French director André Téchiné’s latest film, In the Name of My Daughter, features Catherine Deneuve as a casino owner on the French Riviera. When her daughter, Agnès, goes missing, suspicion falls on Agnès’s lover, Maurice Agnelet. Although a body is never found, Deneuve’s character, Renée Le Roux, vows to bring Maurice to justice. The film is based on the book, A Woman Up Against the Mafia. Here, Mr Téchiné discusses his latest film.

The film started out as a commission. What did they want you to do?

Originally, the idea was for me to make a loose adaptation of Renée Le Roux’s memoirs, Une femme face a` la mafia. From the outset, I knew that I wanted Catherine Deneuve to play the part of Renée Le Roux. The book tells the story of the casino wars on the French Riviera between the 1970s and 1980s, from the protagonist’s point of view. It includes the account of the takeover of Madame Le Roux’s Palais de le Mediterranée casino by Jean-Dominique Fratoni, with the support of Jacques Medecin, the then mayor of Nice.

What interested you about this story?

I focused my attention on the relationship between Renée Le Roux, her daughter Agnès, and Maurice Agnelet: the iron-fisted mother, the rebellious daughter and Agnelet’s desire for recognition by society. It was Agnès that I was most interested in. I wanted to paint her portrait.

How did you write the screenplay?

I started out writing the screenplay with Jean-Charles Le Roux, who had all the facts to hand. We wrote a treatment, outlining a detailed sequence of events to give the film a clear structure. Jean-Charles Le Roux was involved alongside his mother in the struggle to get Maurice Agnelet convicted. He was convinced that Agnelet had murdered Agnès. I made it clear to Le Roux that I was not going to make a film that incriminated Agnelet. This remained a very sensitive issue during our time spent working together. Then I worked with the filmmaker Cédric Anger on a second version of the film to help flesh out the scenes.

You also had to decide up to which point you were going to tell the story, beyond Agnès Le Roux’s disappearance in November 1977.

A large part of the complexity and the appeal of this film relies on the character of Agnès Le Roux. How did you choose the actress to play her part?

I had been following Adèle Haenel’s work for some time. I had seen her play girls from working class backgrounds and I liked the idea of offering her the part of a rich young heiress, and being the daughter of Catherine Deneuve.

In the Name of My Daughter is your seventh film with Catherine Deneuve. What is particular about this role?

It’s the first time that Catherine Deneuve has been asked to really exaggerate the role of masquerade and sophistication in one of my films. We had such fun with her spectacular outfits and she never wore the same thing twice. Madame Le Roux, who was once a catwalk model for Balenciaga, was always ‘on show’ at the Palais de la Mediterranée casino before she took over the running of it, under the influence of Agnelet. Dressing up was part of her social ritual. At the same time Renée Le Roux is probably the most resilient character out of all the characters Catherine Deneuve has ever played in my films. She is furiously determined; she wants Agnelet’s head on a plate. Despite her age, she is as strong as an ox.

And Guillaume Canet?

I had wanted to work with him for a very long time. To play Agnelet, we needed an actor who was very attractive but who was also “ideal son-in-law” material. The part required that the actor went behind the pretence and revealed the other darker side of his nature. I had seen Guillaume Canet play sympathetic roles, but I knew he was also capable of being disconcerting, of obscuring the truth and of being unnerving. That’s what interested me about the real Agnelet. A man who protects himself from his own feelings, a closed book, whilst all the while being charming and seductive. Guillaume managed to bring all of these facets together in the role.

In the Name of My Daughter screens Sunday at 5.15pm as part of the Bermuda Docs’ Weekend Film Series at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. Reserve tickets on 294-0204 or at the gift shop there.