Chien 51 | Cedric Jimenez

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Wow, a €40-million budget is pretty big for a French sci-fi film.... and Adèle Exarchopoulos is just the icing on the cake...

‘November’ Director Cedric Jimenez on Weaving Thriller, Social Commentary and AI Themes in ‘Chien 51,’ a Paris-Set Dystopian Film

After directing a pair of contemporary thrillers “The Stronghold” and “November,” French director Cedric Jimenez is diving into genre for his next movie, “Chien 51,” a dystopian film that once again explores the work and minds of cops but this time in a near-future environment ruled by AI.

“Chien 51,” which reteams Jimenez with French producer Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi (a Mediawan company) and distributor Studiocanal, is based on Laurent Gaudé’s 2022 futuristic thriller novel by the same name.

The movie marks Jimenez’s most ambitious movie to date and boasts a budget in the €40-million ballpark. The 18-week shoot took place on location in Paris, as well as in Marseille and in a studio where set were built. One of 2025’s most anticipated French movies, “Chien 51” will boast extensive visual effects and stylish set designs with some spectacular scenes involving up to 500 extras.

Rather than setting the film in far-off future, Jimenez said he envisioned “Chien 51” in a world that amplifies present-day societal trends that he perceives, including growing social divides and restrictions on freedom, as well as the AI in public services.

Jimenez, who penned “Chien 51” with “November” co-writer Olivier Demangel, says not everything in the book was adaptable in a movie, but adds that he and Demangel “kept the senses, atmosphere, the characters, the themes of the novel.”

Set to be completed in July, the film unfolds in a not-so-distant Paris. The city is divided into three zones that separate social classes, with checkpoints regulating movement between them. An AI called Alma has revolutionized the police system and controls it. It recreates crime scenes and calculates the probability of guilt, influencing the direction of investigations. When Alma’s inventor is murdered, Salia and Zem, two cops from different zones who are polar opposites, are forced to collaborate on the investigation.

“Chien 51” is headlined by two of France’s most bankable actors, Adèle Exarchopoulos (“Beating Hearts”) and Gilles Lellouche (“November”).

[BluBonnet]

Cédric Jimenez on ‘Dog 51,’ French Sci-Fi, and Pitting Real Actors Against AI

French genre films are having a bit of a moment.

The wave of critical, box office, and streaming hits from Gallic directors has included cop dramas like The Stronghold, November, and The Night of the 12th, high-paced action films Sentinelle and Athena, mystery thrillers like Only the Animals, and Black Box, and such high-concept sci-fi as The Animal Kingdom and Oxygène.

Leading this new genre charge is Cédric Jimenez. Like many of his 70s New Hollywood heroes, Jimenez came from documentaries — his first film was a 2003 non-fiction profile of French rapper JoeyStarr—and his feature thrillers often draw from real life. Box office hit The Stronghold (2021) was based on a real anti-gang unit in Marseille, his home town. November (2022) follows French anti-terrorist police response to the November 2015 Paris attacks.

But Dog 51, Jimenez’s upcoming feature, is “pure fiction.”

Adapted from a French bestseller, the dystopian thriller imagines a near-future Paris in which neighborhoods have been divided up into zones based on social class, with a police force operating under the command of ALMA, a predictive AI system (voiced, in the film, by an actual AI system). When ALMA’s creator is murdered, top agent Salia (Adèle Exarchopoulos) teams up with jaded beat cop Zem (Gilles Lellouche) to solve the case, not knowing their investigation will expose the dark secrets of the system they serve. Romain Duris, Louis Garrel, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi co-star.

Dog 51 will close the Venice film festival, screening out of competition on September 6. Studiocanal will release the film theatrically across multiple territories, including France, Germany, and Australia, and is handling worldwide sales.

Jimenez spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about pushing French genre cinema into the future, the narrative risks of creating an AI villain, and why he’ll never trade a human actor for a synthetic one. “100 percent, 200 percent, I prefer working with real actors.”