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Leverage: Redemption is an action crime drama series co-created by John Rogers and Chris Downey. The Freevee and later on Prime Video series is set a year after the death of Nathan Ford, and it follows his widow Sophie as she gathers his former crew to continue the work they were doing before. Leverage: Redemption stars Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, Aleyse Shannon, and Noah Wyle. So, if you loved the thrilling capers, intense drama, and entertaining characters in Leverage: Redemption, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Leverage Credit – TNT

Leverage is an action crime thriller series co-created by John Rogers and Chris Downey. The TNT series follows Nathan Ford, a former insurance investigator, leading a team consisting of a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a hitter to pull off impossible heists...

Lupin season 3 premiered on Netflix on Oct. 5, 2023, and since then, there haven't been many major updates to share about Omar Sy returning as Assane Diop in Lupin season 4. Everything looked promising, and then, Netflix went radio silent. Fans, like me, were just sitting here waiting, waiting, and waiting for the Lupin season 4 renewal.

Out of the blue on Monday, May 12, more than a year and a half after season 3 was released, Netflix announced Lupin season 4 is happening. I don't know what could have taken so long, but none of that matters anymore. It's time for Lupin season 4 to hit Netflix!

Netflix announced the news via a video featuring Sy.

In addition to the good news that Lupin season 4 is happening, Netflix also revealed that production on season 4 has already started in Paris, which is great news! It also means that we won't have to wait nearly as long to watch the new episodes on Netflix.

Lupin season 4 is now confirmed following the show's record-breaking streaming performance. Created by George Kay and François Uzan, the mystery thriller show premiered in 2021, introducing Omar Sy as Assane Diop, a professional thief who styles himself after fictional character Arsène Lupin. Lupin season 3 released on Netflix in October 2023, continuing the show's exceptional viewership performance, on top of earning positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, but it remained unclear whether season 4 would happen.

Deadline now reports that Lupin has scored a season 4 renewal, with filming on the new episodes now underway in Paris with Sy. Other cast members like Ludivine Sagnier, Shirine Boutella, Antoine Gouy, Soufiane Guerrab, Laïka Blanc-Francard, and Théo Christine are also confirmed to return. No story details for the new season were shared, but it will consist of eight episodes in total. Sy shared the following statement with Deadline about returning for season 4:

“I often say...

Filming is underway on ‘Lupin’ season 4 (Photo Credit: Netflix)

Filming is underway on season four of Lupin starring Omar Sy as gentleman thief Assane Diop. Netflix confirmed the series has been renewed and that production is already underway on the eight-episode new season.

“I often say that Lupin is an extraordinary plaything. I find great joy in it every time. Together with Netflix, Carrousel, and Gaumont, we’ve invested the time needed to raise our ambitions and deliver even more surprises and enjoyment, both for us and the audience. The fresh energy from Carrousel Studios aligns perfectly with this vision. I’m eager to share the new episodes with as many people as possible,” said Sy.

The series premiered in January 2021, followed by season two in June 2021 and season three in October 2023. The first three seasons remain in Netflix’s top 10 list of non-English productions.

Netflix didn’t release a...

Assane Diop won’t be bidding au revoir just yet. Netflix has officially announced that Lupin, a hit French mystery thriller series starring Omar Sy, will be returning for Part 4. In an announcement uploaded on YouTube, the streaming giant harks back to the first three seasons of Lupin with a series of photos from Parts 1 to 3, along with a picturesque backdrop that shows where some of the scenes were filmed. The video then jumps to Sy wearing his customary Stetson Belfast cap before it was ultimately revealed that production for the upcoming season has now commenced.

The newly released announcement video takes viewers back to the iconic locations of the first three seasons of Lupin, paired with an exciting update that production is now underway for the new season. Apart from Sy reprising his “suave gentleman thief” role, nothing much has been revealed yet about what Part 4 will entail. However,...

As you know, Netflix has had a series of successful series. And while most of them have been American productions, there are also some foreign productions that the fans thoroughly enjoyed.

Among these series is the French crime drama Lupin, whose first season aired in 2021. Since then, the series has aired a total of two seasons split into three parts (Season 1 was split into two parts), but there hasn’t been much news about the series since 2023.

And while fans have been worrying about the series’ future, we are happy to confirm that there is absolutely no reason for worrying, as the series is coming back for a fourth part very soon.

Related: David Fincher and Netflix Reportedly Clash Over Title of Squid Game American Spin-Off

As you probably know, Lupin was created by George Kay in collaboration with François Uzan. Marie Roussin, Florent Meyer and Tigran Rosine also participated...

Sacré bleu! It’s time to get your magnifying glass, follow the clues, and expect the unexpected because Omar Sy (Shadow Force, Jurassic World, Transformers: The Last Knight) is returning to Netflix as Assane Diop for Lupin Part 4, now in production in Paris! It’s been a hot minute since we followed Lupin into the unknown. Still, the gentleman thief is ready to take fans on a mysterious adventure through the streets of Paris, France. Bring your wits and suspicions, and prepare for clever misdirects, shady characters, and dastardly villains.

Inspired by the legendary Arsène Lupin, the Lupin saga has established itself as one of the most popular non-English productions in Netflix’s history. With its first three parts occupying the third, sixth, and tenth places in the historical rankings, the French series gathers a large and engaged audience on an international scale.

In today’s announcement teaser for Lupin...

We don’t have to say au revoir to Lupin, merci.

Part four of the hit series is already in production in Paris, Netflix said on Monday; it will consist of eight 45-minute episodes. Omar Sy is back as Assane Diop, “the gentleman thief who has captured the hearts of viewers in France and around the world,” as Netflix likes to tell us.

Lupin was created by George Kay in collaboration with François Uzan; Marie Roussin, Florent Meyer and Tigran Rosine also participated in the formation of the series, which is inspired by Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin character.

Rosine, Meyer, Mathilde Arnaud, Jean-Yves Arnaud and Pennda Ba are the series’ writers; Sy and Louis Leterrier are showrunners.

“I often say that Lupin is an extraordinary plaything. I find great joy in it every time,” Sy said in a statement. “Together with Netflix, Carrousel, and Gaumont, we’ve invested the...

The global phenomenon is making its grand return! Production of Part 4 of the hit series Lupin has just begun.

Omar Sy reprises his iconic role as Assane Diop, the gentleman thief who has captured the hearts of viewers in France and around the world in the Lupin series.

The Lupin series has established itself as one of the most popular non-English productions in Netflix’s history. With its first three parts occupying the third, sixth, and tenth places in the historical rankings, the French series gathers a large and engaged audience on an international scale.

Inspired by the legendary Arsène Lupin, the Lupin saga constantly surprises with its plot twists and captivating characters, all set against the enchanting backdrop of Paris.

“I often say that Lupin is an extraordinary plaything. I find great joy in it every time. Together with Netflix, Carrousel, and Gaumont, we’ve invested the time needed...

Lupin is coming back: Eighteen months after the release of Part 3, Netflix has confirmed that the Omar Sy thriller has been renewed for Part 4, which will consist of eight episodes.

“I often say that Lupin is an extraordinary plaything. I find great joy in it every time,” Sy said in a statement Monday. “Together with Netflix, Carrousel and Gaumont, we’ve invested the time needed to raise our ambitions and deliver even more surprises and enjoyment, both for us and the audience. The fresh energy from Carrousel Studios aligns perfectly with this vision. I’m eager to share the new...

Netflix has confirmed the fourth season of hit French series Lupin with Omar Sy in the lead role as production begin in Paris.

Sy will reprises his iconic role as Assane Diop, the gentleman thief who has fans across France and around the world.

He will be joined in the cast by Ludivine Sagnier, Antoine Gouy, Soufiane Guerrab, Shirine Boutella, Théo Christine, and Laïka Blanc-Francard

The previous three seasons of Lupin took the third, sixth, and tenth places in the historical rankings for series on Netflix.

Freely inspired by Maurice Leblanc’s iconic work and character Arsène Lupin, the series is produced by Gaumont in collaboration with Carrousel Studios, Sy’s studio with Louis Leterrier and Thomas Benski.

“I often say that Lupin is an extraordinary plaything. I find great joy in it every time,” said Sy.

“Together with Netflix, Carrousel, and Gaumont, we’ve invested the time needed to...

François Ozon’s “When Fall is Coming” starts simply enough. Crunchy leaves and pumpkin soup characterize daily rituals as the air turns crisp in the quaint Burgundy valley where Michelle (Hélène Vincent) lives. One rainy afternoon, the kindly octogenarian — wrapped in a warm leopard print jumper — stops pottering around and sinks into her favorite chair to call her daughter. But after fall comes winter, and already a frosty undercurrent between mother and daughter suggests that there’s more to this perpetual autumn than meets the eye.

Ozon is a filmmaker as regular and reliable as the seasons themselves, yet France’s most prolific auteur is far from predictable, and the same is true of his latest annual release. Following the campery of last year’s “The Crime is Mine” and his tragicomic reworking of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Peter von Kant,” Ozon is in a more pensive mood with this mellow autumn-core affair.

For a spell, François Ozon’s When Fall Is Coming plays like the type of low-key drama that aims more to comfort viewers than challenge them. Set primarily in a small village in the French countryside, the film treats us to plenty of pretty, bucolic shots of its elderly protagonist, Michelle (Hélène Vincent), going for walks in the woods with her best friend, Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko), picking mushrooms, and preparing meals. Even the tensions between Michelle and her daughter, Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier), given their opaque-to-a-fault nature, can make it seem as if the film is content to keep its cards so close to its chest. This is, at first blush, a film that’s more blandly coy than alluringly mysterious.

But once Marie-Claude’s son, Vincent (Pierre Lotin), returns home from prison and we eventually learn the details of Michelle’s checkered past—and the catalyst for Valérie’s disdain...

Masquerading, at least, in part, as a cosy crime drama, initial appearances are deceptive in François Ozon’s latest work. Set against the backdrop of autumn, the time of year reflects the stage that Michelle (Hélène Vincent) is at in life, as she potters in the woodlands near her rural French home. One thing that isn’t comfy, however, is her relationship with her daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) whose brewing resentment with her mother takes on fresh venom after an incident in which she and Michelle’s grandson Lucas (Garlan Erlos) pay a visit. The latest trouble is a case of mistaken identity, Michelle claims, although ambiguity hangs in the air like autumn mist and only thickens as the film wears on.

Michelle isn’t the only one whose relationship with her child is less than ideal, her best friend Marie-Claude (Josian Bolakso) is preparing for the release of her son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) from.

"I wasn't the mother she wanted." Music Box Films has revealed an official US trailer for a French indie film titled When Fall Is Coming, another new film from French director François Ozon. The film premiered at the 2024 San Sebastian & Toronto Film Festivals last year, and will be released in art house theaters in the US starting in April this spring. The story follows Michelle, a retiree in Burgundy, who expects her grandson Lucas but a mistake ruins her plans. When her Parisian daughter Valérie drops off her son Lucas to spend school vacation with his grandma, Michelle, stressed out from her daughter, serves her toxic mushrooms for lunch. Valérie quickly recovers, but forbids her mother from seeing her grandson anymore... Feeling lonely and guilty, Michelle falls into a depression... until Marie-Claude's son gets out of prison. Reviews state that the film is "a darkly funny French drama worth savoring.

J'adore le cinéma! If you love it too, especially in a Francophilic way, you'll be happy to know that Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center are gearing up for the 30th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, running from March 6 to March 16. As usual, this year's film series combines a variety of anticipated films from great French directors with fresh young filmmakers, some selected as part of Unifrance’s 10 to Watch 2025 Program, a yearly initiative honoring a new generation of directors and actors who contribute to the vitality of French creation. There will be 23 films this year, a variety of North American, U.S., and New York premieres which "celebrate the energy, innovation, and range of French cinema," according to Film at Lincoln Center (Flc).

“Unifrance is honored to be celebrating 30 years of French cinema with our partner, Film at Lincoln Center,” said Daniela Elstner, executive director of Unifrance. “Rendez-Vous...

French actor Ludivine Sagnier, best known for “Swimming Pool” and “8 Women,” welcomed the European Shooting Stars – 10 up-and-coming European actors – on stage at the Berlinale Palast Monday.

Sagnier was one of the jury members that selected the Shooting Stars, alongside Romanian director Radu Muntean, Swiss producer Amel Soudani, Swedish casting director Pauline Hansson and journalist Vuk Perović from Montenegro.

The Shooting Stars award ceremony, held during the Berlin Film Festival, is the festive highlight and closing event of an intensive four-day program where the actors meet international casting directors and are presented to the international press. German actor Thelma Buabeng introduced the actors to the Berlinale Palast audience.

The Shooting Stars had earlier been greeted on the red carpet by Berlin festival director Tricia Tuttle and Claudia Roth, Germany’s federal government commissioner for culture and the media, in what is likely to be her final official engagement in that...

Now in its 28th edition, the European Shooting Stars platform run by European Film Promotion brings another 10 promising European acting talents to the Berlin Film Festival, with the goal to help them build their careers internationally. From Feb. 14-17, the selected performers will participate in workshops and panels, as well as meetings with international journalists, producers and casting directors. The program culminates in a ceremony at the Berlinale Palast where they will each receive the European Shooting Stars Award.

This year’s Shooting Stars were selected by a jury comprised of Romanian director and screenwriter Radu Muntean, Swedish casting director Pauline Hansson, Swiss producer Amel Soudani, French actress and former Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier and Montenegrin journalist and curator Vuk Perović. They were selected from candidates nominated by their national film promotion institutes and film centers.

What this year’s group of Shooting Stars has in common besides the potential...

A new trailer has been revealed for François Ozon French gritty drama ‘When Autumn Falls.’

Loving grandmother Michelle is enjoying a peaceful retirement in a quiet Burgundy village near her best friend Marie-Claude. However, everything begins to unravel when her daughter Valérie drops off her grandson Lucas for their week together. As Michelle navigates the complexities of her strained relationship with Valérie, unexpected tensions arise—especially when Marie-Claude’s son, recently released from prison, enters the picture.

Directed by François Ozon, the cast includes Hélène Vincent, Ludivine Sagnier, Josiane Balasko and Pierre Lottin.

Also in trailers – Trailer slices in for ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’

The film is released in UK and Irish cinemas on 21st March.

The post Trailer drops for François Ozon’s ‘When Autumn Falls’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

The Count of Monte Cristo has topped the nominations for France’s prestigious César awards, followed by Beating Hearts and Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez.

The film has made it into 14 categories in the nominations, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday morning. Beating Hearts clinched 13, followed by Emiia Pérez with 12.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish and fast-paced adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel starring Pierre Niney was one of France’s top performing movies at the local box office in 2024, drawing close to 10M spectators and its top international export.

Gilles Lellouche’s modern Romeo and Juliet tale Beating Hearts – co-starring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos – has also performed well at home, drawing more than five million spectators.

The 12 nominations for Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Jury prize-winning musical film Emilia Pérez continue its buzzy awards season run which has seen it clinch four Golden Globes and...

France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, which oversees the prestigious César awards, has announced it is quitting X (formerly Twitter), saying the social network is no longer in step with its mission and values.

“This decision, proposed by the executive board and unanimously validated by the House of Representatives of the Association, is in keeping with the fundamental principles of the Academy in terms of ethics and integrity,” the body said in a statement.

“The Academy’s mission is to promote cinema in all its diversity. It defends all forms of artistic expression, without distinction of origin or identity of those who collaborate in the production or marketing of films.”

The body said that X, and “in particular positions taken by” owner Elon Musk, no longer corresponded to its values and that as result it was withdrawing from the platform.

The departure follows in the wake of a...

“Sometimes, the best stories are the ones that never get finished,” a line that perfectly sums up the bittersweet end of The Serpent Queen on Starz. Fans were just beginning to sink their teeth into the tantalizing drama of Catherine de’ Medici’s reign when the unthinkable happened: the series was canceled after just two seasons.

Sigh, it just wasn’t meant to be!

Liv Hill in The Serpent Queen | Credits: Starz

The show, which aired its first season back in 2022, was based on Leonie Frieda’s book Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France, and centered around the life of the power-hungry, politically savvy queen, portrayed by Samantha Morton. Think of it as Game of Thrones but with fewer dragons and more poisoned goblets.

The first season captured hearts, and in October 2022, it earned a green light for a second season, which premiered in the summer of 2024. So far,...

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The Sticky is a Canadian heist dark comedy crime thriller series created by Brian Donovan and Ed Herro. Based on the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist, the Prime Video series follows Ruth Landry, a Canadian maple syrup farmer whose farm is under threat of foreclosure and decides to steal millions of dollars worth of maple syrup as revenge with the help of a Bostonian mobster and a French-Canadian security guard. The Sticky stars Margo Martindale, Chris Diamantopoulos, Guillaume Cyr, Gita Miller, Guy Nadon, Mickaël Gouin, Suzanne Clément, Mark O’Brien, Meegwun Fairbrother, and Jamie Lee Curtis. So, if you loved the dark comedy, crime thriller elements, and compelling characters in The Sticky, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Sneaky Pete (Prime Video) Credit – Prime Video

Sneaky Pete is a dark comedy crime drama series created...

It’s that time of year again when the European Film Promotion has announced the ten up-and-coming European acting talents selected for the 28th edition of European Shooting Stars.

Presented to the international press, film industry, and public during the 75th Berlinale (13–23 February 2025). As part of this initiative, the actors will participate in a tailor-made, four-day programme – substantially supported by Creative Europe’s Media Programme of the European Union – that will peak with the European Shooting Stars Awards Ceremony on 17 February 2025 at the Berlinale Palast.

Selected by an international jury, comprised of Romanian director and screenwriter Radu Muntean, Swedish casting director Pauline Hansson, Swiss producer Amel Soudani, French actress and former Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier and Montenegrin journalist and curator Vuk Perović. The five experts recognised the talents‘ remarkable potential for an international career, citing several factors, including their outstanding work in feature films and drama series.

With Cyprus and...

Sky Italia Commits To ‘The X Factor’ After First Ever Outdoor Final

Sky Italia has committed to The X Factor for two more seasons following soaring ratings for the first ever finale to take place outdoors. Last week’s final reached its highest rating for four years and was staged outside in Naples, with a special live performance from Robbie Williams singing “Forbidden Road.” Mimì Caruso was crowned winner. Distributor Fremantle said the show was watched by an average of 1.8 million viewers, up 51% compared to the prior season. The deal will take Simon Cowell’s international hit to 2026 in Italy. “We couldn’t be prouder of the 2024 edition which we redefined from its core, enhancing its entertainment essence and quality,” said Antonella d’Errico, Executive Vice President Content Sky Italia. The X Factor has more than 20 international versions although it hasn’t aired in its origin country the UK since 2018.

European...

The jury for European Shooting Stars, the program that promotes rising actors from Europe, has revealed its 2025 lineup. Shooting Stars from previous editions have included Riz Ahmed, Leonie Benesch, George MacKay, Carey Mulligan, Alba Rohrwacher, Bill Skarsgård, Alicia Vikander and Maisie Williams.

The actors will be presented to the international press, film industry and public during the 75th Berlinale, which runs Feb. 13 – 23. They will take part in a tailor-made, four-day program that will culminate with an awards ceremony on Feb. 17 at the Berlinale Palast. The program is organized by European Film Promotion and is supported by Creative Europe’s Media Programme of the European Union.

The 10 actors selected for its 28th edition are Marina Makris (Cyprus), Besir Zeciri (Denmark), Maarja Johanna Mägi (Estonia), Devrim Lingnau (Germany), Elín Hall (Iceland), Kārlis Arnolds Avots (Latvia), Šarūnas Zenkevičius (Lithuania), Lidija Kordić (Montenegro), Vicente Wallenstein (Portugal) and Frida Gustavsson (Sweden).

The Shooting Stars were...

The Girl With The Needle star Besir Zeciri and Devrim Lingnau, lead in Netflix series The Empress are among the 10 actors selected for the 2025 edition of European Film Promotion’s European Shooting Stars.

The 10 Stars will participate in a four-day programme at next year’s Berlinale, culminating with the European Shooting Stars awards ceremony on February 17 at the Berlinale Palast.

Scroll down for the full list

Each Shooting Stars submission must highlight one performance from the actor’s career, which may be from an as-yet-unreleased work.

Danish entry Zeciri hails from Copenhagen, and played a leading role in Magnus von Horn...

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The intricate planning, a bunch of misfits coming together, and an impossible amount of money all come together and result in a thrilling heist. The heist genre is generally one of the most popular sub-genres out because of all the thrills and mystery you can have in the plot while also having a ton of fun. So, if you are a heist genre fan, Netflix is the streaming service for you, as it has some of the best heist shows you can find anywhere.

Kaleidoscope Credit – Netflix

Kaleidoscope is a heist thriller drama series created by Eric Garcia. The Netflix series follows a master thief and his crew as they try to $7 billion, but their internal conflict and greed get in the way of their plans. Kaleidoscope is known for its unique way of presenting its story because...

European Film Promotion, which gives a boost to films and talent from Europe, has revealed the jury for the 28th edition of European Shooting Stars, which showcases actors from the continent.

The jury is comprised of five film professionals who will select 10 actors. They will then take part in a program at the Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 13 – 23. The jury will select the actors from candidates who have been nominated by their national film promotion institutes and film centers.

The jury includes former European Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier, an actor best known for her roles in films by François Ozon. She starred in, among others, “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” (2000), “8 Women” (2002) and “Swimming Pool” (2003), and she will also appear in Ozon’s latest film, “Quand vient l’automne” (2024). Sagnier has also worked with directors such as P.J. Hogan, Lee Tamahori, Paolo Sorrentino, Hirokazu Koreeda and Ridley Scott.

Also on...

In France, François Ozon has more or less taken on the mystique of a sort of European Hong Sang-soo—the announcement of a new film in his catalogue might as well be the announcement of a new Tuesday. Where Ozon may differ from Hong, however, is in the particular palatability of his prolific output; while it may take a while for Hong to wear you down, Ozon’s is an approach that is more or less accessible for just about anybody right from the start.

Just as there’s a strange comfort in the regularity of his releases, there’s something inherently cozy in the sort of French family dramas—some might call them “thrillers,” were it not for their frequently casual dispositions—Ozon pumps out like Stephen King pumps out new horror stories. In crafting an oeuvre whose general essence is one of contained coziness, it only makes sense...

Promotional image for Lupin Season 4 featuring the main cast (Photo Credit – Instagram)

The gentleman thief, Assane Diop, crept back into Paris and graced our Netflix screens again, serving a delicious feast of heists and hijinks. As the modern-day Arsène Lupin, Assane donned countless costumes and accents, pulling off some pretty improbable raids on the rich.

From cheating death to rescuing his mother and throwing his best friend Benjamin under the bus, the escapades were nothing short of thrilling. But now that he’s hanging up his collection of Maurice Leblanc books and contemplating prison time, fans are left wondering: what’s next for Lupin?

When will Lupin season 4 air?

The last season of Lupin dropped in early October 2023, but since then, Netflix has been radio silent on a potential season four renewal. However, George Kay, the show’s creator, teased some intriguing possibilities during a chat with Variety. He mentioned,...

Parkland Film Capital has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Francois Ozon’s When Fall Is Coming.

Parkland acquired the film from sales agent Playtime.When Fall Is Coming centres on a grandmother whose peaceful retirement in Burgundy is disrupted when her daughter drops off her grandson for a week of autumn vacation.

Written, directed and produced by Ozon, it stars Helene Vincent, Ludivine Sagnier, Josiane Balasko and Pierre Lottin.

Ozon’s Foz Production produced the film, with France 2 Cinema, Playtime and support from Canal+ and the Cnc.

The film first screened in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire in France in September, before a...

Hélène Vincent and Josiane Balasko as Michele and Marie-Claude in When Fall Is Coming. François Ozon: 'In this film, I weighted it in favour of the intelligence of the viewer' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival François Ozon: 'I wanted beautiful women like this and to shoot their wrinkles and their reality' Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Alex Abril Things are often not quite what they originally seem in François Ozon’s When Fall Is Coming. His latest film is a playful riff on a domestic drama that incorporates a mystery element and the supernatural.

The setting is rural France, where elderly Michelle (Hélène Vincent) is preparing for a visit from her daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) and grandson Lucas (Garlan Erlos). An unfortunate event drives a further wedge between the women’s already strained relationship, a schism that happens just as Michelle is trying to help...

A retired woman of a certain age (Hélène Vincent), who wants nothing more than to look after her perfect poppet of a grandson (Garlan Erlos), is devastated when her daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) removes access to him, all because of a silly mycological mistake in the delicious, sinister and deadly funny When Fall Is Coming. True to protean form, writer-director François Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women) offers with this blackly comic thriller a tonal swerve into naturalism and away from the screwball energy of his last feature, the period-set courtroom caper The Crime Is Mine.

Nevertheless, this has a number of Ozonian elements that devotees of the prolific French auteur will cherish: intentional plot holes that keep things spicily ambiguous; characters who appear boringly bourgeois but are hiding secret pasts or proclivities or both; a tiny dash of the supernatural; and an irony in all its forms that runs through everything. Hardcore...

True to its title, François Ozon’s new film “When Fall is Coming” is awash in the aesthetics of what people far younger than its octogenarian protagonist would call autumncore, with a bit of cottagecore for good measure. In the sleepy, picturesque Burgundy valley where it largely unfolds, the leaves are rusting and crisping, chunky knitwear is coming out of hibernation, and through the screen, you can just about feel the air turning cold enough to splinter. Yet as the film progresses, its timeline spanning months and then years, the weather never changes. The life of sweet-natured retiree Michelle (Hélène Vincent) is seemingly fixed in a perennial fall, as is the film’s mood of quiet, almost comforting melancholy — until, amid this appearance of strange, ochre-hued seasonal stasis, the temperature of proceedings takes a drastic turn south.

An elegant, slippery game of tonal bait-and-switch, “When Fall is Coming” finds the ever-unpredictable Ozon in mellow,...

Some people are just better off dead. That’s the ultimate conclusion of the prolific French filmmaker François Ozon’s new domestic drama When Fall Is Coming, receiving its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival this week, but delivered with such sly delicacy, such slippery grace — no, actually, such sweetness — that there is simply no arguing with it.

Those qualities — delicacy, grace and sweetness — are largely encapsulated within the tidy person of Michelle. Michelle is the heroine of her own small but satisfying life and quite a few other lives besides, a woman with the time and inclination to be kind. On the day we meet her, she is driving her best friend to the prison where her son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) is being held. Visiting a prison is draining. Michelle waits outside, ready to listen to Marie-Claude...

San Sebastian — In bumper deals, premier French production-sales agency Playtime has secured a raft of sales across key territories for François Ozon’s “When Fall Is Coming,” which bows in San Sebastian’s main Competition.

Distribution so far takes in major territories such as Italy (Bim Distribuzione), Cis (A-One Russia), Spain (Caramel + La Zona), and Axia in Canada.

Playtime has cut further deals with Vertigo Media in Hungary, September Films in Benelux, Panda in Austria, Aurora in Poland, Filmcoopi in Switzerland, A-One Baltics, Outsider Film in Portugal, Filmtrade in Greece, Beta Films in Bulgaria, and Arthouse Traffic in Ukraine.

The pre-sales come on a film whose complex story is seemingly told effortlessly.

Perhaps it’s the moment two elderly friends, Michelle and Marie-Claude, leave the woods with wild mushrooms and laugh when Marie-Claude tells her friend to let her know how it goes. Perhaps it’s when we see Michelle...

Rapper and singer René Pérez Jogger, also known as Residente, leads the cast of In the Summers, top prize winner at the Deauville American Film Festival Photo: Deauville American Film Festival The Jury of the 50th edition of the Deauville American film festival, presided over by Benoît Magimel, with Ludivine Sagnier, Emilie Dequenne, Agathe Riedinger, Damien Bonnard, Lou Lampros and Martin Bourboulon have awarded the Festival’s top prize to In The Summers, by Colombian American writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza for her debut feature.

Already noted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year, the film relates the story a broken family dynamic through the eyes of two young girls during their formative years. René Pérez Joglar (also known by his rapper/singer stage name Residente) leads the cast.

The honours were bestowed at the Festival’s closing ceremony last night.

Full list of awards:

Grand Prix: In The Summers...

The 2024 Venice Film Festival kicked off August 28 with the long-awaited Tim Burton-Michael Keaton sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opening the 81th edition, which runs through September 7 on the Lido. Deadline is on the ground to watch all the key films.

The lineup for the world’s oldest fest also includes world premieres of Todd Phillips’ Joaquin Phoenix-Lady Gaga pic Joker: Folie à Deux, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, Pablo Larrain’s Maria Callas biopic Maria starring Angelina Jolie and new works from the likes of Alfonso Cuarón, Walter Salles, Harmony Korine, Thomas Vinterberg, Brady Corbet, Takeshi Kitano, Claude Lelouch, Errol Morris and others.

Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year awarded its Golden Lion for best film to Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, who went on the win the Best Actress Oscar. Isabelle Huppert heads the competition jury this year.

Michael Douglas is introduced by French actress Ludivine Sagnier at the opening ceremony of the 50th edition of the Deauville Festival of American Cinema Photo: Richard Mowe Who could have been more appropriate choice to launch the 50th celebrations of the Deauville Festival of American Cinema last night than that enduring icon Michael Douglas who marks his 80th birthday on September 25.

He had a hero’s welcome and a standing ovation as he received his award from French actress Ludivine Sagnier who starred with him on the TV mini-series Franklin, about the US Founding Father Benjamin Franklin who spent eight years in France to secure support for the American Revolution.

The first recipient of the Young Spirit Award - Malia Ann, the daughter of Michelle and Barack Obama Photo: Richard Mowe Douglas has form with the festival throughout his 55-year career. He recalled that his father Kirk along with Gregory Peck...

Michael Douglas reminisced about meeting his now wife Catherine Zeta-Jones at France’s Deauville American Film Festival in 1998 as he received a career tribute on Friday, the opening night of the milestone 50th anniversary edition.

Douglas, who was introduced on stage by his “Franklin” co-star Ludivine Sagnier (“Lupin”) and drew a long standing ovation, went on to talk — partly in French — about his long history with the Deauville Film Festival and precisely the “slight issue of Catherine.”

“I had just seen three weeks before I came to the festival this movie ‘Zorro,’ ‘Mon Dieu!,” joked Douglas. “When I arrived supporting our film, I think it was ‘Perfect Murder,’ I look at the catalogue and I see that ‘Zorro’ is coming the next night, so I ask my assistant, ‘Can you find out if Catherine Zeta-Jones is coming?’ And is she coming alone and if I could have a drink with her.

If you’ve spent time in towns in the far-flung provinces of any number of European countries — particularly ones in which mills that supplied the economic lifeblood of working-class communities have closed, leaving inhabitants adrift without a raft — chances are you’ll recognize the fictional Northeastern French setting of And Their Children After Them (Leurs enfants aprés eux). These are places stuck in time, usually around the point when their industries were shuttered. That fossilization can be observed at public celebrations where the locals mob the dance floor when the cheesiest of Euro-pop relics are blasted over the speakers, in this case Boney M.’s “Rivers of Babylon.”

Writer-director brothers Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma capture that atmosphere with such specificity and melancholy fondness in their ambitious adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s 2018 Prix Goncourt-winning novel that it’s easy to imagine they lived it — or at least something very close to it.

There is the faint sound of a callback to Francois Truffaut in Venice Film Festival competition title And Their Children After Them (Leurs Enfants Après Eux), a sunlit story of three teenagers set in a moribund French steel town in the 1990s. Check, for example, those fundamental French subjects: first love and sexual awakening, nature and the spontaneity of youth, the consuming love of family and corresponding desire to break free. It is an echo that grows fainter by the minute, however, as that lightness of touch is weighed down by a repetitive narrative and the charmlessness of its central characters.

Gormless working-class boy Anthony (Paul Kircher) pursues Steph (Angelina Woreth), a pretty girl from a couple of yards the other side of the tracks, from one summer to the next. They meet first at the picturesque local lake, where Anthony has just stolen a canoe along with his cousin (Louis Memmi). That night,...

Of the many ’90s needle drops in this episodic epic about a smalltown, working class French youth, it is one by Bruce Springsteen that captures its spirit. It takes a special film to earn the right to play ‘Born To Run’ over the end credits, and this does. The fourth feature by twin brothers Ludovic Boukherma and Zoran Boukherma, adapted from a 2018 novel by Nicolas Mathieu, is so close to the essence of The Boss that it might have been reverse-engineered from his DNA.

Set over four summers “And Their Children After Them” drops us into a formative day in the life of 14-year-old Anthony (Paul Kircher). The first shot is of perfect blue sky; the camera pans down to reveal a vista so tranquil as to be almost banal — puffy clouds, forest, lake — until it is sullied by a cigarette butt flicked into the water. In this world, it...

French writer Nicolas Mathieu won the Prix Goncourt — France’s highest-profile literary award — for his 2018 novel “And Their Children After Them,” a working-class Bildungsroman set against a backdrop of severe deindustrialization, for which he stated his disparate influences to include John Steinbeck, Émile Zola, Bruce Springsteen and the 2012 Jeff Nichols film “Mud.” The Springsteen namecheck is easily taken care of in this brash big-screen adaptation, via a thuddingly obvious needle-drop as its bike-riding hero straps his hands across some engines and hits the open road. Mathieu’s more literary allusions, however, haven’t survived the journey to Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma’s overlong, outwardly emotive but strangely unmoving film, which resorts to soap-opera mechanics in its saga of three youths variously affected over a six-year period by one rash act of teen delinquency.

The Boukherma twins showed some inventive, genre-jumbling verve in their first three features — most prominently “Teddy,” a...

"When I move, the world moves forward." Apple has announced that a brand new official "Director's Cut" version of Ridley Scott's Napoleon is now available to watch on Apple TV+. Anyone planing to dive in? The original theatrical cut of Napoleon opened in theaters last year, right before Thanksgiving in November, playing in theaters worldwide before it ended up streaming. It earned mostly negative reviews and a lower-than-expected box office because it wasn't that great. Napoleon is an original & personal look at Napoleon Bonaparte's origins. Along with his swift and ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. As she says: "You want to be great. But you are nothing without me." Joaquin Phoenix stars as Bonaparte, with Vanessa Kirby as Josephine, plus Ludivine Sagnier, Ben Miles, Tahar Rahim, Catherine Walker, Youssef Kerkour, Paul Rhys,...

“Napoleon” is back on the march.

Ridley Scott’s historical epic from last year, which starred Joaquin Phoenix as the arrogant military-leader-turned-emperor Napoleon, is getting the director’s cut treatment, with 48 minutes of new footage being added to the runtime. It’s available now on Apple TV+. Watch a new trailer below.

What’s interesting is that, when “Napoleon” was released last fall, Scott claimed that there was a superior four-and-a-half hour version, that would eventually see the light of day. The version arriving on Apple TV+ today is a little shy of three-and-a-half hours. Did he get more judicious during the assembly of this new version? Did Apple blanch at paying for more visual effects and score in service of a movie that didn’t move the needle much? While it’s unclear now, Scott is about to embark on the press tour for “Gladiator II” (out this Thanksgiving...

A Napoleon director's cut is now streaming, but it's not the four-hour cut director Ridley Scott previously teased. Based on the life of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Scott's historical epic hit theaters last year with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. Before the film even released, Scott teased that he had a four-hour director's cut of the project, which would expand on key aspects of the figure's life.

Apple TV+ now releases Napoleon: The Director's Cut, with 48 minutes of extra footage included. This will bring the director's cut's runtime to a whopping three hours and 24 minutes. As for what's included in the extra footage, viewers can expect another battle, an assassination attempt, and lots more of the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).

More to come...

Source: Apple TV+

Napoleon 6/10

From director Ridley Scott and writer David Scarpa comes Napoleon, a dramatic historical-epic film that follows the rise of...

Deauville American Film Festival has unveiled the 14 US features for its 50th anniversary edition running September 6-15 in the Normandy seaside town.

They include Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s 2024 Sundance prize-winner In The Summers, Cannes-premiering titles including Roberto Minervini’s The Damned and Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve At Miller’s Point, and Christy Hall’s taxi drama Daddio.

Eight of the films are debut features, among them David Fortune’s Color Book which world-premiered at Tribeca and Brandt Andersen’s The Strangers’ Case which made its debut at Berlin.

Benoit Magimel heads up this year’s Deauville jury alongside Ludivine Sagnier,...

New films from directors Mike Leigh, François Ozon, Edward Berger, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Costa-Gavras will vie for the Golden Shell at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival. Organizers on Tuesday announced the competition line-up for the 72nd edition of San Sebastian, which runs from September 20-28.

Highlights include Leigh’s hotly-anticipated new film Hard Truths, which will see the iconoclastic British director reunite with his Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste; and Conclave, Berger’s follow-up to his multiple-Oscar winner All Quiet on the Western Front. The Vatican thriller stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal tasked with supervising a conclave following the sudden death of the Pope to choose a successor.

Veteran political filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Missing, Z) returns to San Sebastian with Last Breath, a drama about a palliative care doctor. Ozon will make his sixth appearance in the festival’s official selection with When Fall Is Coming, a French drama starring Hélène Vincent,...