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During the second day of the Cannes Film Festival, a fallen filmmaker icon was remembered and Tom Cruise showed the crowd the awe-inspiring power of movies.

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Tom Cruise stormed Cannes with a glitzy screening of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” Big Hollywood screenings are par for the course with Cannes, but they can be a dangerous proposition. A couple of years ago, when “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” showed up to the festival, it was met with critical derision and wore those toxic reviews for six weeks before the movie opened. Thankfully, the response out of Cannes – complete with a five to seven-and-a-half minute standing ovation (depending on who you believe) was over-the-moon.

The film, which could be the final installment in the blockbuster franchise that began way back in 1996, was met with a warm response. (The review embargo broke right after the...

On Tuesday, delegates from France’s national film center held a press-conference in Cannes to share the good news: Moviegoing was on the rise, with admissions, local productions and theater openings all on the upswing throughout 2024. Two days later, one could still, ever so faintly, hear those exhibitors’ sighs of relief once Dominik Moll’s “Case 137” made its world premiere – because this slight police drama is of the exact type that will benefit from the relaxed expectations of ticket-buyers who hit the cinema once or twice a week, rather than a few times per year.

Modest in scale and ambition, this factually inspired, “just the facts, ma’am” drama finds an internal affairs officer investigating a case of police brutality, with both the film and its lead cop hitting the ground with an uncommon degree of tenacity. And give the title credit for honesty, as “Dossier 137” barely deviates from the work at hand,...

This is a film about questions. It’s about the official business of asking them, the new ones that instantly supplant answered ones and the squashed ones that poison all chances of social equality. An answer that German-French director Dominik Moll is happy to supply, however, is in response to Inspector Stéphanie Bertrand (Léa Drucker) as she talks to her teenage son. “Why does everyone hate the police?,” she asks as he looks at her from bed, ashamed of her profession.

“Dossier 137” is a dramatization of a specific case of police brutality that took place in Paris in 2018, during what is known as the Yellow Vests protests. Although it takes some time to show its hand, by the end “Acab” would work as its tagline — well, “McAb” with its leading lady as the reason to change the word “all” to “most.”

Stéphanie Bertrand works in Paris for the Igpn...

French actor Théo Navarro-Mussy did not join his co-stars on the red carpet for the premiere of their film “Dossier 137” at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, TheWrap has learned.

He has been banned from participating due to an impending civil suit against him accusing him of rape, according to local reports.

“Last week, the Cannes Festival management received a warning about an actor who appears in ‘Dossier 137’ regarding a case dating back to 2023, long before our film was shot. The case in question was dismissed in 2025, but the plaintiffs intend to bring a civil suit in response to the verdict,” movie producers Haut et Court said in a statement to TheWrap.

“Even though the allegations largely predate the production of the film, we agreed with the Festival management that the person in question will not accompany the film to Cannes, out of respect for the plaintiffs and their right to be heard,...

Cannes Film Festival leadership has removed actor Théo Navarro-Mussy from the red-carpet lineup for Dominik Moll’s competition entry Dossier 137 amid allegations of rape and physical and psychological violence by three women. Delegate General Thierry Frémaux informed the film’s team of his decision after the actors’ association Ada alerted him to official complaints dating to 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Though French courts dismissed the criminal case in April 2025, the complainants have registered as civil parties and intend to appeal. Frémaux explained that, since the investigation remains active through the appeal, the festival will withhold public recognition of anyone under such inquiry, following the César Academy’s protocol for incidents of violence.

Dossier 137 producers Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta, whose Haut et Court backed the political drama, affirmed their support for the ban. They noted that the alleged events occurred “well before the film was shot” yet agreed with festival management...

Cannes Film Festival has banned “Dossier 137” actor Theo Navarro-Mussy from walking the red carpet at the film’s premiere on Thursday night amid accusations of rape and sexual assault.

Navarro-Mussy has a supporting role in “Dossier 137,” one of this year’s Cannes competition titles. News of his banning from the red carpet broke ahead of the movie’s Thursday evening premiere at the festival’s Palais theater.

Contacted by Variety, Navarro-Mussy’s lawyer said in a statement that the “case was closed for an insufficiently serious offense in April 2025.” She said the “plaintiffs have announced that they will be filing a new complaint, although this has not yet been done.”

“Dossier 137” producers Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta, whose Haut et Court backed the political drama, told Variety the allegations against Navarro-Mussy date back to a case that occurred “well before the film was shot.”

“Even though the...

Exclusive: Chiara Mastroianni (Marcello Mio), Denis Podalydès (Sorry Angel), Guslagie Malanda (Dossier 137), Jasmine Trinca (La Storia), Cleo Diára (I Only Rest In The Storm), Isabél Zuaa (The Secret Agent), and Agustina Muñoz (Ariel) are set to lead feature Jealous White Men, which Magnify is launching for the Cannes market.

Filming is set to begin later this year in Galápagos, Portugal, Brazil, and Italy on director Ivan Granovsky’s adventure-tragicomedy. The film is co-written by Granovsky and Mariana Ricardo (Grand Tour). Cinematography is by Simone D’Arcangelo (The Settlers). Additional casting is in process.

The synopsis reads: “Jealous White Men is a wild, tragicomic adventure that satirizes history through dueling narratives by Jules Verne and his wife Honorine, each recounting young Charles Darwin’s journey to the Galápagos — a voyage teeming with pirates, pink iguanas, and a riotous mix of chaos, discovery, and revolt.”

Magnify is handling global and U.S.

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Companion is a sci-fi thriller film written and directed by Drew Hancock. The 2025 film follows a young couple going on a weekend getaway with friends at a remote cabin. Their fun getaway soon turns bloody when it is revealed that one of them is a companion robot. Companion stars Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillen, and Rupert Friend. So, if you loved the thrilling story, sci-fi elements, and compelling characters in Companion, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

M3GAN (Starz & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures

M3GAN is a sci-fi horror thriller film directed by Gerard Johnstone from a screenplay by Akela Cooper. The 2022 film follows Gemma, a brilliant roboticist who takes in her niece, Cady, after she lost her parents in an accident. Gemma designed a lifelike doll known as M3GAN,...

Exclusive: Manager and producer Doreen Wilcox Little has joined Echo Lake Entertainment after more than a decade at Anonymous Content.

A protégé of Steve Golin, Wilcox Little executive produced Killer Joe during her run at Anonymous, the thrilling drama directed by her late client Oscar winner William Friedkin, starring Matthew McConaughey. She was also an EP on Mapplethorpe, the biopic about the iconic photographer, directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner. Wilcox Little’s film credits include the adaptation of Mason Deaver’s YA novel, I Wish You All The Best, written and directed by her client Tommy Dorfman. Alongside the Oscar-winning producers at Macro, Wilcox Little is currently producing I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter for Orion Pictures. The film adaptation of the popular novel is being directed by Oscar-nominated actress America Ferrera this year.

Wilcox Little’s client roster includes notable actors such as Sophie Thatcher, known for her roles in Yellowjackets,...

Léa Seydoux, George MacKay in BeastImage: Ad Vitam

There’s an instant urgency in The Beast, the latest film from writer-director Bertrand Bonello, that persists despite its hefty runtime of 145 minutes. Even in its quietest moments, as Bonello’s pacing slows to a crawl and we are asked to consider every gesture,...

The Beast is like a slow-twisting knife to the side of our existence, its point sharpened with care by writer-director Bertrand Bonello and guided with the utmost precision so as to not puncture any vital organs — we are alive, but in undeniable pain. Indeed, arriving at a time when humanity is at its most anxious, emotionally exhausted, and existentially frustrated, the film offers zero reprieve as it deals with grand questions of love, death, and loneliness. Yet, at the risk of premature exclamation, it stands as one of the most rewarding movies you'll see this year.

Loosely adapted from the 1903 Henry James novella, The Beast in the Jungle, The Beast stars Léa Seydoux as Gabrielle, a woman who decides to undergo an emotional purification procedure that will eliminate her ability to experience any and all strong feelings. It's the year 2044, and it has since been deemed that humans' capacity for...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the U.S. release of “The Beast,” a science fiction film about the inherent psychological/emotional carriage within us all, co-written and directed by Bertrand Bonello. In select theaters now (see local listings). At Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on April 12th.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

The film involves a woman named Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) who in 2044 is about to embark on a “DNA cleansing” to take away the trauma her past lives had endured. While going through the process she meets Louis (George MacKay) who gives her a sense of deja vu. It turns out that this couple has been together in a 1910 sense (Belle Époque Paris) and a 2014 sense (in Los Angeles). As the story of those three encounters play out within her cellular energy, the evolution of Gabrielle seems to have something to do with her connection to Louis.

”The Beast...

The world is heating up out there, but the gusts and erratic temperature swings of early Spring can often be deceiving. One minute it looks sunny and warm, the next you’re stranded on a long walk in just basketball shorts when a sudden chill descends. Or it looks nasty, and all of a sudden you’re overdressed in 80-degree heat. It might be best to stay safely within the confines of your local art house or home theater with some Don’t-Miss Indies instead.

Monkey Man

When You Can Watch: April 5

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Directors: Dev Patel

Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala

Why We’re Excited: Famous for his lead role in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel has turned his attention to directing with his debut Monkey Man, which premiered last month at SXSW. Inspired by the Indian legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man...

“The Beast” is a new science fiction romance, directed by Bertrand Bonello, starring Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scalia and Elina Löwensohn, opening April 5, 2024 in theaters:

“…in 2044, ‘AI’ has evolved and determined human emotion as a threat.

“As ‘Gabrielle’ is about to go through a process to ‘purify’ her ‘DNA’ and disconnect from those emotions - she does so by living through past lives.

“But when she begins to connect with a man named ‘Louis’ across history, she realizes her emotions are much stronger than she could anticipate…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Alice Diop’s Saint Omer brings the French filmmaker into the realm of fiction for the first time, but preserves her documentary respect for the evidence of the audience’s eyes. A sober, pared-down courtroom drama, Saint Omer initially makes little effort to comment on its action, at times feeling more like presentation than representation. The unadorned quality of the film can be laborious, particularly in the early stretches of the trial that’s at the center of the story, but Diop earns the effort she asks of her audience, methodically allowing a strange, intangible, but nevertheless palpable mix of emotions to emerge from the situation itself.

It’s certainly a choice, and the expression of an ethos, that Diop keeps the viewer locked in to repeating pairs of alternating camera angles for significant portions of the trial. We see the defendant, Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), a Senegalese immigrant and...

Alice Diop’s award-winning courtroom drama doubles as an unsentimental study in empathy with one of the year’s most mesmerising performances

More on the best films of 2023More on the best culture of 2023

At this year’s Venice film festival, Alice Diop’s unblinking stunner Saint Omer was handed the prize for best debut film – a reward that would have seemed inadequate if it hadn’t shortly afterwards taken the grand prix in the main competition, and inaccurate under any circumstances. Diop’s film is only a debut if you’re happy to disregard documentary as a lesser branch of cinema that somehow doesn’t count; as her first dramatic feature, Saint Omer merely extends the clear-eyed gaze and burning social interest of her non-fiction work into new narrative terrain, with nary a tremor of uncertainty. Films like We showed Diop has form in braiding truth, storytelling and intense...

Cesar Award-winning French actress Guslagie Malanda is currently in the national capital Delhi to attend the European Union Film Festival. Guslagie, whose film ‘Saint Omer’ marked the opening of the film fest, shared that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Devdas’ is her most favourite Hindi film of all times.

The actress is immersing herself in the city’s vibrant culture and has also fallen for Delhi’s culinary delights.

During her 5-day stay in Delhi, Malanda will be absorbing the local culture of the city.

When asked about Bollywood, Guslagie Malanda shared her love for the timeless classic, ‘Devdas’. The French actress revealed that she’s watched the movie multiple times and admires every actor’s performance. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial holds a special place in her heart as one of her favourite Bollywood films.

The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer film is based on the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay,...

Cesar Award-winning French actress Guslagie Malanda is currently in the national capital Delhi to attend the European Union Film Festival. Guslagie, whose film ‘Saint Omer’ marked the opening of the film fest, shared that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Devdas’ is her most favourite Hindi film of all times.

The actress is immersing herself in the city’s vibrant culture and has also fallen for Delhi’s culinary delights.

During her 5-day stay in Delhi, Malanda will be absorbing the local culture of the city.

When asked about Bollywood, Guslagie Malanda shared her love for the timeless classic, ‘Devdas’. The French actress revealed that she’s watched the movie multiple times and admires every actor’s performance. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial holds a special place in her heart as one of her favourite Bollywood films.

The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer film is based on the 1917 novel of the same name by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay,...

Bertrand Bonello’s “The Beast,” a dystopian romance drama starring Lea Seydoux (“No Time to Die”) and George MacKay (“1917”), has been bought by distributors in all major markets following its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Represented in international markets by Kinology, “The Beast” has sold to the U.K. (Vertigo Releasing), Italy (iWonder), Spain (Caramel), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto), Benelux (Imagine), Scandinavia (NonStop), Latin America (Impacto), Middle East (Front Row), Poland (New Horizons), Greece (Weirdwave), Portugal (Alambique), Cis (Capella), Romania (Transilvania), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), India (Superfine) and Indonesia (P.T. Falcon).

As announced on Monday, the movie was picked up by Sideshow and Janus Films for U.S. distribution.

The film is adapted from Henry James’ novella “The Beast in the Jungle” and is set it in the near future, where artificial intelligence reigns supreme and emotions are seen as dangerous. It...

“The Beast,” starring Léa Seydoux and George MacKay, has been picked up for domestic distribution by Sideshow and Janus Films, TheWrap has learned.

The romantic drama, based on Henry James’ novella ‘The Beast in the Jungle,’ will receive a theatrical release next year. It also co-stars Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Élina Löwensohn, Marta Hoskins, Julia Faure, Kester Lovelace, Félicien Pinot, and Laurent Lacote.

The film concerns a near future where artificial intelligence reigns and human emotions represent a threat to the ruling order. As such, Gabrielle (Seydoux) must purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis (MacKay), her great love. But she is overcome by fear, a premonition that catastrophe is on the way.

Sideshow and Janus Films commented: “Bertrand Bonello has made a bold, provocative and beautifully made film asking major questions about our humanity in the age of A.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all U.S. rights for “The Beast,” which was written and directed by Bertrand Bonello, the filmmaker behind “Saint Laurent.”

The film is an adaptation of Henry James’ novella “The Beast in the Jungle.” It features a glossy cast that includes “No Time to Die” star Léa Seydoux and “1917” breakout George MacKay, along with Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Élina Löwensohn, Marta Hoskins, Julia Faure, Kester Lovelace, Félicien Pinot, and Laurent Lacote. The film is a Les Films du Bélier, My New Picture and Sons of Manual Production, and is produced by Justin Taurand and Bertrand Bonello.

The movie has updated James’ tale quite liberally, setting it in the near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme and emotions are seen as dangerous. It follows Gabrielle (Seydoux) as she works to purify her DNA. Safe to say none of these things were preoccupations for James,...

The Beast, Bertrand Bonello’s time-hopping cosmic romance starring Lea Seydoux and George MacKay, has been acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films for the U.S. A theatrical release is planned for 2024.

The film, which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, later screened in Toronto and has just had its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival, was written and directed by Bonello (Saint Laurent), and is based on the Henry James novella The Beast in the Jungle. Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Élina Löwensohn, Marta Hoskins, Julia Faure, Kester Lovelace, Félicien Pinot and Laurent Lacote also star.

Set in the near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme and human emotions have become a threat, The Beast sees Gabrielle (Seydoux) attempt to purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis (MacKay), her great love. But she is overcome by fear,...

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all US rights for The Beast (LA BÊTE), the latest feature from French filmmaker Bertrand Bonello (Saint Laurent) starring Léa Seydoux.

The film debuted in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival and is based on Henry James’ novella The Beast In The Jungle. Synopsis reads: In the near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme, human emotions have become a threat. To get rid of them, Gabrielle (Seydoux) must purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis (George MacKay), her great love. But she is overcome by fear, a premonition that catastrophe is on the way.

Starring alongside Seydoux and MacKay are Guslagie Malanda (Saint Omer), Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Élina Löwensohn, Marta Hoskins, Julia Faure, Kester Lovelace, Félicien Pinot, and Laurent Lacote. The film is a Les Films du Bélier, My New Picture, and Sons of Manual production,...

Belgian director Joachim Lafosse is done being silent.

Just like the family in his latest film “A Silence,” inspired by the real-life case of Victor Hissel: a former lawyer for two victims of killer Marc Dutroux, ultimately charged with possession of child pornography.

“To me, it’s not a dark story, because they do start to talk,” he says about the characters played by Emmanuelle Devos and newcomer Matthieu Galoux, slowly digging up the long-buried sins of their husband and father (Daniel Auteuil).

“Astrid and her children decide to step out of that criminal environment. With this film, I want to show how people can be violated by something like that, how difficult it is to shake off that shame and guilt. It’s difficult, but I think it’s possible.”

He also had to learn how to speak up, he says.

“In 2008, I made ‘Private Lessons.’ I didn’t say that at the time,...

It does rather feel as if the universe — or at least the French film industry — is trying to tell us something when 2023 has turned up not one but two loose Gallic adaptations of Henry James’s “The Beast in the Jungle.” That 1903 novella was about a man, John Marcher, who fails to fully live his life because he’s seized by premonitions of catastrophe that never visibly come to pass. It feels glumly relevant in an age of climate change, artificial intelligence and other obvious but indefinite signals of human demise; perhaps we should count this highly specific cinematic mini-trend as another.

Spare a thought for director Patric Chiha’s “The Beast in the Jungle,” a Berlinale premiere earlier this year, with an already modest profile about to be dwarfed by Bertrand Bonello’s starrier, bigger-swinging “The Beast” — a gender-switched James riff in which said catastrophe is very much happening,...

Editor’s Note: This review originally published during the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus Films will release “The Beast” in U.S. theaters on April 5, 2024.

Compelling evidence that every major arthouse director should be required to make their own “Cloud Atlas” before they die, Bertrand Bonello’s sweeping, romantic, and ravishingly strange “The Beast” finds the French director broadening — and in some cases challenging — the core obsessions of his previous films into a sci-fi epic about the fear of falling in love.

Split into three lightly intercut parts that trace the connection between two star-crossed souls (embodied by Léa Seydoux and George MacKay) from 1910 to 2044, Bonello’s latest and most accessible movie begins by literalizing the same basic premise that has undergirded previous work like “House of Tolerance” and “Zombi Child”: The past is always present (a dialectic explored here with the help of a machine that encourages...

The new science fiction drama feature "The Beast" (aka "La Bête"), based on Henry James' 1903 novella "The Beast in the Jungle", is directed by Bertrand Bonello starring Léa Seydoux, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Elina Löwensohn, Marta Hoskins, Julia Faure, Kester Lovelace, Félicien Pinot, Laurent Lacotte, Weronika Szawarska and Jasmine Van Deventer, with a North American release Tba:

"...the story is set in the near future, where emotions have become a threat. A woman, 'Gabrielle' (Seydoux), finally decides to purify her 'DNA' in a machine that will plunge her into her past lives and rid her of all strong feelings. 

" She then meets 'Louis' and feels a powerful connection, as if she had always known him. The tale then unfolds over three distinct periods: 1910, 2014 and 2044..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been reporting on a new Joachim Lafosse project. With an October production start date just around the corner, and now thanks to the socials, we learned that the first thesp to board Les petits voleurs will be Guslagie Malanda. The actress who began her career with 2014’s Mon Amie Victoria by Jean-Paul Civeyrac, and who waited for her big break with the outstanding performance in 2022’s Saint Omer is now on top of casting director lists.

Lafosse will premiere A Silence (Un silence) at the upcoming Donostia-San Sebastián, while Malanda should be returning to Venice (and possibly hitting Toronto) with Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast — the film’s selection should be confirmed tomorrow and or on Tuesday.…...

Clockwise from top left: White Men Can’t Jump (Hulu), The Old Way (Saban Films), Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.), The Last Unicorn (Jensen Farley Pictures)Image: The A.V. Club

Whether or not you think that the world needs a fresh version of White Men Can’t Jump, you’re getting a remake starring...

Exclusive: French actress Guslagie Malanda has signed with Anonymous Content for management, on the heels of a career-elevating awards run with the acclaimed Alice Diop film, Saint Omer.

The French legal drama, billed as a contemporary version of the Medea myth, premiered to rave reviews at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, as well as the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Feature, before going on to be named as France’s 2023 submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. It’s inspired by a true story and follows novelist Rama (Kayije Kagame) as she attends the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanga), a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. As the trial continues, the words of the accused and witness testimonies will shake...

Dominik Moll’s brooding procedural thriller “The Night of the 12th” won big at the 48th Cesar Awards Friday night in Paris.

Out of 10 nominations, “The Night of the 12th” picked up best film, director, male newcomer for Bastien Bouillon, supporting actor for Bouli Lanners, adapted screenplay and sound. Bouillon and Lanners star as two cops trying to solve the gruesome murder of a young woman. The film opened at Cannes in the Premieres section.

Caroline Benjo, who produced “The Night of the 12th” with Carole Scotta and Simon Arnal at Haut et Court, made a searing speech denouncing the violence against women. “When Dominic and Gilles came to us to make this film it was obvious that we (needed to address this issue) and that the perspective of men on this matter was crucial, and that filmmakers had to tell this story,” said Benjo. “A few days ago, Dominic...

The 46th César Awards, France’s top film honors, have been handed out in Paris, with Dominik Moll’s crime thriller The Night of the 12th winning the best picture trophy.

Moll’s The Night of the 12th, which premiered in Cannes last year, scored 10 César noms coming into the awards show, just behind Louis Garrel’s The Innocent, which picked up 11 nominations. Moll also won for best director, and Bouli Lanners earned the best supporting actor trophy for his performance in The Night of the 12th.

Cédric Klapisch’s Rise, about a ballet dancer (Marion Barbeau) who, after an injury, seeks a new future in contemporary dance, was up for 9 Césars, as was Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, a thriller featuring Benoît Magimel as a morally-challenged Haut-Commissaire on an island in French Polynesia.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s dramedy Forever Young, Cedric Jimenez’s terrorism drama November, Eric Gravel’s family...

The César Awards are characterized as France’s answer to the Oscars. And just like their awards show cousin halfway across the world, the Césars are embroiled in controversy after failing to nominate any women directors.

This year’s Academy Awards were slammed by advocacy groups after ignoring the likes of Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”) and Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”) in favor of an all-male contingent of auteurs. The Césars have followed suit with an all-male group of directing nominees, despite a banner year for French female filmmakers. It’s one that saw directors from Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”) to Claire Denis (“Stars at Noon”) dominating the festival circuit and scoring prizes, only to come up short when the Césars unveiled their contenders on Jan. 25. The omission has sparked a debate about gender equity and sexism in the French film business, as well as social media protests emblazoned with the hashtag #CesarsSoMale,...

It’s not the type of work which wins the big awards – too simple, focused on getting results rather than getting attention – but Claire Mathon’s cinematography in the slow-paced, quietly devastating Saint Omer is a thing of beauty. Revealing every nuance as light filters through tall windows into a provincial French courtroom, it reveals the defendant, Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), almost as an afterthought. Dressed in a soft brown suit which blends into the surrounding woodwork, she is small, quiet, speaking when spoken to in the unvarnished manner of one who has lost all hope. Yes, she acknowledges, she left her infant daughter alone on a beach where she would be drowned when the tide came in. No, she does not believe that she is guilty of murder.

The film is based on a real trial which director Alice Diop attended as an observer in 2016. Here, we see it.

Alice Diop’s unnerving fiction feature is based on the true case of a Senegalese immigrant accused in the French court of murdering her 15-month-old daughter

Documentary maker Alice Diop delivers a piercing fiction feature in the form of a courtroom drama, based on a real-life case: mysterious, tragic and intimately unnerving. The severity and poise of this calmly paced movie, its emotional reserve and moral seriousness – and the elusive, implied confessional dimension concerning Diop herself – make it an extraordinary experience.

Kayije Kagame plays Rama, a bestselling author and academic who lives in Paris and is heading to the town of Saint Omer, near Calais, to write what her publishers hope will be some commercially delicious literary reportage about a shocking criminal case. Laurence Coly (superbly played by Guslagie Malanda) is a woman on trial for murdering her 15-month-old daughter, by leaving her on the beach to be drowned by the incoming tide.

Guslagie Malanda: "Much of the script was based on what she had actually said in court and learning those lines was one of the most visceral experiences of my life." Photo: UniFrance

The awards buzz around documentary filmmaker Alice Diop’s first narrative feature, Saint Omer (named after the French town where it is set), continues to grow ahead of the BAFTAs and the French Césars. The film already has won the Silver Lion and Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Début Film at the Venice International Film Festival. Although chosen to represent France in the Oscars race as Best International Feature, a first for a black woman filmmaker, it failed to make the final mix of five nominees.

It was possibly simply too gritty for the sensibilities of the Academy Award voters in Hollywood. Set mainly in a court-room in a Northern provincial town, it sees Diop employ...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Saint Omer,” the French film narrative debut of documentary maker Alice Diop, based on a real trial that she had observed. Currently in select theaters, see local listings.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Centered on a murder trial that focuses on Rama (Kayiije Kagame), a literature professor who wants to write about Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), who is about to be judged in court for drowning her toddler daughter in the ocean. As the trial proceeds, Rama increases her own anxiety about being newly pregnant and the relationship with her mother … Laurence and Rama are both in France through roots in African Senegal, and that circumstance unite the two characters together.

”Saint Omer” is currently in select theaters. See local listings. Featuring Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit and Xavier Maly. Screenplay by Alice Diop, Amrita David and Marie N’Diaye. Directed by Alice Diop.

Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading the race at the 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.

Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel, Roschdy Zem and Noemie Merlant, who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and most recently in “Tár.” Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint at Les Films des Tournelles, the crowdpleaser world premiered out of competition at Cannes for the 75th anniversary of the festival.

“The Night of the 12th,” meanwhile, is in the running for 10 Cesar awards. The brooding topical procedural, which also opened as part of Cannes’ Premiere section, stars Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder. The movie, produced by Haut et Court (“The Class”), delves into issues of gender and violence.

Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Klapisch’s dance-filled “Rise,...

The 30 talents are in the running for the most promising actor and actress awards at the 2023 Cesar awards.

Les Révélations 2023, par Audrey Diwan (Sous-titre Anglais) from Académie des César on Vimeo.

France’s Cesar Academy has joined forces with Happening director Audrey Diwan for a short film honouring the 30 ‘Revelations’, the emerging French talents in the running for the most promising actor and actress awards at this year’s Cesar film awards.

Diwan presented the four-minute short film she wrote and directed at a dinner in Paris on January 16 attended by the Revelations, each of whom chose a mentor to accompany them.

To say Guslagie Malanda plays Laurence Coly in Alice Diop’s Saint Omer feels incorrect; she becomes her. It’s a performance that holds such subtle power and authenticity that it’s easy to take it for granted. On this episode, Malanda explains why she turned down countless acting jobs after her first film, My Friend Victoria. She talks about the year-long pre-production period that she needed to prepare for the role, the nightmares that plagued her during that time, the breakthrough of learning to breathe, and much more. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, […]

The post “I Don’t Know How To Be a Product”: Saint Omer Star Guslagie Malanda first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

To say Guslagie Malanda plays Laurence Coly in Alice Diop’s Saint Omer feels incorrect; she becomes her. It’s a performance that holds such subtle power and authenticity that it’s easy to take it for granted. On this episode, Malanda explains why she turned down countless acting jobs after her first film, My Friend Victoria. She talks about the year-long pre-production period that she needed to prepare for the role, the nightmares that plagued her during that time, the breakthrough of learning to breathe, and much more. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, […]

The post “I Don’t Know How To Be a Product”: Saint Omer Star Guslagie Malanda first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Saint Omer Review — Saint Omer (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Alice Diop, written by Amrita David and Alice Diop and starring Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Xavier Maly, Thomas de Pourquery, Salimata Kamate, Robert Cantarella, Aurelia Petit and Louise Lemoine Torres. Alice Diop’s heavy but absorbing dramatic French film, Saint Omer, is certainly [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Saint Omer (2022): Filmmaker Alice Diop’s Courtroom Drama is Captivating and Marvelously Acted...

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th has won best film at the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards in Paris on Monday evening.

The investigative drama, which was nominated in six categories, also won Best Screenplay.

The film, which debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non-competitive Cannes Première section, stars Bastien Bouillon as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Best director went to Albert Serra for French Polynesia-set drama Pacification. The feature also clinched two other prizes: Best Actor for Benoît Magimal and Best Cinematography for Artur Tort.

Virginie Efira won Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children about the challenge of navigating the stepmother role.

Nadia Tereszkiewicz won Best Female Revelation for her performance in Forever Young and Dimitri Doré, Best Male Revelation for Bruno Reidal.

Alice Diop clinched best documentary category for We,...

There are a thousand ways to shoot a true crime story, but maybe really only one – if the goal is to focus the audience on the nuance of the characters in a way that inspires self-reflection, not judgement. “Saint Omer” does just that, in no small part because of how director Alice Diop approaches film form with a blend of documentary and narrative techniques. The film is based on the real-life trial of a woman accused of killing her infant daughter, but this fictionalized account relies not at all on the strategic feints of the prosecution and the defense, thrilling reveals of withheld information, or crime scene recreations. Instead, Diop’s precisely composed long takes simply force us to sit and to listen to the story Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda) tells.

In scripted features, usually there’s a lot of invisible work done to help the audience focus on the...

Alice Diop’s Saint Omer is a movie about a trial. But it is not strictly concerned with the question of innocence or guilt as a problem of the law. Far more complex, the movie finds, is the problem of how we should feel about the moral authority of the question — and the moral authority of the domain in which it can be asked. It is a movie about language and testimony, mothers and daughters, and the specific burden of a Black immigrant woman who finds herself subjected to the French legal gaze.

Alice Diop’s French drama Saint Omer opens in theaters today, and I remember the emotions I felt when I saw the film at Venice last year. It was a very personal experience for me — as if someone was telling my story on screen. At the beginning of my eventual interview with Diop, I asked where she sees herself within the French film industry. She made it clear she has stopped contemplating how she fits in. “It’s a question that I’m asked a lot, but I no longer ask myself where I fit in with French cinema,” she said. Can’t blame her for thinking that way. Creators of color often are asked those questions — or about the state of inclusion in Hollywood and how they would improve it. Questions that their white counterparts frequently and unfairly avoid.

Written by Diop, Amrita David, and Marie N’Diaye, Saint Omer...

Guslagie Malanda in Saint Omer Image: Courtesy of Neon Saint Omer haunts from its first image. A woman holding a baby walks on the beach towards the sea while the loud waves overwhelm the soundtrack. In another place, another woman wakes up from a nightmare calling for her mother. In two precise scenes,...

This review originally ran September 7, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

“A woman who has killed her baby can’t really expect any sympathy,” says Laurence Coly, who is accused of that very crime, in celebrated documentarian Alice Diop’s narrative debut “Saint Omer,” making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. So, the logical question is: Why would anyone watch such a film? Fortunately, Diop gives us many reasons.

Diop — whose 2021 documentary “We” (“Nous”), revolving around Black immigrant communities in the Paris suburbs, won top honors at the Berlin International Film Festival — doesn’t abandon her nonfiction roots. Truth also fuels her feature film. In it, well-spoken, educated Senegalese immigrant Laurence Coly, like the real Fabienne Kabou only a few years back, stands trial in quaint Saint-Omer in northeastern France for killing her 15-month-old daughter.

There to capture it all is pregnant...

There’s a lot of talk about how 2022 was a ‘flop’ year for film. The quality of the movies was constantly called into question without considering that many of these films were shot during the height of the pandemic where money, space, and resources were limited. Regardless of what anyone thinks, this year produced some phenomenal cinema, with even better performances. My best of 2022 list is meant to highlight some of the titles that left an impression on me. The choices range across genres from action, drama, documentary, and animation.

What are your top ten films of the year? Did you struggle finding movies to fill slots? Let me know in the comments!

Eo

Give these Donkeys an Academy Award today! I have never seen live-action animals perform with more personality, and emotion than the ones in Eo. With his own take on Au Hasard Balthazar, director Jerzy Skolimowski follows...

Martin McDonagh’s tragicomedy The Banshees Of Inisherin leads this year’s London Film Critics Circle nominations with nine nods, followed by Charlotte Wells’ acclaimed debut Aftersun, which nabbed eight nominations.

Both films clocked nominations for Film of the Year, British/Irish Film of The Year, Director of the Year, and Screenwriter of the Year. The two films also clocked multiple acting noms, with Paul Mescal picking up a Best Actor nod for his role in Aftersun. Frankie Corio, who plays his daughter in the pic, is nominated for Young British/Irish performer. Banshees stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively.

Elsewhere, Todd Field’s high-art drama Tár and Everything Everywhere All at Once by The Daniels both scored six nominations. The Best Foreign Language category features five pics, including the Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl and Alice Diop’s fiction debut Saint Omer.