Léa Pool is behind the camera on the first-ever Canada/Luxembourg coproduction, Une belle mort, which began principal photography in Luxembourg on Monday.

Based on the novel by Québécois author Gil Courtemanche, the screenplay was adapted by Pool and Courtemanche. The $5.4-million film is produced by Lyse Lafontaine and Michel Mosca of Equinoxe Productions and Nicolas Steil of Luxembourg’s Iris Productions.

Une belle mort (‘A Good Death’) is the story of the family of a man (Jacques Godin) who has lived his life to the fullest but is now locked in the paralysis of Parkinson’s disease and is forbidden all the gustatory pleasures he has enjoyed. While his wife (Andrée Lachapelle) and adult children argue the merits of continuing his life or assisting in ending it, the man decides to indulge himself one last time. Also featured are Yves Jacques, Aliocha Schneider, Marie-France Lambert, Isabelle Miquelon, Martine Francke and Benoît Gouin.

The production marks the second Courtemanche adaptation for the Equinoxe duo of Lafontaine and Mosca, having produced 2005’s Rwandan massacre drama Un dimanche à Kigali, based on the author’s celebrated Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali. Equinoxe Films will distribute in Canada.

Speaking to Playback Daily, Mosca said the project, originally announced in 2005, was twice rejected by Telefilm Canada before its current incarnation as an international coproduction.

Pool, 12 actors and 10 technicians will shoot for 21 days in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The production will remount in late April to shoot in the Montreal region for a further 10 days. Pierre Mignot is DOP, Pierre Perrault is art director, Valérie Lévesque is the costume designer and Michel Arcand is editing.

The film is backed SODEC, Telefilm, Radio-Canada, provincial and federal tax credits, and an Audiovisual Investment Certificate from Luxembourg.