AUGUSTINE

Director: Alice Winocour
Written by: Alice Winocour
Soko's role: Augustine
With: Vincent Lindon, Roxane Duran
Length: 102 minutes
Genre: drama
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Released in France 7 November 2012 and in the US on 17 May 2013

DVD -- CAST -- TRAILER

Set in Paris in the winter of 1855 at the Pitié Salpêtrière hospital, AUGUSTINE explores the mutual fascination that develops between Doctor Jean Martin Charcot (Vincent Lindon) and his patient, Augustine, a young housemaid who is showing all the symptoms of 'hysteria'. Professor Charcot is studying this mysterious disease. Nineteen year old Augustine becomes his favorite guinea pig, and the star of his demonstrations of hypnosis. In the beginning she is a subject of study, but gradually became an object of desire.

Soko tweeted on 8 December 2011: "Today, i got slapped in the face about 30 times, ran for my life with a paralyzed arm and leg and fell into spiky bushes, almost got raped, got violently carried off the floor while having a crazy crisis, locked myself into a cupboard...WOWZA...what a day! Shooting Augustine is AMAZING!"

Vincent Lindon and Soko in Augustine

In an interview with Ardana Sharma, Soko said: "Alice is so caring, such a great present precise director. She would never let you be bad, or average. She was really good at supporting me and pushing me so hard because till we get what we had both imagined Augustine would be like. I was ready to give her everything blindly. And Vincent was a dream. He's a real Pygmalion, very generous with young actors, giving a lot of advice always and very reassuring."

On 18 January 2012 Soko tweeted: "Today was the BEST day of the whole shoot: I spent it petting/holding/cuddling this princess new love of mine called Betty! Monkeys gives the best love...HAPPINESS ...#augustinethemovie."

Soko and the monkey - Augustine
Soko with Betty the Monkey

Chiara Mastroianni plays the wife of Charcot. The film was produced by Isabelle Madelaine and Emilie Tisné. It was filmed in Ille de France

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER wrote: "Soko...compellingly underplays an individual awkwardly caught between girlhood and womanhood by her physical traumas. She certainly confirms the promise that saw her nominated as 'Best Female Hope' at the 2006 Césars (for Xavier Giannoli's In the Beginning), holding her own against the avuncular, ever-observant slyness of the vastly more experienced Lindon, himself a four-time César nominee."

Hans Morgenstern of Independent Ethos blogged about AUGUSTINE: "The performances feel sincere," he said, "which is especially impressive considering the lead actress is better known as a pop singer in her native France than an actress. Her baby-faced look allows the 27-year-old to get away with playing 19 on a superficial level. However, she also embraces a sensual drive that is particularly challenging for this woman to repress while also tangling with a sense of innocence."

Soko in Augustine

In an interview with Mark Olsen of the LA Times, Soko said that Winocour "didn’t want me to do any research. She was like, 'Everything you need to know is in the script. We’re not doing a historical re-creation. We’re making a love story. We’re talking about sex, and we’re talking about love and how you turn from object to being the master of the man who is totally dominating you.'"

Soko won the Best Actress award at the 2012 FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINE DE MAR DEL PLATA in Buenos Aires for her performance as Augustine.

On 27 January 2012, the next-to-last day of filming, Soko wrote on Twitter: "Tomorrow is my last day of shoot on AUGUSTINE. i'm so so so very sad. this is THE MOVIE OF MY LIFE! i can't believe i have to leave such an amazing character/era/story."

TRAILER

Augustine video thumb

DVD AND BLU-RAY

AUGUSTINE has been released on DVD and BluRay in the US (French with English subtitles). The film can be streamed on TUBI.

CAST

Augustine film poster