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Whether you find it under its original title, Completement Crame!, under which it first appeared as a best selling book in 2012, or Well Done!, which is the title listed on iMBD and used for its Canadian release, or for its long-delayed U.S. release under the name Mr. Blake At Your Service!, this charming, heartwarming, old fashioned, French language comedy is worth checking out. I just discovered it as it opened in Los Angeles last week and is now traveling America in limited release through new distributor Sunrise Films (Universal Pictures handled international beginning with its release in France in November 2023).

It actually first premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2023 so its theatrical run in America now is full circle. Led by a rare French-language performance by John Malkovich, who here is being anything but John Malkovich, and the luminous Fanny Ardant in one of her most delicious film turns,...

"The ladies here are quite special..." Rialto has revealed an official international trailer for a French comedy titled Mr. Blake at Your Service! in English. The other French title is Complètement Cramé (which means Completely Burnt Out) that was also translated to Well Done! at first, until they went with the more playful Mr. Blake title. John Malkovich stars in this as Mr. Andrew Blake, a widowed British businessman who takes the job as a butler of a manor house in France to feel closer to the memories of his late French wife. His life takes a turn as he navigates the eccentric behavior of the three ladies of the manor and the staff. It is based on the novel of the same name (Complètement Cramé), with the writer of the novel taking a shot at directing his very first feature film. It also co-stars Fanny Ardant, Émilie Dequenne, Philippe Bas,...

Exclusive: France tv distribution has unveiled a first round of deals for best-selling French writer Gilles Legardinier’s feature directorial debut Mr. Blake At Your Service!, reuniting John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant on the big screen.

The film has been acquired for Germany and Austria (Mfa+ Film Distribution), Italy (Adler Entertainment), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Switzerland (Praesens Film), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), Poland (Best Film), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom Film) as well as for Australia and New Zealand (Rialto Distribution).

The comedy-drama is adapted from Legardinier’s 2012 best-selling French novel Complètement Cramé! which sold more than one million copies sold in France and was translated into 17 languages across 22 countries.

Malkovich stars as Andrew Blake, a recently widowed British businessman who takes a job as a butler in a faded manor house in northern France, close to where he and his late wife spent the early days of their romance.

Malkovich and Ardant previously appeared on the big screen together in the 2015 period drama Casanova Variations.

France tv distribution has released a first image of John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant in Gilles Legardinier’s comedy-drama Mr. Blake At Your Service! as it gears up to launch sales on the title at Cannes later this month.

The film is adapted from Legardinier’s best-selling French novel Complètement Cramé! and sees Malkovich stars as a recently widowed British businessman who takes a job as a butler in a manor house in northern France, in a bid to get closer to the memory of his late French wife.

Rating: 2.5/5

Writers: Julien Leclercq and Simon Moutairou, Roland Môntins and Gilles Cauture (book)

Director: Julien Leclercq

Cast: Vincent Elbaz, Grégori Derangère, Mélanie Bernier, Philippe Bas

It’s fitting that in the tenth year of the Tribeca Film Festival, whose inaugural year took place just six months before the World Trade Center attack, the powers that be have decided to program a film about terrorism to commemorate the tragic events that unfolded on September 11th, 2001. That connection and the fact that Julien Leclercq’s The Assault is an engaging thriller justifies the film’s inclusion in this year's slate.

Read more on Tribeca 2011 Review: The Assault...

Watch an exciting new movie trailer for the upcoming French action film “Scorpion” by director Julien Seri (Sons of the Wind) and starring Clovis Cornillac (Paris 36, Ca$h), Francis Renaud, Karole Rocher, Philippe Bas (Skate or Die) and Caroline Proust. Scorpion will be released everywhere on DVD on July 22, 2008. Synopsis: When ex-Thai boxer Angelo ( Clovis Cornillac ) gets drawn into the violent world of competitive kick boxing, the blows come fast and furious as he seeks to redeem himself through the restorative power of true love. Stay tuned to Toxic Shock TV for the latest “Scorpion” movie news, stills and movie trailers.

PARIS -- Prolific author Marc Levy is heading back to his native France for the launch of Tele Images' new series "Will You Be There?"

The four-episdode, 52-minute series, produced by Mai-Juin Production for Gallic network M6, already sold to Antena 3 in Spain, TSR in Switzerland and RTL TVI in Belgium after the first day of the MIPCOM market Monday.

Also available in a two-episode, 90-minute format for international sales, the series, written by Franck Philippon and directed by Miguel Courtois, follows its cast -- Cristiana Reali, Elsa Lunghini and Philippe Bas -- from Paris to the tropical jungles of Santo Domingo over the course of 20 years.

Old friends Courtois and Levy thought the story could best be told in a longer format, so they opted for a TV series rather than a feature film and collaborated throughout the production.

"To me, a director becomes an author the moment he chooses to tell your story among the millions of others around.