“A wonderful intrusion into Ehpad’s daily life”: When you grow up, from the directors of the shocking film Les Chatouilles.

What is it about? Yannick is a caregiver in a nursing home. Between constant pressure and budget constraints, he faces a shortage of contagious good-humored means. But when he is forced to share the lunch with a class of children, the situation becomes more complicated. Their arrival, as well as that of their host, Odi, will shake up the daily lives of everyone, especially the residents…

The birth of the project

After Les Chatouilles and the TV movie A la folie, Andrea Besconde and Eric Meteyer sign When You Grow Up. The first explains the birth of the project: “A few years ago, my grandmother was placed in a nursing home. When we went to see her with our children, we noticed how her presence made the old people. Suddenly they were blinking again. It made us think a lot.”

The sad reality

Filming in a nursing home (more precisely, a disused nursing home in Chatelet-en-Brees, Saint-Es-Marne), Andrea Besconde and Eric Meteyer also address the pressing issue of caregivers’ working conditions and their consequences. Residents’ lives: We didn’t want to make a political film or get sentimental.

“We chose the middle way: the truth seemed to us to be in this happy medium. Obviously, it was not about avoiding the business aspect of these institutions – lack of means, sometimes cynicism. The film often hints at flaws. system, but the involvement of educators prevails”They trust the directors.

casting side

Although the main cast includes such well-known names as Vincent McCain, Aisa Maiga, Marie Guillen (who played one of the two main roles in the TV movie A la folie), Carole Franck or Eric Meteyer (who is the director), the residents. About Ehpad is unknown.

Andrea Bescondi and Eric Meteyer’s One Way to Promote Community Immersion: “Casting was a long step and Emmanuel PrevostOur casting director, Francois Riviere and Leah Moskovich It helped us a lot.”

When you grow up also contains a very important figure, especially for people between the ages of seventy and ninety: “Leah Moscovitch went to meet them at a nursing home near our location.”

“It was post-Covid, and these residents only asked for one thing: to live. They wanted to play, to improvise. The generosity and motivation of these people, who had never experienced anything like this, surprised and enchanted us.”

Who for Brooke?

For Brooke, a boy, Andrea Bescondi and Eric Meteyer were looking for a little skateboarder. They remember: “We were shooting videos and one fine day we came across this Kristen Billon – Bright, very talented. Besides, I see he comes from Guidel, Brittany, where his grandparents spent their whole lives.”

“Life sometimes sends us signs…Kristen did the auditions, she worked hard to bring out the nasty side of her character. She really showed herself on set. She brings a lot of heart to the movie.”

Severe technical problems

When you consider the difficult technical issues inherent in the filming (many sequential shots, old people and children who could not be filmed for more than four hours, etc.), Andrea Bescondi did not appear in the film for long. It specifies:

“It was essential that one of us was always in the mix. However, it was clear from the beginning that Eric had to play the character of the director, this guy who you might think of as a cynic, but who remains deep inside. The normality of these institutions – survival through humor.”