Masson's 'Repentent' lures Adjani back to bigscreen
Thesp's last pic was 1996's 'Diabolique'
Her last movie was 1996's "Diabolique," with Sharon Stone.
Adjani said Friday, "For me 'The Repentant' is a beautiful script that has given me the desire to work again."
The French actress had been tipped to play Cleopatra in Claude Berri's big-budget production "Asterix and Cleopatra," with Gerard Depardieu, but the October shooting clashed with her theater engagements, her agent said.
Instead, she has plumped for a much smaller-scale project by an auteur in the French tradition.
"The Repentant" will be Masson's fourth film, and the first not to star Sandrine Kiberlain.
The most recent, "Love Me," which also starred French rocker Johnny Hallyday, performed poorly at the French box office.
"The Repentant," which will begin shooting in March, will be produced by Michele Halberstadt and Laurent Petin of ARP Selection.
"We had been looking for a project to work on with Isabelle for several years," the producing team said. "'The Repentant' is exactly the portrait of a woman that we had dreamed of for her."
The company co-produced and distributed the two massive French box office hits "Taxi" and "Taxi II" with Luc Besson, and last year's Palm d'Or prize winner "Rosetta." It recently acquired French rights to Roy Andersson's Cannes competition entry, "Songs From the Second Floor."
