First trailer for Fabrice du Welz’s Cannes standout Alleluia

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Back in June we learned that Music Box had acquired the North American rights to Fabrice du Welz's sexualized serial killer tale and Cannes Fortnight standout ALLELUIA, and now we've landed the first (slighly NSFW-ish) trailer for the gritty thriller just ahead of the film's North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

ALLELUIA stars Lola Duenas as a lonely single mother and Laurent Lucas as a small-time gigolo who meet through a dating website and embark into a destructive and deadly passion. Penned by Du Welz and Vincent Tavier, the movie is freely inspired by the story of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez (aka The Lonely Hearts Killers) which made headlines in the U.S. in the late 40′s.

The film is expected to open in theaters later this year or in early 2015. Below is an extended synopsis.

“Manipulated by a loving and jealous husband, Gloria has run away with her daughter and started a new life far away from men and from the rest of the world. Impelled by her friend, Madeleine, she agrees to meet Michel through a dating site. The first time they see each other, there is a spark. Michel, the small-time crook (profession: gigolo), is thrilled and Gloria falls deeply in love.

Out of fear, Michel runs away, but Gloria comes to find him and makes him promise never to leave her again. She is ready to do anything to salvage this love. She abandons her daughter and pretends to be Michel’s sister, so that he can continue his “widow” scams.

But jealousy drives Gloria crazy, and she eventually kills Marguerite, one of the widows. Michel is in shock, but the two lovers remain tied to each other by some powerful link. They will keep going on their sordid path. Beyond the morbid pact that unites them, Michel finds in Gloria a sort of mother figure he has always been deprived of; for Gloria, Michel is the incarnation of absolute love in a life she thought was over.