Lumières Françaises

ABOUT THE FILM

Actor-turned-director Céline Sallette makes an impressive debut with this vibrant portrait of French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, brought to life by Charlotte Le Bon (The White Lotus).

Paris, 1952. Niki has recently moved from the US with her husband and daughter. Despite this newfound distance from a family and country that were suffocating her, disturbing flashbacks of her childhood continue to invade her thoughts. From the hell she is about to discover, Niki will find in her art a weapon to free herself.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

I wanted the film to tell the story before the story. How did a young mother from an aristocratic family become one of the most powerful artists of a century? I wanted to tell the story of domination - how she frees herself from it and at what price. A flower growing on a corpse.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Multi-talented French actor Céline Sallette has starred alongside Philippe Garrel, Clint Eastwood, Jacques Audiard and Pascal Bonitzer. In 2012, her performance in L’Apollonide, souvenirs de la maison close (House of Tolerance) by Bertrand Bonello was showcased in Competition at the Festival de Cannes, and afforded her one César nomination and the Romy Schneider Award. In 2014, she returned to the Croisette for Geronimo by Tony Gatlif. Best-known for her performance in the series Les Revenants (The Returned), she also starred in Nos années folles (Golden Years) by André Téchiné (2017), and Un peuple et son roi (One Nation, One King) by Pierre Schoeller (2018). Céline made her directorial debut with Niki, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.