BENJAMIN LAVERNHE

DELICIOUS (2021)
Starring Isabelle Carré, Grégory Gadebois, Benjamin Lavernhe, Patrick Chesnais, Félix Fournier, François De Brauer, Benjamin Lhommas, Louise Rossignon, Fabien Rasplus and Nicolas Fine. Directed by Éric Besnard.

The story is set in 1789 France, where prior to the dawn of the Revolution, gastronomy remains strictly the domain of the aristocrats; indeed, the prestige of a noble house is entirely dependent on the quality and reputation of its table. So, when the talented but prideful cook Manceron serves an unapproved dish of his own creation at a dinner hosted by the self-entitled Duke of Chamfort, the repercussions are brutal, and he is promptly dismissed.

The wounded Manceron swears off his passion and retreats with his son to a regional inn visited only infrequently by travellers, and where vegetable soup is the common meal. But when a mysterious woman arrives and offers to pay to become his apprentice, the stage is set for a wildly enjoyable tale of reignited passion, mentorship and revenge... and of the creation of France’s very first restaurant.

ANTOINETTE IN THE CÉVENNES (2021)
Starring Laure Calamy, Benjamin Lavernhe, Olivia Côte, Denis Mpunga, Marie Rivière and Jean-Pierre Martins. Directed by Caroline Vignal.

40-something primary school teacher Antoinette has been eagerly looking forward to a long-planned weekend escape with married lover Vladimir, the father of one of her pupils. However, their plans are upended by his wife’s booking of a surprise hiking trip in the picturesque Cévennes mountains in the South of France. Completely unversed in the ways of the wilderness, the spurned Antoinette impulsively decides to follow them, and once paired with an unlikely companion – an obstinate but evidently wise grey donkey named Patrick – discovers much, much more than she bargained for.

C'EST LA VIE (2018)
Starring Jean-Pierre Bacri, Gilles Lellouche, Jean-Paul Rouve, Vincent MacAigne, Alban Ivanov, Eye Haidara, Suzanne Clément, Hélène Vincent, Benjamin Lavernhe and Judith Chemla. Directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache.

Max has been a caterer for thirty years. He’s organised hundreds of parties, he’s even a bit over it all. Today it’s a magnificent wedding, yet another one, in a seventeenth century château. This time, Pierre and Héléna are getting married. As usual, Max has coordinated everything: he’s hired his brigade of waiters, cooks, and dishwashers, advised the couple on a photographer, reserved the orchestra, arranged the oral decorations, in short, all the ingredients have been brought together so that the celebration is a success... But the law of series will soon come to disturb the finely timed planning, so that each moment of happiness and emotion risks turning into a disaster or chaos. From the preparations until to dawn, we will experience the action behind the scenes of this party through the gaze of those who work and who must count on their single common quality: the sense of a party.