Good Morning, World

Happy Monday! Or... is it? This post is actually coming to you from the past -- hopefully I don't die this weekend, because that'd be awkward. I'm writing this on Friday (right after I wrote this post that explained I'm going to be very busy this week because of the fall film fests kicking off in NYC) because I knew then that I wasn't going to be here at my desk blogging Monday morning -- I've got a screening. So hopefully it's still a screening and I'm not dead, but I don't take anything for granted in 2025. Anyway I should be back to my desk this afternoon (if not dead) and we'll pick this up there. For now enjoy that photo of Arnaud Valois that he shared on Friday, which is right now for me and the past for you. Time is a fuckin' flat circle, yo. 

Good Morning, World

French actor Arnaud Valois has been feeding us lately (see also Friday's post) and given I'm aa glutton for gratuity I'm eating every drop! Gobble gobble gobble et cetera. Over the weekend he shared a few photos of himself at the Deauville Film Fest in France and rewarded those of us not there on his arm with a few choice morsels. Hit the jump to you know, eat some breakfast...

Good Morning, World

Very kind and generous of French actor Arnaud Valois 

to offer us this stiff wake-up call. (click to embiggen, via)

Good Morning, World

Imagine having this view of Arnaud Valois every morning.

Mon dieu! Good morning indeed. (via)

I Quit Smoking 17 Years Ago Today

I keep doing these posts every May 5th -- marking the anniversary of when I quit smoking cigarettes back in 2008 with a constantly ballooning collection of photos and gifs of actors and the like smoking their sexy asses off -- even though, well, it's been 17 years yo! What else do I have to say about any of this? I haven't missed a cigarette since then -- that Chantix shit I took really did its job and then some. But then the fact hasn't changed that whenever I see an image like this...

... I swoon. It just looks cool. I can't help the rules. I'm not saying it's good -- people love violent action movies because people look cool killing people too. It just is what it is and I'm not out to rewire the human brain. I'm just here to lay the horn on the pleasure receptors as we all sink into the abyss. So come with me into this sexy smoky netherworld of seventeen smoke-free years after the jump...

Arnaud Valois Thirteen Times

I can't say for sure if this'll be every photo of actor Arnaud Valois in the new issue of Behind the Blinds magazine because they haven't actually posted the photoshoot on their site yet -- I've gathered these up over the past week from a few different Instagram accounts. Because I do the work! But it's a nice big batch anyway and since I'm carrying a big mean case of the Mondays right now I figured why not drop some sunshine and lollipops onto us? 

I've been enamored with this gallic stunner since he starred in the great B.P.M. -- and now that I mention it a re-watch of the great B.P.M. suddenly feels timely as fuck. A movie about righteously antagonizing the ruthless powers that be? Sign me up. I could use the booster shot. Anyway until I manage to slip myself at least marginally outta this funk (ha good luck with that) let's just enjoy these photos of the inspirational Arnaud after the jump...

Arnaud Valois Five Times

Even if actor Arnaud Valois isn't in any of the movies that screening at the "Rendez-Vous with French Cinema" series happening through this weekend at Film at Lincoln Center here in NYC (see my previous post here) I feel fine posting this new photoshoot of him (via) in lieu of one of an actor in one of their films because... well just because. The stache! The curls! The bedroom eyes! How could one resist? He's French so the point has been made. French cinema, huzzah! Now hit the jump for the rest... 

Good Morning, World

I am waiting for my man and his name is Arnaud Valois! 

Good goddamn Arnaud what you doing to us??? (via)

Good Morning, World

French actor Arnaud Valois was kind enough to throw a sack over our head and take us on vacation with him this weekend (well via his Insta anyway) -- any guesses where he is via the photos? He didn't label the location. It looks like Palm Springs to me but I say that as a person who's never been to Palm Springs, so WTF do I know? (Don't answer that.) I suppose it could actually be somewhere in France. They have palm trees in France right? (No I have never been to France either.) (Well I've been in the Paris airport, but that doesn't count.) Anyway. Hello. Happy Monday. 

Arnaud Valois Six Times

Always extremely happy when I can share a new photoshoot of my French boyfriend Arnaud Valois of BPM fame -- okay okay one of my many, many French boyfriends -- and this one is very fine! Via his Insta for a magazine called French Magazine apparently -- how literal! -- these go along with his turn playing Yves Saint Laurent in that Becoming Karl Lagerfeld miniseries that I somehow still haven't found the time to watch even though it also stars Daniel Brühl and Théodore Pellerin. I don't know! Have any of you watched it? Anyway you can hit the jump for the photos...

Arnaud Valois Sixteen Times

The ever-reliable folks at Behind the Blinds magazine coming through again with a sexy photo-shoot of one of our under-loved faves -- this time it's French actor Arnaud Valois, last seen romancing a sad-eyed Dan Levy in Good Grief and currently seen in the Karl Lagerfeld miniseries Becoming Karl Lagerfeld alongside MNPP faves Daniel Brühl and Théodore Pellerin...

...  and how in the hell have I not watched this series yet? I gotta push it on up the list. Are any of you more on it and already watching it? Anyway we've loved Arnaud since the masterpiece B.P.M. and we're happy he keeps getting work we wanna watch. Read the chat over at their website here, or just hit the jump for all of these hella fine photos...

Arnaud Valois Eight Times

We do love us some Arnaud Valois, French actor and star of the masterpiece B.P.M., most recently seen in Dan Levy's grief-com Good Grief. And we're happy to share (via) this new photoshoot of him looking typically mighty fine, taken by Laurent Humbert for À PART magazine. Hit the jump for them all...

Good Morning, World

A happy 40 today to the lovely and talented French actor Arnaud Valois, who I first saw in the modern gay classic B.P.M. in 2017 and who I last saw in the not-so-classic but still very gay grief-comedy Good Grief from Dan Levy (I reviewed the latter right here). Arnaud was fine in that, he wasn't the film's issue, except that his role was weirdly written and kind of insubstantial. But it was good to see him, and good-er still to pretend I was the one who he was sneaking into a Parisian museum after hours. Anyway... 

... Arnaud is indeed a "leapling" meaning he was born on February 29th, a day which only exists once every four years -- does anyone actually know somebody born on February 29th? I've always wondered how they celebrate the other three years out of the four. I mean obviously not enough to google it and find out, but generally, when the thought occurs to me, like it is right now, I have wondered. All of that said -- I have no clue what movie or series these images of Arnaud are from -- I googled him (this much I can google) and they came up on that standard bearer of foot fetishism on the internet WikiFeet haha. These photos are pretty gratuitous in that respect though! So if you know what they're from help our foot fetishist friends out and share the info, please and thank you.

ETA thanks to commenter Pablo for the info! These are from 

a Casey Spooner video, which makes So Much Sense. Watch:

Nice To Grief You

If you'd like to hear my thoughts on Dan Levy's directorial debut Good Grief click on over to Pajiba, where that went up over the weekend, as did Levy's film onto Netflix. It's fine! And yes that's French hot-stuff Arnaud Valois there beside Levy -- he and Luke Evans play love interests for him, which is also pretty much what I would do if I was casting my love interests. Good on ya, Dan.

French Boys & The Movies That Love Them

The line-up for one of my favorite yearly fests has arrived today -- the "Rendez-Vous With French Cinema" festival at Film at Lincoln Center arrives for ten straight days of Gallic bliss in March, the 4th through the 14th, and it's an astonishingly sexy line-up of 18 movies this year (not that we'd expect any less from the French), starting from the top down with the legendary sexpot Emmanuelle Béart as the fest's Guest of Honor. For one they'll be screening Francois Ozon's sweaty and super-gay Summer of 85 (which I reviewed for NewFest last fall right here), which just got nominated for a heap of César awards (aka France's Oscars). But more than ever I felt like looking through this year's line-up there's an absolutely stunning French actor in every single one, so let's pick our picks, that way!

Vincent Lacoste in Faithful -- Lacoste first popped onto our radar with Christophe Honore's heartbreaking 2018 romance Sorry Angel, which has already become one of our all-time favorite gay films at this point. And Faithful has him (and his mustache!) starring opposite another fave, Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps! He plays an imprisoned Communist revolutionary in the 1950s; she's his wife who refuses to abandon him. 

Rabah Naït Oufella in Ibrahim -- Oufella caught our eye thanks to two totally terrific movies, Bertrand Bonello's "teens take over a shopping mall" movie Nocturama and the cannibal flick Raw -- see a nice little gallery of him right here. In Ibrahim he plays the bad-influence best-friend to the titular character (played by Abdel Bendaher, above right), a teenager trying to do good; Rabah drags him into an ill-planned robbery attempt. It played Cannes last year.

Arnaud Valois in Lifelines and Spring Blossom -- The BPM beauty has a pair of features at the fest this year; his role in Lifelines;(which is about a woman obsessed with a found diary) is described as "an intriguing supporting role" but Blossom sounds Valois-centric, with him romancing actress / director Suzanne Lindon.

Niels Schneider in Love Affair -- Niels is best known for being the doe-eyed love-interest in a couple of Xavier Dolan movies back in the day, but he's worked plenty since then -- he was just in the ace Sibyl last year. And he's nominated for Best Actor at the Césars for this movie here -- it's also nominated for Best Film, Best Director, and all the other acting categories, so I think it's one to pay attention to! It's about cousin lovers!

Pierre Niney in Lovers -- The endearingly gawky Niney was delivered unto these shores via Ozon's 2016 film Frantz and immediately became a fave -- this one's a noir-tinged love triangle also starring the terrific Stacy Martin (from Nymphomaniac and Vox Lux) and...

... our boy Benoît  Magimel from The Piano Teacher! Yes this one's a two-fer -- two hot French actors for the price of one. Plus it's a thriller -- obviously this one is high on my Must Watch Immediately list. Although I will surely be let down and the two guys will fight over the girl with nary a whiff of sexual tension between the two of them, sigh. Tis my cruel fate.

Grégoire Ludig in Mandibles -- Previously seen by me rocking one hell of a stache in Quentin Dupieux's super fun 2018 flick Keep an Eye Out! (which I reviewed out of this exact same fest in 2019 right here) this movie has Ludig re-teaming with confirmed nutter Dupieux for a movie about two doofus low-lifes who find a scooter-sized housefly in the trunk of their stolen car, and train it to do crime. I don't think I've disliked a Dupieux flick yet? I am so on his wacky wavelength and this one is apparently one of his best.

Vincent Dedienne in Margaux Hartmann -- I actually don't think I know Dedienne from anything previous (nothing jumps off his IMDb page) but a quick google set me to attention; this is the flick that the fest's Guest of Honor Emmanuelle Béart stars in, and has her playing an older woman who's grieving her dead husband who goes back to school and makes new friends, with sexy results. I feel like you could add "with sexy results" to the description of any French film -- "Two low-lifes discover a gigantic housefly... with sexy results." Okay maybe not every French film. Anyway Dedienne is hella cute right?

Jérémie Renier in Slalom -- I have already posted about this movie! The shots of our beloved Renier doing his thing in this film (and by "his thing" I mean "getting naked" of course) made their way onto the internet back in October of last year, and obviously, just as we would with Jérémie, we jumped right on it. This movie has the legendary Belgian slash blond sexpot playing the creepy ski coach to a teen girl... and yes, "with sexy results" applies, although obviously that comes with several dozen asterisks given the subject matter.

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Phew! What a bunch, huh? "Rendez-Vous with French Cinema" runs on FLC's virtual platform from March 4th through 14th; tickets go on sale on February 19th (or earlier on Feb. 12th for FLC Members). You should have little fear that you won't hear more from me on this series, as I love covering it every year, so stay tuned. I'll throw their whole press release, with word on every single one of the films screening, right here after the jump...

Good Evening, Gratuitous Arnaud Valois

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I don't know why last year's other gay masterpiece B.P.M. just popped into my head, besides it being a gay masterpiece and it oughta of course, but I'm glad it did because it made me realize I hadn't looked up its star Arnaud Valois lately, and when I did I found he'd shot a few photo-shoots since the last time that're worth...

... a moment of our day. Arnaud has a couple of projects lined up - he is in a movie with Emma Roberts and Awkwafina and Jeremy Irvine called Paradise Hills that sounds weird, even beside that cast. And he is in something called Mon bébé from the director of LOL (both the French version and the remake with Miley Cyrus). He should be in more, I think! Hit the jump for a couple dozen more shots which show the superficial reasons why...

Arnaud Valois Seven Times

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Hey look I am doing a post about a gay movie not called Call Me By Your Name, do I get a cookie? (Ha ha I still managed to make this about CMBYN, joke's on you.) Thank goodness we live in a world with room for Call Me By Your Name and God's Own Country and Beach Rats and Moonlight and A Fantastic Woman and Princess Cyd and indeed also the tremendous BPM, which Arnaud here starred in, despite what the silly ol' awards nominations tell us - all of these movies still exist and are tremendous accomplishments even if they don't win awards for it. What a magical wonderful world full of great art we inhabit. Hit the jump for more Arnaud...

Arnaud Valois One TIme

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Have you guys seen BPM yet? See BPM!

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Trying Not To Title This Post "Beats It"

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I used the better pun title last Friday when I posted the trailer for BPM (Beats Per Minutes) - now I am running out of wordplay and as tempting as it is to lean into "jerking off" jokes I'm... just not gonna this time around. Anyway my point is I just reviewed BPM over at The Film Experience this afternoon so go check it out. The movie's really pretty excellent and moving.

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The Beats That My Heart Skipped

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I haven't had the chance to actually review BPM (Beats Per Minute) - France's powerful submission for the Oscars this year, a very good movie about the ACT UP movement in 1980s and 90s Paris -  yet but I figured what with it having now publicly screened at NYFF and with its upcoming screening at Metrograph next week (Tuesday night and you can still buy tickets!) I should go ahead and share its just dropped trailer since it is very much of interest to any and all of you people. Here ya go:

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If you're not in NYC to see it on Tuesday it's out in limited release on October 20th and it will surely spread from there. Okay saying a movie about AIDS will spread is maybe not the greatest choice of words. Infecting a town near you soon! A little gallows humor for y'all. See our previous posts on the movie here and here.

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