Per him cat loversthis evening at 9.20pm on Rai 3 an unmissable event: Cat lifedirected by French director Guillaume Maidatchevsky. Based on a famous book for children, the film tells thea tender friendship between a little girlin crisis due to the imminent separation of his parents, and an affectionate cat but eager for adventures in the open air.
Cat life film tonight 29 December on Rai 3, the plot of the film based on the book by Maurice Genevoix
Clémence (Capucine Sainson-Fabresse) is a girl of almost ten years old who, rummaging in the attic of the house, he comes across a small tabby kitten. The little one decides to call him Rroû and between the two it is born immediately a special bondmade of tenderness and complicity. For Clémence, the feline’s arrival feels like a gift unexpected, especially because it coincides with a delicate period of his life, marked by his parents’ crisis which undermined the family balance.
Used to wandering the rooftops of Paris, Rroû’s free and indomitable spirit soon manifests itselfparticularly during a stay in the mountain housewhere Clémence accompanies mum and dad. Despite attempts to protect him and keep him safe, the kitten follows his instincts and ventures into the woodsgoing through an experience as exciting as it is dangerous, which reveals his wild and elusive nature.
In fact, Rroû mysteriously disappears and never returns and Clémence finds herself forced to face the pain of loss and the inevitable transition to adulthood. Fundamental in this process will be the meeting with Madeleine (Corinne Masiero), a gruff-looking mountain neighbor. and with a grumpy character, always accompanied by her imposing and faithful Neapolitan mastiff, Rambo. Through his friendship with Madelaine, the little girl will learn to look at the nature of her beloved Rroû with new eyesunderstanding that love, sometimes, also means accept freedom and absence.
A scene from the film “The Cat’s Life”. (Plaion Pictures)
A gentle fairy tale, far from stereotypes, and with a touching ending
Adaptation of the novel Rroû by Maurice Genevoixfirst published in 1931, Cat life And a delicate and sensitive tale, but above all far from stereotypes who often crowd films with children and animals as protagonists. Thanks to Guillaume Maidatchevsky’s intelligent direction, the film explores the symbiotic and playful bond between the little girl and her cat without indulging in easy sentimentality or exasperated.
On the contrary, Cat life he chooses a natural, almost documentary approachto focus on a deeper and more universal theme: the need to understand and respect the freedom of others. This awareness becomes one fundamental stage in Clémence’s growth path and, by extension, of all children called to deal with detachment and autonomy. Maidatchevsky also makes an intelligent directorial choice in “modernize” the setting, originally very linked to the Thirties, making it closer to the sensitivity of the young audience contemporary and thus encouraging identification with the characters.
From Genevoix’s novel, the film mainly retains the animal’s point of view and the way in which Rroû perceives and experiences nature, restoring its instinctive and wild dimension. Clémence and Rroû then, each in their own world, face each other further traumatic and decisive stages of growth. For the little girl, the pain of her parents’ separation; for the cat, the meeting with the sweet Câlinea white kitten who wanders in the woods and who seems eager to start a family. The film thus underlines at the end lThe importance of knowing how to make difficult choiceslearning to put the good of the other first when you truly love someone.
Cat life: the cast of the film and the 4 cats “actors”
Young French actress born in 2000, Capucine Sainson-Fabresse was chosen for the role of Clémence after a long casting where the director viewed over 800 girls. During the auditions, an exercise was proposed to Capucine very particular symbolic: an imaginary scene in which a croissant represented the cat. Capucine had already appeared previously in some productions: the film Le Trésor du Petit Nicolas and the television series Sauvez Listo.
As regards the cat Rroû, there were four “actors” on the setDespite only one of them was used in 80% of the editing. The main technical difficulty was not so much related to the cat’s acting, but rather to visual continuity. In fact it was in the assembly phase It was essential that the coat streaks of the various kittens were as similar as possibleso as to guarantee coherent connections between one shot and another.