Catherine Breillat, the provocative veteran of French cinema, is set to write and direct a new feature titled The German Cousin. The project will be an adaptation of the 1939 novel The Krull House by the prolific Belgian author Georges Simenon, a work widely regarded as a prophetic exploration of mass hysteria and racial prejudice.
Breillat, whose most recent film, Last Summer (2023), competed at the Cannes Film Festival and earned several nominations for the César and Lumière awards, is reuniting with producer Saïd Ben Saïd of SBS Productions. Ben Saïd is well-known for his work on the critically acclaimed Elle and is currently preparing The Man I Love for the 2026 Cannes Competition.
The production is currently in the early stages of development, with filming tentatively scheduled for late 2027. Pyramide International is managing the project’s sales and is currently engaging with potential partners to secure the film’s future.
A Study of Prejudice and Groupthink
Set in 1930s Europe, The German Cousin focuses on the Krull family, German immigrants who have established a modest grocery café, Chez Krull, on the outskirts of a French city. Despite having obtained French citizenship, the family remains isolated. The patriarch, Cornelius Krull, is a man of profound silence who speaks only a German dialect, while the matriarch, Maria, manages the business with a strict, pious hand, desperate to erase the family’s foreign origins from public memory.
The family’s fragile stability is shattered by the arrival of Hans, a flamboyant and provocative German cousin who claims he wants to perfect his French. While Hans initially charms the youngest daughter, Liesbeth, he is revealed to be a calculated impostor and a virtuoso liar who manipulates those around him.
The narrative takes a dark turn when the body of a young woman is discovered, strangled and raped, near the local lock. In an atmosphere already thick with suspicion and xenophobia, the Krull family becomes the immediate target of local rumors. Joseph, the eldest son and an aspiring doctor, is singled out as the culprit, triggering a wave of vandalism, threats, and escalating hatred from the surrounding community.
The Cinema of Detail and the Modern Parable
For Breillat, the choice of Simenon’s novel is not merely a historical exercise but a reflection of contemporary society. She views the story as a timeless study of how individual identity is erased by the collective will of a crowd.
“I find in Simenon’s novel a singular modernity, a resonance with our own era,” Breillat stated. “However, in order to preserve its universality and subtlety, it seems essential to me not to transpose it crudely into the present day, but rather to retain its dimension as a parable.”
The filmmaker emphasized her commitment to a meticulous, almost clinical approach to the production, drawing a parallel to the writing style of Marcel Proust. She believes that the strength of a period piece lies not in grand spectacles, but in the precision of the frame and the intimacy of the close-up.
“Details give strength and meaning to a scene,” Breillat explained. “They also make it possible, in a period film, to avoid an excessive deployment of means: mastering the frame, the number of extras, the visible elements, is a way of preserving accuracy without creating artifice or giving an impression of lack. I have always lacked resources, never details.”
The Anatomy of the Lynch Mob
Beyond the family drama, Breillat is interested in the psychological transition from a community to a mob. She describes the phenomenon of lynching—both physical and mediated—as a terrifying process where the perpetrator adopts the mask of a vigilante to justify a crime.
“When the crowd acts ‘as one man,’ its opinion becomes ‘collective opinion,’” Breillat noted. “The lyncher always assumes the mask of the vigilante: the supposedly legitimate crime, in eyes blinded by anger, justifies the one he himself is about to commit. More generally, all forms of fascism begin this way.”
She concluded that the novel serves as an incisive warning against a society driven by a thirst for summary justice at the expense of doubt, complexity, and the rights of the individual.
Project Overview and Timeline
While the project is still several years away from production, the collaboration between Breillat and SBS Productions suggests a continuation of the auteur-driven approach seen in their previous work. The film will likely lean into the psychological tension and social critique that have defined Breillat’s career, which includes five films screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
| Project Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Director/Writer | Catherine Breillat |
| Source Material | The Krull House (1939) by Georges Simenon |
| Lead Producer | Saïd Ben Saïd (SBS Productions) |
| Estimated Filming | Late 2027 |
| Sales Agent | Pyramide International |
As Pyramide International continues discussions with partners, the industry will be watching to see how Breillat casts the central role of the manipulative Hans and the repressed Krull family. The project represents a significant return to the themes of social alienation and the darker impulses of human nature that have long fascinated the director.
The next major milestone for the project will be the formal announcement of a production schedule and the attachment of lead talent as the project moves closer to its 2027 filming window.
Do you think period parables are the best way to address modern social tensions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
