What is it about? Known as the “Little Bride of the Atlantic”, Florence Artaud was first and foremost a great sailor. His outstanding record, and unique in this manly world, peaked in 1990 when he won the Route du Rhum.
Beyond these exploits, FLO tells the incredible story of a fiercely independent woman who – after a car accident that almost cost her her life – decides to reject her bourgeois environment and the life that was planned for her, to live your dreams. complete.
Godfather of Alain Delon
Director Geraldine Danone, who is making her first feature film with Flo for the occasion, is the daughter of famed producer Raymond Danone and goddaughter of Alain Delon. In the early 2010s, he planned to make a biographical film that would tell us about the last ten years of Romy Schneider’s life (especially the filming of the film La Passante du Sans-Souci, a project directed by the actor and started in October 1981, shortly after the tragic death of his son death).
The legendary actress was in a relationship with Delon and, by the way, starred with him in the cult film La Piscine. In the end, things didn’t work out, and it was Florence Artaud’s journey that Geraldine Danone would focus on a few years later.
The birth of “Flo”.
GĂ©raldine Danone discussed making a film about Florence Artaud before her tragic death in 2015 in a helicopter crash on the set of a reality show in Argentina: “Before going on this disastrous shoot, Florence had two projects that kept her very busy for the last three years of her life. The first was the ‘Women’s Odyssey’, which was supposed to bring together female sailors from all over the world in the Mediterranean and allow her to pass on her love of sailing, but also a lifelong Struggle: Women’s Place in the Sailing World.”
“Then Florence wanted to make a film about her life. He talked to me a lot about it, offered to work with him, but at that time I was spending all my time at sea making my documentaries… When he died, I didn’t think about it again until I read “The Sea and Beyond” by Jan Kefelek. It was like a revelation: it was the scent of Florence… its extremism, the rage of live music. On every page and I said to myself that we should obviously make a movie about this romantic fate.entrusts the film director and adds:
“That’s why I bought the rights to Ian’s book, wanting to get rid of him when I was working with him on this very loose adaptation, as I say at the beginning of the film…”
Stephen Callard
Choice Stephane Caillard
StĂ©phane Caillard plays Florence Artaud. Geraldine Danone chose her during auditions, after several actresses played the female role. The director met her in a cafe and as soon as he saw her, he knew she would be perfect in Florence’s shoes: “We already talked on the phone and I asked if I was worried and he told me that he had a 2-year-old daughter, so he was “on deck” for a while. It’s a great sign! We talked a lot about the character with Stefan.”
“I tried to give him everything I knew about Florence and all its colors that I wanted to find on the screen. Then he worked independently, drawing on readings, interviews, anything he could find. All this work. Everything was quite fluid on set. Stephen could play Florence from the age of 17 until the end of his life! We used very little prosthetics or makeup, preferring to change it up. posture, his gait or voice depending on the character’s age.”
Unaccustomed to the sea, StĂ©phane Caillard took a sailing course before and during filming: he was accompanied by two advisers (filmmaker husband Philippe Poupon and Philippe Monet) to teach him the right gestures: Stefan surprised us as he quickly became very comfortable on boats, be it monohulls or trimarans like Flo. He performs all the maneuvers in the film. He is the one who climbs the mast. I believe he and I had a real bond of trust, so Stephen dared everything…”Geraldine Danone recalls.
Shooting at sea
Flo was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Mediterranean at Saint-Mandrieux, off the coast of La TrinitĂ© and Concarneau in Brittany, around Les Saintes in Guadeloupe, and in Normandy. The shots were taken at sea, not in a studio. Geraldine Danone recalls: “There were days when we were constantly moving from one boat to another in a kind of epic frenzy. The beautiful stars of Florence must have been watching us as no one was hurt, no cameras fell overboard and the weather was with us from start to finish…”
Filming was also intimate for Geraldine Danone: her husband, Philippe Poupon, steered the trimaran in the film, and her two children appear on screen: “wolf with our son Titouan Lamazou He plays the role of father Marion Our daughter is playing Florence as a baby with Philip and I am taking the sailors I know and love best. This film is very dear to me because it was a real struggle for its existence. We had to find the right producer in Manuel Muntz, whose constant and respectful support was essential.”
“It was not easy to find many emblematic boats. We managed to find a ‘Pierre 1er’ from Florence, forgotten in the Philippines, owned by a Frenchman from Hong Kong. We named it ‘Flo’… Philippe Brillo agreed. Go get it and bring it back to us, but on the way it Attacked by pirates between Somalia and Yemen! Fortunately, the ship arrived in time for the Route du Rhum, during which Philippe Poupon escaped, and to Guadeloupe, where we needed it. This!”
We also shot on ‘L’Argade’, which is the boat that Florence loved, which she painted pink, from which she fell into the sea in 2011… On the other hand, we had to have copies of ‘Argade’. “Made by. Biotherm”, “Petrouchka”, “L’XpĂ©rimental”, “33 Export”.
Flo: Is the movie about Florence Artaud good? Here’s what early viewers think
Love stories
GĂ©raldine Danon also chose to show on screen the love stories of Florence Artaud and especially with Olivier de Kersausson (played by Alexis Michalik): “Florence was a lover of life, as we have already said, but above all a lover! She was even a very blue flower, and a very experienced and highly talented sailor. Paradoxically, she completely pretended to be somewhere else! In the film I tried to show some men, who was important in his life.”
“Jean-Claude Parisis, the first to introduce him to the sea, with whom he first crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Petruchka. Then I decided to become Olivier de Kersauson, the sailor of the sailors, and let them experience it. A great love story… This sentence at the end of the film is an indication of that we respect everyone’s private life. Olivier is an extremely modest person and he is not in the habit of expressing his love life. But he obviously knows. About what we did …”
Source: Allocine

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.