From the moment “Being Maria” opens on a sun-dappled Paris street, you feel the pull of an unwritten destiny. Maria Schneider (Anamaria Vartolomei) isn’t just a young woman chasing stardom—she’s a vessel for something far more volatile: the collision of art and personal integrity.
Director Jessica Palud and co-writer Laurette Polmanss adapt Vanessa Schneider’s memoir with a keen eye for how fleeting moments on camera can haunt an entire lifetime. At 19, Maria’s leap from obscurity into Bernardo Bertolucci’s world-altering “Last Tango in Paris” sets the stage for a narrative that asks: when “truth” on film comes at the cost of a performer’s agency, who truly benefits?
Palud’s rhythm shifts from hushed, intimate sequences—Maria practicing lines, stealing a shy smile from her estranged father—to jolting recreations of on-set betrayal. The film’s tone vacillates between warm nostalgia for a restless teen...
Director Jessica Palud and co-writer Laurette Polmanss adapt Vanessa Schneider’s memoir with a keen eye for how fleeting moments on camera can haunt an entire lifetime. At 19, Maria’s leap from obscurity into Bernardo Bertolucci’s world-altering “Last Tango in Paris” sets the stage for a narrative that asks: when “truth” on film comes at the cost of a performer’s agency, who truly benefits?
Palud’s rhythm shifts from hushed, intimate sequences—Maria practicing lines, stealing a shy smile from her estranged father—to jolting recreations of on-set betrayal. The film’s tone vacillates between warm nostalgia for a restless teen...
- 5/26/2025
- by Zhi Ho
- Gazettely
Snd has acquired international distribution rights to “My Wife is a Spy,” a high concept action comedy starring Marie Gillain (“Under the Influence”) which world premiered at Canneseries.
Directed by Leo Karmann, whose credits include “Simon’s Got a Gift,” the series is produced by Barbara Maubert for Kabo, a company owned by Asacha Media Group. The show will be broadcast on primetime on M6, France’s second biggest commercial network.
“My Wife is a Spy” stars Gillain as Isabelle, a married suburban mother of two who emerges from a fall with extraordinary ability that have been dormant for 20 years and suddenly starts to remember her past as a top secret agent. Realizing a part of her youth has been erased from her memory, she decides to return to duty to understand what happened while juggling her kids. The cast is completed by Arnaud Ducret, Nicolas Gob (“The Art of...
Directed by Leo Karmann, whose credits include “Simon’s Got a Gift,” the series is produced by Barbara Maubert for Kabo, a company owned by Asacha Media Group. The show will be broadcast on primetime on M6, France’s second biggest commercial network.
“My Wife is a Spy” stars Gillain as Isabelle, a married suburban mother of two who emerges from a fall with extraordinary ability that have been dormant for 20 years and suddenly starts to remember her past as a top secret agent. Realizing a part of her youth has been erased from her memory, she decides to return to duty to understand what happened while juggling her kids. The cast is completed by Arnaud Ducret, Nicolas Gob (“The Art of...
- 4/29/2025
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
"I told you I wanted it intense." Kino Lorber has unveiled the US trailer for Being Maria, a French indie film about actress Maria Schneider and her experiences on set. This first premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival last year, and it already opened in French cinemas last summer. The film is finally opening in the US in art house theaters starting later this month. The film is an examination of how the idea of a young actress performing might seem exciting to viewers, but it might also be horrifying to the actress playing the role. This profiles Schneider's rise to fame after Last Tango in Paris and its controversial production's impact on her life and career. Based on the behind-the-scenes true story of the making of Last Tango in Paris (director Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial 1972 film originally given the X rating by the MPAA and even banned in...
- 3/12/2025
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Being Maria trailer reveals a new biopic dramatizing the filming of Marlon Brando's most controversial movie. Written and directed by Jessica Palud, the upcoming French film follows actress Maria Schneider's experiences filming the 1972 erotic drama Last Tango in Paris, her subsequent rise to fame, and the impact the controversial production had on her life and career. Being Maria stars Anamaria Vartolomei in the titular role and Matt Dillion as Brando alongside Céleste Brunnquell, Giuseppe Maggio, Yvan Attal, Marie Gillain, and Jonathan Couzinié.
Now, Kino Lorber has released the first official trailer for Being Maria, finding Schneider as a promising young actress who receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to star in a film from an acclaimed Italian director, Bernardo Bertolucci (Giuseppe Maggio), and starring a beloved American actor, Brando. They get along great initially, but everything changes when the two men secretly plan an unscripted sexual assault scene without her consent.
Now, Kino Lorber has released the first official trailer for Being Maria, finding Schneider as a promising young actress who receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to star in a film from an acclaimed Italian director, Bernardo Bertolucci (Giuseppe Maggio), and starring a beloved American actor, Brando. They get along great initially, but everything changes when the two men secretly plan an unscripted sexual assault scene without her consent.
- 3/11/2025
- by Adam Bentz
- ScreenRant
Now, it’s time for late actress Maria Schneider’s story to be fully shared onscreen.
Schneider, who famously starred in controversial “Last Tango in Paris” at age 19 alongside Marlon Brando, is portrayed by “Happening” breakout Anamaria Vartolomei in biopic “Being Maria.” Originally titled “Maria,” the film is adapted from the memoir “My Cousin Maria” by Vanessa Schneider. Molly Ringwald wrote the English translation for the book, which detailed Schneider’s life after filming an exploitative simulated rape scene for “Last Tango in Paris” in 1973. Per the memoir, “Last Tango in Paris” director Bernardo Bertolucci did not tell Schneider the full extent of the film’s plot until right before production.
Matt Dillon portrays Schneider’s “Last Tango in Paris” co-star Brando, with Giuseppe Maggio as Bertolucci. Yvan Attal, Marie Gillain, Stanislas Merhar, Céleste Brunnquell, Jonathan Couzinié, and Alexis Corso co-star. The film, which debuted at Cannes and will make...
Schneider, who famously starred in controversial “Last Tango in Paris” at age 19 alongside Marlon Brando, is portrayed by “Happening” breakout Anamaria Vartolomei in biopic “Being Maria.” Originally titled “Maria,” the film is adapted from the memoir “My Cousin Maria” by Vanessa Schneider. Molly Ringwald wrote the English translation for the book, which detailed Schneider’s life after filming an exploitative simulated rape scene for “Last Tango in Paris” in 1973. Per the memoir, “Last Tango in Paris” director Bernardo Bertolucci did not tell Schneider the full extent of the film’s plot until right before production.
Matt Dillon portrays Schneider’s “Last Tango in Paris” co-star Brando, with Giuseppe Maggio as Bertolucci. Yvan Attal, Marie Gillain, Stanislas Merhar, Céleste Brunnquell, Jonathan Couzinié, and Alexis Corso co-star. The film, which debuted at Cannes and will make...
- 3/11/2025
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to “Being Maria,” a French movie revolving around the controversial production of Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 film “Last Tango in Paris.”
Directed by Jessica Palud, the movie stars “Happening” breakout Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria Schneider and Matt Dillon as Marlon Brando.
“Being Maria” had its world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it was the only female-directed film selected for the Premieres section. It’s now playing at the American French Film Festival at the DGA. where Kino Lorber’s boss Richard Lorber will be receiving an honorary tribute over the weekend.
The movie charts the turbulent life and career of the late French actress Maria Schneider, who was a promising young actress struggling to break into film when she was cast by Bertolucci, then still rising as a face of Italian cinema, to star in “Last Tango in Paris” alongside an American superstar,...
Directed by Jessica Palud, the movie stars “Happening” breakout Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria Schneider and Matt Dillon as Marlon Brando.
“Being Maria” had its world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it was the only female-directed film selected for the Premieres section. It’s now playing at the American French Film Festival at the DGA. where Kino Lorber’s boss Richard Lorber will be receiving an honorary tribute over the weekend.
The movie charts the turbulent life and career of the late French actress Maria Schneider, who was a promising young actress struggling to break into film when she was cast by Bertolucci, then still rising as a face of Italian cinema, to star in “Last Tango in Paris” alongside an American superstar,...
- 11/1/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“Being Maria” is a flawed but fascinating look at the turbulent life of actor Maria Schneider, played by a game Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”). It limns her rebellious teen years, her big breakthrough at 19 in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris,” and how her trauma on set and the film’s notoriety impacted her subsequent career and mental health. Helmer Jessica Palud (“Back Home”) and co-scripter Laurette Polmanss loosely adapt a memoir by Schneider’s younger cousin to show events through the star’s eyes. Despite a clunky air of earnestness and some soap opera-like scenes, plus the overly familiar arc of a celebrity spiraling out of control, the film resonates because the central topic is so of the moment. It’s a cautionary tale about a naïve and powerless young talent abused in the name of art, as well as the agonizing aftermath of her maltreatment.
The narrative depicts...
The narrative depicts...
- 5/27/2024
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Matt Dillon is taking on the legacy of Marlon Brando for a biopic about the making of Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial “Last Tango in Paris.”
Dillon portrays Brando alongside Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria Schneider for Jessica Palud’s upcoming “Maria,” which is set to debut at Cannes later this week in the Cannes Premiere section. “Maria” follows Schneider’s life after starring in “Last Tango in Paris” at age 19, during which she filmed an unsimulated rape scene with Brando in 1973 at director Bertolucci’s (Giuseppe Maggio) instruction. The film is based on Vanessa Schneider’s 2018 memoir “My Cousin Maria Schneider,” which was translated by Molly Ringwald.
Per the memoir, Bertolucci did not tell Schneider the full extent of the film’s plot until right before production. Schneider allegedly was unaware of the pivotal scene in which Brando’s character anally rapes her character using a stick of butter as lubricant.
Dillon portrays Brando alongside Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria Schneider for Jessica Palud’s upcoming “Maria,” which is set to debut at Cannes later this week in the Cannes Premiere section. “Maria” follows Schneider’s life after starring in “Last Tango in Paris” at age 19, during which she filmed an unsimulated rape scene with Brando in 1973 at director Bertolucci’s (Giuseppe Maggio) instruction. The film is based on Vanessa Schneider’s 2018 memoir “My Cousin Maria Schneider,” which was translated by Molly Ringwald.
Per the memoir, Bertolucci did not tell Schneider the full extent of the film’s plot until right before production. Schneider allegedly was unaware of the pivotal scene in which Brando’s character anally rapes her character using a stick of butter as lubricant.
- 5/13/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: France TV Distribution has unveiled a raft of deals on Andréa Bescond and Éric Métayer’s intergenerational comedy-drama Big Kids.
The film has sold to Brazil (Imovision), Benelux (Cinéart), Spain (Vercine), Switzerland (Agora Films), Poland (Best Film Co), Baltics (Unlimited Media), Central America (Babilla) and Taiwan (Avjet International Media Co.).
Ad Vitam released the film in France in April, achieving a gross of just under $1million.
Inspired by real-life stories in France, the movie revolves around a group of school children who end up spending their lunch breaks at a nearby nursing home while their school cafeteria is being remodelled.
The caretaker, played by Vincent Macaigne, is not happy to see the school children invade his residents’ territory, and an intergenerational clash seems inevitable.
However, shared interests and a series of comical situations foster new friendships between the elderly residents and their young lunchtime guests.
The film has sold to Brazil (Imovision), Benelux (Cinéart), Spain (Vercine), Switzerland (Agora Films), Poland (Best Film Co), Baltics (Unlimited Media), Central America (Babilla) and Taiwan (Avjet International Media Co.).
Ad Vitam released the film in France in April, achieving a gross of just under $1million.
Inspired by real-life stories in France, the movie revolves around a group of school children who end up spending their lunch breaks at a nearby nursing home while their school cafeteria is being remodelled.
The caretaker, played by Vincent Macaigne, is not happy to see the school children invade his residents’ territory, and an intergenerational clash seems inevitable.
However, shared interests and a series of comical situations foster new friendships between the elderly residents and their young lunchtime guests.
- 9/14/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Anamaria Vartolomei (who broke out big in Audrey Diwan’s Happening) will be surrounded by the likes of Céleste Brunnquell (who’ll be seen in Critics’ Week Closing Film La Fille de son père by Erwan Le Duc), Jérémie Renier, Edoardo Pesce, Matt Dillon and Marie Gillain in Jessica Palud‘s highly anticipated sophomore feature Maria. At this point we have no idea how much screen time the likes of Bardot, Brando and Bertolucci might take up in the film but the above mentioned players might fill up those shoes. This is of course the troubling, tormented true life story of actress Maria Schneider who paid a huge price for her fame.…...
- 5/8/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s the second feature from Little Tickles co-directors Andrea Bescond and Eric Metayer.
France tv distribution has acquired world sales rights to French filmmakers Andrea Bescond and Eric Metayer’s nursing-home-set comedy drama Big Kids starring Vincent Macaigne, Aissa Maiga and Marie Gillain.
It is the directorial duo’s second feature collaboration after award-winning child-abuse drama Little Tickles, which world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2018 and sparked a public debate about the issue when it was released in France in 2019.
The duo’s new film revolves around the residents of a nursing home and a group of...
France tv distribution has acquired world sales rights to French filmmakers Andrea Bescond and Eric Metayer’s nursing-home-set comedy drama Big Kids starring Vincent Macaigne, Aissa Maiga and Marie Gillain.
It is the directorial duo’s second feature collaboration after award-winning child-abuse drama Little Tickles, which world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2018 and sparked a public debate about the issue when it was released in France in 2019.
The duo’s new film revolves around the residents of a nursing home and a group of...
- 2/8/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Colo Tavernier O’Hagan, the revered screenwriter of award-winning films by Bertrand Tavernier and Claude Chabrol, died from cancer on June 13, according to a statement from the Lumière Institute in Lyon.
Throughout her prolific career spanning film and TV, Tavernier O’Hagan was a life-long, inspiring collaborator to her former husband, Bertrand Tavernier, on many of his most successful films, starting in 1980 with “A Week’s Holiday,” which competed at Cannes.
Born Claudine O’Hagan in England, with an Irish father and a French-Spanish mother, the screenwriter first earned critical acclaim with the script of Tavernier’s “A Sunday in the Country,” which earned her the Cesar award in 1985 for best adapted screenplay, and a National Society of Film Critics Award nomination out of the U.S.
She also collaborated with Tavernier on the Dirk Bogarde starrer “Daddy Nostalgia,” which competed at Cannes in 1990, and “Round Midnight,” a jazz-infused drama...
Throughout her prolific career spanning film and TV, Tavernier O’Hagan was a life-long, inspiring collaborator to her former husband, Bertrand Tavernier, on many of his most successful films, starting in 1980 with “A Week’s Holiday,” which competed at Cannes.
Born Claudine O’Hagan in England, with an Irish father and a French-Spanish mother, the screenwriter first earned critical acclaim with the script of Tavernier’s “A Sunday in the Country,” which earned her the Cesar award in 1985 for best adapted screenplay, and a National Society of Film Critics Award nomination out of the U.S.
She also collaborated with Tavernier on the Dirk Bogarde starrer “Daddy Nostalgia,” which competed at Cannes in 1990, and “Round Midnight,” a jazz-infused drama...
- 6/14/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Gaumont is reteaming with the producers of “Belle and Sebastian,” one of France’s most successful family movie franchises, on “Vicky and Her Mystery,” another family-friendly adventure film.
Inspired by a true story, “Vicky and Her Mystery” follows a widowed father who moves to the mountains with his 8-year-old daughter, who is shaken by her mother’s death and has stopped talking. One day, while walking in the forest, Victoria discovers a puppy and decides to secretly keep it, not realizing it’s a wolf cub.
Now shooting, the film is budgeted at €6 million ($6.6 million) and is directed by Denis Imbert with a well-known French cast including Vincent Elbaz, Eric Elmosnino and Marie Gillain. The film introduces the young Shana Keil in the lead role.
“Vicky and Her Mystery” is being produced by Radar Films and co-produced by Gaumont, which is handling international sales and is introducing the project to buyers at Toronto.
Inspired by a true story, “Vicky and Her Mystery” follows a widowed father who moves to the mountains with his 8-year-old daughter, who is shaken by her mother’s death and has stopped talking. One day, while walking in the forest, Victoria discovers a puppy and decides to secretly keep it, not realizing it’s a wolf cub.
Now shooting, the film is budgeted at €6 million ($6.6 million) and is directed by Denis Imbert with a well-known French cast including Vincent Elbaz, Eric Elmosnino and Marie Gillain. The film introduces the young Shana Keil in the lead role.
“Vicky and Her Mystery” is being produced by Radar Films and co-produced by Gaumont, which is handling international sales and is introducing the project to buyers at Toronto.
- 9/7/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes was number one Saturday night, taking the grand prize at the Deauville Film Festival. The eviction drama stars Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon. It’s the second film with star Shannon to take the top prize at the festival, following 2011’s Take Shelter. Shannon was in Deauville earlier in the week to present the film to festival audiences. The jury was headed by French director Benoit Jacquot (Farewell, My Queen), with director Pascal Bonitzer (Made in Paris), actresses Louise Bourgoin(The Love Punch), Marie Gillain (Valentin Valentin) and Marthe Keller (The Witness), actor Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (Marseille), novelist Marc Dugain, director Sophie Filieres (If You Don't, I Will) and Cesar-winning
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- 9/12/2015
- by Rhonda Richford
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paris -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" will make a royal return to the world of entertainment with a new 18.6 million euro ($25.3 million) TV series from Method Animation, Method said at a press conference at their studios in Paris on Wednesday.
Method has partnered with France Televisions, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, la Fabrique d'Images, Dq Entertainment, Wdr, Rai Fiction, Tsr, the book's French publishing house Gallimard Jeunesse and the Saint Exupery-d'Agay estate to create a 26-minute, 52-episode TV series based on the popular children's book.
After over three years of development, Method and their partners have produced 26 hours of programming based on the work of more than 450 people and 18,200 pages of storyboards.
The series is in full CGI and stereoscopic 3D. Directed by Pierre Alain Chartier, "The Little Prince" was developed for TV by Alexandre de la Patelliere and Matthieu Delaporte.
"Saint-Exupery's universe is incredibly open – It's not a sequel,...
Method has partnered with France Televisions, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, la Fabrique d'Images, Dq Entertainment, Wdr, Rai Fiction, Tsr, the book's French publishing house Gallimard Jeunesse and the Saint Exupery-d'Agay estate to create a 26-minute, 52-episode TV series based on the popular children's book.
After over three years of development, Method and their partners have produced 26 hours of programming based on the work of more than 450 people and 18,200 pages of storyboards.
The series is in full CGI and stereoscopic 3D. Directed by Pierre Alain Chartier, "The Little Prince" was developed for TV by Alexandre de la Patelliere and Matthieu Delaporte.
"Saint-Exupery's universe is incredibly open – It's not a sequel,...
- 9/29/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There's no doubt that Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel had an important hand in defining women's fashion and comfort. Yes, her line of clothing and accessories, which still bear her name, offered up an entirely different way for women to dress, allowing them a style that, while still feminine, wasn't nearly as constricting or binding as the clothes they'd worn for centuries. Hers was a fascinating life, a rags-to-riches tale, and a fitting, pun intended, story to be told. That said, hers is also a story that's been told before, so director Anne Fontaine offers up truth in advertising in her new film "Coco Before Chanel," a look at the early years of Coco, and tells her story in a most obvious manner. Sure, it's a winning move to cast Audrey Tatou in anything, but Gabrielle, called Coco by everyone she knows, is often down and dreary, and the movie only lights...
- 9/25/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The cold weather cometh, and with it, more new movies than you can shake a stick at. So what’re you going to see this weekend?
Whether you’re in for a good laugh, cry or scare, Hollywood has got you covered. So stuff a couple snacks in your pockets and head on down to the cinema!
Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day First priority for most comedy lovers this weekend will be the release of Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to liquor day. Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are back up to no good in the exciting conclusion of the Trailer Park Boys franchise!
Julian, Bubbles & Ricky in Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day
The boys are about to get out of jail, and this time, Julian vows to go straight, even open a legit business. Soon the Boys will all be rich. At least that’s what they’ve told the parole board.
Whether you’re in for a good laugh, cry or scare, Hollywood has got you covered. So stuff a couple snacks in your pockets and head on down to the cinema!
Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day First priority for most comedy lovers this weekend will be the release of Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to liquor day. Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are back up to no good in the exciting conclusion of the Trailer Park Boys franchise!
Julian, Bubbles & Ricky in Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day
The boys are about to get out of jail, and this time, Julian vows to go straight, even open a legit business. Soon the Boys will all be rich. At least that’s what they’ve told the parole board.
- 9/25/2009
- by Shannon
- MovieSet.com
American audiences first became aware of French actress Audrey Tautou when she played the title role in the 2001 international hit film Amelia. She returned to the spot light in 2006 starring opposite Oscar winner Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's adaptation of the extremely successful book The Da Vinci Code. This week, the talented actress graces American screens once again as the legendary French fashion designer, Coco Chanel, in Coco Before Chanel. We had the opportunity to speak with Audrey Tautou and the film's director, Anne Fontaine, about the new biopic, which opens in limited release on September 25th. To watch our exclusive video interviews, click on the clips below:
Where many film biographies focus on the events that made someone famous or important, Coco Before Chanel focuses on the events that happened early in Chanel's life that led her to eventually become the household name we know her as today.
Where many film biographies focus on the events that made someone famous or important, Coco Before Chanel focuses on the events that happened early in Chanel's life that led her to eventually become the household name we know her as today.
- 9/24/2009
- MovieWeb
Opening across North America September 25, Sony Pictures Classics' Coco Before Chanel (aka Coco Avant Chanel), is the 2009 France-produced feature directed by Anne "The Girl From Monaco" Fontaine, focusing on the life of fashion designer Coco Chanel. Cast includes actors Benoît Poelvoorde as 'Étienne Balsan', Alessandro Nivola as 'Arthur Capel', Marie Gillain as 'Adrienne Chanel' and Emmanuelle Devos as 'Emilienne d'Alençon'. Premise of the film follows 'Gabrielle' "Coco" Chanel, who goes from rags to riches to become a symbol of freedom, taste and style for modern women. The production was given the support of the Maison Chanel, who opened their archives and collections.
- 9/7/2009
- HollywoodNorthReport.com
We have new clips in from Sony Pictures Classics' "Coco Before Chanel," starring Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos, Régis Royer, Etienne Bartholomeus, Yan Duffas, Fabien Béhar and Roch Leibovici. The story of tells of Coco Chanel and her rise to power in the fashion world. Opens in limited areas on September 25th. Anne Fontaine directs the film and writes alongside and Camille Fontaine based on the book by Edmonde Charles-Roux. The French title of the film is Coco avant Chanel.
- 8/27/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
“Coco Before Chanel” (”Coco Avant Chanel“) is a biopic of celebrated French fashion designer designer Coco Chanel which stars Audrey Tautou.
Audrey Tautou plays Gabrielle Chanel, known as Coco, before she became famous. The movie also stars Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos and Benoît Poelvoorde.
Take a look some new posters for the movie below. If you haven’t seen “Coco Before Chanel” trailer yet, check it out here.
In an orphanage, silently standing next to a perfectly made bed, is a frail and slender ten year old girl with thick black hair. Gabrielle Chanel, known as Coco, and her many lives. The story of the path taken by Coco from her obscure beginnings to the blinding lights of Paris.
The movie is based on book by Edmonde Charles-Roux “L’irreguliere” (”The Nonconformist”).
Anne Fontaine – directed adaptation of “L’irreguliere” focuses on Chanel’s early years. Fontaine co-wrote the...
Audrey Tautou plays Gabrielle Chanel, known as Coco, before she became famous. The movie also stars Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos and Benoît Poelvoorde.
Take a look some new posters for the movie below. If you haven’t seen “Coco Before Chanel” trailer yet, check it out here.
In an orphanage, silently standing next to a perfectly made bed, is a frail and slender ten year old girl with thick black hair. Gabrielle Chanel, known as Coco, and her many lives. The story of the path taken by Coco from her obscure beginnings to the blinding lights of Paris.
The movie is based on book by Edmonde Charles-Roux “L’irreguliere” (”The Nonconformist”).
Anne Fontaine – directed adaptation of “L’irreguliere” focuses on Chanel’s early years. Fontaine co-wrote the...
- 8/11/2009
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
See the trailer for Sony Pictures Classics' "Coco Before Chanel" (a.k.a. "Coco avant Chanel"), starring Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos, Régis Royer, Etienne Bartholomeus, Yan Duffas, Fabien Béhar and Roch Leibovici. The story of Coco Chanel and her rise to power in the fashion world. Written by Anne Fontaine and Camille Fontaine based on the book by Edmonde Charles-Roux. The film opens on September 25th in limited locations.
- 7/6/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Coco Chanel had quite a life, but you’ll only find the prologue to it here. Coco Avant Chanel; (Coco before Chanel), deals with the fashion designer’s early years, before she became an institution and a legend.
As a child, Chanel was deposited in a Catholic orphanage by her father. With one of her sisters (Marie Gillain), she worked as a seamstress and did cabaret acts at night.
With the help of the wealthy, well-connected Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde), Chanel started to find a place for herself. Another wealthy admirer, Arthur “Boy” Capel (Alessandro Nivola), a self-made Englishman, also became a lover and supporter.
She began by designing hats, and then started to extend herself, remaking the idea of what defines masculine and feminine style. She was her own best model.
Audrey Tautou who is best known for her cute and extremely lovable character in ‘Amelie’ takes on the...
As a child, Chanel was deposited in a Catholic orphanage by her father. With one of her sisters (Marie Gillain), she worked as a seamstress and did cabaret acts at night.
With the help of the wealthy, well-connected Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde), Chanel started to find a place for herself. Another wealthy admirer, Arthur “Boy” Capel (Alessandro Nivola), a self-made Englishman, also became a lover and supporter.
She began by designing hats, and then started to extend herself, remaking the idea of what defines masculine and feminine style. She was her own best model.
Audrey Tautou who is best known for her cute and extremely lovable character in ‘Amelie’ takes on the...
- 6/30/2009
- by Jamie Sharp
- FilmShaft.com
The Telegraph has got a hold on an exclusive U.K. teaser trailer of "Coco Before Chanel" and has shared it for viewing pleasure. Opened to a quote from Coco Chanel herself which is read, "Fashion passes, style remains", the less than two minutes video highlights on the journey of this celebrated French fashion designer from her humble beginnings to the heights of society.
Exposing Coco's early life as the young Gabrielle Chanel, the trailer displays her working with a sewing machine before showing that her singing ambitions lead her to a cabaret club where she catches the eye of several high society gentlemen. It then cuts to the scenes of high society's life which she takes part of and gives out how she differentiates herself from any other women in her time.
From director Anne Fontaine, "Coco Before Chanel" stars "The Da Vinci Code" beauty Audrey Tautou as the title character.
Exposing Coco's early life as the young Gabrielle Chanel, the trailer displays her working with a sewing machine before showing that her singing ambitions lead her to a cabaret club where she catches the eye of several high society gentlemen. It then cuts to the scenes of high society's life which she takes part of and gives out how she differentiates herself from any other women in her time.
From director Anne Fontaine, "Coco Before Chanel" stars "The Da Vinci Code" beauty Audrey Tautou as the title character.
- 6/17/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
The legendary Coco Chanel revolutionised women's lives by introducing them to the joys of the trouser suit and the little black dress. And now a film biopic, Coco Avant Chanel, hopes to introduce us to the woman behind the quilted handbag - and the first pics from the film, with Audrey Tautou in the starring role, are online.Director Anne Fontaine (who had been taking a hiatus from direction in favour of screenwriting for the past decade) picked up the directing reins from original appointee Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and has opted to steer clear of his quirky stylings in favour of what looks to be a swish costume drama. Fontaine also adapted the story for the screen, from a book written by Edmonde Charles-Roux. Click the image above larger version on ComingSoon.netLooking not a little like a high-budget House Of Eliott, the film co-stars Alessandro Nivola (Goal!) and Female Agents' Marie Gillain.
- 1/5/2009
- EmpireOnline
The first images from Coco avant Chanel are now online, courstey of The Bad and Ugly. The pics give us a first look at Audrey Tautou as Chanel, the celebrated fashion designer. The biopic also stars Alessandro Nivola, Alessandro Nivola, Emmanuelle Devos and Marie Gillain. It’s due in theaters later this year and was directed by Anne Fontaine, who also co-wrote the screenplay, based on the Chanel biography "L'Irreguliere" (The Nonconformist) by Edmonde Charles-Roux, with Camille Fontaine, Christopher Hampton and Anne Wiazemsky. The Bad and Ugly has a couple more images and you can check them out by clicking below.
- 1/5/2009
- by James Cook
- TheMovingPicture.net
Les Femmes de l'Ombre
PARIS -- Jean-Paul Salome's "Les Femmes de l'Ombre" (Female Agents) doesn't pretend to be much more than an old-fashioned action flick with a feminist slant. Unashamedly targeting popular audiences, the movie boasts high production values and packs sufficient star-power to appeal broadly in both home and foreign markets.
The pitch is an all-woman commando unit parachuted into occupied France in May 1944 to rescue a British agent captured while reconnoitering the terrain ahead of the Normandy landings. Resistance fighter Louise (Sophie Marceau) heads up a team that includes feisty prostitute Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), good-time cabaret artiste Suzy (Marie Gillain) and nervous explosives expert Gaelle (Deborah Francois), patriots one and all.
Linking up with radio operator Maria Maya Sansa) already in situ, they get the job done in double-quick time. Then they are charged by their London controllers with a follow-up mission to kill Karl Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), head of German military intelligence, who they fear may have correctly deduced the location of the pending Allied landings. Louise's brother Pierre Julien Boisselier) is captured, as is Gaelle. The female agents launch an assassination attempt in a Metro station. It fails, and one of them is killed as a result.
There are torture scenes and seductions. Salome papers over the numerous gaps and implausibilities in the plot by keeping the action moving along at breakneck speed, leaving little time for reflection. The hardest part of the film, according to Salome, was "making it as realistic as possible while providing plenty of glamour." Glamour clearly won out over realism since the spectator is left to wonder at how the heroines remain so impeccably groomed and maintain such a well-stocked wardrobe, while on the run in penury-ridden Paris.
Louise is portrayed as wanting above all to raise a family, and each of the agents is given a defining human quality -- one her Catholic faith, another her desire to avenge her murdered Jewish parents, and so on. The characterization is perfunctory, however. Most of the stock figures from wartime resistance movies are present, with only Bleibtreu as the troubled but duty-bound German officer hinting at anything original.
Technically the movie is spot on with the reconstructions of occupied Paris a strong point. Salome directs with conviction and despite its simplicities -- or perhaps, in its depiction of an age when wars had a clear beginning and end, because of them -- these female agents is likely to carry audiences with it.
LES FEMME DE L'OMBRE
La Chauve-Souris, Restons Groupes Productions
Sales Agent: TF1 International
Credits:
Director: Jean-Paul Salome
Writers: Jean-Paul Salome, Laurent Vachaud
Director of photography: Pascal Ridao
Producer: Eric Neve
Executive producer: Nora Salhi
Production designer: Francois Dupertuis
Music: Bruno Coulais
Costume designer: Pierre-Jean Larroque
Editor: Marie-Pierre Renaud
Cast:
Louise Desfontaines: Sophie Marceau
Jeanne Faussier: Julie Depardieu
Suzy Desprez: Marie Gillain
Gaelle Lemenech: Deborah Francois
Karl Heindrich: Moritz Bleibreu
Maria Luzzato: Maya Sansa
Pierre Desfontaines: Julien Boisselier
Eddy: Vincent Rottiers
Lt. Becker: Volker Bruch
Melchior: Robin Renucci
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The pitch is an all-woman commando unit parachuted into occupied France in May 1944 to rescue a British agent captured while reconnoitering the terrain ahead of the Normandy landings. Resistance fighter Louise (Sophie Marceau) heads up a team that includes feisty prostitute Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), good-time cabaret artiste Suzy (Marie Gillain) and nervous explosives expert Gaelle (Deborah Francois), patriots one and all.
Linking up with radio operator Maria Maya Sansa) already in situ, they get the job done in double-quick time. Then they are charged by their London controllers with a follow-up mission to kill Karl Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), head of German military intelligence, who they fear may have correctly deduced the location of the pending Allied landings. Louise's brother Pierre Julien Boisselier) is captured, as is Gaelle. The female agents launch an assassination attempt in a Metro station. It fails, and one of them is killed as a result.
There are torture scenes and seductions. Salome papers over the numerous gaps and implausibilities in the plot by keeping the action moving along at breakneck speed, leaving little time for reflection. The hardest part of the film, according to Salome, was "making it as realistic as possible while providing plenty of glamour." Glamour clearly won out over realism since the spectator is left to wonder at how the heroines remain so impeccably groomed and maintain such a well-stocked wardrobe, while on the run in penury-ridden Paris.
Louise is portrayed as wanting above all to raise a family, and each of the agents is given a defining human quality -- one her Catholic faith, another her desire to avenge her murdered Jewish parents, and so on. The characterization is perfunctory, however. Most of the stock figures from wartime resistance movies are present, with only Bleibtreu as the troubled but duty-bound German officer hinting at anything original.
Technically the movie is spot on with the reconstructions of occupied Paris a strong point. Salome directs with conviction and despite its simplicities -- or perhaps, in its depiction of an age when wars had a clear beginning and end, because of them -- these female agents is likely to carry audiences with it.
LES FEMME DE L'OMBRE
La Chauve-Souris, Restons Groupes Productions
Sales Agent: TF1 International
Credits:
Director: Jean-Paul Salome
Writers: Jean-Paul Salome, Laurent Vachaud
Director of photography: Pascal Ridao
Producer: Eric Neve
Executive producer: Nora Salhi
Production designer: Francois Dupertuis
Music: Bruno Coulais
Costume designer: Pierre-Jean Larroque
Editor: Marie-Pierre Renaud
Cast:
Louise Desfontaines: Sophie Marceau
Jeanne Faussier: Julie Depardieu
Suzy Desprez: Marie Gillain
Gaelle Lemenech: Deborah Francois
Karl Heindrich: Moritz Bleibreu
Maria Luzzato: Maya Sansa
Pierre Desfontaines: Julien Boisselier
Eddy: Vincent Rottiers
Lt. Becker: Volker Bruch
Melchior: Robin Renucci
Running time -- 118 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/17/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
My Life Is Not a Romantic Comedy (Ma vie n'est pas une comedie romantique)
PARIS -- Romantic comedy is clearly identified worldwide as an all-American genre. Ma vie n'est pas une comedie romantique is a French attempt to add a Gallic touch to the recipe. It works out quite well. In fact, the debut feature by Marc Gibaja quotes openly some successes of the '80s and '90s, such as When Harry Met Sally or Sleepless in Seattle. But the adaptation to the French environment undoubtedly adds a cynical touch and cold humor to the romance.
An eloquent example of the characterization of a classical situation is how and where the two characters meet: at the supermarket, in front of the toilet paper. This awkward setting -- chosen to illustrate the French poster -- clearly states the film is not always going to be of the finest taste. Some sequences, especially those involving the hero's best friend, a fat guy working as a videogame tester who keeps eating potato chips, are borderline gross humor. Overall the film is really funny, which could, together with the interest worldwide audiences have for the genre, open markets to this low-key movie.
After the opening sequence in which Thomas is dumped by his girlfriend, the film, like every good romantic comedy, really gets started when the two characters meet. So there he is meeting Florence, an old and forgotten friend from school, who invites her for dinner in the splendid house her husband is so proud of. Thomas makes a mess during dinner, and causes a separation between the spouses. It will take the whole movie for Thomas and Florence to understand they were made for each other.
The directing is not particularly remarkable except for the funny documentary-like New York based sequences of the end credits. Mostly, the film relies on terrific actors' performances. Good news: Gilles Lellouche and Marie Gillain are at their best. Lellouche has somehow become the new ordinary face of commercial French cinema, alternating villain parts in thrillers (Tell No One) and supporting roles in big productions (Paris, Family Hero). He obviously took a lot of pleasure in portraying a loser who will be saved by love. The sequence in which he sings Sinatra's "Let's Fall in Love" is a must-see. Marie Gillain has the freshness of her sparkling eyes. She is astonishing in avoiding cliches as the model wife torn between her newly born love and the voice of wisdom.
With its homage sequences on the edge of pastiche (such as a walk in the forest on a ground covered with autumn leaves), its omnipresent jazzy music and its conscientious respect of all the codes of romantic comedies, My Life proves some American formulas are better exported than others.
MY LIFE IS NOT A ROMANTIC COMEDY
Agat Films & Cie, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Marc Gibaja
Writers: Marc Gibaja, Laurent Sarfati
Producer: Nicolas Blanc
Director of photography: Gilles Porte
Production designer: Severine Baehrel
Costume designers: Chouchane Abello-Tcherpachian, Cecile Dulac, Claire Begin
Editors: Sabine Emiliani
Music: Vincent Courtois
Cast:
Thomas Walkowic: Gilles Lellouche
Florence Baron: Marie Gillain
Gros Bill: Laurent Ournac
Lisa: Stephanie Sokolinski
Pascal: Philippe Lefebvre
Secretaire Super Gamer: Frederique Bel
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
An eloquent example of the characterization of a classical situation is how and where the two characters meet: at the supermarket, in front of the toilet paper. This awkward setting -- chosen to illustrate the French poster -- clearly states the film is not always going to be of the finest taste. Some sequences, especially those involving the hero's best friend, a fat guy working as a videogame tester who keeps eating potato chips, are borderline gross humor. Overall the film is really funny, which could, together with the interest worldwide audiences have for the genre, open markets to this low-key movie.
After the opening sequence in which Thomas is dumped by his girlfriend, the film, like every good romantic comedy, really gets started when the two characters meet. So there he is meeting Florence, an old and forgotten friend from school, who invites her for dinner in the splendid house her husband is so proud of. Thomas makes a mess during dinner, and causes a separation between the spouses. It will take the whole movie for Thomas and Florence to understand they were made for each other.
The directing is not particularly remarkable except for the funny documentary-like New York based sequences of the end credits. Mostly, the film relies on terrific actors' performances. Good news: Gilles Lellouche and Marie Gillain are at their best. Lellouche has somehow become the new ordinary face of commercial French cinema, alternating villain parts in thrillers (Tell No One) and supporting roles in big productions (Paris, Family Hero). He obviously took a lot of pleasure in portraying a loser who will be saved by love. The sequence in which he sings Sinatra's "Let's Fall in Love" is a must-see. Marie Gillain has the freshness of her sparkling eyes. She is astonishing in avoiding cliches as the model wife torn between her newly born love and the voice of wisdom.
With its homage sequences on the edge of pastiche (such as a walk in the forest on a ground covered with autumn leaves), its omnipresent jazzy music and its conscientious respect of all the codes of romantic comedies, My Life proves some American formulas are better exported than others.
MY LIFE IS NOT A ROMANTIC COMEDY
Agat Films & Cie, France 3 Cinema, StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Marc Gibaja
Writers: Marc Gibaja, Laurent Sarfati
Producer: Nicolas Blanc
Director of photography: Gilles Porte
Production designer: Severine Baehrel
Costume designers: Chouchane Abello-Tcherpachian, Cecile Dulac, Claire Begin
Editors: Sabine Emiliani
Music: Vincent Courtois
Cast:
Thomas Walkowic: Gilles Lellouche
Florence Baron: Marie Gillain
Gros Bill: Laurent Ournac
Lisa: Stephanie Sokolinski
Pascal: Philippe Lefebvre
Secretaire Super Gamer: Frederique Bel
Running time -- 92 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/7/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Key
PARIS -- The huge local success last year of Tell No One has encouraged French filmmakers to develop more thriller projects.
Guillaume Nicloux, already known for peculiar crime stories (such as Le Poulpe in 1998 and A Private Affair in 2002) offers the very actor-director of Tell No One -- Guillaume Canet -- the main part in this gloomy film that navigates among the codes of film noir, detective story and family drama. The impressive cast, bringing together famous French actors of various generations as well as the father-and-son couple of Tell No One, could open European markets to the film, but U.S. distribution is uncertain.
The Key focuses on Eric (Canet), a young man in his 30s whose lovely wife (Marie Gillain) wants a baby. As he never knew his father, Eric is reluctant to become one. But it just happens that his father enters his life unexpectedly when a man calls to announce his death. The voice also asks Eric to come by and collect his father's ashes. It's the beginning of a nightmare for the young man, drawn into a situation involving thieves, a network of drug dealers and untold secrets going back to his father's youth and his own birth.
Two layers of time intertwine: The contemporary crime story alternates with a long flashback explaining the source of the trouble Eric has gotten into. The past story, set in the 1970s, involves physical and moral violence, which gives the whole film a sordid atmosphere.
Nicloux certainly can create ambiance: The desolate landscapes with the use of close-ups, the camera always moving and an imaginative supporting cast stir audience interest. But the story lurches in too many directions, and the secrets behind the crimes become too obvious and just not that intriguing.
Only the cast justifies watching The Key. Canet has never been very expressive -- he seems satisfied with his physical engagement in films -- but the two female leads, Gillain and Vanessa Paradis, deliver subtle performances. Behind her character's apparent gentleness, Gillain reveals the hidden wounds of a perfect housewife. Paradis enjoys one of her best roles as a fragile and moving junkie whose path crosses that of Eric.
Josiane Balasko and Thierry Lhermitte play two characters they have impersonated in previous films by Nicloux: Balasko is the same depressed cop as in Hanging Offense (2003), while Lhermitte adds the final touch to the private eye of A Private Affair. Both bring a melancholic touch to an otherwise curt film. As for Jean Rochefort, he is as brilliant as ever, obviously taking much pleasure in playing a pure villain.
THE KEY
Les Films de la Suane, M6 Films, Mandarin Films
Credits:
Director: Guillaume Nicloux
Screenwriters: Pierre Trividic, Guillaume Nicloux
Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Frederic Bourboulon
Director of photography: Christophe Offenstein
Production designer: Olivier Radot
Costume designer: Anais Romand
Editor: Guy Lecorne
Cast:
Eric Vincent: Guillaume Canet
Audrey: Marie Gillain
Cecile: Vanessa Paradis
Michele Varin: Josiane Balasko
Francois Maneri: Thierry Lhermitte
Joseph Arp: Jean Rochefort
Running time -- 115 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Guillaume Nicloux, already known for peculiar crime stories (such as Le Poulpe in 1998 and A Private Affair in 2002) offers the very actor-director of Tell No One -- Guillaume Canet -- the main part in this gloomy film that navigates among the codes of film noir, detective story and family drama. The impressive cast, bringing together famous French actors of various generations as well as the father-and-son couple of Tell No One, could open European markets to the film, but U.S. distribution is uncertain.
The Key focuses on Eric (Canet), a young man in his 30s whose lovely wife (Marie Gillain) wants a baby. As he never knew his father, Eric is reluctant to become one. But it just happens that his father enters his life unexpectedly when a man calls to announce his death. The voice also asks Eric to come by and collect his father's ashes. It's the beginning of a nightmare for the young man, drawn into a situation involving thieves, a network of drug dealers and untold secrets going back to his father's youth and his own birth.
Two layers of time intertwine: The contemporary crime story alternates with a long flashback explaining the source of the trouble Eric has gotten into. The past story, set in the 1970s, involves physical and moral violence, which gives the whole film a sordid atmosphere.
Nicloux certainly can create ambiance: The desolate landscapes with the use of close-ups, the camera always moving and an imaginative supporting cast stir audience interest. But the story lurches in too many directions, and the secrets behind the crimes become too obvious and just not that intriguing.
Only the cast justifies watching The Key. Canet has never been very expressive -- he seems satisfied with his physical engagement in films -- but the two female leads, Gillain and Vanessa Paradis, deliver subtle performances. Behind her character's apparent gentleness, Gillain reveals the hidden wounds of a perfect housewife. Paradis enjoys one of her best roles as a fragile and moving junkie whose path crosses that of Eric.
Josiane Balasko and Thierry Lhermitte play two characters they have impersonated in previous films by Nicloux: Balasko is the same depressed cop as in Hanging Offense (2003), while Lhermitte adds the final touch to the private eye of A Private Affair. Both bring a melancholic touch to an otherwise curt film. As for Jean Rochefort, he is as brilliant as ever, obviously taking much pleasure in playing a pure villain.
THE KEY
Les Films de la Suane, M6 Films, Mandarin Films
Credits:
Director: Guillaume Nicloux
Screenwriters: Pierre Trividic, Guillaume Nicloux
Producers: Philippe Rousselet, Frederic Bourboulon
Director of photography: Christophe Offenstein
Production designer: Olivier Radot
Costume designer: Anais Romand
Editor: Guy Lecorne
Cast:
Eric Vincent: Guillaume Canet
Audrey: Marie Gillain
Cecile: Vanessa Paradis
Michele Varin: Josiane Balasko
Francois Maneri: Thierry Lhermitte
Joseph Arp: Jean Rochefort
Running time -- 115 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/3/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paramount taps 'Magique!' for French prod'n
PARIS -- Paramount has picked the first title to be produced under its Paramount Pictures France label, musical comedy "Magique!"
Directed by Philippe Muyl and starring Marie Gillain, Antoine Dulery and singer Cali, the film will be the first of the 3-5 projects Paramount is planning to produce each year in Gaul.
The €6.8 million ($9.6 million) film is being co-produced by Pan-Europeenne and Canada's Remstar, with Gallic pay TV network TPS Star contributing. Paramount has theatrical and DVD distribution rights in France, while Wild Bunch will handle international sales including the U.S.
Paramount is hoping to establish relationships with local producers with investments in co-productions ranging from €500,000-€10 million ($700,000-$14 million).
"This will allow Paramount to create preferential ties with the French production community," said Paramount France's director of acquisitions and co-productions Karen Adler. "I hope we're successful because that will allow the studio to do the same thing in other territories."
Set for a release during the last third of 2008, the movie, set in the circus world, will feature songs written by Philippe Muyl and composed by Cali.
Directed by Philippe Muyl and starring Marie Gillain, Antoine Dulery and singer Cali, the film will be the first of the 3-5 projects Paramount is planning to produce each year in Gaul.
The €6.8 million ($9.6 million) film is being co-produced by Pan-Europeenne and Canada's Remstar, with Gallic pay TV network TPS Star contributing. Paramount has theatrical and DVD distribution rights in France, while Wild Bunch will handle international sales including the U.S.
Paramount is hoping to establish relationships with local producers with investments in co-productions ranging from €500,000-€10 million ($700,000-$14 million).
"This will allow Paramount to create preferential ties with the French production community," said Paramount France's director of acquisitions and co-productions Karen Adler. "I hope we're successful because that will allow the studio to do the same thing in other territories."
Set for a release during the last third of 2008, the movie, set in the circus world, will feature songs written by Philippe Muyl and composed by Cali.
- 9/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
'L'Enfer' ("Hell")
Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO - Danis Tanovic's Oscar-winning "No Man's Land" demonstrated a fondness for allegory and his second feature, "L'Enfer" ("Hell"), draws upon Greek mythology, Euripides' "Medea" and the interplay of destiny and coincidence. But for all its literary references, the thing certainly looks like a shallow though slick French melodrama. Make no mistake though, it is slick: It has a cast that sparkles, razor-sharp editing, romantic Parisian locales and lively, provocative dialogue.
So the film will probably divide audiences. Some will see an elaborate jigsaw puzzle that when put together doesn't add up to much of a picture. Others will find intellectual vitality in its musings on fate vs. coincidence, tragedy vs. drama. Tanovic's Oscar no doubt guarantees a North American release, but boxoffice in specialty venues will be modest.
The film is based on a script Polish filmmaker Krysztof Kieslowski and his longtime screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz designed before Kieslowski's death. It was intended as the second film of a "Heaven-Hell-Purgatory" trilogy based loosely on Dante's "Inferno". The first, "Heaven", was shot by Tom Tykwer.
The movie opens with an enigmatic flashback that forewarns us of a traumatic event that took place in the distant past. In the present, all the characters we meet in the early sequences are certainly in hell. The question is what shaped these individual hells - tragedy or something more modern, more existential, something that we might call coincidence or accident?
Three estranged sisters barely cope with their individual predicaments. Only one, Celine (Karin Viard), pays regular visits to their severely handicapped mother (Carole Bouquet, looking lost under a bad wig and neck brace) in a country hospital. Celine is ambivalent about her particular problem. She seems to have attracted a shy though handsome stalker (Guillaume Canet). A shy person herself, she nevertheless tries to encourage him.
Meanwhile, circumstances have turned the other two sisters into full-fledged stalkers. Sophie (Emmanuelle Beart) tails her photographer-husband (Jacques Gamblin) until she has determined he is having an affair. She both hates and revels in her humiliation as she literally seeks to increase her anguish.
Anne (Marie Gillain) shadows and continually disrupts the life of the lover who dumped her. He's an older professor (Jacques Perrin) of Greek classical literature, thus all the talk of "Medea" and destiny arises naturally in the story.
Each melodrama plays out amid an overenthusiastic musical soundtrack (by Tanovic and Dusko Segvic), many tears, recriminations and quarrels, then finally a shattering revelation by Celine's "stalker," whose intentions she completely misjudged.
The man wants to unburden himself of a long held guilt that relates to the sisters' mother and father. Ah-hah, so that guy we saw getting out of prison at the beginning of the movie was their father. And that past tragedy, we are asked to believe, informs and directs the action in each subplot involving the sisters. They were, in other words, pre-conditioned to those roles by the conflict between mom and dad.
Beart, one of the great beauties of French cinema, manages to be both sensual and miserable at the same time. Viard makes Celine the most poignant and compelling of the three women, as she seems genuinely afraid of the world around her. Gillain's character is too willful and spoiled to evoke much sympathy but she makes the woman's deep despair palpable.
Cinematography, editing and decor all are superb in depicting a bourgeois Paris where everyone can live a wretched existence in comfort.
L'ENFER
A.S.A.P. Films/S.A.R.L./Sintra s.r.l./Man's Films Productions/Bitters End
Credits:
Director: Danis Tanovic
Writer: Krysztof Piesiewicz
Producers: Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet
Director of photography: Laurent Dailland
Production designer: Aline Bonetto
Costumes: Caroline di Vivaire
Music: Dusko Segvic, Danis Tavovic
Editor: Francesca Calvelli.
Cast:
Sophie: Emmanuelle Beart
Celine: Karin Viard, Anne: Marie Gillain, Mother: Carole Bouquet
Pierre: Jacques Gamblin
Sebastien: Guillaume Canet
Frederic: Jacques Perrin
Louis: Jean Rochefort
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 101 minutes...
TORONTO - Danis Tanovic's Oscar-winning "No Man's Land" demonstrated a fondness for allegory and his second feature, "L'Enfer" ("Hell"), draws upon Greek mythology, Euripides' "Medea" and the interplay of destiny and coincidence. But for all its literary references, the thing certainly looks like a shallow though slick French melodrama. Make no mistake though, it is slick: It has a cast that sparkles, razor-sharp editing, romantic Parisian locales and lively, provocative dialogue.
So the film will probably divide audiences. Some will see an elaborate jigsaw puzzle that when put together doesn't add up to much of a picture. Others will find intellectual vitality in its musings on fate vs. coincidence, tragedy vs. drama. Tanovic's Oscar no doubt guarantees a North American release, but boxoffice in specialty venues will be modest.
The film is based on a script Polish filmmaker Krysztof Kieslowski and his longtime screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz designed before Kieslowski's death. It was intended as the second film of a "Heaven-Hell-Purgatory" trilogy based loosely on Dante's "Inferno". The first, "Heaven", was shot by Tom Tykwer.
The movie opens with an enigmatic flashback that forewarns us of a traumatic event that took place in the distant past. In the present, all the characters we meet in the early sequences are certainly in hell. The question is what shaped these individual hells - tragedy or something more modern, more existential, something that we might call coincidence or accident?
Three estranged sisters barely cope with their individual predicaments. Only one, Celine (Karin Viard), pays regular visits to their severely handicapped mother (Carole Bouquet, looking lost under a bad wig and neck brace) in a country hospital. Celine is ambivalent about her particular problem. She seems to have attracted a shy though handsome stalker (Guillaume Canet). A shy person herself, she nevertheless tries to encourage him.
Meanwhile, circumstances have turned the other two sisters into full-fledged stalkers. Sophie (Emmanuelle Beart) tails her photographer-husband (Jacques Gamblin) until she has determined he is having an affair. She both hates and revels in her humiliation as she literally seeks to increase her anguish.
Anne (Marie Gillain) shadows and continually disrupts the life of the lover who dumped her. He's an older professor (Jacques Perrin) of Greek classical literature, thus all the talk of "Medea" and destiny arises naturally in the story.
Each melodrama plays out amid an overenthusiastic musical soundtrack (by Tanovic and Dusko Segvic), many tears, recriminations and quarrels, then finally a shattering revelation by Celine's "stalker," whose intentions she completely misjudged.
The man wants to unburden himself of a long held guilt that relates to the sisters' mother and father. Ah-hah, so that guy we saw getting out of prison at the beginning of the movie was their father. And that past tragedy, we are asked to believe, informs and directs the action in each subplot involving the sisters. They were, in other words, pre-conditioned to those roles by the conflict between mom and dad.
Beart, one of the great beauties of French cinema, manages to be both sensual and miserable at the same time. Viard makes Celine the most poignant and compelling of the three women, as she seems genuinely afraid of the world around her. Gillain's character is too willful and spoiled to evoke much sympathy but she makes the woman's deep despair palpable.
Cinematography, editing and decor all are superb in depicting a bourgeois Paris where everyone can live a wretched existence in comfort.
L'ENFER
A.S.A.P. Films/S.A.R.L./Sintra s.r.l./Man's Films Productions/Bitters End
Credits:
Director: Danis Tanovic
Writer: Krysztof Piesiewicz
Producers: Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet
Director of photography: Laurent Dailland
Production designer: Aline Bonetto
Costumes: Caroline di Vivaire
Music: Dusko Segvic, Danis Tavovic
Editor: Francesca Calvelli.
Cast:
Sophie: Emmanuelle Beart
Celine: Karin Viard, Anne: Marie Gillain, Mother: Carole Bouquet
Pierre: Jacques Gamblin
Sebastien: Guillaume Canet
Frederic: Jacques Perrin
Louis: Jean Rochefort
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 101 minutes...
- 9/9/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Absolutely Fabulous
Aficionados of the TV series can only shake their heads in disbelief at the way "Absolutely Fabulous" has been transposed to the big screen in France. The movie has all the outward appearances of the original concept but none of its scathing wit and cruel humor.
Nor has headlining two of France's most popular actresses stopped the movie from fizzling at the boxoffice. It had fewer than 94,500 admissions on its first day.
"Absolutely Fabulous" follows the erstwhile Eddie Mousson (Josiane Balasko) and best friend Patsy (Nathalie Baye) as they stagger through their daily regime of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Eddie and Patsy have been best Friends Forever. They revolted together in '68, burned their bras at Woodstock and partied all summer in Ibiza. Now they are approaching their 50s, living in grotesque splendor in Paris.
Along the way, Eddie had a daughter, Safrane (Marie Gillain), who is a bitter disappointment to her mother: She's intelligent, anti-drink, anti-drugs and a virgin. It's this role reversal that provides the motor for the movie's comedy.
When Eddie and Patsy take their outrageous behavior just that little bit too far, Safrane is there to clear up the mess. In a very simplistic and heavy-handed fashion, director Gabriel Aghion gives us a series of sketches where the two main characters endlessly repeat the same mode of behavior. They drink champagne, snort drugs, wear frighteningly offensive clothes and try to have sex with any man who wanders into their field of vision. And always, but always, Safrane is there in the background, disapproval oozing from every pore.
Once or twice, it could be funny. Any more times and it's, well, depressing.
Perhaps the worst crime committed against the original series is to give the French Eddie a conscience. Much of the original humor stemmed from the fact that Eddie -- and Patsy -- are completely without scruples. They will step over anything and anyone to get what they want. So why does Eddie moan to Patsy that deep down she feels that she has failed as a mother?
Balasko plays Eddie at full speed. She's a cartoon character -- all grand gestures, shrieking hysteria and loud clothes. Baye plays a much more subtle Patsy. True, she's still an overblown vamp, but Baye manages to suggest a woman for whom the attractions of a life of excess are wearing thin.
Cameo roles abound -- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Gauthier and the original Eddie herself, Jennifer Saunders, all turn up. It makes you wonder how they feel to be in a movie that might more aptly be titled "Absolutely Disastrous".
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
Josy Films, Mosca Films,
Sans Contrefa...
Nor has headlining two of France's most popular actresses stopped the movie from fizzling at the boxoffice. It had fewer than 94,500 admissions on its first day.
"Absolutely Fabulous" follows the erstwhile Eddie Mousson (Josiane Balasko) and best friend Patsy (Nathalie Baye) as they stagger through their daily regime of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Eddie and Patsy have been best Friends Forever. They revolted together in '68, burned their bras at Woodstock and partied all summer in Ibiza. Now they are approaching their 50s, living in grotesque splendor in Paris.
Along the way, Eddie had a daughter, Safrane (Marie Gillain), who is a bitter disappointment to her mother: She's intelligent, anti-drink, anti-drugs and a virgin. It's this role reversal that provides the motor for the movie's comedy.
When Eddie and Patsy take their outrageous behavior just that little bit too far, Safrane is there to clear up the mess. In a very simplistic and heavy-handed fashion, director Gabriel Aghion gives us a series of sketches where the two main characters endlessly repeat the same mode of behavior. They drink champagne, snort drugs, wear frighteningly offensive clothes and try to have sex with any man who wanders into their field of vision. And always, but always, Safrane is there in the background, disapproval oozing from every pore.
Once or twice, it could be funny. Any more times and it's, well, depressing.
Perhaps the worst crime committed against the original series is to give the French Eddie a conscience. Much of the original humor stemmed from the fact that Eddie -- and Patsy -- are completely without scruples. They will step over anything and anyone to get what they want. So why does Eddie moan to Patsy that deep down she feels that she has failed as a mother?
Balasko plays Eddie at full speed. She's a cartoon character -- all grand gestures, shrieking hysteria and loud clothes. Baye plays a much more subtle Patsy. True, she's still an overblown vamp, but Baye manages to suggest a woman for whom the attractions of a life of excess are wearing thin.
Cameo roles abound -- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Gauthier and the original Eddie herself, Jennifer Saunders, all turn up. It makes you wonder how they feel to be in a movie that might more aptly be titled "Absolutely Disastrous".
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
Josy Films, Mosca Films,
Sans Contrefa...
- 7/8/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ni Pour, Ni Contre
Bac Films
PARIS -- For the follow-up to his highly successful "L'Auberge Espagnol", director Cedric Klapisch changes register to dive into the seedy world of Paris' criminal class with considerably less ease.
It appears the 15-30 age group that flocked in their thousands to "L'Auberge Espagnol" are giving this darker, more violent Klapisch a wide berth. The film has had more than 176,000 admissions so far.
"Ni Pour, Ni Contre" tracks the fall of a young TV camerawoman, Caty (Marie Gillain), after she becomes involved with a group of three aging petty criminals and their enigmatic leader, Jean (Vincent Elbaz). The gang lives hand-to-mouth until the day Jean plans a daring bank robbery. Although other gang members feel out of their league, Jean persuades them to take part. The robbery goes badly wrong, and Caty finds herself in a hellish world of betrayal, violence and murder.
Such a banal plot needs a cast of exceptional characters to bring it to life. Contemporary directors like Quentin Tarantino show how memorable personalities can be discovered in the most mundane situations. Klapisch's outlaws, however, never rise above the ordinary. Rather, they come across as swaggering adolescents. Full of macho posturing, they are amateurish and endlessly fascinated with the perks of the "job" -- powerful guns, fast cars, high-class prostitutes.
Caty's willingness to go along with this gang of thirtysomething juvenile delinquents beggars belief. Just why she does is never explored by Klapisch. A halfhearted love affair between her and Jean fails to ignite. The suggestion that she is new to Paris and lonely is hardly reason enough for the moral vacuum into which she falls.
Elbaz is highly credible as the charming rogue, but Gillain never gets her teeth into her role. She stumbles through the film looking lost and confused, a feeling the audience shares.
PARIS -- For the follow-up to his highly successful "L'Auberge Espagnol", director Cedric Klapisch changes register to dive into the seedy world of Paris' criminal class with considerably less ease.
It appears the 15-30 age group that flocked in their thousands to "L'Auberge Espagnol" are giving this darker, more violent Klapisch a wide berth. The film has had more than 176,000 admissions so far.
"Ni Pour, Ni Contre" tracks the fall of a young TV camerawoman, Caty (Marie Gillain), after she becomes involved with a group of three aging petty criminals and their enigmatic leader, Jean (Vincent Elbaz). The gang lives hand-to-mouth until the day Jean plans a daring bank robbery. Although other gang members feel out of their league, Jean persuades them to take part. The robbery goes badly wrong, and Caty finds herself in a hellish world of betrayal, violence and murder.
Such a banal plot needs a cast of exceptional characters to bring it to life. Contemporary directors like Quentin Tarantino show how memorable personalities can be discovered in the most mundane situations. Klapisch's outlaws, however, never rise above the ordinary. Rather, they come across as swaggering adolescents. Full of macho posturing, they are amateurish and endlessly fascinated with the perks of the "job" -- powerful guns, fast cars, high-class prostitutes.
Caty's willingness to go along with this gang of thirtysomething juvenile delinquents beggars belief. Just why she does is never explored by Klapisch. A halfhearted love affair between her and Jean fails to ignite. The suggestion that she is new to Paris and lonely is hardly reason enough for the moral vacuum into which she falls.
Elbaz is highly credible as the charming rogue, but Gillain never gets her teeth into her role. She stumbles through the film looking lost and confused, a feeling the audience shares.
- 3/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Absolutely Fabulous
Aficionados of the TV series can only shake their heads in disbelief at the way "Absolutely Fabulous" has been transposed to the big screen in France. The movie has all the outward appearances of the original concept but none of its scathing wit and cruel humor.
Nor has headlining two of France's most popular actresses stopped the movie from fizzling at the boxoffice. It had fewer than 94,500 admissions on its first day.
"Absolutely Fabulous" follows the erstwhile Eddie Mousson (Josiane Balasko) and best friend Patsy (Nathalie Baye) as they stagger through their daily regime of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Eddie and Patsy have been best Friends Forever. They revolted together in '68, burned their bras at Woodstock and partied all summer in Ibiza. Now they are approaching their 50s, living in grotesque splendor in Paris.
Along the way, Eddie had a daughter, Safrane (Marie Gillain), who is a bitter disappointment to her mother: She's intelligent, anti-drink, anti-drugs and a virgin. It's this role reversal that provides the motor for the movie's comedy.
When Eddie and Patsy take their outrageous behavior just that little bit too far, Safrane is there to clear up the mess. In a very simplistic and heavy-handed fashion, director Gabriel Aghion gives us a series of sketches where the two main characters endlessly repeat the same mode of behavior. They drink champagne, snort drugs, wear frighteningly offensive clothes and try to have sex with any man who wanders into their field of vision. And always, but always, Safrane is there in the background, disapproval oozing from every pore.
Once or twice, it could be funny. Any more times and it's, well, depressing.
Perhaps the worst crime committed against the original series is to give the French Eddie a conscience. Much of the original humor stemmed from the fact that Eddie -- and Patsy -- are completely without scruples. They will step over anything and anyone to get what they want. So why does Eddie moan to Patsy that deep down she feels that she has failed as a mother?
Balasko plays Eddie at full speed. She's a cartoon character -- all grand gestures, shrieking hysteria and loud clothes. Baye plays a much more subtle Patsy. True, she's still an overblown vamp, but Baye manages to suggest a woman for whom the attractions of a life of excess are wearing thin.
Cameo roles abound -- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Gauthier and the original Eddie herself, Jennifer Saunders, all turn up. It makes you wonder how they feel to be in a movie that might more aptly be titled "Absolutely Disastrous".
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
Josy Films, Mosca Films,
Sans Contrefa...
Nor has headlining two of France's most popular actresses stopped the movie from fizzling at the boxoffice. It had fewer than 94,500 admissions on its first day.
"Absolutely Fabulous" follows the erstwhile Eddie Mousson (Josiane Balasko) and best friend Patsy (Nathalie Baye) as they stagger through their daily regime of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Eddie and Patsy have been best Friends Forever. They revolted together in '68, burned their bras at Woodstock and partied all summer in Ibiza. Now they are approaching their 50s, living in grotesque splendor in Paris.
Along the way, Eddie had a daughter, Safrane (Marie Gillain), who is a bitter disappointment to her mother: She's intelligent, anti-drink, anti-drugs and a virgin. It's this role reversal that provides the motor for the movie's comedy.
When Eddie and Patsy take their outrageous behavior just that little bit too far, Safrane is there to clear up the mess. In a very simplistic and heavy-handed fashion, director Gabriel Aghion gives us a series of sketches where the two main characters endlessly repeat the same mode of behavior. They drink champagne, snort drugs, wear frighteningly offensive clothes and try to have sex with any man who wanders into their field of vision. And always, but always, Safrane is there in the background, disapproval oozing from every pore.
Once or twice, it could be funny. Any more times and it's, well, depressing.
Perhaps the worst crime committed against the original series is to give the French Eddie a conscience. Much of the original humor stemmed from the fact that Eddie -- and Patsy -- are completely without scruples. They will step over anything and anyone to get what they want. So why does Eddie moan to Patsy that deep down she feels that she has failed as a mother?
Balasko plays Eddie at full speed. She's a cartoon character -- all grand gestures, shrieking hysteria and loud clothes. Baye plays a much more subtle Patsy. True, she's still an overblown vamp, but Baye manages to suggest a woman for whom the attractions of a life of excess are wearing thin.
Cameo roles abound -- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Gauthier and the original Eddie herself, Jennifer Saunders, all turn up. It makes you wonder how they feel to be in a movie that might more aptly be titled "Absolutely Disastrous".
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
Josy Films, Mosca Films,
Sans Contrefa...
- 10/9/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Harem Suare' Solid Cast Can't Save Cinfusing 'Harem' / Ozpetek film bousts sensuous acting but lacks cultural identification
After his impressive debut, the 1997 "The Turkish Bath-Hammam", distributed this spring by Strand Releasing, Ferzan Ozpetek valiantly tries, but can't quite deliver a strong follow-up with "Harem Suare", the closing-night work of Un Certain Regard that, despite a strong cast, should encounter a great deal more resistance critically and commercially here.
A French, Italian and Turkish co-production, "Harem Suare" has its own virtues, in particular the silky, sensuous lead performance from Belgian actress Marie Gillain, but the work is fatally undone by the lack of cultural identification and concentration necessary to piece together the faltered storytelling. The frequent shifts among French, Italian and Turkish only intensify the confusion. Ozpetek wrote the script with Italian writer Gianni Romoli. The leaps in time, the apparent flash forward of the two principal women, now in their mid-50s, recalling their involvement in a harem at the turn of the century, achieves the opposite effect. Instead of demystifying the experience and making it vivid, it only romanticizes the past.
Gillain, so memorable in Bertrand Tavernier's "Fresh Bait", plays Safiye, an impoverished Italian woman purchased in a Cairo slave market and presented, as a "gift," to Sultan Abdulhamit II (Haluck Bilginer) in 1907, at the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. Drawing on a combination of her sexual power and intelligence (she translates the operas for the Sultan, a fanatic of the art), Safiye quickly insinuates herself into the Sultan's elite inner circle, the most desired of his concubines. Through the elite training and watchful eye of Nadir (Alex Descas), a eunuch, Safiye quickly consolidates her power, eliminating her rivals, dispatching the other women with skill and acuity, until she ascends the throne of power, even bearing the Sultan's child.
But "Harem Suare" is really about the furtive love affair that develops between Safiye and Nadir, a taboo-shattering relationship that mirrors the volatile shifts in political and historical developments outside the insular, closed-off world of the Sultan's harem. As the political and military might of the Ottoman Empire dissipates, leaving Safiye and Nadir attempting to reclaim their lives on the outside, they increasingly find themselves unable to adapt to their new surroundings.
A physically impressive production (the art designer is Oscar-winner Mustafa Ulkenciler), "Harem Suare" never really achieves any lift, any acceleration that enables the audience to connect with its characters.
During its worst moments, an exotic rubdown of oils between Safiye and her protectorate, the movie drifts rather uncomfortably into camp. Ozpetek recovers somewhat in the second half, when his touch is surer and more confident, the awkward language and dialogue doesn't seem quite so obvious and strained, but "Harem Suare" remains too unformed and ungainly to ever stand on its own.
HAREM SUARE
Tilde Corsi and Gianni Romoli present
An Italian-French-Turkish coproduction
R&C Srl (Rome), Les Films Balenciaga (Paris) and AFS Film (Istanbul)
Credits: Producers: Tilde Corsi, Gianni Romoli, Regine Konckier, Jean-Luc Ormieres, Assaf and Siddik Ozpetek; Director-writer: Ferzan Ozpetek; Screenwriter: Gianni Romoli; Cinematographer: Pasquale Mari; Production designer: Mustafa Ulkenciler; Costumes: Alfonsina Lettieri; Editor: Mauro Bonanni; Music: Pivio and Aldo de Scalzi; Cast: Safiye: Marie Gillain; Nadir: Alex Descas; Anita: Valeria Golino; Midhat: Malick Bowens; Sumbul: Christophe Aquilon; Abdulhamit: Haluck Bilginer; Running time: 106 minutes; No MPAA rating...
A French, Italian and Turkish co-production, "Harem Suare" has its own virtues, in particular the silky, sensuous lead performance from Belgian actress Marie Gillain, but the work is fatally undone by the lack of cultural identification and concentration necessary to piece together the faltered storytelling. The frequent shifts among French, Italian and Turkish only intensify the confusion. Ozpetek wrote the script with Italian writer Gianni Romoli. The leaps in time, the apparent flash forward of the two principal women, now in their mid-50s, recalling their involvement in a harem at the turn of the century, achieves the opposite effect. Instead of demystifying the experience and making it vivid, it only romanticizes the past.
Gillain, so memorable in Bertrand Tavernier's "Fresh Bait", plays Safiye, an impoverished Italian woman purchased in a Cairo slave market and presented, as a "gift," to Sultan Abdulhamit II (Haluck Bilginer) in 1907, at the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. Drawing on a combination of her sexual power and intelligence (she translates the operas for the Sultan, a fanatic of the art), Safiye quickly insinuates herself into the Sultan's elite inner circle, the most desired of his concubines. Through the elite training and watchful eye of Nadir (Alex Descas), a eunuch, Safiye quickly consolidates her power, eliminating her rivals, dispatching the other women with skill and acuity, until she ascends the throne of power, even bearing the Sultan's child.
But "Harem Suare" is really about the furtive love affair that develops between Safiye and Nadir, a taboo-shattering relationship that mirrors the volatile shifts in political and historical developments outside the insular, closed-off world of the Sultan's harem. As the political and military might of the Ottoman Empire dissipates, leaving Safiye and Nadir attempting to reclaim their lives on the outside, they increasingly find themselves unable to adapt to their new surroundings.
A physically impressive production (the art designer is Oscar-winner Mustafa Ulkenciler), "Harem Suare" never really achieves any lift, any acceleration that enables the audience to connect with its characters.
During its worst moments, an exotic rubdown of oils between Safiye and her protectorate, the movie drifts rather uncomfortably into camp. Ozpetek recovers somewhat in the second half, when his touch is surer and more confident, the awkward language and dialogue doesn't seem quite so obvious and strained, but "Harem Suare" remains too unformed and ungainly to ever stand on its own.
HAREM SUARE
Tilde Corsi and Gianni Romoli present
An Italian-French-Turkish coproduction
R&C Srl (Rome), Les Films Balenciaga (Paris) and AFS Film (Istanbul)
Credits: Producers: Tilde Corsi, Gianni Romoli, Regine Konckier, Jean-Luc Ormieres, Assaf and Siddik Ozpetek; Director-writer: Ferzan Ozpetek; Screenwriter: Gianni Romoli; Cinematographer: Pasquale Mari; Production designer: Mustafa Ulkenciler; Costumes: Alfonsina Lettieri; Editor: Mauro Bonanni; Music: Pivio and Aldo de Scalzi; Cast: Safiye: Marie Gillain; Nadir: Alex Descas; Anita: Valeria Golino; Midhat: Malick Bowens; Sumbul: Christophe Aquilon; Abdulhamit: Haluck Bilginer; Running time: 106 minutes; No MPAA rating...
- 6/1/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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