When producer André Rouleau read the script for Magique, a France/Canada copro about a melancholic rural family that gets a surprise visit from a traveling circus, he knew it would be a very original film.

‘It’s a very particular animal. I wouldn’t say it’s a drama or a comedy or a musical. But it’s a beautiful story with lots of music in it. It’s really going to be a fresh film. Some scenes are entirely in song,’ says Rouleau, a producer with Remstar Productions (Elles étaient cinq, Le secret de ma mère), the Montreal company coproducing Magique with France’s Pan-Européenne Production.

The French-language film, which is being shot mainly in rural Quebec, recounts the tale of eight-year-old Tommy and his mother Betty who live alone on a small farm and face being evicted because they can’t pay the rent. While visiting a nearby town one day, Tommy comes across a circus with a similar set of problems, explains Rouleau. ‘He sees the circus got expulsed from the town, so he convinces his mother to let them come and set up on their farm.’

But the boy gives the performers a condition of residency: they can come to the farm if they make his mother smile. ‘It’s about hope and love and music,’ says the producer effusively.

Rouleau describes it as a medium-budget film that cost more than $5 million to produce. It is helmed by French filmmaker Philippe Muyl (Le Papillon) and stars European performers Marie Gillain (Betty) and Louis Dussol (Tommy). French singer Cali and Quebec actor and comedian Benoit Brière (La grande séduction) also have roles in the film.

As the project got off the ground very quickly – the producers’ first formal meeting was at the Cannes film festival – there wasn’t time to apply for financing to Telefilm Canada or SODEC, says Rouleau. ‘We will be submitting a request for coproduction financing in the next round of applications.’

Magique is distributed by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm and will be released in 2008.