Catherine Breillat, one of the great French filmmakers of the last 30-plus years, came out of retirement in 2023 with “Last Summer,” a provocative, brilliant film that, like all Breillat films, tested the boundaries of political correctness.
It seems Breillat, 77, isn’t done yet. She’s preparing her next feature, “The German Cousin,” an adaptation of Georges Simenon’s 1939 novel “The Krull House.” She is reuniting with producer Saïd Ben Saïd ahead of a planned 2027 shoot.
Set in a provincial French town on the eve of World War II, the story follows the Krull family, German immigrants who run a struggling grocery café while facing growing xenophobia despite being naturalized French citizens. Tensions escalate with the arrival of Hans, a charming but manipulative German cousin, and spiral further after a young woman is raped and murdered nearby, turning the family into targets of rumor, suspicion, and mob hostility.
Widely seen as a prophetic study of racism and collective hysteria, the novel explores how fear and prejudice can drive ordinary people toward scapegoating and violence.
Breillat said she was drawn to the novel’s “singular modernity” and its disturbing relevance to contemporary society, insisting that preserving the 1930s setting allows the story to function as a timeless parable about groupthink. She sees it as ideal cinematic material for creating an intimate yet politically charged portrait of social collapse.
Before “Last Summer,” it had been a decade since Breillat’s previous film, the scathingly original “Abuse of Weakness.” She is known for countless cinematic provocations, including “Romance,” “Fat Girl,” and “The Last Mistress.”