An avid sailor, Jean-Paul(Jean-Paul Rouve) is going through a difficult period. He's accumulating debts and drifting away from his family. Determined to get his life back on track, he signs up for Virtual Regatta, the virtual Vendée Globe race. He puts himself in the conditions of a real skipper by isolating himself for 3 months on his boat, at the bottom of his Normandy garden, and prepares to face the million participants but also and above all his own demons. " You're going to sail around the world in the garden", says his daughter (played by the young Madeleine Beauvois, daughter of).
La Vallée des Fous is broadcast on Canal+ on July 29, 2025 at 9:09pm.
Synopsis: An avid sailor, Jean-Paul has fallen on hard times. He accumulates debts and distances himself from his family. Determined to get his life back on track, he signs up for Virtual Regatta, the virtual Vendée Globe race. He puts himself in the conditions of a real skipper by isolating himself for 3 months on his boat in his garden... This voyage, unlike any other, will enable him to reconnect with his family and, above all, with himself.
This is the crazy idea behind La Vallée des Fous, the new film by Xavier Beauvois, in theaters November 13, 2024. And while it may make you smile or even laugh, the French director never looks down on his drifting character. Riddled with debt and drowning his malaise in alcoholism , Jean-Paul is forced to sell the family home and move upstairs to his restaurant, which no longer sells out. Although the film has all the makings of a social drama, Beauvois succeeds in turning it into a highly sensitive film, full of humanity and emotion.
Surrounded by a first-rate cast(Pierre Richard as an understanding grandfather, Joseph Olivennes who we'd like to see on screen more often, and cameos from real skippers including Michel Desjoyeaux), Jean-Paul Rouve delivers a granular, convincing performance, even when he's plagued by threatening visions during his forced withdrawal in this metal prison.
A film carried by a thousand winds and music by a certain Pete Doherty (a local resident...), as a poetic way of confirming the adage: "In a journey it's not the destination that counts but always the road travelled, and especially the detours."
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