A pain in the.... mouth !

Toothache was my first feature film, a bitter satirical comedy concerning the trivialities of the bourgeoisies and their silly little love affairs. The film was shot in 11 days. Ludivine Sagnier and Julie Depardieu took the staring roles along side the two male leads Marc Barbé and Oliver Milburn. Marc Barbé (who I had previously seen giving an outstanding performance in Philippe Grandrieux dark and atmospheric serial killing film sombre) brought harsh humour and spontaneous wit to his character a self obsessed writer called Andrew. He plays the part as an almost tribute to the screwball comedies of the thirties, Cary Grant mixed with a devilish James Cagney
Julie Depardieu despite the trouble at the time with her level of English added a strong and emotional presence to the film. Ludivine Sagnier was charming, funny, youthful and incredibly professional, whilst Oliver Milburn I guess was simply an Englishman in Paris for the weekend, exactly what was required.
I am saddened yet joyful about my experience with this film. The politics of production companies I will not laboriously go through, yet with a few extra weeks and a producer of some statue, Toothache could have been a far better film than the semi-disaster it is. In saying that there are those who have seen it and been thoroughly entertained, and like certain fine wine it does seem to grow better over the years.

Toothache was shot in the summer of 2000 and co-produced by Arte France cinema.