News

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So, we’re going to do the hard work for you.

We head to France this week, a fitting time to spotlight TV in the nation given that Mipcom Cannes is taking place. France Télévisions’ Daughters of Fire takes a modernistic approach to a tale from some 400 years or so ago and the creators and producers wanted to conjure themes around feminism, resistance and #MeToo when forging the drama series.

Name: Daughters of Fire

Country: France

Producer: Kwaï

Distributor: Fremantle

For fans of: Jane Campion movies, Bridgerton

In the Basque Country more than 400 years ago,...

Fanny Herrero, “Call My Agent!” creator and showrunner, will be president of the jury at television series festival Canneseries, which runs April 1-6.

The French screenwriter’s other credits include “Les Bleus,” “Odysseus,” “Fais pas ci faire pas ça,” “A French Village” and “Kaboul Kitchen.” Her latest series, “Standing Up” has just been launched on Netflix, and opened Series Mania.

Also on the jury will be French actors Anne Marivin and Sami Outalbali (“Sex Education”), American actor Denis O’Hare, Icelandic actor-producer Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (“The Minister”), and British composer Daniel Pemberton (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”).

The Official Selection features 10 series in competition. These are Belgian crime drama “1985,” Norwegian relationship drama “Afterglow,” Canadian comedy-drama “Audrey’s Back,” Italian crime comedy-drama “Bang Bang Baby,” Spanish crime drama “El Inmortal,” French political thriller “The Inside Game, Seeds of Wrath,” German anthology series “Punishment,” German mystery drama “Souls,” Danish biographical drama “The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen,...

Call My Agent! creator Fanny Herrero has been unveiled as President of this year’s Canneseries Jury.

Herrero will be joined by Anne Marivin – star of the French Netflix sensation – on the six-person Jury, alongside Dallas Buyers Club’s Denis O’Hare, Sex Education’s Sami Outalbali, True Detective’s Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and composer Daniel Pemberton.

The six will judge a prestigious list of Long Form Competition finalists including shows from Academy Award-winners Oliver Hirschbiegel and Jean-Xavier De Lestrade and The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen, along with dramas from Israel, Canada, Spain and Belgium.

The Short Form Competition is being overseen by acclaimed author-screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, French actor-director Marc Ruchmann and Chinenye Ezeudu, another Sex Education star.

Herrero is the creator of Call My Agent!, the critically acclaimed Netflix show that has revolutionized non-English-language progaming on the platform. She spoke at last week’s Series Mania of the show’s success,...

Chicago – Though you probably don’t know his name, Christopher McQuarrie’s involvement might sell you on paying to see “The Tourist” even more than “A”-list stars Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. After all, McQuarrie is the writer behind 1995’s Oscar-winning magnum opus by the name of “The Usual Suspects”.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

While these two films both embarked on the pursuit of conning you into one belief and then twisting you into another, “The Usual Suspects” masterfully succeeds in every fiber of its being while “The Tourist” can’t even play ball in the same league. And to even consider “The Tourist” as Hitchcockian would be a crime of blockbuster proportions bestowed upon the true man of mystery.

Though McQuarrie’s words might be found somewhere in this Angelina Jolie model fest, the ink from its two other writers (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and Julian Fellowes) clearly snuffs away McQuarrie’s natural skill.

Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- When Jean-Luc Godard famously remarked that all movies should have a beginning, middle and end but not necessarily in that order, he probably did not realize that several generations later so many would take him at his word. Ever since Harold Pinter's play Betrayal, a number of plays, movies and TV films have created a dramatic splash by telling a story backward. The latest exercise, Francois Ozon's 5X2 (Five Times Two), presents five significant scenes in the life of a married couple told in reverse order from their divorce to initial infatuation. It can be said that this device does yield a glimmer of explanation about why the couple split up, but only a glimmer.

Despite the lack of stars, Ozon's name probably ensures theatrical exposure in North America, but the film is too minor to attract the crowds that saw his films 8 Women or Swimming Pool.

The strongest and most curious episode of the film written by Ozon and Emmanuele Berenheim is the first. A judge reads the divorce papers to a downcast Parisian couple, Gilles (Stephane Freiss) and Marion (Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi). After they sign the papers, they retreat to a bare-bones hotel room for one last tryst in bed. Why either would want to do this -- it apparently is Gilles' idea -- is never explained. Afterward, he asks if she would like to take another stab at the relationship. She turns and walks out the door for good.

Next we see the couple entertain Gilles Gay' brother (Antoine Chappey) and his new and much younger boyfriend (Marc Ruchmann). After dinner, Gilles is compelled to recall the time he cheated on Marion in front of her at an orgy.

Then, at the premature birth of their son, Gilles inexplicably cannot bring himself to visit his wife in the hospital. We also meet Marion's bickering parents (veteran actors Francoise Fabian and Michael Lonsdale).

In the first three scenes, Gilles comes off as such a jerk we wonder why Marion sticks by him so long. In the penultimate scene, at what should be their happiest moment, the wedding, we learn that Marion betrayed him that very night with a stranger.

The final episode has the couple getting to know each other at an Italian resort where she has come alone and he arrives with his then-girlfriend (Geraldine Pailhas) of four years.

So a betrayal on the part of each was the germinating seed for the marriage. But this doesn't, of course, explain the marriage's failure. Ozon says he isn't after an explanation, which is fair enough, but none of the scenes provides much food for thought. Played backward or forward, these episodes, while not dull, arrive without preamble or motive and offer little insight into the difficulties of all love relationships.

Tech credits are fine, but it might have been fun if Ozon had played each sequence in a different cinematic style.

5X2

Fidelity Productions

Credits:

Director: Francois Ozon

Writers: Francois Ozon, Emmanuele Bernheim

Producers: Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier

Director of photography: Yorick Le Saux

Production designer: Katia Wyszkop

Costumes: Pascaline Chavanne

Music: Philippe Rombi

Editor: Monica Coleman

Cast:

Marion: Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

Gilles: Stephane Freiss

Valerie: Geraldine Pailhas

Monique: Francoise Fabian

Bernard: Michael Lonsdale

Christophe: Antoine Chappey

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 90 minutes...