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Filmmaker Quentin Dupieux has earned a reputation for crafting surreal comedies that turn expectations upside down. His movies embrace absurdity and unexpected twists. With Daaaaaalí!, Dupieux set out to create a “fake biopic” about the legendary Spanish artist Salvador Dali.

The film stars Anaïs Demoustier as journalist Judith, who’s assigned to interview the eccentric Dali. But capturing the famously shape-shifting artist proves challenging. Dali is portrayed by multiple actors throughout, with his age changing randomly.

Dupieux crafts Daaaaaalí! as more of an homage than a straightforward biopic. It celebrates Dali’s surrealist spirit rather than claiming to be the definitive telling of his life. The director draws from Dali’s fascination with dreams and the subconscious through Daaaaaalí!’s experimental storytelling.

This review will analyze how Daaaaaalí!’s narrative structure comments on traditional biopic tropes and self-mythologizing artists. It will also explore Dupieux’s surreal approach and discussion of reality,...

A popular anime empire and a beloved manga both hit screens in North America this weekend, with The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan, five actors playing surrealist artist Salvador Dali, and a trio of thought provoking docs new on the specialty circuit this weekend.

Also noting Columbia Pictures’ Saturday Night from Jason Reitman, which rocked its opening last week, expands in NY and LA and adds ten new markets for 21 locations total before going wide Oct. 11. The film, based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live in 1975, debuted to $270k at five theaters in NY/LA for a terrific $54k per theater average.

Moderate releases: Sony Pictures Classics’ Saoirse Ronan-starring and Nora Fingscheidt-directed drama The Outrun hits 508 screens. After a decade away in London, 29-year-old Rona (Ronan) returns home to the Orkney Islands. Sober but lonely,...

In a scene near the end of Quentin Dupieux’s Daaaaaalí!, Judith (Anaïs Demoustier), a French journalist assigned to interview Salvador Dalí, is riding the bus, in the doldrums after the latest failure to capture her mercurial subject on film. The facial hair of the man seated across from her reminds her of Dalí’s iconic mustache, and after Judith aks him if it’s an intentional homage, he retreats behind his newspaper. The front-page headline reads, “Barista Lets Off Steam on Paris Bus”—a reference to the insult that Judith’s producer (Romain Duris) calls her—with a photograph of Judith below. Dupieux then cuts to a reverse shot of her that begins as a perfect match of the photo, one of countless flourishes of dream logic in the film that subvert conventional cinematic handling of time and space.

That there are almost as many actors portraying Dalí as...

"Now it's sublime." Music Box Films has unveiled the official US trailer for the acclaimed film Daaaaaali! from wacky filmmaker Quentin Dupieux (who also premiered his latest film The Second Act in Cannes earlier this year). Quite simple, this brilliantly hilarious comedy is a wild and weird take on the iconic artist Salvador Dalí. It premiered a the 2023 Venice Film Festival last year to uproarious laughter - it was one of my favorite films of the festival. Dupieux's film is sort of about a young journalist who attempts to meet with the iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí on several occasions for a documentary. But it never seems to work out. To add to the confusion, multiple actors portray Dali during different scenes in the film. Starring Anaïs Demoustier, Romain Duris, Gilles Lellouche, Edouard Baer, Pio Marmaï, Didier Flamand, and Jonathan Cohen.

From “Rubber” to “Wrong” to “Smoking Causes Coughing” and “The Second Act,” eccentric French auteur Quentin Dupieux is quickly becoming one of Europe’s most prolific filmmakers akin to a Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Albeit with eccentric, often fourth-wall-breaking comedies. He had two films debut at festivals in 2023, including the heckler hostage comedy “Yannick” at Locarno and the Salvador Dalí “real fake biopic” “Daaaaaalí!” out of competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A movie where five actors play the surrealist icon, “Daaaaaalí!” is now making its way to U.S. theaters courtesy of Music Box Films, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “For journalist Judith Rochant (Anaïs Demoustier), the assignment to interview renowned artist Salvador Dalí is a great career opportunity–if only he would agree to sit still and answer a single question. What begins as a 15-minute conversation blows up into a bonafide cinematographic documentary portrait,...

In France, the concept of irony is referred to as “deuxième degré” (second degree), where the “premier degré” is the literal or surface meaning, which can be twisted as audiences read an entirely different, often contrary meaning into the material. But the game doesn’t necessarily stop there. There is also “troisième degré,” “quatrième degré” and so on, as deep as you want to go.

For absurdist trickster Quentin Dupieux (whose films “Deerskin” and “Rubber” have found a cult following), “The Second Act” presents a frivolous fun-house mirror, in which actors Léa Seydoux, Louis Garrel, Vincent Lindon and Raphaël Quenard play actors playing actors in a pointless romantic comedy. They all know they’re making a bad movie, and one by one, they keep interrupting the shoot to air their personal grievances. But that’s only the beginning in a slender meta-textual doodle selected to kick off the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Music Box Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Daaaaaalí!,” the latest film by Quentin Dupieux whose upcoming movie “The Second Act” will world premiere on opening night at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

A comedic and unpredictable tribute to Salvador Dalí, “Daaaaaalí!” premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, followed by screenings at the BFI London Film Festival and Rotterdam.

In “Daaaaaalí!,” a French journalist repeatedly meets Dalí to begin an interview for a documentary film project that never starts shooting. Anaïs Demoustier stars as a journalist attempting to pin down the eccentric and elusive Salvador Dalí, who is played by five different actors, Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmaï, and Didier Flamand.

Music Box Films will release “Daaaaaalí!” theatrically later this year with a home entertainment release to follow.

“We were thoroughly charmed by the playful, antic spirit of Quentin Dupieux’s film,...

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will kick off with Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act,” a star-studded surreal French comedy headlined by Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, Variety has learned.

The anticipated movie is produced by Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi, a Mediawan company, and is represented in international markets by Kinology. The film will play out of competition on May 14 and will be released on the same day in French theaters.

Laced with absurdist humor, the meta movie follows actors starring in a doomed film production. Dupieux is one of France’s most popular and prolific filmmakers. He delivered two films in 2023: “Daaaaaalí,” which played out-of-competition at Venice, and “Yannick,” a French box office hit that sold around the world.

In confirming the film’s selection at Cannes, the festival described Quentin as a “filmmaker who embraces freedom – in tone, form and...

French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux has been creating some pretty surreal masterpieces over the years, including Deerskin, in which Jean Dujardin’s Georges is obsessed with the tasselled loveliness of a suede jacket, and the utterly bonkers and highly entertaining Mandibles, in which two jokers find a giant fly which they hope will make them their fortune. So it was just a matter of time before this master of madness should focus his attention on the grand master of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí, the two coming together in the perfect storm that is Daaaaaali!

The film takes place in the 1980s and follows journalist Judith (Anaïs Demoustier) as she tries to pin down the artist and get an interview out of him for her documentary. Much of the film takes place in the hotel where said interview is to take place and the scenes in the hotel corridor are a joy to behold.

Time to meet Dali! Diaphana Distribution in France has revealed a teaser trailer for the acclaimed new film from France's wacky Quentin Dupieux titled Daaaaaali!. Quite simple, this brilliantly hilarious comedy is a wild and kooky take on the artist Salvador Dalí. It premiered a the 2023 Venice Film Festival this fall to uproarious laughter and great reviews - it was one of my favorite films of the festival. Dupieux's film is sort of about a young journalist who attempts to meet with the iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí on several occasions for a documentary project. But it never seems to work out. This teaser gives an early look at some of the various actors playing Dali. Starring Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Edouard Baer, Pio Marmaï, Romain Duris, and Jonathan Cohen. "As Dalí himself said, his personality was probably his greatest masterpiece. My film modestly tells that story," Dupieux explains. I loooove this film,...

Salvador Dalí is walking down a hotel corridor. A hotel corridor is being walked down by Salvador Dalí. In a hotel, there is a corridor down which Salvador Dalí walks. So begins — and begins and begins – Quentin Dupieux’s giddy, glitchy altogether delightful “Daaaaaali!” (imagine the title delivered by a practiced yodeler in the middle of a morning gargle). It’s the oldest and lo-fi-est of cinematic tricks: a few simple cuts make it seem like a hotel hallway’s finite, solid space is elastic, stretching from the lift doors into carpeted absurdity. Like the film as a whole, the gag gets funnier as it gets sillier, and becomes more of a homage to the surrealist painter’s ability to warp the reality around him, the more drunken its time-loop chronology.

“A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order,” said Godard,...

Kinology has boarded Quentin Dupieux’s (“Rubber”) ferocious comedy “Yannick” which will world premiere in competition at the Locarno Film Festival.

The anticipated film is produced by Thomas et Mathieu Verhaeghe at Atelier de production, and Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi Productions. “Yannick” stars Raphaël Quenard, Pio Marmaï, Blanche Gardin and Sébastien Chassagne.

Yannick” unfolds during a mediocre stage performance of “Le Cocu” during which an audience member revolts and takes the full reins of the room.

“‘Yannick’ is Quentin Dupieux’s most mature film; it’s both melancholic and thoughtful,” said Gregoire Melin, Kinology’s founder and president. “We’re so excited to be reteaming with him after ‘Daaaaaali!’ and ‘Wrong’ on this new film which could become even more cult than his previous movies,” Melin continued.

Diaphana will release “Yannick” in France on Aug. 2. Kinology will kick off international sales at Locarno. Dupieux, who is one of France’s most prolific filmmakers,...

No slot (yet) of Bertrand Bonello, Michel Gondry, Bruno Dumont, Robin Campillo, Catherine Corsini and Quentin Dupieux.

The opening film of Cannes 2023 is Maiwenn’s Jeanne du Barry, a period drama that delves into French history, was shot in Versailles and sees its US star Johnny Depp speaking French.

Un Certain Regard will also open with a French title, Thomas Cailley’s Le Règne Animal, while the Competition refreshingly feaures two films by female French filmmakers, Catherine Breillat and Justine Triet, and the new film from Vietnamese-born, France-based Tran Anh Hung,

Breillat’s rise-from-retirement film is Last Summer, while Tran...

Daaaaaali !

A true original who never seems to be running out of zany ideas, we learned back in November that Quentin Dupieux was at it again. Featuring Alain Chabat, Anaïs Demoustier, Pierre Niney, Gilles Lellouche, Edouard Baer, Pio Marmaï, Jonathan Cohen, Hakim Jemili, Agnès Hurstel, Jérôme Niel, Marc Fraize and Didier Flamand, Dupieux’s twelve feature sounds Zelig-esque in scope. Atelier de Production’s Thomas Verhaeghe produced Daaaaaali ! which splits its time in Paris and in Spain.

Gist: This charts the story of a French journalist who meets iconic, Surrealist artist Salvador Dali on a number of occasions for a documentary project which never gets off the ground.…...

Following his best film, the delightfully dark and humorous character study Red Rocket, we’ve been waiting to see what Sean Baker would tackle next. On the heels of the Criterion release of his early film Take Out, it’s now been revealed he’ll start production on a new feature titled Anora this spring. While no other details are currently available, expect a 2024 premiere for the project. [Production Weekly via Cinema Solace]

In other news, Beginning director Dea Kulumbegashvili has set her next film with Those Who Find Me. Cineuropa (via Ioncinema) reports the film, which will kick off production in March, follows a “gynecologist obstetrician working in the only hospital in a provincial town, who is unconditionally committed to her Hippocratic Oath, even if it means carrying out illegal abortions…”

They also report that Alain Guiraudie, whose latest film Nobody’s Hero still awaits a U.S. release, is embarking on his feature Miséricorde.

Kinology is handling international sales.

French master of the absurd Quentin Dupieux has started shooting a feature about the surrealist artist Salvador Dali starring a vast cast of A-list French talent called Daaaaaali!

Dupieux has wrangled a cast of some of France’s top talents for the film including Edouard Baer, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmai, Jonathan Cohen, Pierre Niney, Anais de Moustier and Alain Chabat. Chabat has starred in two of Dupieux’s previous films Incredible but True and Smoking Causes Coughing.

Daaaaaali! is produced by Atelier de Production’s Mathieu and Thomas Verhaeghe, with Kinology handling international sales. Diaphana has French rights.

Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Pierre Niney, Alain Chabat, Edouard Baer, Pio Marmaï, Jonathan Cohen, Hakim Jemili, Agnès Hurstel, Jérôme Niel, Marc Fraize, Didier Flamand and a rumored Jean Dujardin and Louis Garrel are part of the massive ensemble for Quentin Dupieux‘s next film currently in production. The oddly titled (yes there is a space here) Daaaaaali ! is, according to Deadline, going to shoot into early 2023 in Paris, the South of France and Spain. Atelier de Production’s Thomas Verhaeghe will produce. As for a film festival premiere we know not to bet against a possible Cannes showing — but Venice feels like a safer bet.…...

French director Quentin Dupieux has begun shooting his 12th feature film Daaaaaali ! with a star ensemble French cast including Alain Chabat (Smoking Causes Coughing), Anaïs Demoustier (Alice And The Mayor), Pierre Niney (Frantz) and Gilles Lellouche (Little White Lies).

The picture charts the story of a French journalist who meets iconic, Surrealist artist Salvador Dali on a number of occasions for a documentary project which never gets off the ground.

Deadline, which has been tracking this project, has heard Dali will be played by multiple different actors across the course of the film.

Dupieux, who also goes under the alias of his DJ name Mr. Oizo, announced the start of the shoot on his Instagram account on Tuesday.

Other cast members named in his post included Edouard Baer (Adieu Paris), Pio Marmaï (The Divide), Jonathan Cohen, Hakim Jemili, Agnès Hurstel, Jérôme Niel, Marc Fraize and Didier Flamand.

The post suggested...

A trio of French films, the melodrama “A Family for 1640 Days,” political thriller “Goliath” and comedy “Adieu Paris,” are set to be released in the U.S. by the New York-based company Distrib Films.

Both Fabien Gorgeart’s “A Family for 1640 Days” (“Une vraie famille”) and Edouard Baer’s “Adieu Paris” are represented in international markets by Le Pacte.

“A Family for 1640 Days,” winner of the top prize at last year’s American French Film Festival, revolves around Simon, a six-year old adopted boy who is about to reunite with his biological father. The movie stars Melanie Thierry (“En therapie”) and Lyes Salem. Distrib Films is planning to release the film in early 2023 and have it play at festivals.

A love letter to the French capital, “Adieu Paris” marks the fourth directorial outing of actor-turned-helmer Baer, who last directed “Ouvert la nuit” in which he starred opposite Audrey Tautou and Sabrina Ouazani.

The Lumière festival, a week-long celebration of heritage movies created by late filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, is having a packed 13th edition in Lyon, the birthplace of the Lumiere brothers.

With a vast lineup including screenings of classic films, restored prints, discoveries and masterclasses, the festival had already sold nearly 90,000 tickets for film screenings and other related events at mid-point.

Among the 5,000 guests who attended the festival’s opening ceremony were Paolo Sorrentino, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Netflix’s co-ceo Ted Sarandos, Valeria Golino, Joachim Trier, Rossy de Palma, Melanie Laurent and Edouard Baer. The tribute to Tavernier was attended by 2,000 people at the Auditorium of Lyon, while 4,000 people turned up for the screening of “Shrek” with Alain Chabat.

Set to wrap on Sunday, the Lumiere festival is approaching the participation levels of its record year in 2019. The International Classic Film Market, a dedicated mini-market for heritage movies, also registered a record number of accredited visitors.

French actor, director, producer and writer Edouard Baer, in Lyon for the premiere of “Adieu Paris!” at the Lumière Festival, drew endless laughs from his audience at his masterclass in the city’s Comédie Odéon theater.

Displaying a gifted talent for improvisation, Baer amused the audience with self-deprecating tirades and anecdotes. Commenting on the short introductory film displaying his career highlights, he told the crowd: “It’s easy to make me look good with smooth editing and good music. Really, it’s just a succession of small accidents. There aren’t just masterpieces there. But from bad movies to acceptable ones, you build a small career and then you die happy,” he smiled.

Baer brings together a stellar cast in “Adieu Paris!” including Gérard Depardieu, Pierre Arditi, Jean-Francois Stévenin – who passed away in July and to whom the film is dedicated – and Belgian duo Benoît Poelvoorde and François Damiens, who...

After beating the odds last year by hosting a physical edition in the midst of the pandemic, Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux’s Lumière Festival kicked off in Lyon with great fanfare and prestigious guests including Paolo Sorrentino, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Netflix’s co-ceo Ted Sarandos, Valeria Golino, Joachim Trier, Rossy de Palma, Melanie Laurent and Edouard Baer.

The festival, which unfolds in the birthplace of the Cinematograph and its creators, the Lumière brothers, is dedicating its 13th edition to its long-time president Bertrand Tavernier, the beloved filmmaker who recently died.

During his opening speech, the usually voluble Frémaux had to take a moment to regain his composure as he paid an emotional tribute to Tavernier, his friend and close collaborator, with whom he worked side by side for nearly four decades at the Lumière Institute.

“Bertrand has left us with a heritage that is so major and so immense, and your...

The ceremony will take place on March 12.

Emmanuel Mouret’s love triangle drama Love Affair(s) leads the nominations in France’s César awards this year, followed by Albert Dupontel’s Bye Bye Morons and Summer Of 85.

France’s Academy of Cinema and Arts and Sciences unveiled the nomination list for the 46th edition of the awards on its website on Wednesday morning, ahead of the ceremony scheduled to take place on March 12.

Scroll down for nominations list

Its traditional news conference in Fouquet’s restaurant in Paris was not possible this year as bars and restaurants are currently...

Emmanuel Mouret’s Les Choses Qu’On Dit, Les Choses Qu’On Fait, aka Love Affair(s), leads France’s César Award nominations with a total 13 including each of the top acting categories as well as Best Director and Best Film. The official 2020 Cannes Film Festival selection is followed by Albert Dupontel’s comedy/drama Adieu Les Cons (Bye Bye Morons) and François Ozon’s Eté 85 (Summer Of 85) with 12 each. The latter was released locally last summer and played Toronto in September.

Other titles to make the cut this morning include the Oscar shortlisted Two Of Us (Deux) from Filippo Meneghetti with Best Actress nods for leads Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa as well as Best Original Screenplay and Best Debut Feature.

In the Foreign Film category are Sam Mendes’ 1917, Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round (also Oscar shortlisted on Tuesday), Jan Komasa’s La Communion...

Sixties flashback for (front from left) Noémie Lvovsky, Juliette Binoche and Yolande Moreau in Martin Provost’s comedy How To Be A Good Wife due to open Unifrance’s Rendezvous with French Cinema Photo: © Carole Bethuel - Les Films du Kiosque Despite France being in the grip of multifarious “grèves” (or strikes) the annual Rendezvous with French Cinema, organised in Paris by Unifrance) is putting on a positive face as the organisers prepare to welcome almost 400 buyers to what is touted as the world’s biggest film market - which runs alongside a media junket for journalists from 32 countries.

Talents up for interviews include Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Huppert among 120 actors and directors. Binoche stars in the market’s opening film How To Be A Good Wife (La Bonne Epouse) by Martin Provost and she will be present at the screening on 16 January alongside co-star Noémie Lvovsky and the director.

La bonne épouse

Initially an actor whose career began in the mid-1970s, France’s Martin Provost has become a notable director over the past decade, which began with the breakout of his third feature, Séraphine in 2008. Since then, he tends to craft substantial vehicles for France’s finest leading ladies, and he’s nabbed Juliette Binoche for his latest feature, How to Be a Good Wife, which also reunites him with Yolande Moreau among a supporting cast which consists of Francois Berleand, Noemie Lvovsky, Edouard Baer, Anamaria Vartolomei. Provost co-writes with Severine Werba in a project produced by Francois Kraus and Denis Pineau-Valencienne.…...

Martin Provost’s comedy drama, set in the late 1960s, has sold to Canada, China and Spain.

Memento Films International (Mfi) has announced a raft of sales on Martin Provost’s comedy drama How To Be A Good Wife, starring Juliette Binoche as the headmistress of an all-girls housekeeping school at a time of social change in the late 1960s.

The film has sold to Canada (MK2 Mile End), Australia (Palace Films), Latin America (California Filmes), Japan (New Select), China (Infotainment), Taiwan (Creative Century) and airlines (Skeye).

European territory deals include to Spain (A Contracorriente), Italy (Movies Inspired), Switzerland (Filmcoopi...

Juliette Binoche, Yolande Moreau, Noémie Lvovsky, Edouard Baer and François Berléand are in the cast. A Les Films du Kiosque production sold by Memento. Final stretch for the shoot of Martin Provost’s How To Be A Good Wife (La Bonne Épouse), which began on 3 July and will end on 30 August. The cast of the seventh feature by the filmmaker features Juliette Binoche, Belgian actress Yolande Moreau (winner...

The 72nd Cannes International Film Festival opening night went to the zombies, at least our walking dead friends as filtered through the droll style of Jim Jarmusch in The Dead Don’t Die.

The director is a favorite of the fest, having been invited here for various films and competitions 13 times since his first appearance in 1984 when he won a prize for Stranger Than Paradise. Eight of his movies have competed in the official competition for the Palme d’Or, most recently the terrific Paterson three years ago. He never has won the top prize, but 1993’s Coffee and Cigarettes III took the Palme for the Shorts competition and the Bill Murray-starring film Broken Flowers won the Grand Prize (second place) in 2005 behind the Dardenne brothers’ L’Enfant. Early reviews are decidedly mixed for The Dead Don’t Die, but clearly the French love this guy and thus timing...

Javier Bardem and Charlotte Gainsbourg open the festival Photo: Richard Mowe The Cannes Film Festival gathered itself around the notion of film as a communal experience at the opening of the 72nd edition which was beamed out live to more than 600 partner cinemas in France showing the opener The Dead Don’t Die by Jim Jarmusch.

Jim Jarmusch on the red carpet Photo: Richard Mowe There was the usual razzmatazz of bad frocks, kissing and bisous as well as red carpet posing and posturing before the proceedings could even get under way in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Javier Bardem officially launched the Festival from the stage in the presence of the jury headed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu.

Edouard Baer, Master of Ceremonies, accompanied on the accordion by Aurélien Noel, made references to cinema being about going out together as a group and fuelled by "human...

The 72nd Edition of the Cannes International Film Festival has set its opening night film as Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die.”

Jarmusch’s zombie comedy stars Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton. It will make its world premiere at the festival on Tuesday, May 14 on the screen of the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

“The Dead Don’t Die” will also play in competition for the Palme d’Or.

Also Read: 'Capernaum' Director Nadine Labaki Named 2019 Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury President

Read the film’s official description below:

In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviors. No one quite knows why. News reports are scary and scientists are concerned. But no one foresees the strangest and most...

Emmanuel Mouret on the César award-winning costumes by Pierre-Jean Larroque and production design by David Faivre: "The sets could be a bit like a screen for the silhouettes." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Cécile de France, who has one of the most charismatic smiles in French cinema, shines as Madame de La Pommeraye in Lady J (Mademoiselle De Joncquières aka The Art Of Seduction), Emmanuel Mouret's fresh take on an episode from Diderot's Jacques the Fatalist, the same one Robert Bresson so brilliantly turned into his 1945 film Les dames Du Bois De Boulogne.

Madame de Joncquières (Natalia Dontcheva) with Madame de La Pommeraye (Cécile de France) and Mademoiselle de Joncquières (Alice Isaaz) with the Marquis des Arcis (Edouard Baer)

In particular the scenes with her friend, Lucienne (played beautifully by Laure Calamy), are a standout of acting on at least three levels. Their conversations function like a palimpsest, questioning with the slightest winks,...

Domestic violence drama earns four prizes in Paris.

Xavier Legrand’s domestic violence drama Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde) was named best film at the 44th Cesar Awards in Paris on Friday (23).

Legrand’s feature directorial debut and Venice 2017 Silver Lion winner began the night on a field-leading 10 nominations alongside Gilles Lellouche’s comedy Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain), and also won awards for Legrand’s original screenplay, best actress Lea Drucker, and editor Yorgos Lamprinos.

Jacques Audiard was named best director for The Sisters Brothers at the ceremony in the Salle Pleyel, presided over by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Xavier Legrand’s feature debut “Custody,” a tense portrait of a family torn by domestic violence, won best film, actress (for Lea Drucker), and original screenplay at the 44th Cesar Awards, which took place at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The awards are France’s highest film honors.

“Custody,” which marks Legrand’s follow up to his Oscar-nominated short, tells the story of a boy named Julien (Thomas Gioria), who is forced by a court ruling to split his time between his mother (Drucker) and estranged father (Denis Ménochet), whom he regards as a violent monster, amid his parents’ bitter divorce. “Custody” world-premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it won two awards, and went on to play at Toronto in the competitive Platform section.

In her speech, Drucker paid homage to all the brave women who have inspired her and also dedicated the award to women who...

Snd, the commercial arm of the French TV network M6, has acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Family Shake,” a comedy series written by Baya Kasmi and Michel Leclerc.

Snd is the latest vertically integrated French film group to start handling live-action series, following TF1 Studio, Studiocanal and Gaumont, among others. Produced by Gaëlle Cholet at Elephant, “Family Shake” has been commissioned by M6 in France and will start airing later this year in a primetime slot.

The show centers on the ups and downs of a modern, multi-ethnic and blended family. The ensemble cast comprises Grégory Montel (“Call my agent!”), Nailia Harzoune (“Patients”), Julia Piaton” (“Serial (Bad) Weddings”), Lyès Salem (“Just to be sure”), Biyouna (“Aïcha”) and Djemel Barek (“The Bureau”).

The concept of “Family Shake” seems to bank on the success of the comedy franchise “Serial (Bad) Weddings,” which has a similar topic. The first movie grossed more than...

Jeannette, L'Enfance De Jeanne D'Arc and Ma Loute director Bruno Dumont will present Coincoin And The Extra-Humans Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

New York's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema opens with Pierre Salvadori's The Trouble With You (nine César Award nominations), starring Adèle Haenel and Pio Marmaï with Audrey Tautou, Vincent Elbaz, and Damien Bonnard, preceded by Clément Cogitore's Les Indes galantes. Eva Husson, Élodie Bouchez, Mia Hansen-Løve, Sophie Fillières, Hélène Fillières, Judith Davis, Mikhaël Hers, Emmanuel Mouret, Sébastien Marnier, and Bruno Dumont are are expected to attend.

Bertrand Tavernier free talk with Russell Banks Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Sandrine Kiberlain and Agathe Bonitzer in When Margaux Meets Margaux (La Belle Et La belle); Vincent Lacoste, Isaure Multrier, and Greta Scacchi in Mikhaël Hers' Amanda; Cécile de France, Edouard Baer, and Laure Calamy in Emmanuel Mouret's Mademoiselle de Joncquières (The Art of Seduction), and The Trouble With You (En Liberté!) - give some...

Further best film nominees include Pierre Salvadori’s The Trouble With You and Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers.

Gilles Lellouche’s Sink Or Swim and Xavier Legrand’s Custody lead the way with 10 nominations for France’s César Awards, announced this morning (Jan 23) in Paris.

Custody premiered at Venice in 2017, where it won the SIlver Lion, while comedy Sink Or Swim, which stars Mathieu Amalric, Virginie Efira and Guillaume Canet, screened out of competition at Cannes last year.

Closely following with nine nods are Pierre Salvadori’s The Trouble With You, which screened in Directors’ Fortnight in 2018, and Jacques...

France’s Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma unveiled its nominations for the César Awards this morning in Paris. The races for the country’s Oscar equivalent are led by Xavier Legrand’s feature debut Jusqu’à La Garde (Custody) and Gilles Lellouche’s Le Grand Bain (Sink Or Swim) with 10 mentions each. They are followed by Jacques Audiard’s English-language western, The Sisters Brothers, and Pierre Salvadori’s En Liberté! (The Trouble With You) with nine a piece. All four are in the Best Picture and Director categories.

There’s a noticeably lighter edge to the nominations this year with Le Grand Bain a sort of Full Monty à la française that sees a group of middle-aged men form a synchronized swimming team. The movie debuted out of competition in Cannes and became the 3rd highest grossing local title of 2018 with over 5M tickets sold.

Also out of Cannes,...

French actor-turned-director Gilles Lellouche’s “Sink or Swim” and Xavier Legrand’s feature debut “Custody” lead the race for this year’s Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, with 10 nominations each, including best picture and best director.

“Sink or Swim” (“Le Grand Bain” in France), a star-driven dramedy about a men’s synchronized swimming team, world-premiered at Cannes out of competition and was released by Studiocanal. The ensemble film, which was one of the highest-grossing French films in 2018, picked up multiple nominations in the best supporting actor and actress categories, for Jean-Hugues Anglade, Philippe Katerine, Leila Bekhti and Virginie Efira.

“Custody” follows a boy named Julien (Thomas Gioria), who is forced by a court ruling to split his time between his mother (Léa Drucker) and estranged father (Denis Ménochet), whom he regards as a violent monster, amid his parents’ bitter divorce. “Custody” world-premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival,...

Intelligent comedy about women’s liberation tale unfolds in all-girls school against the backdrop of May 1968.

Memento Films International (Mfi) will kick off sales on Martin Provost’s 1960s-set comedy-drama How To Be A Good Wife, starring Juliette Binoche, at the Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris this week (January 17-21).

Binoche will star as the co-head of an all-girls housekeeping school in a small town in the eastern French region of Alsace in the late 1960s. She runs the school alongside husband with the mission to train teenage girls to become perfect housewives. The schools were common in...

Netflix has acquired Emmanuel Mouret’s critically acclaimed French period drama “Mademoiselle de Joncquières,” which world-premiered at Toronto. The deal for most rights worldwide excludes France, Switzerland, Canada and the Benelux countries.

Represented in international markets by Indie Sales, “Mademoiselle de Joncquières” competed in Toronto’s Platform section. The 18th-century love-triangle drama is inspired by Didier Diderot’s classic work “Jacques the Fatalist and His Master,” and stars Cecile de France, Edouard Baer and Alice Isaaz.

De France plays Madame de la Pommeraye, a young and reclusive widow who falls in love with the seductive libertine Marquis des Arcis (Baer) against her better judgment. Feeling betrayed by his fading love, she orchestrates an intricate plan for revenge involving the seemingly pious Mademoiselle de Joncquières. Variety’s review called it “a shrewdly choreographed roundelay of scheming, seduction and revenge in the spirit of ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses.'”

Frédéric Niedermeyer at Paris-based...

Like a crafty Casanova who masks his true intentions while assiduously charming his latest prey, “Mademoiselle de Joncquieres” takes a stealthy and slow-burn approach before fully revealing its true colors as a shrewdly choreographed roundelay of scheming, seduction and revenge in the spirit of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” Freely adapted from the same section of Denis Diderot’s “Jacques le Fataliste” that inspired Robert Bresson’s “Les dames du bois de Boulogne” — but, unlike Bresson’s modernized 1945 version (co-scripted with Jean Cocteau), set in the same 18th-century period as Diderot’s original — writer-director Emmanuel Mouret’s exquisitely mounted and beautifully photographed film begins as a leisurely paced dramedy of manners, brimming with archly clever bons mots and politely tamped passions. But then things take a darker turn, and the movie becomes all the more enjoyable as elegantly nasty fun with serious mortal stakes.

During the regency of Louis Xv, Madame de...

France has selected Emmanuel Finkiel's World War II drama Memoir of War, starring Melanie Thierry and Benjamin Biolay, as its submission for the best foreign-language film category at the Oscars.

The movie was a selected from a diverse shortlist of five thematically different titles, from Shoah director Claude Lanzmann's final film, Holocaust testimony documentary The Four Sisters, to Gaspar Noe's pulsating disco fever dream-turned-nightmare Climax.

Xavier Legrand's hard-hitting family divorce drama Custody, which won best director and best debut in Venice last year, and Emmanuel Mouret's Mademoiselle de Joncquieres, the 18th century historical drama starring Edouard Baer and Cecile de ...

France has selected Emmanuel Finkiel's World War II drama Memoir of War, starring Melanie Thierry and Benjamin Biolay, as its submission for the best foreign-language film category at the Oscars.

The movie was a selected from a diverse shortlist of five thematically different titles, from Shoah director Claude Lanzmann's final film, Holocaust testimony documentary The Four Sisters, to Gaspar Noe's pulsating disco fever dream-turned-nightmare Climax.

Xavier Legrand's hard-hitting family divorce drama Custody, which won best director and best debut in Venice last year, and Emmanuel Mouret's Mademoiselle de Joncquieres, the 18th century historical drama starring Edouard Baer and Cecile de ...

Gérard Depardieu, a French actor, was accused of rape and sexual assault by a woman to whom he was said to be offering professional guidance.

A unnamed woman, aged 22, filed a criminal complaint against Depardieu, 69, claiming he sexually assaulted her on August 7 and August 13, Holland-based news agency Bno News reports, citing French officials and sources speaking to Le Parisien newspaper.

“I regret the public nature of this process which poses a major prejudice to Gerard Depardieu, whose innocence I am convinced will be [recognized],” Depardieu’s lawyer Herve Termime told Afp News.

The lawyer noted that Depardieu “absolutely denies any attack,...

The 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival got off to a strong start Tuesday night with the world premiere of two-time Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi’s familial kidnapping mystery drama Everybody Knows, with stars Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin walking the fabled red-carpeted Grand Theatre Lumiere steps along with the Iran-born director.

The film itself played well — an accessible melodrama centering on the kidnapping of a teen girl that leads to a series of long-held family secrets being revealed. As some of the plot twists became known there were audible “ahs” in my section of the theater. It is a satisfying launch for Cannes, with very strong performances from its large cast.

This film which reps the first foray into a Spanish language production for the versatile Farhadi, should be one of the easy domestic sales out of Cannes for the right art house distributor like a Sony Pictures Classics,...

Plus first image of project starring Edouard Baer, Cécile de France and Alice Isaaz released.

Source: Indie Sales

Mademoiselle De Joncquières

Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded French director Emmanuel Mouret’s upcoming 18th century, love triangle costume drama Mademoiselle de Joncquières, starring Edouard Baer, Cécile de France and Alice Isaaz.

The sales company, which will kick-off sales on the film at Unifrance’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris this week (Jan 18-22), has released an exclusive first image of Baer and Isaaz in the costume drama.

The film is inspired by a tale in French Enlightenment writer and philosopher Didier Diderot’s classic picaresque work Jacques The Fatalist exploring ideas of fate and free will.

Baer plays the libertine figure of the Marquis des Arcis opposite de France in the role of Madame de la Pommeraye, an attractive, reclusive widow he seduces.

When their relationship comes to a messy end the spurned Madame de la Pommeraye...

Colcoa is keeping up with the times. Now in its twenty-first year, the lauded French film festival, sponsored by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, has added a pair of forward-thinking new categories for its newest edition. This year will include a virtual reality program and a web series competition, in addition to its Cinema, Television and Shorts competitions.

“These two new popular formats offer more opportunities to showcase the creativity of French producers and filmmakers as well as the diversity of French production,” said François Truffart, Colcoa Executive Producer and Artistic Director. “While entertainment is still the key word for the program, with a balanced mix of comedies and dramas, several topical issues will cover the program this year, including the environment, discrimination, racism, terrorism, and the role of the artist in society. More than ever, Colcoa will offer a unique opportunity to see these universal topics from different angles.”

Read...

Part Birdman, part After Hours and at least one-quarter Bedtime for Bonzo, French comic star Edouard Baer's directorial debut is a pleasant, occasionally funny romp through the streets of late-night Paris in the hands of an overzealous theater impresario and his no-nonsense young intern. Better crafted than many Gallic comedies, if a bit unconvincing in its final reel, Open at Night (Ouvert la nuit) should see a good turnout from Baer's local fan base and pickups in Francophonia and beyond.

Set during one roller-coaster 24-hour period, the story (written by Baer and Benoit Graffin, Priceless) follows the travails of Luigi,...

To help sift through the increasing number of new releases (independent or otherwise), the Weekly Film Guide is here! Below you’ll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.

Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.

See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for July 2016

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, July 15. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.

Wide

Ghostbusters

Director: Paul Feig

Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Bill Murray, Charles Dance, Elizabeth Perkins, Sigourney Weaver

Synopsis: A paranormal researcher (Melissa McCarthy), a physicist (Kristen Wiig), a nuclear engineer (Kate McKinnon) and a subway worker (Leslie Jones...