Holy Lola

Holy Lola is a 2004 French drama directed by Bertrand Tavernier, adapted from the first novel by his daughter Tiffany Tavernier and produced by Little Bear and Canal+. The film traces the longing for a child and the bureaucratic maze of international adoption.

The story follows Pierre and Géraldine Ceyssac, a French couple unable to have children for years, who travel to Cambodia to adopt. The production team chose Cambodia over Haiti, Mali and Vietnam precisely because adopting there demands a process as tortuous as the one the film depicts, from sterility tests to visas and authorizations. Jacques Gamblin and Isabelle Carré take the lead roles, joined by Frédéric Pierrot, Bruno Putzulu and Lara Guirao, while Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh also appears on screen. Tavernier called the shoot very moving and exciting, saying it made him fall in love with Cambodia.