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Alain Attal and Hugo Selignac have formed a producing duo known for delivering original, starry French films that probe uneasy subjects that earn B.O. gold and critical laurels. Attal is in Cannes with Un Certain Regard title “Rosalie,” while Selignac has “Omar à la Fraise” in Critics’ Week.

The pair is now about to hit a new milestone in 2024, starting with Gilles Lellouche’s epic romance drama “L’Amour Ouf,” which boasts a budget of €32 million ($34 million) and marks Studiocanal’s biggest investment in a French-language film to date. They also have “And Their Children After Them,” an adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s Goncourt Prize-winning novel to be directed by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma (“Teddy”), which has been boarded by Warner Bros. France and HBO Max and France Televisions, the first French movie to bring together these three partners.

“L’Amour Ouf” also marks the first film co-acquired by Canal Plus,...

The 1988 French Comedy Life Is A Long Quiet River is currently available on Blu-ray From Arrow Academy.

An outrageously wicked comedy about two families from award winning debut filmmaker Étienne Chatiliez, this fast-paced satire became the most popular French comedy of the decade.

The radiantly bourgeois Le Quesnoys with their immaculate children and perfect manners and the grubby, disreputable Groseilles are thrown together in absurd chaos by an act of revenge as they discover that twelve years prior their babies were switched at birth.

A witty send up of class relations and family ties, Life Is a Long Quiet River was celebrated with a host of trophies at France s César Awards ceremony winning for best screenplay, best debut work and acting prizes for Héléne Vincent and Catherine Jacob.

Special Edition Contents:

High Definition digital transferHigh Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentationOriginal Mono audioNewly translated optional English subtitlesArchival interviews with director Étienne Chatiliez,...

Philippe (Benoît Magimel) and Andres (Nuno Lopes) with Calypso (Clotilde Courau) in Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile)

At the UniFrance and Film at Lincoln Center’s 25th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, just days before the announcement came that Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile), co-written with Teddy Lussi-Modeste, and starring Mina Farid, Zahia Dehar, Benoît Magimel and Nuno Lopes would be the last screening of the festival, I met with the director at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Governor Andrew M Cuomo announced at that time (March 13) that he was limiting gathering in public spaces due to the coronavirus pandemic in New York, which eventually led to the closing of all cinemas by March 16.

Rebecca Zlotowski on Benoît Magimel: “There’s something about him being very melancholic, very sad.”

In the second half of my conversation with Rebecca Zlotowski, André Gide, Marguerite Duras,...

Catherine Deneuve: César Award Besst Actress Record-Tier (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'In the Courtyard / Dans la cour') (See previous post: "Kristen Stewart and Catherine Deneuve Make César Award History.") Catherine Deneuve has received 12 Best Actress César nominations to date. Deneuve's nods were for the following movies (year of film's release): Pierre Salvadori's In the Courtyard / Dans la Cour (2014). Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way / Elle s'en va (2013). François Ozon's Potiche (2010). Nicole Garcia's Place Vendôme (1998). André Téchiné's Thieves / Les voleurs (1996). André Téchiné's My Favorite Season / Ma saison préférée (1993). Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). François Dupeyron's Strange Place for an Encounter / Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre (1988). Jean-Pierre Mocky's Agent trouble (1987). André Téchiné's Hotel America / Hôtel des Amériques (1981). François Truffaut's The Last Metro / Le dernier métro (1980). Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Le sauvage (1975). Additionally, Catherine Deneuve was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category...

Professional footballer-turned-actor named jury president of this year’s Dinard British Film Festival.

Eric Cantona, former professional footballer and actor, has been confirmed as the jury president of this year’s Dinard British Film Festival (Oct 2-6) held in Brittany, France.

After winning a role in Le Bonheur est dans le pré, directed by Étienne Chatiliez, he retired from football in 1997 to pursue a career in film.

In 1998, he appeared in Shekhar Kapur’s Oscar-winning Elizabeth. His other credits include The Over-Eater (L’Outremangeur) by director Thierry Binisti and he also starred opposite Isabelle Adjani in De Force from director Frank Henry. Cantona then crossed over into English language films with his role in Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or nominated Looking for Eric in 2009.

He will next appear in French drama You and the Night (Les Rencontres d’après minuit), directed by Yann Gonzalez.

The festival, which celebrates its 24th anniversary this year, focusses on new...

French actor known for her role as the cantankerous widow in Tatie Danielle, the 1990 film directed by Étienne Chatiliez

With her remarkable portrayal of the cantankerous, mean-spirited and selfish widow in Tatie Danielle (1990), Tsilla Chelton joined the ranks of those elderly female performers who, after a long career in show business, suddenly find themselves as film stars. Like Katie Johnson in The Ladykillers (1955) and Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude (1972), Chelton, who has died aged 93, finally moved into the limelight in her 70s.

In this second feature directed by Étienne Chatiliez, Auntie Danielle manipulates everyone around her, including her great-nephew, his family and a housekeeper whom she regularly abuses, until she meets her match in a young woman paid to look after her. Not pathetic or twinkly-eyed, as older people are generally depicted in the movies, Chelton, in the antipathetic title role, is on screen most of the time, not seeking understanding,...

Unless you count Roman Polanski’s Tess as a significant invite, Pathe International is pretty much relegated to market screenings, but this week it was announced that Denis Villeneuve’s An Enemy to be shot in Toronto with Jake Gyllenhaal, so it looks like there is definitely something to look forward to with this French sales co.

An Enemy by Denis Villeneuve

Beauty And The Beast (La Belle Et La BÊTE) by Christophe Gans

Jappeloup by Christian Duguay

Alceste A Bicyclette by Philippe Le Guay

Bowling by Marie-Castille Mention Schaar

Happiness Never Comes Alone (Un Bonheur N’Arrive Jamais Seul) by James Huth

Houba! On The Trail Of The Marsupilami (Sur La Piste Du Marsupilami) by Alain Chabat

It Happened In Saint Tropez (Des Gens Qui S’Embrassent) by Danièle Thompson

Last Passenger by Omid Nooshin

My Best Holidays (Nos Plus Belles Vacances) by Philippe Lellouche

No One Lives by Ryuhei Kitamura

Sea,...

PARIS -- Gerard Depardieu has signed on to star in the comedy Ole, from French writer-director Florence Quentin, producer-distributor ARP said Thursday. Depardieu, who plays a wealthy businessman, will be joined by Sabine Azema as his wife and comic Gad Elmaleh as his chauffeur. Shooting begins in March, said ARP, which will also handle world sales. Ole is Quentin's second feature. She directed the diet comedy J'ai faim (I'm Hungry) in 2001 for Gaumont, and is best known as a scriptwriter, working on Etienne Chatiliez's Life Is a Long Quiet River and Diane Kurys' Je Reste! (I'm Staying).