To quote Alice Cooper (and poorly paraphrase “High School Musical 2”), school’s out for summer. With Boppenheimer hitting air-conditioned theaters midway through July — just as countless actors and screenwriters head into the heat to join picket-lines in New York and Los Angeles — summer 2023 will no doubt prove a memorable one for Hollywood. What better time then to consider how the movies themselves represent the reason for the season?
The best summer vacation movies range in subject matter and can appeal to all sorts of different audiences. Kid-centric flicks, like “The Parent Trap,” and adult slashers, like the “Friday the 13th” films, explore the traditions and perils of sleep-away camp from spectacularly different view points. Meanwhile, road trip flicks, like the Audrey Hepburn-starring “Two for the Road” and Hindi film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,” consider the ins-and-outs of traveling across the country with a similar romanticism but using tones separated by decades and cultures.
The best summer vacation movies range in subject matter and can appeal to all sorts of different audiences. Kid-centric flicks, like “The Parent Trap,” and adult slashers, like the “Friday the 13th” films, explore the traditions and perils of sleep-away camp from spectacularly different view points. Meanwhile, road trip flicks, like the Audrey Hepburn-starring “Two for the Road” and Hindi film “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara,” consider the ins-and-outs of traveling across the country with a similar romanticism but using tones separated by decades and cultures.
- 7/21/2023
- by Alison Foreman and Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Editors note: This review was originally published in June 2021 after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film opens in New York on Friday and in Los Angeles on April 21.
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Beautifully upholstered and decked out with a starry cast, Everything Went Fine (Tout S’est Bien Passé) is the sort of comforting, thoroughly mainstream commercial film not often seen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Although the subject of euthanasia does not normally suggest a good time at the movies, French director François Ozon serves one up anyway with the help of a raft of crafty and appealing veteran actors, lush filmmaking and savvy and deft handling of the central emotional dynamic.
Shortly after family patriarch André (André Dussollier) suffers a debilitating stroke, the 85-year-old insists to his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau) that he wants to end to it all, on his own terms. He seems something of a borderline case,...
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Beautifully upholstered and decked out with a starry cast, Everything Went Fine (Tout S’est Bien Passé) is the sort of comforting, thoroughly mainstream commercial film not often seen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Although the subject of euthanasia does not normally suggest a good time at the movies, French director François Ozon serves one up anyway with the help of a raft of crafty and appealing veteran actors, lush filmmaking and savvy and deft handling of the central emotional dynamic.
Shortly after family patriarch André (André Dussollier) suffers a debilitating stroke, the 85-year-old insists to his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau) that he wants to end to it all, on his own terms. He seems something of a borderline case,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Cohen Media Group has dropped the trailer for Francois Ozon’s drama “Everything Went Fine” ahead of its theatrical release in New York on April 14 and Los Angeles on April 21, followed by a national expansion.
“Everything Went Fine” is based on the autobiographical novel by author Emmanuèle Bernheim who previously collaborated on Ozon’s screenplays for “Under The Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “Ricky.”
The movie follows 85-year-old art collector André Bernheim (André Dussolier) who, after a debilitating stroke, demands that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau), help him end life on his own terms. Faced with a painful decision, Emmanuèle, with the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), begins sorting through the processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s final wish, as she is forced to reconcile her past with a complicated, stubborn, yet charismatic man.
Here’s the trailer:
“Everything Went Fine” also stars...
“Everything Went Fine” is based on the autobiographical novel by author Emmanuèle Bernheim who previously collaborated on Ozon’s screenplays for “Under The Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “Ricky.”
The movie follows 85-year-old art collector André Bernheim (André Dussolier) who, after a debilitating stroke, demands that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau), help him end life on his own terms. Faced with a painful decision, Emmanuèle, with the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), begins sorting through the processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s final wish, as she is forced to reconcile her past with a complicated, stubborn, yet charismatic man.
Here’s the trailer:
“Everything Went Fine” also stars...
- 3/30/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Charlotte Rampling self-identifies as a “prickly” person. “Like a hedgehog or porcupine, you don’t necessarily get too close,” she told IndieWire.
You’d know that from any number of her roles. The 77-year-old, English-born, Paris-living actress has worked in the European arthouse for more than half a century, turning out kinky roles in divisive, sensuous period pieces like Liliana Cavani’s S&m concentration camp psychodrama “The Night Porter” and Luchino Visconti’s depraved Weimar tableau “The Damned.” But she’s also brought hard-shelled wit to character studies like François Ozon’s “Under the Sand” and “Swimming Pool,” Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years,” and Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.”
In that film, Rampling played one of her prickliest characters, a callous and ambivalent mother who prefers to blithely take a bath during her daughter’s (Kirsten Dunst) wedding reception rather than make small talk or give toasts with the guests downstairs.
You’d know that from any number of her roles. The 77-year-old, English-born, Paris-living actress has worked in the European arthouse for more than half a century, turning out kinky roles in divisive, sensuous period pieces like Liliana Cavani’s S&m concentration camp psychodrama “The Night Porter” and Luchino Visconti’s depraved Weimar tableau “The Damned.” But she’s also brought hard-shelled wit to character studies like François Ozon’s “Under the Sand” and “Swimming Pool,” Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years,” and Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.”
In that film, Rampling played one of her prickliest characters, a callous and ambivalent mother who prefers to blithely take a bath during her daughter’s (Kirsten Dunst) wedding reception rather than make small talk or give toasts with the guests downstairs.
- 2/23/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Sony Pictures International Productions is launching Parasomnia Productions, a new label dedicated to genre movies in France. The label’s creation is in association with Marc Missonnier’s Moana Films.
The aim is to promote theatrical genre pics in France, including fantasy, horror, supernatural and mock documentaries, among others.
The titles will have a budget cap of 1 million euros ($1.2M) each. Parasomnia is also now launching a call to writers for original screenplays of feature projects written in French. Candidates can apply here with the closing date for submissions set on March 15, 2021.
Said veteran producer Missonnier and Stéphane Huard, President of Sony Pictures Entertainment France, “We believe in films with strong concepts, designed to be made in a limited budget. We also want to discover powerful and unique characters. Finally, we will give particular importance to first and second feature film projects, to encourage the emergence of new talents. ”
Added Laine Kline,...
The aim is to promote theatrical genre pics in France, including fantasy, horror, supernatural and mock documentaries, among others.
The titles will have a budget cap of 1 million euros ($1.2M) each. Parasomnia is also now launching a call to writers for original screenplays of feature projects written in French. Candidates can apply here with the closing date for submissions set on March 15, 2021.
Said veteran producer Missonnier and Stéphane Huard, President of Sony Pictures Entertainment France, “We believe in films with strong concepts, designed to be made in a limited budget. We also want to discover powerful and unique characters. Finally, we will give particular importance to first and second feature film projects, to encourage the emergence of new talents. ”
Added Laine Kline,...
- 2/9/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Before establishing himself as one of Japan’s most internationally renowned directors, Hirokazu Koreeda was – and still is – a documentary maker. A year after making his feature film debut (1995’s “Maboroshi no hikari), “Without Memory” was his last documentary before dedicating his energies to feature films.
The documentary follows the life of unfortunate Sekine Hiroshi, who, following an operation, due to Japanese insurance complications, was mistakenly not given the necessary vitamins required while in recovery in a botched cost-cutting measure. When he awakes, Hiroshi can only recall his life up to the point of the surgery; everything beyond that is simply forgotten within minutes.
Filmed over a number of years, the documentary follows his relationship with his family: his wife and full-time confidant Miwa and his two sons and the discussions they have about what his experience is like not being able to recall anything that has just happened to him.
The documentary follows the life of unfortunate Sekine Hiroshi, who, following an operation, due to Japanese insurance complications, was mistakenly not given the necessary vitamins required while in recovery in a botched cost-cutting measure. When he awakes, Hiroshi can only recall his life up to the point of the surgery; everything beyond that is simply forgotten within minutes.
Filmed over a number of years, the documentary follows his relationship with his family: his wife and full-time confidant Miwa and his two sons and the discussions they have about what his experience is like not being able to recall anything that has just happened to him.
- 3/30/2020
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
There are two kinds of “what if” story. One plunges viewers into an immediate, all-too-imaginable situation, and invites them to consider how they might act and react; the other casts us into realms of uncanny uncertainty, inviting us to consider the world as we don’t quite know it. Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Oscar-nominated 2017 short “Madre” was an expert example of the former, placing us inside the head of a single mother freaking out over a phone call from her young son, who’s abandoned and imperiled on an unidentified beach neither she nor he can pinpoint. A parent’s worst nightmare of the most tightly wound order, it seemed an obvious candidate for feature treatment very much in the other “what if” camp — what was a palpitating mystery gives way to a kind of metaphysical love story, eliding the roles of parent, child and lover.
Only select distributors and audiences...
Only select distributors and audiences...
- 9/1/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Ghost Town AnthologyThe titles for the 69th Berlin International Film Festival are being announced in anticipation of the event running February 7-17, 2019. We will update the program as new films are revealed.COMPETITIONThe Ground Beneath My FeetThe Golden Glove (Faith Akin, Germany/France)By the Grace of GodThe Kindness of StrangersI Was at Home, but A Tale of Three SistersGhost Town Anthology (Denis Côté, Canada)Berlinale SPECIALGully Boy (Zoya Akhtar, India)BrechtWatergate (Charles Ferguson, USA)Panorama 201937 Seconds (Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki), Japan)Dafne (Federico Bondi, Italy)The Day After I'm Gone (Nimrod Eldar, Israel)A Dog Called Money (Seamus Murphy, Ireland/UK)Waiting for the CarnivalChainedFlatland (Jenna Bass, South Africa/Germany/Luxembourg)Greta (Armando Praça, Brazil)Hellhole (Bas Devos, Belgium/Netherlands)Jessica Forever (Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France)AcidMid90s (Jonah Hill, USA) Family MembersMonos (Alejandro Landes, Columbia/Argentina/Netherlands/Germany/Denmark/Sweden/Uruguay) O Beautiful Night (Xaver Böhm,...
- 1/2/2019
- MUBI
Rampling won a SIlver Bear at Berlinale in 2015.
Actress Charlotte Rampling is to be awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 7-17).
Berlin will also host a homage to her work, including The Night Porter (1974), directed by Liliana Cavani, François Ozon’s The Swimming Pool (2003) and Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories (1980).
Other notable other performances in a career spanning more than 100 film and television roles include Luchino Visconti’s The Damned, the Oscar-nominated The Wings of the Dove, TV series London Spy and Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, which won Rampling a...
Actress Charlotte Rampling is to be awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 7-17).
Berlin will also host a homage to her work, including The Night Porter (1974), directed by Liliana Cavani, François Ozon’s The Swimming Pool (2003) and Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories (1980).
Other notable other performances in a career spanning more than 100 film and television roles include Luchino Visconti’s The Damned, the Oscar-nominated The Wings of the Dove, TV series London Spy and Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, which won Rampling a...
- 12/17/2018
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
It's not easy to watch the slow deterioration of a good person, especially a woman as intelligent and complex as Hannah (Charlotte Rampling). Her husband (André Wilms) has been carted off to prison in their native Belgium for reasons unknown. But Hannah carries on, trying to live life as she knows it. Then life starts to squeeze her out.
At least, that's the premise of this slow, deliberate film, directed and co-written by Andrea Pallaoro, following a striking 2013 debut with Medeas. He refuses to coddle audiences or fill in the...
At least, that's the premise of this slow, deliberate film, directed and co-written by Andrea Pallaoro, following a striking 2013 debut with Medeas. He refuses to coddle audiences or fill in the...
- 3/9/2018
- Rollingstone.com
French filmmaker François Ozon can tackle subjects of the utmost gravity (see Under the Sand, Frantz and a host of other solemn dramas). But my favorite Ozon movies are the ones that blend seriousness with erotic mischief – works like 8 Women, Swimming Pool and In the House. Just as irresistible is the dangerously sexy and perversely funny Double Lover, a psychological thriller that concerns two psychologists ... well, actually their twins.
At first, Chloe, beautifully played by Marine Vacth, doesn't know this; neither, for that matter, does the audience. The ex-model is in therapy with Dr.
At first, Chloe, beautifully played by Marine Vacth, doesn't know this; neither, for that matter, does the audience. The ex-model is in therapy with Dr.
- 2/12/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Ever since making his feature debut with the darkly comical Sitcom, French writer/director François Ozon has been making the world feeling horny and shocked with his films, often at the same time. With a body of work that also includes Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Under the Sand, In the House and the glorious one-two punch of 8 Women and Swimming Pool, you’d think the prolific provocateur might soon be running out of tricks.
Think again. His latest erotic thriller, L’amant double, which premiered in competition at Cannes this year, proved to be the film scandaleux of the festival. Starring Marine Vacth as Chloé, a young woman who one day discovers her psychiatrist partner Paul (Jérémie Renier) might have an evil twin brother and gradually loses herself in a web of deceit and kinks, it’s the kind of dangerously sexy farce at which Ozon excels.
We had...
Think again. His latest erotic thriller, L’amant double, which premiered in competition at Cannes this year, proved to be the film scandaleux of the festival. Starring Marine Vacth as Chloé, a young woman who one day discovers her psychiatrist partner Paul (Jérémie Renier) might have an evil twin brother and gradually loses herself in a web of deceit and kinks, it’s the kind of dangerously sexy farce at which Ozon excels.
We had...
- 10/18/2017
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
When a Potiche Ascends the Stairs: Brizé’s Winning, Textured de Maupassant Adaptation
Although cinematic adaptations of French writer Guy de Maupassant still occur with some regularity, few contemporary Gallic auteurs have successfully tackled the naturalist who was a protégé of Flaubert and a contemporary of Zola. Frequent adaptations of his famed short story “Boule de Suif” and Bel-Ami are resurrected regularly, and his stories have inspired auteurs like Robert Wise, Jean-Luc Godard, Marcel Ophüls, and Jean Renoir. However, de Maupassant’s seminal first novel, Une Vie (1883), has been adapted several times outside of France, while previously its most definitive mounting was the 1958 End of Desire headlined by Maria Schell.
For his seventh feature, Stephane Brizé persuasively reflects the subjugation of women’s agency with the fragmented A Woman’s Life, and is perhaps the most auspicious transformation of the author since the handsome productions of the 1950s with this astute period piece featuring an exquisite ensemble of character actors.
After returning from convent school, Jeanne (Judith Chemla) takes joy in assisting her father (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) in the garden and perambulating with her mother (Yolande Moreau), a woman who spends most of her free time scrolling through the contents of letters she received throughout her life. With only the young family maid Rosalie (Nina Meurisse) as a friend and confidante, Jeanne soon finds herself courted by the handsome Viscount Julien de Lamare (Swann Arlaud). Swept into what she’s made to believe is romance, the marriage soon sours when Rosalie is found to be with child after having been raped by Julien. Thus begins Jeanne’s initiation into a world more harrowing than she had anticipated as her ideals and dignity are slowly stripped away.
Judith Chemla, who has starred as a supporting player in a number of period productions for noted auteurs (Tavernier, Techine) comes to the fore as the passive, frustrated center of Brizé’s film. Oblivious to the tendencies and behaviors of those around her, A Woman’s Life gently ushers her from a frivolous young woman of privilege to an increasingly fraught wife forced to contend with a debauched husband.
Brizé’s film has all the potential of a tawdry soap opera, and yet is distilled into fragmented reflections of her escapist tendencies. As we rush through defining moments of her life, time slows as Jeanne disappears into the bright, sunshiny memories which brought her to such a brooding standstill. Chemla is tasked with revealing Jeanne’s persona through inscrutable moments, an object acted upon despite meager efforts to gain control of her life. When escape presents itself upon learning of her own pregnancy at the same time as her husband’s philandering with Rosalie, her own mother confirms her fate by forcing Jeanne to forgive rather than return home.
Yolande Moreau gives a subversively droll performance as a cold maternal figure who has several major secrets of her own. As her counterpart, Jean-Pierre Darroussin nearly disappears within the period garb as Jeanne’s mild mannered father, while a mousy Swann Arlaud is sufficiently unpalatable as her cheating husband. Clotilde Hesme surfaces in a brief subplot which yields shockingly violent results, while rising young actor Finnegan Oldfield (Nocturama; Les Cowboys) shows up in the third act as Jeanne’s selfish teenage son, the specter haunting her golden years and sending her into protracted anguish.
Much like Brizé’s last lauded feature, 2015’s The Measure of a Man, the narrative revolves around distilled, refracted moments informing its protagonist’s mind frame, a person once again trapped by economic necessity in an unfavorable role which whittles away at their resolve.
Collaborating once more with scribe Florence Vignon (who scripted his superb 2009 film Mademoiselle Chambon), they achieve a striking portrait of a woman of certain means as equally weighted down by her expectations and limited control. Brizé also taps Dp Antoine Heberle (who worked on Chambon and A Few Hours of Spring, as well as Ozon’s Under the Sand) who transforms the film into a constant visual juxtaposition of stark, contrasting palettes, ranging from the brooding grays of Jeanne’s present to the golden, sparkling vivaciousness of happy times she can never return to. With stunning finality, a drastic situation boils down to bittersweet reality— “Life is never as good or as bad as you think it is.”
★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
The post A Woman’s Life | Review appeared first on Ioncinema.com.
Although cinematic adaptations of French writer Guy de Maupassant still occur with some regularity, few contemporary Gallic auteurs have successfully tackled the naturalist who was a protégé of Flaubert and a contemporary of Zola. Frequent adaptations of his famed short story “Boule de Suif” and Bel-Ami are resurrected regularly, and his stories have inspired auteurs like Robert Wise, Jean-Luc Godard, Marcel Ophüls, and Jean Renoir. However, de Maupassant’s seminal first novel, Une Vie (1883), has been adapted several times outside of France, while previously its most definitive mounting was the 1958 End of Desire headlined by Maria Schell.
For his seventh feature, Stephane Brizé persuasively reflects the subjugation of women’s agency with the fragmented A Woman’s Life, and is perhaps the most auspicious transformation of the author since the handsome productions of the 1950s with this astute period piece featuring an exquisite ensemble of character actors.
After returning from convent school, Jeanne (Judith Chemla) takes joy in assisting her father (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) in the garden and perambulating with her mother (Yolande Moreau), a woman who spends most of her free time scrolling through the contents of letters she received throughout her life. With only the young family maid Rosalie (Nina Meurisse) as a friend and confidante, Jeanne soon finds herself courted by the handsome Viscount Julien de Lamare (Swann Arlaud). Swept into what she’s made to believe is romance, the marriage soon sours when Rosalie is found to be with child after having been raped by Julien. Thus begins Jeanne’s initiation into a world more harrowing than she had anticipated as her ideals and dignity are slowly stripped away.
Judith Chemla, who has starred as a supporting player in a number of period productions for noted auteurs (Tavernier, Techine) comes to the fore as the passive, frustrated center of Brizé’s film. Oblivious to the tendencies and behaviors of those around her, A Woman’s Life gently ushers her from a frivolous young woman of privilege to an increasingly fraught wife forced to contend with a debauched husband.
Brizé’s film has all the potential of a tawdry soap opera, and yet is distilled into fragmented reflections of her escapist tendencies. As we rush through defining moments of her life, time slows as Jeanne disappears into the bright, sunshiny memories which brought her to such a brooding standstill. Chemla is tasked with revealing Jeanne’s persona through inscrutable moments, an object acted upon despite meager efforts to gain control of her life. When escape presents itself upon learning of her own pregnancy at the same time as her husband’s philandering with Rosalie, her own mother confirms her fate by forcing Jeanne to forgive rather than return home.
Yolande Moreau gives a subversively droll performance as a cold maternal figure who has several major secrets of her own. As her counterpart, Jean-Pierre Darroussin nearly disappears within the period garb as Jeanne’s mild mannered father, while a mousy Swann Arlaud is sufficiently unpalatable as her cheating husband. Clotilde Hesme surfaces in a brief subplot which yields shockingly violent results, while rising young actor Finnegan Oldfield (Nocturama; Les Cowboys) shows up in the third act as Jeanne’s selfish teenage son, the specter haunting her golden years and sending her into protracted anguish.
Much like Brizé’s last lauded feature, 2015’s The Measure of a Man, the narrative revolves around distilled, refracted moments informing its protagonist’s mind frame, a person once again trapped by economic necessity in an unfavorable role which whittles away at their resolve.
Collaborating once more with scribe Florence Vignon (who scripted his superb 2009 film Mademoiselle Chambon), they achieve a striking portrait of a woman of certain means as equally weighted down by her expectations and limited control. Brizé also taps Dp Antoine Heberle (who worked on Chambon and A Few Hours of Spring, as well as Ozon’s Under the Sand) who transforms the film into a constant visual juxtaposition of stark, contrasting palettes, ranging from the brooding grays of Jeanne’s present to the golden, sparkling vivaciousness of happy times she can never return to. With stunning finality, a drastic situation boils down to bittersweet reality— “Life is never as good or as bad as you think it is.”
★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
The post A Woman’s Life | Review appeared first on Ioncinema.com.
- 5/5/2017
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
It's a rare beauty, this odd-duck of a period piece from the great French director François Ozon (Under the Sand, 8 Women, Swimming Pool). Frantz starts out as a remake of the 1932 film Broken Lullaby by Ernst Lubitsch, a maestro whose work only a fool would mess with. But here's Ozon doing just that, taking the second half of the film down a different path that's sure to piss of purists. The filmmaker is walking a creative tightrope. How do you resist that? My advice is: don't. There are a few fits and starts,...
- 3/16/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Editor's Note: Nathaniel previously reviewed Frantz at Tiff. Now with its Us release a week away, here's Eric with a second look.
Frantz, director François Ozon’s most recent picture, opens in limited release in one week and is also part of Lincoln Center’s current "Rendezvous with French Cinema" series. Ozon is one of France’s most profilic filmmakers (he makes a film almost every year), and he’s given us many fine pictures, including the Charlotte Rampling chillers Swimming Pool and Under the Sand, the actressy 8 Women, and his deepest film, Time to Leave. But Ozon has never made a film as ravishing and complete as Frantz.
This film, which was nominated for 11 César Awards and won the Cinematography prize at the ceremony, contains a simple story which keeps unfolding in complex and surprising ways....
Frantz, director François Ozon’s most recent picture, opens in limited release in one week and is also part of Lincoln Center’s current "Rendezvous with French Cinema" series. Ozon is one of France’s most profilic filmmakers (he makes a film almost every year), and he’s given us many fine pictures, including the Charlotte Rampling chillers Swimming Pool and Under the Sand, the actressy 8 Women, and his deepest film, Time to Leave. But Ozon has never made a film as ravishing and complete as Frantz.
This film, which was nominated for 11 César Awards and won the Cinematography prize at the ceremony, contains a simple story which keeps unfolding in complex and surprising ways....
- 3/8/2017
- by Eric Blume
- FilmExperience
Congratulations to Wendy Lidell, whom we have known during her outstanding career spanning over 25 years, for being appointed as the Kino Lorber'snew Senior Vice President, Theatrical Distribution and Acquisitions.
As the head of Kino Lorber’s theatrical division, Ms. Lidell will oversee and manage all aspects of the company’s theatrical and non-theatrical slate, over 25 films per year, reporting directly to CEO Richard Lorber. Reporting to her are the company’s current team: Jonathan Hertzberg, Director of Theatrical Sales (who will continue to handle film bookings nationwide), Sylvia Savadjian, Director of Marketing, and Rodrigo Brandão, VP of Marketing and Publicity.
In addition to her new duties, Lidell will work directly with Richard Lorber to drive new business opportunities for the company, including identifying new content acquisitions and strategic growth areas.
She previously worked with Richard Lorber when he acquired International Film Circuit in 1998, to become the theatrical division of his company Fox Lorber. While at Fox Lorber, which later became Wellspring Media, Lidell released six to eight titles per year, including Alexander Sokurov’s "Russian Ark", François Ozon’s "Under the Sand", starring Charlotte Rampling, "Yi Yi“ by Edward Yang (named Best Film of the Year by the National Society of Film Critics), and "On the Ropes" (nominated for a documentary Academy Award).
After returning to International Film Circuit in 2004, Lidell released dozens of films, including "Don't Move," starring Penelope Cruz, "Darwin's Nightmare," which earned her a second documentary Academy Award nomination, and "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, "which joined the elite group of documentaries that have grossed over $1 million theatrically. Other notable successes included "My Perestroika," "The Waiting Room," Nancy Spielberg’s "Above and Beyond" and "Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness."
“It’s a very happy opportunity for Kino Lorber and me, personally, to work with Wendy again,” said Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. “She has distinguished herself as a brilliant forward thinking film executive and passionate entrepreneur in our challenging environment, regularly acquiring and bringing to screen films of exceptional quality and commercial promise. In all my earlier years working with her, she never disappointed me – while her eye for quality and intelligence of execution never failed her. We couldn’t be more pleased to have her lead our theatrical team into the future. “
“It will be an enormous pleasure to join the Kino Lorber team,” wrote Wendy Lidell. “There are few film companies that combine a passion for great cinema with the business acumen required to navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing distribution landscape. Together, I hope we can continue for many years to bring more great films to bigger and more diverse audiences.”
Current and upcoming released from Kino Lorber include Amos Gitai’s "Rabin, the Last Day, Jia Zhangke’s "Mountains May Depart," Jayro Bustamante's "Ixcanul," and "Sons My Brother Taught Me. "...
As the head of Kino Lorber’s theatrical division, Ms. Lidell will oversee and manage all aspects of the company’s theatrical and non-theatrical slate, over 25 films per year, reporting directly to CEO Richard Lorber. Reporting to her are the company’s current team: Jonathan Hertzberg, Director of Theatrical Sales (who will continue to handle film bookings nationwide), Sylvia Savadjian, Director of Marketing, and Rodrigo Brandão, VP of Marketing and Publicity.
In addition to her new duties, Lidell will work directly with Richard Lorber to drive new business opportunities for the company, including identifying new content acquisitions and strategic growth areas.
She previously worked with Richard Lorber when he acquired International Film Circuit in 1998, to become the theatrical division of his company Fox Lorber. While at Fox Lorber, which later became Wellspring Media, Lidell released six to eight titles per year, including Alexander Sokurov’s "Russian Ark", François Ozon’s "Under the Sand", starring Charlotte Rampling, "Yi Yi“ by Edward Yang (named Best Film of the Year by the National Society of Film Critics), and "On the Ropes" (nominated for a documentary Academy Award).
After returning to International Film Circuit in 2004, Lidell released dozens of films, including "Don't Move," starring Penelope Cruz, "Darwin's Nightmare," which earned her a second documentary Academy Award nomination, and "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, "which joined the elite group of documentaries that have grossed over $1 million theatrically. Other notable successes included "My Perestroika," "The Waiting Room," Nancy Spielberg’s "Above and Beyond" and "Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness."
“It’s a very happy opportunity for Kino Lorber and me, personally, to work with Wendy again,” said Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. “She has distinguished herself as a brilliant forward thinking film executive and passionate entrepreneur in our challenging environment, regularly acquiring and bringing to screen films of exceptional quality and commercial promise. In all my earlier years working with her, she never disappointed me – while her eye for quality and intelligence of execution never failed her. We couldn’t be more pleased to have her lead our theatrical team into the future. “
“It will be an enormous pleasure to join the Kino Lorber team,” wrote Wendy Lidell. “There are few film companies that combine a passion for great cinema with the business acumen required to navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing distribution landscape. Together, I hope we can continue for many years to bring more great films to bigger and more diverse audiences.”
Current and upcoming released from Kino Lorber include Amos Gitai’s "Rabin, the Last Day, Jia Zhangke’s "Mountains May Depart," Jayro Bustamante's "Ixcanul," and "Sons My Brother Taught Me. "...
- 2/24/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The recently deceased Andrzej Żuławski is celebrated in “Film Comment Selects,” which offers The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, and his sci-fi epic On the Silver Globe. Also showing are Breakout, Clement‘s Rider on the Rain, and Ray Davies‘ only feature, Return to Waterloo.
Museum of the Moving Image
“See It Big!
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The recently deceased Andrzej Żuławski is celebrated in “Film Comment Selects,” which offers The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, and his sci-fi epic On the Silver Globe. Also showing are Breakout, Clement‘s Rider on the Rain, and Ray Davies‘ only feature, Return to Waterloo.
Museum of the Moving Image
“See It Big!
- 2/19/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The longer you talk to Charlotte Rampling, the more you are drawn into her hooded eyes, her laid back insouciance, her mature strength. This is a woman who has lived. I want to read her memoir. Based in Paris, she's worked in English with Sidney Lumet ("The Verdict"), Alan Parker ("Angel Heart"), Woody Allen ("Stardust Memories") and Lars von Trier ("Melancholia"), French with Francois Ozon (Cesar-nominated "Under the Sand" and "Swimming Pool") and Italian with directors Luchino Visconti ("The Damned") and Lilliana Cavani ("The Night Porter"). Over the course of the year "45 Years" (Sundance Selects, December 23) has been blazing a festival trail from Berlin (where Courtenay and Rampling won Best Actor and Actress) to Telluride and Toronto. Haigh adapted "45 Years" from a short story by poet David Constantine, which anticipates the anniversary of Geoff and Kate’s seemingly...
- 12/23/2015
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Can you believe Christmas is just 3 days away? Eeep how fast the month has gone. Let's jump right into news & links...
Women and Hollywood well, this is good timing. Charlotte Rampling is getting an eight film retrospective in NYC starting Wednesday... just in time to remind East Coast AMPAS members of her brilliance before balloting. Do Not miss The Night Porter (1974) or Under the Sand (2000) if you haven't seen them.
THR looks at make or break moments coming in 2016 from Batman v Superman to MTV's Shannara Chronicles
Comics Alliance Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is apparently 151 minutes long. Yikes. Here's an idea: cut the death of little Bruce's parents because how many times we gotta see that origin story. The entire world knows it. No need for "previously ons" at this point.
The Wrap Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant are working together again post-Milk. The...
Women and Hollywood well, this is good timing. Charlotte Rampling is getting an eight film retrospective in NYC starting Wednesday... just in time to remind East Coast AMPAS members of her brilliance before balloting. Do Not miss The Night Porter (1974) or Under the Sand (2000) if you haven't seen them.
THR looks at make or break moments coming in 2016 from Batman v Superman to MTV's Shannara Chronicles
Comics Alliance Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is apparently 151 minutes long. Yikes. Here's an idea: cut the death of little Bruce's parents because how many times we gotta see that origin story. The entire world knows it. No need for "previously ons" at this point.
The Wrap Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant are working together again post-Milk. The...
- 12/22/2015
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
'Son of Saul': Géza Röhrig in the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards' Best Foreign Language Film winner. Charlotte Rampling, Michael Fassbender: Los Angeles Film Critics Awards 2015 The Los Angeles Film Critics Association's 2015 winners were announced on Sunday, Dec. 6. Lafca is one of the two most influential critics groups – i.e., those whose decisions get at least some mainstream media mileage – in the United States. The other one is the much older New York Film Critics Circle, followed by the National Society of Film Critics. Five-decade movie veteran Charlotte Rampling,[1] who'll turn 70 next Feb. 5, was one of the day's big winners. Besides being selected Best Actress by the Los Angeles Film Critics for her performance in 45 Years, Rampling was also the 2015 Boston Society of Film Critics' pick. Earlier this year, Andrew Haigh's marital drama costarring Tom Courtenay (Doctor Zhivago, The Dresser) earned her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.
- 12/7/2015
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Catherine Deneuve: César Award Besst Actress Record-Tier (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'In the Courtyard / Dans la cour') (See previous post: "Kristen Stewart and Catherine Deneuve Make César Award History.") Catherine Deneuve has received 12 Best Actress César nominations to date. Deneuve's nods were for the following movies (year of film's release): Pierre Salvadori's In the Courtyard / Dans la Cour (2014). Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way / Elle s'en va (2013). François Ozon's Potiche (2010). Nicole Garcia's Place Vendôme (1998). André Téchiné's Thieves / Les voleurs (1996). André Téchiné's My Favorite Season / Ma saison préférée (1993). Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). François Dupeyron's Strange Place for an Encounter / Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre (1988). Jean-Pierre Mocky's Agent trouble (1987). André Téchiné's Hotel America / Hôtel des Amériques (1981). François Truffaut's The Last Metro / Le dernier métro (1980). Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Le sauvage (1975). Additionally, Catherine Deneuve was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category...
- 1/30/2015
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
La tête haute
Director: Emmanuelle Bercot // Writer: Emmanuelle Bercot, Marcia Romano
Though initially an actress that appeared in films from Jean-Francois Richet and Benoit Jacquot (and more recently, two films from Maiwenn, including Polisse, which Bercot co-wrote), Emmanuelle Bercot has fashioned her own career as a director, most recently with the Catherine Deneuve headlined On My Way. Bercot reteams with Deneuve for La tête haute (Head Held High), and adds other exciting names like Benoit Magimel and Sara Forestier to the mix. Co-written by Marcia Romano, who penned delicious titles by Ozon, such as Under the Sand and Criminal Lovers, the film tells the story of Malony and his education as he grows from a six-year-old into an 18-year-old. A minors’ judge and a caseworker work tirelessly to try to save the young offender.
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Benoit Magimel, Sara Forestier
Producers: France 2 Cinema, Wild Bunch, Les Films du Kiosque...
Director: Emmanuelle Bercot // Writer: Emmanuelle Bercot, Marcia Romano
Though initially an actress that appeared in films from Jean-Francois Richet and Benoit Jacquot (and more recently, two films from Maiwenn, including Polisse, which Bercot co-wrote), Emmanuelle Bercot has fashioned her own career as a director, most recently with the Catherine Deneuve headlined On My Way. Bercot reteams with Deneuve for La tête haute (Head Held High), and adds other exciting names like Benoit Magimel and Sara Forestier to the mix. Co-written by Marcia Romano, who penned delicious titles by Ozon, such as Under the Sand and Criminal Lovers, the film tells the story of Malony and his education as he grows from a six-year-old into an 18-year-old. A minors’ judge and a caseworker work tirelessly to try to save the young offender.
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Benoit Magimel, Sara Forestier
Producers: France 2 Cinema, Wild Bunch, Les Films du Kiosque...
- 1/6/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
After making its world premiere in Toronto, François Ozon’s The New Girlfriend has inked U.S. distribution with Cohen Media Group. The Hitchcockian romance is adapted from the story by British suspense writer Ruth Rendell about Claire (Anaïs Demoustier), who discovers a surprising secret about her late best friend’s husband (Romain Duris) that tests the boundaries of sexual and gender identity. French company Mandarin Cinema produced the pic from the prolific Ozon (In The House, Swimming Pool, Under The Sand). Cmg Evp John Kochman and Films Distribution co-founder Nicolas Brigaud Robert negotiated the deal. The New Girlfriend won the Sebastian 2014 Award last week at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it screened in competition.
- 9/29/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
Nathaniel's adventures at Tiff continued
François Ozon remains one of France's most prolific directors. Like most prolific auteurs this means an uneven filmography. Even the very good films can feel ever-so-slightly underrealized. Is it the rush or just the nature of the artistry of the prolific, all first draft energies, favorite or borrowed styles structures and themes, and just warming-up ideas with the occasional lightning-strike perfections?
Like many fans I'm still waiting for another of those lightning strike perfections like certain moments in Under the Sand or 8 Women in full but his not-quite-there efforts can still be highly appealing: Potiche anyone?
The New Girlfriend turns out to be all of the above with grand moments, messy ones, energetic diversions, familiar tropes and half formed ideas... which as it turns out is just fine for a movie about embryonic searches for new identities. It begins with a funereal yet beautiful opening...
François Ozon remains one of France's most prolific directors. Like most prolific auteurs this means an uneven filmography. Even the very good films can feel ever-so-slightly underrealized. Is it the rush or just the nature of the artistry of the prolific, all first draft energies, favorite or borrowed styles structures and themes, and just warming-up ideas with the occasional lightning-strike perfections?
Like many fans I'm still waiting for another of those lightning strike perfections like certain moments in Under the Sand or 8 Women in full but his not-quite-there efforts can still be highly appealing: Potiche anyone?
The New Girlfriend turns out to be all of the above with grand moments, messy ones, energetic diversions, familiar tropes and half formed ideas... which as it turns out is just fine for a movie about embryonic searches for new identities. It begins with a funereal yet beautiful opening...
- 9/14/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The remarkably prolific French filmmaker François Ozon is back in theaters this Friday with the coming-of-age drama "Young & Beautiful" just a mere year after opening his last film "In the House" theatrically in North America. At 46, he's already completed a whopping 16 features, each so different from the next. From the campy old-Hollywood-style musical murder mystery "8 Women," to the sexually charged two-hander "Swimming Pool" to the quiet, introspective drama "Under the Sand," Ozon has proven he's as versatile as they come. Gorgeous newcomer Marine Vacht headlines "Young & Beautiful" as Isabelle, a 17-year-old teenager who takes up prostitution as a hobby. Given the premise, it's no surprise the film courted controversy in Cannes when Ozon told The Hollywood Reporter "it's a fantasy of many women to do prostitution." Read More: A Teenage Girl Becomes a Prostitute in Trailer for François Ozon 'Young & Beautiful' Indiewire sat down with Ozon in New York to.
- 4/24/2014
- by Nigel M Smith
- Indiewire
Charlotte Rampling knows when the role is right for her. It just so happens, that's the feeling she got when her current gig on "Dexter" was offered to her.
"t just felt completely, fantastically right," Rampling, 67, told The Huffington Post in a phone interview. "They called me I think six weeks before or something. I didn't know the series, but I watched it, found out about it, then I was pitched the subject by Scott Buck, the producer, and it all just sort of fit in. It was just one of those things that you know is the next right move."
Rampling has more than 100 film and TV credits spanning from early work in the 1960s to her current arc on "Dexter." She's worked with everybody from Woody Allen to Kirsten Dunst. It's her extensive resume that makes her the latest subject for The Huffington Post's "Isn't That ...?" series on character actors....
"t just felt completely, fantastically right," Rampling, 67, told The Huffington Post in a phone interview. "They called me I think six weeks before or something. I didn't know the series, but I watched it, found out about it, then I was pitched the subject by Scott Buck, the producer, and it all just sort of fit in. It was just one of those things that you know is the next right move."
Rampling has more than 100 film and TV credits spanning from early work in the 1960s to her current arc on "Dexter." She's worked with everybody from Woody Allen to Kirsten Dunst. It's her extensive resume that makes her the latest subject for The Huffington Post's "Isn't That ...?" series on character actors....
- 7/11/2013
- by Chris Harnick
- Huffington Post
Glenn here. Given my penchant for poster goodness I figured I'd pick up Nathaniel's regular "posterized" feature. A fun series that can time to time shine a curious light on the way films are marketed and how certain actors or directors can find themselves in a so-called "marketing rut" where it's the same thing over and over. Think of a Will Smith movie and don't you just picture his smug mug staring out at you in mid-range closeup? Even that one about selling his organs to Rosario Dawson (or whatever Seven Pounds was about - I've sure as hell forgotten!)
This week I've chosen François Ozon - and he's having a helluva week. Not only is his latest (un/lucky number thirteen) film, In the House [Dans le maison], getting a release in America, but his next picture, Jeune et Jolie, was just chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Well done,...
This week I've chosen François Ozon - and he's having a helluva week. Not only is his latest (un/lucky number thirteen) film, In the House [Dans le maison], getting a release in America, but his next picture, Jeune et Jolie, was just chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Well done,...
- 4/19/2013
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
François Ozon's new film, In the House, looks set to be his international breakthrough. But has the erstwhile enfant terrible fallen for the bourgeois values he once satirised?
François Ozon has been knocking out roughly a film a year since the late 1990s: some camp and frivolous (Sitcom, Potiche), others intense (5x2, Time to Leave), each one zesty and provocative. Occasionally he will make something truly exceptional: Under the Sand, starring Charlotte Rampling as a woman falling apart after the disappearance of her husband, was rightly considered a masterpiece by the late Ingmar Bergman.
But though Ozon has had commercial success in France, he is still chasing the sort of career-changing international breakthrough on a par with, say, Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown or Michael Haneke's Hidden. If there is any justice, his new film In the House will change that. It's a witty,...
François Ozon has been knocking out roughly a film a year since the late 1990s: some camp and frivolous (Sitcom, Potiche), others intense (5x2, Time to Leave), each one zesty and provocative. Occasionally he will make something truly exceptional: Under the Sand, starring Charlotte Rampling as a woman falling apart after the disappearance of her husband, was rightly considered a masterpiece by the late Ingmar Bergman.
But though Ozon has had commercial success in France, he is still chasing the sort of career-changing international breakthrough on a par with, say, Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown or Michael Haneke's Hidden. If there is any justice, his new film In the House will change that. It's a witty,...
- 3/29/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The Man Who Loved Actresses Too Much. That's the title of my forthcoming memoirs. Because I love too many actresses I often lose track of their upcoming film projects so let's look at some recent casting notices (by recent I mean I'm sorry I didn't mention them earlier this month!) involving ladies I, and hopefully you, love.
Susan Sarandon, currently co-starring in Cloud Atlas, has been working consistently since her career peak (1988 through 1995) but her parts haven't been so great or the films have left one wanting. Can The Last of Robin Hood reinvigorate her career or spark passion in her fanbase again? The Hollywood bio film is from the indie directing team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (full disclosure: I used to be friendly with Glatzer) who previously made The Fluffer and Quinceanera. It's about Errol Flynn's (Kevin Kline) affair with a 17 year old actress at the...
Susan Sarandon, currently co-starring in Cloud Atlas, has been working consistently since her career peak (1988 through 1995) but her parts haven't been so great or the films have left one wanting. Can The Last of Robin Hood reinvigorate her career or spark passion in her fanbase again? The Hollywood bio film is from the indie directing team of Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (full disclosure: I used to be friendly with Glatzer) who previously made The Fluffer and Quinceanera. It's about Errol Flynn's (Kevin Kline) affair with a 17 year old actress at the...
- 10/31/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Rome – The Locarno Film Festival announced Thursday it would present its Excellence Award to British actress Charlotte Rampling on the festival’s opening night, and will screen her latest film on the following night. The film, I Anna from director Barnady Southcombe, will screen out of competition and will feature a special introduction from Rampling. Later in the festival, two of Rampling’s older films -- Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter from 1974 and Under the Sand, directed by Francois Ozon in 2000. Previous recipients of the Excellence Award include Hollywood standouts Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, William Dafoe, plus French actor Michel Piccoli, and
read more...
read more...
- 7/5/2012
- by Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Le Quattro Volte; The Beaver; Potiche; Bobby Fischer Against the World
The greatest problem with Le Quattro Volte (2010, New Wave, U) is figuring out how to describe it in a manner that doesn't sound either fantastically off-putting, unbearably pretentious or just plain boring. Calling it a "near-silent Italian goat farming film", for example, clearly does director Michelangelo Frammartino's extraordinary vision few favours, as does highlighting its central concern with archaic methods of charcoal production in Calabria that have been passed down from generation to generation. Labelling it a "meditation on life, the universe and everything" is even worse (this has nothing in common with Malick's Tree of Life), particularly when one adds to the mix an underlying thesis about the transmigration of souls. One sublimely comic scene – involving a dog, a van and a piece of wood – could be compared to those allegedly "unstaged" clips from You've Been Framed,...
The greatest problem with Le Quattro Volte (2010, New Wave, U) is figuring out how to describe it in a manner that doesn't sound either fantastically off-putting, unbearably pretentious or just plain boring. Calling it a "near-silent Italian goat farming film", for example, clearly does director Michelangelo Frammartino's extraordinary vision few favours, as does highlighting its central concern with archaic methods of charcoal production in Calabria that have been passed down from generation to generation. Labelling it a "meditation on life, the universe and everything" is even worse (this has nothing in common with Malick's Tree of Life), particularly when one adds to the mix an underlying thesis about the transmigration of souls. One sublimely comic scene – involving a dog, a van and a piece of wood – could be compared to those allegedly "unstaged" clips from You've Been Framed,...
- 10/8/2011
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
A delightful screwball comedy sees Catherine Deneuve blossom from 70s provincial housewife to rising political star
The French word potiche means a vase or vessel, often gaudily decorated and mostly of ornamental use. Until François Ozon's latest film, I wasn't aware of the word's derogatory meaning, to describe a woman with no real power or purpose, but after this film's success, I suspect the vernacular will have to alter to accommodate the irony of Catherine Deneuve's fine comic performance in the titular role.
You could say Luis Buñuel cast Deneuve as some kind of "potiche" as Séverine in Belle de Jour in 1967 and it has been impossible ever since for the male viewer to look at this prolific actress as anything other than a symbol of female potency, even as a sort of erotic threat. Ozon is surely trading on this iconography for a film that is a blend of boulevard farce,...
The French word potiche means a vase or vessel, often gaudily decorated and mostly of ornamental use. Until François Ozon's latest film, I wasn't aware of the word's derogatory meaning, to describe a woman with no real power or purpose, but after this film's success, I suspect the vernacular will have to alter to accommodate the irony of Catherine Deneuve's fine comic performance in the titular role.
You could say Luis Buñuel cast Deneuve as some kind of "potiche" as Séverine in Belle de Jour in 1967 and it has been impossible ever since for the male viewer to look at this prolific actress as anything other than a symbol of female potency, even as a sort of erotic threat. Ozon is surely trading on this iconography for a film that is a blend of boulevard farce,...
- 6/19/2011
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
The Double Hour
Directed by Giuseppe Capotondi
Italy, 2009
Equal parts Under the Sand, Tell No One and Femme Fatale, The Double Hour is a genre-hybrid that starts off with a roar, wriggles its way through a slippery second act, and steps in a few potholes on its way to satisfying if muted conclusion.
Guido (Filippo Timi) is a taciturn security guard and a veteran of Italy’s speed-dating scene. Sonia (Kseniya Rappoport) is a taciturn maid making her first foray into the blind dating pool. He’s an ex-cop; she has an unspoken criminal background. True love seems to be peeking around the corner until a robbery leaves Guido dead and Sonia with the fragment of a bullet in her head. Soon Sonia starts seeing Guido everywhere – on security cameras at work, in her apartment, on the street.
To make matters worse a creepy hotel resident, Bruno (Fausto Russo Alesi), takes a liking to her,...
Directed by Giuseppe Capotondi
Italy, 2009
Equal parts Under the Sand, Tell No One and Femme Fatale, The Double Hour is a genre-hybrid that starts off with a roar, wriggles its way through a slippery second act, and steps in a few potholes on its way to satisfying if muted conclusion.
Guido (Filippo Timi) is a taciturn security guard and a veteran of Italy’s speed-dating scene. Sonia (Kseniya Rappoport) is a taciturn maid making her first foray into the blind dating pool. He’s an ex-cop; she has an unspoken criminal background. True love seems to be peeking around the corner until a robbery leaves Guido dead and Sonia with the fragment of a bullet in her head. Soon Sonia starts seeing Guido everywhere – on security cameras at work, in her apartment, on the street.
To make matters worse a creepy hotel resident, Bruno (Fausto Russo Alesi), takes a liking to her,...
- 6/1/2011
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
Chicago – In our latest French comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes up for grabs to the new film “Potiche” with Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve!
“Potiche” also stars Jérémie Renier, Judith Godrèche, Karin Viard, Fabrice Luchini, Sergi López, Évelyne Dandry, Bruno Lochet, Elodie Frégé, Gautier About, Jean-Baptiste Shelmerdine, Noam Charlier, Martin De Myttenaere and Yannick Schmitz from writer and director François Ozon.
The film has been nominated for four Césars (France’s equivalent of the Oscars): best actress (Catherine Deneuve), best supporting actress (Karin Viard), best adapted screenplay (François Ozon) and best costume design. The film is also an official selection at the 2010 Venice Film Festival and the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
To win your free pass to a Chicago showing of “Potiche” from Music Box Films courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! Directions to enter...
“Potiche” also stars Jérémie Renier, Judith Godrèche, Karin Viard, Fabrice Luchini, Sergi López, Évelyne Dandry, Bruno Lochet, Elodie Frégé, Gautier About, Jean-Baptiste Shelmerdine, Noam Charlier, Martin De Myttenaere and Yannick Schmitz from writer and director François Ozon.
The film has been nominated for four Césars (France’s equivalent of the Oscars): best actress (Catherine Deneuve), best supporting actress (Karin Viard), best adapted screenplay (François Ozon) and best costume design. The film is also an official selection at the 2010 Venice Film Festival and the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
To win your free pass to a Chicago showing of “Potiche” from Music Box Films courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! Directions to enter...
- 4/17/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
François Ozon, one of France's most popular living filmmakers, is nothing if not prolific. Since breaking out in a big way with his first feature "Sitcom" in 1998, Ozon has released a film a year, displaying his versatility in style and his passion for strong leading ladies. Among the highlights: he worked with Charlotte Rampling in the ghost story "Under the Sand," paired her up with Ludivine Sagnier in the ...
- 3/24/2011
- Indiewire
François Ozon, one of France's most popular living filmmakers, is nothing if not prolific. Since breaking out in a big way with his first feature "Sitcom" in 1998, Ozon has released a film a year, displaying his versatility in style and his passion for strong leading ladies. Among the highlights: he worked with Charlotte Rampling in the ghost story "Under the Sand," paired her up with Ludivine Sagnier in the ...
- 3/24/2011
- indieWIRE - People
By Ali Naderzad - March 2, 2011
‘Comeback’ or ‘controversial’ are not words you would readily associate with French actress Catherine Deneuve. She’s never been terribly hip, thank God, and has been consistent in popping up on the big screen year in and year out. But her career did go through a period of slouching in the past decade, as Deneuve seemed to be lining up one uninspiring movie role after another. There were some courageous choices, such as “Je Veux Voir,” a documentary in which she travels to the parts of Southern Lebanon that were the hardest hit during the brief war of 2006--she is shown taking in the sights in various painfully quiet close-ups--and more conventional ones such such as Arnaud Desplechin’s “A christmas tale” (2008) in which Deneuve played a cancer-struck mother hosting her family during Christmas, tearful rivalries and all. Both films were shown in Cannes, as are most of Deneuve's films,...
‘Comeback’ or ‘controversial’ are not words you would readily associate with French actress Catherine Deneuve. She’s never been terribly hip, thank God, and has been consistent in popping up on the big screen year in and year out. But her career did go through a period of slouching in the past decade, as Deneuve seemed to be lining up one uninspiring movie role after another. There were some courageous choices, such as “Je Veux Voir,” a documentary in which she travels to the parts of Southern Lebanon that were the hardest hit during the brief war of 2006--she is shown taking in the sights in various painfully quiet close-ups--and more conventional ones such such as Arnaud Desplechin’s “A christmas tale” (2008) in which Deneuve played a cancer-struck mother hosting her family during Christmas, tearful rivalries and all. Both films were shown in Cannes, as are most of Deneuve's films,...
- 3/1/2011
- by Screen Comment
- Screen Comment
The expression, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," appears uppermost in the mind of François Ozon, whose previous efforts include "Swimming Pool," about the visit of a British mystery author to her publisher's home in the South of France leading to dynamics between her and his daughter, and "Under the Sand," in which a professor becomes deranged when she refuses to accept the disappearance of her husband. "Potiche," or "Trophy Wife," is lighter fare, more like Ozon's "8 Women"-one murdered man and eight women seeking the truth-in fact "Potiche" is too flippant for comfort. This is the kind of movie that might prompt its audience to wonder, "All this froth? Where's the beer?" Taking place during the l970s when feminism began to take a firm hold on Western societies, Ozon's film is designed more for fans of Catherine Deneuve than for those whose spirits...
- 2/24/2011
- Arizona Reporter
Watching his new film Hideaway, it’s hard to believe that director François Ozon was once considered an enfant terrible, a prolific young purveyor of sexually charged thrillers and dramas like Sea The Sea, Criminal Lovers, and Water Drops On Burning Rocks, or garish experiments like Sitcom. Ozon’s insinuating 2000 character piece Under The Sand signaled a new maturity, affirmed by intelligent but forgettable films like 5 x 2 and Time To Leave, but who’s looking for an enfant terrible to mature? (It should be noted that 2007’s Angel, his inspired goof on David O. Selznick ...
- 9/9/2010
- avclub.com
French actor famed for his long-running role as Simenon's Maigret
Georges Simenon described his creation Jules Maigret, the gruff, pipe-smoking, Parisian police inspector, thus: "His build was plebeian. He was enormous and bony. Hard muscles stood out beneath his jacket… Above all, he had his very own way of planting himself in a spot… He was a solid block and everything had to break against it." Simenon could have been describing the French actor Bruno Crémer, who has died of cancer aged 80. Crémer, who played Maigret on French television in 54 episodes over 14 years (from 1991 to 2005), had hard acts to follow in Pierre Renoir, Jean Gabin and Jean Richard in France, but the role fitted him as perfectly as the hat and heavy overcoat he wore most of the time.
Maigret was the hero of 75 novels, 28 short stories, many films and endless TV series in numerous languages, including Japanese. In the two British series,...
Georges Simenon described his creation Jules Maigret, the gruff, pipe-smoking, Parisian police inspector, thus: "His build was plebeian. He was enormous and bony. Hard muscles stood out beneath his jacket… Above all, he had his very own way of planting himself in a spot… He was a solid block and everything had to break against it." Simenon could have been describing the French actor Bruno Crémer, who has died of cancer aged 80. Crémer, who played Maigret on French television in 54 episodes over 14 years (from 1991 to 2005), had hard acts to follow in Pierre Renoir, Jean Gabin and Jean Richard in France, but the role fitted him as perfectly as the hat and heavy overcoat he wore most of the time.
Maigret was the hero of 75 novels, 28 short stories, many films and endless TV series in numerous languages, including Japanese. In the two British series,...
- 8/25/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
François Ozon's latest film is an an incomplete pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless, says Cath Clarke
Like Michael Winterbottom, the French director François Ozon doesn't half rattle through them. His two most recent films were adventurous oddities: the campily kitsch Angel, and Ricky, a drama about a baby who grows wings (though it didn't see the light of day in UK cinemas). With Le Refuge, he returns to the fluent intimacy of earlier films such as Under the Sand and 5x2. Here, Isabelle Carré plays a heroin addict, Mousse, who accidentally overdoses with her rich boyfriend (Melvil Poupaud) in his Paris flat. He dies and she wakes up in hospital to find out that she is pregnant. Six or seven months into her pregnancy, Mousse is living in a borrowed house by the sea, evened out by methadone. Her boyfriend's gay brother (Louis-Ronan Choisy) shows up, a big, beautiful boy with a sunny nature.
Like Michael Winterbottom, the French director François Ozon doesn't half rattle through them. His two most recent films were adventurous oddities: the campily kitsch Angel, and Ricky, a drama about a baby who grows wings (though it didn't see the light of day in UK cinemas). With Le Refuge, he returns to the fluent intimacy of earlier films such as Under the Sand and 5x2. Here, Isabelle Carré plays a heroin addict, Mousse, who accidentally overdoses with her rich boyfriend (Melvil Poupaud) in his Paris flat. He dies and she wakes up in hospital to find out that she is pregnant. Six or seven months into her pregnancy, Mousse is living in a borrowed house by the sea, evened out by methadone. Her boyfriend's gay brother (Louis-Ronan Choisy) shows up, a big, beautiful boy with a sunny nature.
- 8/12/2010
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
Like so many of François Ozon's films, Le Refuge (The Refuge) is a deceptively simple tale, slowly paced with subtle, unshowy direction. Mousse (Isabelle Carré) and Louis (Melvin Poupaud) are a wealthy couple, in love, but addicted to heroin. When Louis suddenly dies of an overdose, Mousse finds herself alone and unexpectedly pregnant with his child. Rejected by his disapproving parents, Mousse takes refuge in a country house owned by a blind ex-lover she met in her teens (yes, I know). Leading an isolated life, she grieves alone and takes solace in the peace, until the arrival of Louis's gay brother Paul (Louis-Ronan Choisy) complicates her calm existence.
It's quickly clear that Ozon isn't concerned with the intricacies of drug addiction in the manner of Trainspotting or its ilk. Avoiding the stereotypes, Ozon shows us a very human, very normal, educated couple who have for whatever reason fallen into habitual drug use.
It's quickly clear that Ozon isn't concerned with the intricacies of drug addiction in the manner of Trainspotting or its ilk. Avoiding the stereotypes, Ozon shows us a very human, very normal, educated couple who have for whatever reason fallen into habitual drug use.
- 8/6/2010
- Screen Anarchy
May 21, 2010
He may be still relatively unknown to American audiences, but Francois Ozon is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today, always delivering something worth talking about even if not all of his films come together. If you consider yourself an aficionado of French film in any way and have yet to see Under the Sand, 8 Women, or Swimming Pool, get thee to a Netlfix queue as quickly as possible and catch up on this intriguing writer/director. Sadly, Ozon’s work has suffered a bit in recent years as the ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
He may be still relatively unknown to American audiences, but Francois Ozon is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today, always delivering something worth talking about even if not all of his films come together. If you consider yourself an aficionado of French film in any way and have yet to see Under the Sand, 8 Women, or Swimming Pool, get thee to a Netlfix queue as quickly as possible and catch up on this intriguing writer/director. Sadly, Ozon’s work has suffered a bit in recent years as the ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...
- 5/21/2010
- CinemaNerdz
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2009 Nebula Awards.
The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of Sfwa. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet the evening of May 15 at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, just 20 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Other awards to be presented are the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults, the Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.
Congratulations to all the nominees.
Short Story
“Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed (Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Press, Jul09)“I Remember the Future,” Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future, Apex Press, Nov08)“Non-Zero Probabilities,” N. K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld, Nov09)“Spar,” Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, Oct09)“Going Deep,” James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction,...
The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of Sfwa. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet the evening of May 15 at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, just 20 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Other awards to be presented are the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults, the Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.
Congratulations to all the nominees.
Short Story
“Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed (Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Press, Jul09)“I Remember the Future,” Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future, Apex Press, Nov08)“Non-Zero Probabilities,” N. K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld, Nov09)“Spar,” Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, Oct09)“Going Deep,” James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction,...
- 2/19/2010
- by Glenn Hauman
- Comicmix.com
This list has more repeat offenders than the male list yesterday. Please give these 45 talented women one last round of applause before we take a break from the decade stuff to embark on the 2009 awards. As with the male list, I didn't include any 2009 performances (let the year settle first) though there is at least one that would obviously (x 50) be here if I did...
"And it's time my luck changed. And it's time something went right for me!"
-"Julia" makes a plea for a surprise Tilda Swinton nomination this year.
Please Note: This list should not be mistaken for an updated 'Actresses of the Aughts' chart. [editors note: I may attempt to return to that massive project in a definitive way after this year's Oscar race is complete]. How you feel about someone's entire career can be markedly different than how you feel about individual turns and an actress whose skill you may admire might not hit you as hard emotionally as she hits others. Then there are actresses I...
"And it's time my luck changed. And it's time something went right for me!"
-"Julia" makes a plea for a surprise Tilda Swinton nomination this year.
Please Note: This list should not be mistaken for an updated 'Actresses of the Aughts' chart. [editors note: I may attempt to return to that massive project in a definitive way after this year's Oscar race is complete]. How you feel about someone's entire career can be markedly different than how you feel about individual turns and an actress whose skill you may admire might not hit you as hard emotionally as she hits others. Then there are actresses I...
- 1/5/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Frenchwomen in films are just like you and me, except they go a bit further in their failure to grasp reality and masochistic self-loathing, says Anne Billson
In Séraphine, Yolande Moreau gives one of those great female performances more often to be found in French films than in British or American ones. This is not an anorexic Barbie doll with a no-nudity clause in her contract, whose facial expressiveness has been Botoxed out of existence. This is the real deal, a stonking, physical tour de force which makes even De Niro or Keitel's greatest hits look mannered and actorly.
Martin Provost's film was inspired by the life of the "primitive modernist" painter Séraphine de Senlis, whose story carries echoes of the Susan Boyle phenomenon, though let us hope Boyle doesn't end up like Séraphine, who from the outset is clearly a few sandwiches short, but ends up misplacing her entire picnic.
In Séraphine, Yolande Moreau gives one of those great female performances more often to be found in French films than in British or American ones. This is not an anorexic Barbie doll with a no-nudity clause in her contract, whose facial expressiveness has been Botoxed out of existence. This is the real deal, a stonking, physical tour de force which makes even De Niro or Keitel's greatest hits look mannered and actorly.
Martin Provost's film was inspired by the life of the "primitive modernist" painter Séraphine de Senlis, whose story carries echoes of the Susan Boyle phenomenon, though let us hope Boyle doesn't end up like Séraphine, who from the outset is clearly a few sandwiches short, but ends up misplacing her entire picnic.
- 11/26/2009
- by Anne Billson
- The Guardian - Film News
Films on the cutting edge. That's how I would describe the 50 movies on this list. While some moviegoers may find it an 'alien' experience to refer to sub-titles in understanding what's happening on the big screen, a good number of audiences are totally enjoying the different and often surprising take by many foreign filmmakers, nothwithstanding the language barrier.
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
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André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
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André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
- 9/2/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
Films on the cutting edge. That's how I would describe the 50 movies on this list. While some moviegoers may find it an 'alien' experience to refer to sub-titles in understanding what's happening on the big screen, a good number of audiences are totally enjoying the different and often surprising take by many foreign filmmakers, nothwithstanding the language barrier.
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
- 9/2/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
Films on the cutting edge. That's how I would describe the 50 movies on this list. While some moviegoers may find it an 'alien' experience to refer to sub-titles in understanding what's happening on the big screen, a good number of audiences are totally enjoying the different and often surprising take by many foreign filmmakers, nothwithstanding the language barrier.
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
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André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
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- - -
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
- 9/2/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
When I first saw the trailer for Francois Ozon’s latest film I laughed out loud at the seemingly preposterous premise. An ordinary couple have a baby that sprouts wings and flies around their living room – and seemingly this was meant to be a serious drama. As with his previous films such as Swimming Pool and Under The Sand, however, things are never so clear cut and the lines between fantasy and reality in Ricky quickly become blurred, both for Ozon’s characters and his audience.
- 6/28/2009
- by James Marsh
- Screen Anarchy
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