Dear Prudence (Belle épine) is a new French flick about the dark side of underground teen street-bike racing in Paris. !
Rebecca Zlotowski wrote and directed this strange little movie known as Belle épine in its native tongue and Dear Prudence for all the Americans. It's going to screen later this month at the 2010 Vancouver Film Festival and stars Léa Seydoux, Anaïs Demoustier, Agathe Schlencker, Johan Libéreau, Guillaume Gouix, Anna Sigalevitch, Michaël Abiteboul, and Marie Matheron
Paris in the 1980s. 17-year-old Prudence Friedmann (the gifted Léa Seydoux) has just lost her mother. Left to her own devices in the family apartment, she enjoys this sudden freedom along with her new friend Marilyne. They both start frequenting the dangerous illegal racing track at Rungis, where big-engined cars and souped-up motorbikes drive around chaotically.
In any case, there isn't a freakin' real trailer up for this, just a clip, of the lead character...
Rebecca Zlotowski wrote and directed this strange little movie known as Belle épine in its native tongue and Dear Prudence for all the Americans. It's going to screen later this month at the 2010 Vancouver Film Festival and stars Léa Seydoux, Anaïs Demoustier, Agathe Schlencker, Johan Libéreau, Guillaume Gouix, Anna Sigalevitch, Michaël Abiteboul, and Marie Matheron
Paris in the 1980s. 17-year-old Prudence Friedmann (the gifted Léa Seydoux) has just lost her mother. Left to her own devices in the family apartment, she enjoys this sudden freedom along with her new friend Marilyne. They both start frequenting the dangerous illegal racing track at Rungis, where big-engined cars and souped-up motorbikes drive around chaotically.
In any case, there isn't a freakin' real trailer up for this, just a clip, of the lead character...
- 9/12/2010
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
They Call It Spring (On Appelle ca le Printemps)
Herve Le Roux's "They Call It Spring" (On Appelle ca le Printemps) attempts to be an update of a French Enlightenment comedy, reworking the theme of love's inevitability for a modern Parisian setting. For a while, it floats along with a fresh, quirky cheerfulness as it follows three middle-aged women who have shed the men in their lives. But Le Roux, a former Cahiers du Cinema critic, loses his way in the last half-hour, taking extended detours into territories hostile to his initial, gently comic vision.
The movie, which had its U.S. debut at the San Francisco International Film Festival, has no domestic distributor as yet. Its novel take on the midlife crises of women could have boxoffice potential on the art house circuit. But Le Roux and screenwriter Renee Falson's eccentric bypathsultimately render the film directionless.
The film begins with three male singers costumed in frilly, 18th century court dress. Their waggish lyrics feature lines like "Be prepared to swoon/All noise leads to tune." The song ends with the performers barking, meowing and braying to the music. The men, it turns out, are contemporary Parisians, rehearsing a stage revue. (Their rehearsals crop up throughout the film, and the end credits roll over yet another song.)
Joss (Marie Matheron), wife to one of the vocalists (Pierre Berriau), is abandoning him for her female lover. On the way, she receives a call from her friend Fanfan (Maryse Cupaiolo), whose boyfriend (Antoine Choppey) is busy tossing her belongings out the window. After Fanfan rescues her property -- which includes a large catfish -- she and Joss flee to Joss' lover, only to discover her with another woman.
Fanfan's sister Manu (Marilyne Canto) provides refuge, but she's juggling two men on her own: her live-in lover Mytch (Michel Bompoil) and the comfortable, undemanding Jean (Laszlo Szabo). Mytch discovers the affair, and soon everyone's out on the street.
It's often fun to see the film break from convention and watch grown women behave like irresponsible adolescents rather than remaining the voices of mature sobriety while their men screw up. The women plot revenge and seek new, more satisfying entanglements, but they're also surprisingly content in their new lives of limbo.
As this comic minuet progresses, though, Le Roux and Falson seem to run out of ideas, adding several sequences of protracted filler. There's a lovely montage in which the three women spirit Joss' daughter away for a day, and the women dance and skip like enchantresses with their freshly snatched changeling. But the scene is out of step with the rest of the movie, seemingly from another film.
Le Roux also adds an irritatingly endless sequence of slapstick when the women have to hide from the wife of a man who's sheltering them. And a long costume ball finale lacks humor and surprise, not accomplishing much for the amount of time it takes.
THEY CALL IT SPRING
Agat Films et Cie
Credits:
Producer: Gilles Sandoz
Director: Herve Le Roux
Screenwriter: Renee Falson
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Production designer: Patrick Durand
Music supervisor: Pierre Allio
Costume designer: Corinne le Flem
Editor: Nadine Tarbouriech. Cast: Paul: Pierre Berriau
Joss: Marie Matheron
Lise: Margaux Hocquard
Fanfan: Maryse Cupaiolo
Charles: Antoine Chappey
Manu: Marilyne Canto
Jean: Laszlo Szabo
Mytch: Michel Bompoil
Claude: Bernard Ballet
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 103 minutes...
The movie, which had its U.S. debut at the San Francisco International Film Festival, has no domestic distributor as yet. Its novel take on the midlife crises of women could have boxoffice potential on the art house circuit. But Le Roux and screenwriter Renee Falson's eccentric bypathsultimately render the film directionless.
The film begins with three male singers costumed in frilly, 18th century court dress. Their waggish lyrics feature lines like "Be prepared to swoon/All noise leads to tune." The song ends with the performers barking, meowing and braying to the music. The men, it turns out, are contemporary Parisians, rehearsing a stage revue. (Their rehearsals crop up throughout the film, and the end credits roll over yet another song.)
Joss (Marie Matheron), wife to one of the vocalists (Pierre Berriau), is abandoning him for her female lover. On the way, she receives a call from her friend Fanfan (Maryse Cupaiolo), whose boyfriend (Antoine Choppey) is busy tossing her belongings out the window. After Fanfan rescues her property -- which includes a large catfish -- she and Joss flee to Joss' lover, only to discover her with another woman.
Fanfan's sister Manu (Marilyne Canto) provides refuge, but she's juggling two men on her own: her live-in lover Mytch (Michel Bompoil) and the comfortable, undemanding Jean (Laszlo Szabo). Mytch discovers the affair, and soon everyone's out on the street.
It's often fun to see the film break from convention and watch grown women behave like irresponsible adolescents rather than remaining the voices of mature sobriety while their men screw up. The women plot revenge and seek new, more satisfying entanglements, but they're also surprisingly content in their new lives of limbo.
As this comic minuet progresses, though, Le Roux and Falson seem to run out of ideas, adding several sequences of protracted filler. There's a lovely montage in which the three women spirit Joss' daughter away for a day, and the women dance and skip like enchantresses with their freshly snatched changeling. But the scene is out of step with the rest of the movie, seemingly from another film.
Le Roux also adds an irritatingly endless sequence of slapstick when the women have to hide from the wife of a man who's sheltering them. And a long costume ball finale lacks humor and surprise, not accomplishing much for the amount of time it takes.
THEY CALL IT SPRING
Agat Films et Cie
Credits:
Producer: Gilles Sandoz
Director: Herve Le Roux
Screenwriter: Renee Falson
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Production designer: Patrick Durand
Music supervisor: Pierre Allio
Costume designer: Corinne le Flem
Editor: Nadine Tarbouriech. Cast: Paul: Pierre Berriau
Joss: Marie Matheron
Lise: Margaux Hocquard
Fanfan: Maryse Cupaiolo
Charles: Antoine Chappey
Manu: Marilyne Canto
Jean: Laszlo Szabo
Mytch: Michel Bompoil
Claude: Bernard Ballet
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 103 minutes...
- 7/8/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
They Call It Spring (On Appelle ca le Printemps)
Herve Le Roux's "They Call It Spring" (On Appelle ca le Printemps) attempts to be an update of a French Enlightenment comedy, reworking the theme of love's inevitability for a modern Parisian setting. For a while, it floats along with a fresh, quirky cheerfulness as it follows three middle-aged women who have shed the men in their lives. But Le Roux, a former Cahiers du Cinema critic, loses his way in the last half-hour, taking extended detours into territories hostile to his initial, gently comic vision.
The movie, which had its U.S. debut at the San Francisco International Film Festival, has no domestic distributor as yet. Its novel take on the midlife crises of women could have boxoffice potential on the art house circuit. But Le Roux and screenwriter Renee Falson's eccentric bypathsultimately render the film directionless.
The film begins with three male singers costumed in frilly, 18th century court dress. Their waggish lyrics feature lines like "Be prepared to swoon/All noise leads to tune." The song ends with the performers barking, meowing and braying to the music. The men, it turns out, are contemporary Parisians, rehearsing a stage revue. (Their rehearsals crop up throughout the film, and the end credits roll over yet another song.)
Joss (Marie Matheron), wife to one of the vocalists (Pierre Berriau), is abandoning him for her female lover. On the way, she receives a call from her friend Fanfan (Maryse Cupaiolo), whose boyfriend (Antoine Choppey) is busy tossing her belongings out the window. After Fanfan rescues her property -- which includes a large catfish -- she and Joss flee to Joss' lover, only to discover her with another woman.
Fanfan's sister Manu (Marilyne Canto) provides refuge, but she's juggling two men on her own: her live-in lover Mytch (Michel Bompoil) and the comfortable, undemanding Jean (Laszlo Szabo). Mytch discovers the affair, and soon everyone's out on the street.
It's often fun to see the film break from convention and watch grown women behave like irresponsible adolescents rather than remaining the voices of mature sobriety while their men screw up. The women plot revenge and seek new, more satisfying entanglements, but they're also surprisingly content in their new lives of limbo.
As this comic minuet progresses, though, Le Roux and Falson seem to run out of ideas, adding several sequences of protracted filler. There's a lovely montage in which the three women spirit Joss' daughter away for a day, and the women dance and skip like enchantresses with their freshly snatched changeling. But the scene is out of step with the rest of the movie, seemingly from another film.
Le Roux also adds an irritatingly endless sequence of slapstick when the women have to hide from the wife of a man who's sheltering them. And a long costume ball finale lacks humor and surprise, not accomplishing much for the amount of time it takes.
THEY CALL IT SPRING
Agat Films et Cie
Credits:
Producer: Gilles Sandoz
Director: Herve Le Roux
Screenwriter: Renee Falson
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Production designer: Patrick Durand
Music supervisor: Pierre Allio
Costume designer: Corinne le Flem
Editor: Nadine Tarbouriech. Cast: Paul: Pierre Berriau
Joss: Marie Matheron
Lise: Margaux Hocquard
Fanfan: Maryse Cupaiolo
Charles: Antoine Chappey
Manu: Marilyne Canto
Jean: Laszlo Szabo
Mytch: Michel Bompoil
Claude: Bernard Ballet
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 103 minutes...
The movie, which had its U.S. debut at the San Francisco International Film Festival, has no domestic distributor as yet. Its novel take on the midlife crises of women could have boxoffice potential on the art house circuit. But Le Roux and screenwriter Renee Falson's eccentric bypathsultimately render the film directionless.
The film begins with three male singers costumed in frilly, 18th century court dress. Their waggish lyrics feature lines like "Be prepared to swoon/All noise leads to tune." The song ends with the performers barking, meowing and braying to the music. The men, it turns out, are contemporary Parisians, rehearsing a stage revue. (Their rehearsals crop up throughout the film, and the end credits roll over yet another song.)
Joss (Marie Matheron), wife to one of the vocalists (Pierre Berriau), is abandoning him for her female lover. On the way, she receives a call from her friend Fanfan (Maryse Cupaiolo), whose boyfriend (Antoine Choppey) is busy tossing her belongings out the window. After Fanfan rescues her property -- which includes a large catfish -- she and Joss flee to Joss' lover, only to discover her with another woman.
Fanfan's sister Manu (Marilyne Canto) provides refuge, but she's juggling two men on her own: her live-in lover Mytch (Michel Bompoil) and the comfortable, undemanding Jean (Laszlo Szabo). Mytch discovers the affair, and soon everyone's out on the street.
It's often fun to see the film break from convention and watch grown women behave like irresponsible adolescents rather than remaining the voices of mature sobriety while their men screw up. The women plot revenge and seek new, more satisfying entanglements, but they're also surprisingly content in their new lives of limbo.
As this comic minuet progresses, though, Le Roux and Falson seem to run out of ideas, adding several sequences of protracted filler. There's a lovely montage in which the three women spirit Joss' daughter away for a day, and the women dance and skip like enchantresses with their freshly snatched changeling. But the scene is out of step with the rest of the movie, seemingly from another film.
Le Roux also adds an irritatingly endless sequence of slapstick when the women have to hide from the wife of a man who's sheltering them. And a long costume ball finale lacks humor and surprise, not accomplishing much for the amount of time it takes.
THEY CALL IT SPRING
Agat Films et Cie
Credits:
Producer: Gilles Sandoz
Director: Herve Le Roux
Screenwriter: Renee Falson
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Production designer: Patrick Durand
Music supervisor: Pierre Allio
Costume designer: Corinne le Flem
Editor: Nadine Tarbouriech. Cast: Paul: Pierre Berriau
Joss: Marie Matheron
Lise: Margaux Hocquard
Fanfan: Maryse Cupaiolo
Charles: Antoine Chappey
Manu: Marilyne Canto
Jean: Laszlo Szabo
Mytch: Michel Bompoil
Claude: Bernard Ballet
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 103 minutes...
- 4/23/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Western'
For a film headed south, Competition entry "Western" is misleadingly titled. A road movie with nowhere to go, it tests the viewer's endurance for a two-hour trek with two losers from Brittany, France. To be sure, there are a few laughs along the way, but they are spaced too far apart across the cinematic terrain to be worth the trip.
Directed and co-written by Manuel Poirier, the film stars Sergi Lopez as the womanizing Paco, an erstwhile shoe salesman who has to hit the pavement when the hobo Nino (Sacha Bourdo) steals Paco's car. Love-starved Nino steals the car to impress a woman to no avail, while Paco succeeds in picking up a woman when he loses his car. The woman dumps Paco when she discovers his predilection for prevarication. Such comedic twists and ironies come close to popping the clutch on this film, but "Western" never really picks up any speed.
Take, for example, the hilarious sequence in which woman-chaser Paco concocts a plan to find a woman for Nino, from whom most women run. Together, they create a questionnaire exclusively for women for the ostensible purpose of identifying the ideal man. It is all a ruse, of course, to identify the one woman in the village who would find the repulsive Nino attractive.
The door-to-door polling that follows is full of comic potential, as is the "climax" of the sequence when Nino is abandoned in bed by the woman who concludes that he is too good for her. Like an engine turning over, this montage suggests that the cinematic vehicle has much horsepower, but ultimately Poirer cannot jump- start this movie.
The signs of sexism that appear throughout "Western"'s landscape contribute to the lessening of the film's comic potential. In an awkward and unsuccessful scene, Nino accuses all women of superficiality for falling for the allegedly handsome Paco.
Lopez, however, is no leading man, and the tendency for virtually all attractive women in the film to fall for his charlatan charms does not simply defy credulity but suggests that all women are stupid, lovesick or both.
Besides its pace, "Western" is a trip with a few highlights. Poirier and co-writer Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet deserve some credit for a couple of moments of levity. Lopez and Bourdo deliver acceptable performances, as do the host of women they conquer along the way. Elisabeth Vitali and Marie Matheron are especially iridescent as the only two women who see the light when it comes to Paco.
Speaking of the light, "Western"'s lighting looks as if the sun failed to set during the shoot as every image seems overexposed. Perhaps this look is intentional or merely the psychological projection of a viewer who could not wait for the sun to set on this film.
WESTERN
In competition
Director Manuel Poirier
Producer Maurice Bernart
Screenwriters Manuel Poirier,
Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet
Exececutive producer Michel St. Jean
Director of photography Nara Keo Kosal
Production manager Malek Hamzaoui
Editor Yann Dedet
Sound Jean-Paul Bernard
Original music Bernardo Sandoval
Cast:
Paco Sergi Lopez
Nino Sacha Bourdo
Marinette Elisabeth Vitali
Natalie Marie Matheron
Baptiste Basile Siekoua
Running time -- 136 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Directed and co-written by Manuel Poirier, the film stars Sergi Lopez as the womanizing Paco, an erstwhile shoe salesman who has to hit the pavement when the hobo Nino (Sacha Bourdo) steals Paco's car. Love-starved Nino steals the car to impress a woman to no avail, while Paco succeeds in picking up a woman when he loses his car. The woman dumps Paco when she discovers his predilection for prevarication. Such comedic twists and ironies come close to popping the clutch on this film, but "Western" never really picks up any speed.
Take, for example, the hilarious sequence in which woman-chaser Paco concocts a plan to find a woman for Nino, from whom most women run. Together, they create a questionnaire exclusively for women for the ostensible purpose of identifying the ideal man. It is all a ruse, of course, to identify the one woman in the village who would find the repulsive Nino attractive.
The door-to-door polling that follows is full of comic potential, as is the "climax" of the sequence when Nino is abandoned in bed by the woman who concludes that he is too good for her. Like an engine turning over, this montage suggests that the cinematic vehicle has much horsepower, but ultimately Poirer cannot jump- start this movie.
The signs of sexism that appear throughout "Western"'s landscape contribute to the lessening of the film's comic potential. In an awkward and unsuccessful scene, Nino accuses all women of superficiality for falling for the allegedly handsome Paco.
Lopez, however, is no leading man, and the tendency for virtually all attractive women in the film to fall for his charlatan charms does not simply defy credulity but suggests that all women are stupid, lovesick or both.
Besides its pace, "Western" is a trip with a few highlights. Poirier and co-writer Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet deserve some credit for a couple of moments of levity. Lopez and Bourdo deliver acceptable performances, as do the host of women they conquer along the way. Elisabeth Vitali and Marie Matheron are especially iridescent as the only two women who see the light when it comes to Paco.
Speaking of the light, "Western"'s lighting looks as if the sun failed to set during the shoot as every image seems overexposed. Perhaps this look is intentional or merely the psychological projection of a viewer who could not wait for the sun to set on this film.
WESTERN
In competition
Director Manuel Poirier
Producer Maurice Bernart
Screenwriters Manuel Poirier,
Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet
Exececutive producer Michel St. Jean
Director of photography Nara Keo Kosal
Production manager Malek Hamzaoui
Editor Yann Dedet
Sound Jean-Paul Bernard
Original music Bernardo Sandoval
Cast:
Paco Sergi Lopez
Nino Sacha Bourdo
Marinette Elisabeth Vitali
Natalie Marie Matheron
Baptiste Basile Siekoua
Running time -- 136 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/12/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.