LE COEUR DU PÉLICAN

Location setting: Paris to Zurich

Main viewership: F25-45yo

Production: Infilmpact & E.M.

Director: Elise McLeod

Writer: Elise McLeod (Songlines, Fish'n'Chicks++) & Clemence Lebatteux (Germinal, Grand Hôtel, Skam France, Edith & Henry, Cut)

DOP: In negotiations

Cast: Eugenie Derouand (The Advent Calendar, Paris Police 1900 and Béatrice), Hélène Kuhn (Jezabel, Jackie Rosemary's Baby), Astrid Roos (Echoes Of The Past, Justice Dot Net, Fan Club, Dreamland, Police 1900, and Escape)

Production: Spring 2024

Estimated Release: Q4, 2024

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(English further down)

Un trio de sœurs trentenaires : une journaliste, une mariée, une bohème, part en road-trip ! Le périple les emmène à traverser la France pour rejoindre en Suisse leur mère, une femme élégante atteinte d’un Alzheimer aggravé. Cette dernière a choisit de les quitter : en s’euthanasiant. Chacune des trois encaisse la situation à sa manière : la cadette se noie dans le déni et prend leur virée comme des vacances; l’ainée, elle, se réduit à assurer l’organisation, tandis que la deuxième, enceinte jusqu’au cou, s’emploie à propager paix et amour familial. À la demande de leur maman, elles doivent faire un crochet à la maison de Bourgogne de leur enfance, y récupérer des objets sentimentaux. Sauf que la cadette pique une crise lorsque l’une de ses sœurs emporte avec elle l’urne funéraire de leur papa chéri ! Leur mère s’est toujours opposée à ce que ces cendres quittent la demeure. Et la cadette va aussi endosser la mission de convaincre les autres de raviser le choix de mourir de leur mère. En route ! Le voyage se ponctue de conflits et d’imprévus qui leur barrent la route: voiture volée, accident esquiv, autostoppeur douteux, contactions uté rines, chien renversé, et même un éléphant droit devant ! Que d'obstacles tout au long des kilomètres pour arriver à destination... Contre vents et marées, elles gagnent Genève. Et face à «Maman», chacunes’écroule à sa façon mais, devant la détermination de celle qui leur a donné la vie, elles se rendent à l’évidence de la laisser mourir. Les trois sœurs ne peuvent qu’accepter son destin choisi. Dans la nuit du 11 aout, soir illuminé des étoiles filantes, leur mère file vers le ciel. 

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“The Heart of the Pelican” explores the unique relationship between siblings, particularly in the face of adversity. In this case their mother's choice to end her own life, and strives to understand the sisters. They may have grown up together but Garence, Chloé, and Lou each have their own way of coping with their mother’s choice of assisted suicide. I chose the shadow of death to explore their relationships, both with each other and themselves. What’s more effective than their mother choosing to die early to tell the story of this family.

The road trip exacerbates feelings, suppressed emotions and old grudges between the sisters. There is also something magic and melancholic, comforting but unsettling, about being on the road between destinations, trapped in a car, but on the move. At the beginning of the trip, we have three sisters that have been estranged from each other, struggling to communicate, and along the journey each one will
begin to redefine her relationship to herself, her sisters and her mother. What does it mean to be a sibling? Even though the three sisters strive to change, they often fall into old patterns of behaviour, each of them would have hoped they’d grown out of. For me it also speaks of how you are seen by the others, how you navigate your position and identity in face of a family drama. Each of us reacts differently, despite the fact we grew up in the same family. Chloé is a peacemaker, and does her absolute best to make everything nice for everyone despite her own anxiety about becoming a mother. Garence tries desperately to keep her distance, dealing with everything pragmatically, and Lou is in denial and thinks we can all be free. Each sister has issues to come to terms with and resolve, both with each other and in their own lives.

“The Heart of the Pelican” is also about the notion of memory and time. In acknowledging death we face our own mortality. Lou will be constantly taking photos and videos trying to immortalise their time together. She is fearful of forgetting. Garence reads out the memories of the past written in the family journal, for her, she holds on to the reality through the written word. For her it’s all about the words we put down. Whereas Chloé sees symbols of life and death everywhere, but each time she points them out, her sisters miss them. Through this story I also want to explore the absurdity of life particularly in face of death. This road trip will be told with a pinch of comedy, a handful of drama and a sprinkling of poetry.

“The Heart of the Pelican” tells an equally dramatic story without ever losing its sense of humour. Laughter and love, in my opinion, are what keeps us sane in the face of adversity. As Voltaire said, “God is an actor playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”
Elise Mc Leod