Before going toe-to-toe with Matt Damon in Paul Greengrass’ long-gestating sequel Bourne 5, Vincent Cassel will topline a drama of his own in Partisan, where he stars as a ruthless teacher – but not the kind you may expect.
Entertainment Weekly has the maiden trailer for Ariel Kleiman’s gritty Australian drama, shedding light on Cassel’s protagonist, Gregori. Less of a shining example and more of a cult leader, this is a character who recruits young children to do his evil bidding without batting an eyelid, as he looks to keep a watchful eye on his closed community. Jeremy Chabriel is on board to play one of those 11-year-old children, who is drawn in by Gregori’s promise of freedom and blissful peace.
Coaching him in basic life skills such as cooking and raising livestock – did we mention his training with weapons? – Gregori’s twisted perspective of life and how to survive in it begins to warp the untainted mind of Chabriel’s pre-pubescent youngster. According to Kleiman, the concept for the film struck him when reading up about the child assassin trade in Colombia, and even from the debut trailer we get a sense of the haunting, all-too-real themes that the director is channeling.
Having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Partisan garnered its fair share of early buzz, and it’ll open in select theaters on October 2.
The charismatic Gregori (Cassel) saunters into a hospital maternity ward and charms new mother Susanna. Eleven years later, she and her son Alexander live in Gregori’s closed community, sheltering vulnerable women and their brood in a haven isolated from the outside world. Alexander is Gregori’s prize pupil, eldest son, and star employee in the cottage industry—in which the kids are trained to run dangerous errands to provide for the group—but Gregori feels threatened by the boy’s inquisitive nature, struck by the fear that his child might not love him anymore. Meanwhile, Alexander begins to think for himself. Partisan is directed by Ariel Kleiman, from a screenplay by Ariel Kleiman and Sarah Cyngler.
