Director:Xavier Giannoli Soko's role: Monika With: François Cluzet Released: 11 Nov. 2009 (France) Length: 130 minutes Genre: drama Film Format: 35mm
Xavier Giannoli and Daniel Karlin wrote the screenplay. The working title during production was "Je suis parti de rien" (I started with nothing.)
Paul (Francois Cluzet), a career con man, is enjoying the profits of his latest scam when a lady mayor (Emmanuelle Devos)
makes him rethink his criminal ways. Thanks to his growing interest in the mayor, Paul wants to make things right with his many victims.
The story is based on actual events, and the judge in the film, Laurent Leguevaque, is the judge who was involved in the actual case.
Having a Heinekin
Alessandro De Simone, writing for The Cinema Show, said: "Girato con mano sicura, sebbene senza particolari invenzioni registiche, À l’origine ha l’enorme merito di avere un ritmo perfetto, sempre incalzante, nel quale gli attori si calano con straordinaria intensità. Francois Cluzet è a dir poco eccezionale nei panni del protagonista, regalandoci un’interpretazione memorabile con la quale costruisce un Philippe che si trasforma lentamente ma inesorabilmente, consumato dal desiderio inspiegabile di portare a termine quella strana follia di costruire la retta via che ha smarrito. Emmanuelle Devos è il sindaco innamorato, Gerard Depardieu il vecchio socio che spunta dal torbido passato e la giovane Soko la segretaria tuttofare, vera rivelazione del film, un volto da tenere d’occhio."
In a blog post titled Oh SoKo!, Anthony Horan wrote: "To date her movie credits have been under her real name, but that's about to change. "This [In the Beginning] is going to be the first movie where I'm credited as SoKo," she says, sounding pleased. "Just because SoKo is my nickname, it's my name since I was a kid. And when people call me Stephanie, I feel like they're talking to someone else. I don't feel like it's me. My agent said 'you should go by SoKo, because when you do interviews people are going to call you Stephanie and you're gonna hate it, and then you're gonna hate them, and then you're gonna do bad interviews.' But I'd rather be called SoKo just because it's me."
Director Xavier Giannoli
IN THE BEGINNING was nominated for Best Picture of 2009 by the 2010 Globes de cristal. It was also nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes. Soko was nominated for a César Award in the catgory Best Female Newcomer.
The soundtrack is available as an import CD from Amazon. The music was composed by NY born Cliff Martinez, the former drummer with CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, and the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
Stéphanie Sokolinski is credited as Soko for the first time.
