According to a new interview with one of its actors, a new series take on the 1988 French cult classic from Étienne Chatilliez is set to shoot this fall in Southwest France. Here is what has been revealed so far.
Note: Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a handful of French directors ruled the French box office with a series of caustic, satirical comedies. Such is the case of revered helmer Étienne Chatilliez, who had a smash hit in 1988 with Life Is A Long Quiet River (La Vie Est Un Long Fleuve Tranquille), which went on to sell 4 million tickets at the time and was the first acting role of future star Benoît Magimel, who was aged 12. You can watch the original trailer below.
Now, in a new interview published this weekend in Paris Match, in-demand comedian Alban Ivanov revealed he was gearing up to shoot a new series take on the cult classic this fall. The new adaptation is set to be directed by Clovis Cornillac, a longtime actor who also handled a few projects as a director. Cornillac is best known globally for the role of Astérix in Asterix At The Olympic Games (2006), and is very well-known for his starring and co-starring roles in French comedies, such as A Little Something Extra by Artus, which shattered box-office records in 2024. Ivanov himself has garnered a lot of credits in French comedies, and on Netflix has had a small role in last fall’s French Lover.
In another interview published with Télé Loisirs, Ivanov revealed his costars on the project: his wife will be played by Ludivine Sagnier, while the Le Quesnoy spouses will be played by Doria Tillier and Xavier Lacaille. Sagnier is the best-known name in the cast: since her first appearances in the early 2000s (notably in François Ozon’s Water Drops On Burning Roofs), she has coupled award-nominated work with international appeal, including in the series The Young Pope and The New Pope, and in the role of Claire in Lupin for Netflix. Meanwhile, Doria Tillier has been known for broad, alternative comedy roles in both television and movies, notably as the creator of Iris on Canal+; Lacaille has been spotted as the star of long-running comedy series Parlement (for public broadcaster France Télévisions) where he played an assistant who is out of his depth in the European Parliament. That series concluded in 2025.
Ludivine Sagnier, the star of Lupin, is set to play the Le Quesnoy mother in that new series take. (Cr : Emmanuel Guimier)
Ivanov revealed he would be reprising the role of Father Groseille from the original movie. The original plot saw a family living in social housing and making ends meet through petty crime, whose life is shattered when it is revealed that one of their children has been swapped at birth with another… living in a Catholic bourgeois family. No additional roles or information on the creative team has been revealed, as Netflix has yet to formally announce the project; the same goes for the involvement of original co-writer and director Chatilliez, still active in the industry. Nonetheless, the shoot’s casting call reveals that a shoot is planned from October to December in the Arcachon area, a seaside, tourist environment in the Southwest of the country, replacing the original North of France location from the original movie. This project marks a small departure in the French line-up of Netflix, which tends to privilege original series and movies on the comedy front, as opposed to remakes and adaptations; as an example, superstar Dany Boon is in production on his first-ever series for them.
Are you fond of the original Life Is A Long Quiet River movie? Are you curious about this new adaptation? Let us know in the comments below!
