Sumith Prasad
Paramount+ has ordered ‘Le Pays des Autres,’ the television series adaptation of Leïla Slimani’s acclaimed novel of the same name, also known as ‘The Country of Others.’ The filming of the project will begin next month in the French historical region of Alsace and the North African country Morocco. Set against the backdrop of Morocco’s war for independence in the 1950s, the show revolves around the tumultuous relationship between a young French woman and a Moroccan soldier.
Slimani, who won France’s Prix Goncourt for her 2016 novel ‘The Perfect Nanny,’ penned the series along with Laura Piani (‘Plan B’ and ‘Menina’) and Benjamin Adam (‘Everything Is Well’ and ‘L’Opéra’). The series marks Slimani’s debut as a screenwriter. Her novel ‘The Perfect Nanny’ was adapted into a film by Lucie Borleteau, starring Karin Viard, Leïla Bekhti, and Antoine Reinartz.
Juho Kuosmanen and Sofia Alaoui are on board to direct the show. Kuosmanen is known for helming the Finnish biographical drama ‘The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki,’ which won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the 2021 road trip movie ‘Compartment No. 6,’ which competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Alaoui, on the other hand, made her directorial debut with the 2023 science-fiction movie ‘Animalia,’ which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The series is the first project of Les Saisons, a new production label formed by Mother Production (‘Call My Agent!’ and ‘Ten Percent’) and Charles Gillibert‘s CG Cinéma (Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard’s ‘Annette,’ Olivier Assayas’ ‘Clouds of Sils Maria,’ and Mia Hansen-Løve’s ‘Bergman Island’). “In a very stimulating context for series, this new banner wants to bet on the intelligence and curiosity of audiences who have never shown such a large appetite for fiction drama,” said Gillibert in a statement.
The first season of the series will be followed by two more installments, adapting the second and third books in the novel series. However, it is yet to be announced whether Paramount+ will be involved in releasing the second and third seasons. The English translation of ‘In the Country of Others’ was published in March 2020 by Penguin Books. The translation of the second novel in the book series, titled ‘Watch Us Dance,’ came out in 2022 through Viking.
Alsace previously hosted the production of Marion Cotillard’s docudrama ‘Little Girl Blue.’ Morocco is a significant location of several popular Hollywood productions, including Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ and Prime Video’s action thriller series ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.’
