lahore

Marc grew up between a mountain of VHS and a heap of comics. He became a voluntary projectionist, then a TV editor, pursuing at the same time a university course in English language and culture. He then directed a series of quite different, often strange short films (the last one of which, 'DO', is currently being screened all around the world), deliberately choosing disconcerting forms, as he likes to explore, or rediscover, varied worlds and concepts ; 'The Open' is his first feature film.

Marc recently won the CNC's "Aide à la réécriture" (a State grant for the development of feature films), and is today putting the finishing touches to 'Joe Louis' Left Hand', a rural Pyrenean drama, alongside Nicolas Peufaillit ('Un Prophète', 'Les Revenants'), at the same time he is working on a political series for France 4 ('B-82', directed by Marc Fouchard).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The Open.

Imagine two men and a woman, fighting against the end of the world –the end of their world–, against the death of humanity, by throwing imaginary tennis balls.

This postulate may seem strange, as it borrows as well from "Mad Max" as it does from Beckett; yet it actually opens the film to many aesthetic approaches and forms –"The Open" owing for instance an obvious debt to Antonioni (the final sequence of "Blow Up" is actually 're-played' here...), as well as to my fascination for tennis, a quite “westernian” sport with an obvious, sadly under-exploited cinematic potential.

"The Open" thus combines sports, post apocalyptic SF, French intimist drama, pantomime, obvious references to the theatre of the absurd and, to a certain extent, comedy. "The Road" revised by Tank Girl, and performed by an insecure, Woody Allenian Roger Federer…

Yet all those apparently disparate elements prove to be justified, and bound together, by a perfectly straight narrative framework directing the fates of my three characters –André, Stéphanie and Ralph: beyond its punk aesthetics, "The Open" claims to be a humanist fable; the allegory of an eternal, fundamentally human hope.

Indeed, I do truly, deeply believe in the main theme developed in this film, and I remain absolutely, intimately convinced that every one of us can only keep going thanks to, and for, the stories we tell ourselves (and often tell one another) at all times. To quote Paul Valéry, we would be nonentities “but for the help of what doesn’t exist” ("...le secours de ce qui n'existe pas").

Roland Garros -the Open- thus becomes the place of dreams and fantasy; the necessary, the absolutely essential source of life for my three beautiful Misfits.

+ A Quick Production Note on our own micro-budget "Apocalypse Now":

Such an extra-ordinary project required an extra-ordinary shooting… "The Open", a micro-budget feature film, was shot in the heart of the Scottish Highlands (and Islands), from mid-June to the beginning of July 2013.

For three weeks, a die hard team of nine (!) actors and technicians braved the cold, the rain, the wind (even a tempest…), the fog, the mud and the sand –not to mention the midges: James, Maia and Pierre (the actors), Marc (director & cinematographer), Romain (sound engineer), Jean-Fred (1st assistant director), Claire (wearing several hats: production, stage management, set decoration, etc.), Sarah (likewise, besides make-up & SFX, her speciality) and Benjamin (executive producer, set manager & cook), who was relieved by Cyril (line producer) for the last week.

Because of the aforementioned micro-budget, this micro-team suffered –a lot– in order to shoot the feature, at full speed, in conditions that often proved hellish; Gilliam barely survived his "Lost in la Mancha" and, well, Marc’s warriors experienced their own "Lost in the Hebrides" –with a major difference, though: they saw their movie through to the end.

Many more spectacular –or simply funny– details and anecdotes, as well as portraits of the crew members, can be found on the movie’s blog: http://blogtheopen.wordpress.com/