Draft:A Cat's Life (2023 film)

A Cat’s Life (Mon chat et moi, la grande aventure de Rroû in France) is a 2023 French comedy-drama adventure film directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky, written by Guillaume Maidatchevsky, Michaël Souhaité, and Maurice Genevoix, and produced by Jean-Pierre Bailly, and Stéphane Millière. The film is based on the 1931 novel Rroû by Maurice Genevoix. The film was released in France in April 5, 2023 by Orange Studio and UGC Distribution, followed by a theatrical release in the United States scheduled for March 29, 2024, by Blue Fox Entertainment.

Premise
A Parisian girl named Clémence forms an unbreakable bond with a kitten named Lou after finding it in her attic. When her family decides to take a vacation in the countryside, Lou's natural curiosity leads to thrilling adventures in the woods.

Cast

 * Capucine Sainson-Fabresse as Clémence
 * Corinne Masiero as Madeleine
 * Lucie Laurent as Isa
 * Nicolas Casar-Umbdenstock as Fred
 * Juliette Gillis as La copine de Clémence

Production
The different scenes of the film, a modern reinterpretation of Maurice Genevoix's work, were filmed in Paris and Nancy for the interiors, and in the Vosges mountains, in Plainfaing and La Bresse, for the exteriors. With a production at cat's height, the film makes each animal a character in its own right, with its own emotions and character, all in mountainous landscapes more beautiful than ever.

Muriel Bec, the specialist in animal training for the cinema, “coached” the animals in the film. An animal director, she has more than 150 shoots to her credit, such as L'École bushnière, La Famille Bélier or series like Belle et Sébastien.

Reception
On the AlloCiné site, which lists 11 press reviews, the film obtains an average score of 2.7⁄59.

For L'Obs, "beauty of nature, turnover of seasons, double novel of learning (that of Clémence and the cat), irruption of Corinne Masiero as a gruff anti-globalization hermit, Maidatchevsky films at the height of a feline, in an expected but faithful manner, this little adventure film, with one idea in mind: to show the free will and ingenuity of those we somewhat stupidly call “beasts”.

Claudine Levanneur, for the site aVoir-aLire, summarizes her review with these words: “A family show which, in addition to sure to delight cat lovers, transforms into a magnificent ode to nature, friendship and to freedom.

Christophe Caron (La Voix du Nord) appreciated this feature film. He highlights the role of Corinne Masiero but deplores the fact that the other characters have less stature. He sees in “this lovely family spectacle (...) the merit of adapting its discourse to new generations, whether on animal welfare or this unfortunate propensity of a species called humans to pollute the woods of its detritus”.

Box office
For its first day of operation in France, A Cat's Life received 9,853 admissions, including 4,106 previews, for a total of 950 screenings offered. Including previews for this first day, the film is in third place in the new release box office for its opening day, behind The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (197,224) and ahead of The Established (6,361).

After a first week of release in French cinemas, the feature film had a total of 45,873 admissions, for 5,599 screenings offered. Not counting previews, the film is positioned in twelfth place in the weekly box office, behind Creed III (43,637) and ahead of My Crime (39,754).