Time to Leave: Alain Resnais’ Elegant Swan Song
Alain Resnais, that reluctant member of the French New Wave, passed away in March of 2014, not quite two months after the premiere of his last film, Life of Riley, at the Berlin Film Festival. Reaching its theatrical release, the film marks a graceful cap to an extraordinary filmography from a director that specialized in fragmented narratives that play with memory, time, perception, and the complicated nature of human interactions. His final film, while certainly more linear than many of his most famous works, is no exception to his exploration of time and the limited amount of it. Returning with several of his favorite key players, it’s the third Resnais adaptation of an Alan Ayckbourn play (originally titled Aimer, boire et chanter, which translates to Love, Drink and Sing), as charming as ever, presented with its stylized stage artifice.
Three couples...
Alain Resnais, that reluctant member of the French New Wave, passed away in March of 2014, not quite two months after the premiere of his last film, Life of Riley, at the Berlin Film Festival. Reaching its theatrical release, the film marks a graceful cap to an extraordinary filmography from a director that specialized in fragmented narratives that play with memory, time, perception, and the complicated nature of human interactions. His final film, while certainly more linear than many of his most famous works, is no exception to his exploration of time and the limited amount of it. Returning with several of his favorite key players, it’s the third Resnais adaptation of an Alan Ayckbourn play (originally titled Aimer, boire et chanter, which translates to Love, Drink and Sing), as charming as ever, presented with its stylized stage artifice.
Three couples...
- 10/23/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Une autre vie is almost a “theoretical” film, probably one of the few really successful “film as theory” pieces of Locarno's International Competition selection. It brilliantly and bravely face the possibility of being misunderstood. Possibly deceptive for those who would expect the comforts of the “regular love story” it apparently advertises, the episodes as well as the features of the characters are actually deliberately predictable, as they are based on some of the basic schemes of photo-story's (roman-photo, fotoromanzo) “sentimental” fiction and melodrama.
A rich girl (and a successful classical pianist) going through a personal breakdown falls in love with a working class man. He has a partner (a working class orphaned girl) who, after having kept the affair secret, he eventually decides to leave for the rich girl (meeting the opposition of the pianist’s brother, a frustrated artist who became her half greedy half attentive manager). The “poor girl” discovers the affair,...
A rich girl (and a successful classical pianist) going through a personal breakdown falls in love with a working class man. He has a partner (a working class orphaned girl) who, after having kept the affair secret, he eventually decides to leave for the rich girl (meeting the opposition of the pianist’s brother, a frustrated artist who became her half greedy half attentive manager). The “poor girl” discovers the affair,...
- 8/14/2013
- by Marie-Pierre Duhamel
- MUBI
My New Plaid Pants on Jake Gyllenhaal's next project.
Pajiba on the myth of the ugly-hot woman in Hollywood; they're all hot. There is no female equivalent to Steve Buscemi.
Comics Alliance Annie Leibovitz has more of those Disney with celebrity portraits including what looks like an entirely computer generated portrait of Queen Latifah as film experience obsession Ursula. Does this mean we're supposed to imagine her battling Julianne Moore who was Ariel for Liebovitz last time? It's the 2002 Best Supporting Actress Oscar race all over again.
Wait? The Oscar are over?
Zap2It Potty-mouthed Kate Winslet F***ing loves Melissa Leo's Oscar speech
Alt Film Guide Somehow I missed both this trivia and this stupidity: Natalie Portman is the first pregnant unmarried Oscar married and Republican Mike Huckabee has already expressed his dismay at her morality!
A Socialite's Life Our first totally silly 2011 Oscar story! People are...
Pajiba on the myth of the ugly-hot woman in Hollywood; they're all hot. There is no female equivalent to Steve Buscemi.
Comics Alliance Annie Leibovitz has more of those Disney with celebrity portraits including what looks like an entirely computer generated portrait of Queen Latifah as film experience obsession Ursula. Does this mean we're supposed to imagine her battling Julianne Moore who was Ariel for Liebovitz last time? It's the 2002 Best Supporting Actress Oscar race all over again.
Wait? The Oscar are over?
Zap2It Potty-mouthed Kate Winslet F***ing loves Melissa Leo's Oscar speech
Alt Film Guide Somehow I missed both this trivia and this stupidity: Natalie Portman is the first pregnant unmarried Oscar married and Republican Mike Huckabee has already expressed his dismay at her morality!
A Socialite's Life Our first totally silly 2011 Oscar story! People are...
- 3/5/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Prolific French director of films with murder at their heart
The film director Claude Chabrol, who has died aged 80, created the first ripple of the French new wave with his first feature, Le Beau Serge (1958). Unlike some of his other critic colleagues on the influential journal Cahiers du Cinéma, who also became film-makers, Chabrol was perfectly happy in the mainstream. Along with Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, he paid serious attention to Hollywood studio contract directors who retained their artistic personalities through good and bad films, thus formulating what came to be known as the "auteur theory".
In 1957, he and Rohmer wrote a short book on Alfred Hitchcock, whom they saw as a Catholic moralist. Hitchcock's black humour and fascination with guilt pervades the majority of Chabrol's films, most of which have murder at their heart. However, although Chabrol's thematic allegiance to Hitchcock remained intact, his...
The film director Claude Chabrol, who has died aged 80, created the first ripple of the French new wave with his first feature, Le Beau Serge (1958). Unlike some of his other critic colleagues on the influential journal Cahiers du Cinéma, who also became film-makers, Chabrol was perfectly happy in the mainstream. Along with Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, he paid serious attention to Hollywood studio contract directors who retained their artistic personalities through good and bad films, thus formulating what came to be known as the "auteur theory".
In 1957, he and Rohmer wrote a short book on Alfred Hitchcock, whom they saw as a Catholic moralist. Hitchcock's black humour and fascination with guilt pervades the majority of Chabrol's films, most of which have murder at their heart. However, although Chabrol's thematic allegiance to Hitchcock remained intact, his...
- 9/14/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Claude Chabrol, the director and critic who helped found the French New Wave along with François Truffaut and Jean Luc-Godard died Sunday in Paris at 80. Many called him France's answer to Hitchcock. His films such as The Butcher, Hell, and The Cousins were stylish, suspense films that often explored French class systems and skewered the bourgeoisie. Sad news, but Chabrol had a great run, directing over 60 films in his lifetime right up to last year's Bellamy with Gerard Depardieu. He even had a late-career surge with recent well-received films like A Girl Cut in Two and The Bridesmaid.
[Nyt]...
[Nyt]...
- 9/13/2010
- Movieline
As you've undoubtedly heard, the French auteur Claude Chabrol passed away at 80. Both The Telegraph and Glenn Kenny have fine obits for your reading pleasure and if you can read French, Le Monde collects testimonials from many cinematic luminaries to honor him. I didn't know his career as well as I should but I quite liked both L'Enfer (1994) and the recent Ludivine Sagnier love/murder triangle A Girl Cut in Two. (The two of them are pictured to your left.) The prolific director's Le Beau Serge was the first French New Wave offering and we should all probably program ourselves mini-fests to catch up on his best work. Any suggestions? I'm reading these titles a lot: The Cry of the Owl, Les Biches and Le Boucher. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to catch up with any of his Isabelle Huppert collaborations either. Here's his available filmography from Netflix, LOVEFilm or GreenCine,...
- 9/12/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Paris – French filmmaker Claude Chabrol, father of the New Wave movement, has died at age 80, Paris deputy mayor Christophe Girard confirmed on Sunday.
Chabrol began his career as a critic for prestigious Gallic film magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema then went on to become a prominent director with more than 50 films under his belt. He helped to launch the New Wave movement in the 1950s and hasn’t stopped working since.
Chabrol is known as a more mainstream director who has managed to make auteur cinema accessible to audiences both in France and abroad.
From “Le Beau Serge” in 1959 to his more recent titles including 2009's "Bellamy," 2007's "A Girl Cut in Two" and 2006 film "A Comedy of Power," Chabrol's career has had an uncommonly long and successful run through his more than half-century career.
His "Story of Women" about abortion under the Vichy regime sparked controversy and violent protest...
Chabrol began his career as a critic for prestigious Gallic film magazine Les Cahiers du Cinema then went on to become a prominent director with more than 50 films under his belt. He helped to launch the New Wave movement in the 1950s and hasn’t stopped working since.
Chabrol is known as a more mainstream director who has managed to make auteur cinema accessible to audiences both in France and abroad.
From “Le Beau Serge” in 1959 to his more recent titles including 2009's "Bellamy," 2007's "A Girl Cut in Two" and 2006 film "A Comedy of Power," Chabrol's career has had an uncommonly long and successful run through his more than half-century career.
His "Story of Women" about abortion under the Vichy regime sparked controversy and violent protest...
- 9/12/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Films on the cutting edge. That's how I would describe the 50 movies on this list. While some moviegoers may find it an 'alien' experience to refer to sub-titles in understanding what's happening on the big screen, a good number of audiences are totally enjoying the different and often surprising take by many foreign filmmakers, nothwithstanding the language barrier.
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
- - -
- - -
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
- - -
- - -
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
- 9/2/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
Films on the cutting edge. That's how I would describe the 50 movies on this list. While some moviegoers may find it an 'alien' experience to refer to sub-titles in understanding what's happening on the big screen, a good number of audiences are totally enjoying the different and often surprising take by many foreign filmmakers, nothwithstanding the language barrier.
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
- 9/2/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
Films on the cutting edge. That's how I would describe the 50 movies on this list. While some moviegoers may find it an 'alien' experience to refer to sub-titles in understanding what's happening on the big screen, a good number of audiences are totally enjoying the different and often surprising take by many foreign filmmakers, nothwithstanding the language barrier.
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
- - -
- - -
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
- - -
- - -
André Téchiné, Catherine Breillat, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Christophe Barratier, Jacques Audiard, Cedric Clapisch, Francois Ozon... they are,...
- 9/2/2009
- The Movie Fanatic
Decisions, decisions: Given the choice between an older, highly regarded star of the French literary set and a young, impetuous heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, what's a girl to do? In A Girl Cut In Two, director Claude Chabrol's latest takedown of the bourgeoisie, that's actually a trick question. Because when you're an upstart TV weathergirl who still lives with her mother, and you're seeing men with the wealth and privilege to toy with your affections, you may find that your options are severely limited. As the title implies, the heroine, played by the luscious Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool), is torn between men who ultimately hold her fate in their hands, despite her bewitching effect on both of them. Fusing acrid black comedy with twistiness of one of his famed Hitchcockian thrillers, Chabrol patiently—really too patiently—reveals the conflicting forces that lead Sagnier into trouble, and they have as much to.
- 8/14/2008
- by Scott Tobias
- avclub.com
"Sexuality is one of the great mysteries of humanity." Or so declares famous, 50-something novelist Charles Saint-Denis, near the beginning of Claude Chabrol's latest film, A Girl Cut in Two. A bit too much of an on-the-nose of a thesis statement for a film about various crimes of passion? It might have been, if not for the portentousness with which actor Francois Berleand delivers the line, and the distance at which Chabrol places the camera in order to shoot it. Even if Charles' young, vivacious but sexually naive weather girl mistress Gabrielle (a just-barely grown-up Ludivine Sagnier) accepts each of her lovers words of supposed wisdom at ...
- 8/13/2008
- by Karina Longworth
- Spout
U.S. fare speaks to Toronto in fest lineup
Related story: Three at fest headed to IFC
Related story: Christie's digital gets screen billing
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its most American-friendly lineup in years, capped off with new titles from Renny Harlin, Paul Schrader and Robin Swicord.
Toronto boasts no official competition. But the Hollywood contingent booked for the twice-nightly gala screenings at Roy Thomson Hall looks set to turn the high-profile venue into an industry shindig.
Among the six new gala titles are Harlin's "Cleaner", a Sony Pictures Entertainment thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a cop-turned-crime scene cleaner; the Richard Attenborough-directed love story "Closing the Ring", starring Shirley MacLaine, Mischa Barton and Neve Campbell; and Schrader's "The Walker", a ThinkFilm release starring Woody Harrelson and Lauren Bacall that comes to Toronto by way of Berlin, Cannes and Sydney.
Also joining the Roy Thomson Hall party are two Sony Pictures Classics releases: Kenneth Branagh's Michael Caine-Jude Law starrer "Sleuth", which first bowed in Venice, and Swicord's "The Jane Austen Book Club", starring Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman and Maria Bello. Also booked for a gala is French director Alain Corneau's "Le Deuxieme Souffle", starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci.
Those titles join such earlier Roy Thomson Hall entries as Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe", Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream", Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton", Gavin Hood's "Rendition", Terry George's "Reservation Road" and Aristomenis Tsirbas' "Terra".
Toronto, which in recent years has stepped up efforts to make its festival more Hollywood friendly, also has included 28 U.S.-produced films in its 50-strong Special Presentations sidebar.
The latest Special Presentations titles include the Michael Moore documentary "Captain Mike Across America", Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Melisa Wallack and Bernie Goldmann's "Bill", Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts" and Jason Reitman's "Juno", the follow-up to "Thank You for Smoking", which was a Toronto festival breakout hit two years ago.
Also joining today are the latest works from Jonathan Demme, Alison Eastwood, Brian De Palma, Thomas McCarthy and Anand Tucker.
Toronto will unspool 352 films between Sept. 6 and 15 -- 261 features and 91 shorts. The lineup includes 101 world premieres and 108 North American premieres, many of which will bow in Venice before jumping the pond to Toronto. In addition, 71 of the films are directorial debuts.
The festival lineup promises a strong French contingent, including a dozen titles arriving in Toronto with U.S. distribution deals in hand.
High-profile French titles looking for U.S. distribution include Amos Gitai's "Disengagement", Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee En Deux", which will bow in Venice, and Eric Rohmer's "Les Amours D'Astreet et De Celadon," another North American premiere by way of Venice.
John Kochman, executive director of Unifrance USA, said the strong French presence in Toronto is due primarily to festival co-directors Piers Handling and Noah Cowan remaining "unreconstructed Francophiles" eager to program French titles in their event.
Other new titles announced Wednesday include Wayne Wang's "The Princess of Nebraska" and "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," both portraits of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Wang will bring the two indie titles films to the festival's Masters program.
Toronto added eight more documentaries to its Real to Reel section, including films by Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner, Olga Konskaya and Andrea Nekrasov, Julian Schnabel, Ran Tal, Philippe Kholy and Grant Gee.
In addition, the previously announced "Body of War", co-directed by Ellen Spiro and talk show legend Phil Donahue, will see its premiere accompanied by a live performance by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who wrote original songs for the Iraq documentary.
The festival has its usual complement of films about war and political protest that, according to festival co-director Noah Cowan, reflect a "seriousness of purpose and a real sense of drive to tell political stories."
"In many ways, the body of films recalls the American independent movie of the 1970s," he added.
American auteur films including Alan Ball's "Nothing Is Private", a drama about sexual politics and bigotry set against the backdrop of the 1991 Gulf War, De Palma's war drama "Redacted" and Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" reflect anti-war "provocation," Cowan said.
Toronto's lineup also includes a surprising number of crime-themed dramas, including Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", a drama about three friends taking on a life of big-city crime; Comeau's fugitive drama "Le Deuxieme Souffle"; Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," a thriller about a botched robbery; Brad Furman's "The Take", about the aftermath of an armored car heist; and Ira Sachs' "Married Life", a drama about a husband who kills his wife to spare her the shame of divorce.
Cowan said that the crime-themed movies this year recall the '70s-era vigilante movies that coincided with Vietnam.
"When the U.S. is faced with wars that are frustrating in their inability to be totally understood, that comes out in their films," Toronto's top programr said.
"Just as the 1970s, there's films that reflect paranoia about government and police corruption and which come from a frustration and rage about what's happening in the world," he added.
Other Toronto highlights announced Wednesday include talks by President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, an update on Bill Maher and Larry Charles' anti-religion documentary and a briefing on the ongoing crisis in Darfur courtesy of International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Don Cheadle.
Toronto is set to open Sept. 6 with Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" and close 10 days later with another Canadian film, Paolo Barzman's "Emotional Arithmetic".
A complete list of titles screening at Toronto follows:
Galas:
"Across the Universe", Julie Taymor, U.S.
"L'Age Des Tenebres", Denys Arcand, Canada
"Blood Brothers", Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong
"Caramel", Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France
"Cassandra's Dream", Woody Allen, Britain
"Cleaner", Renny Harlin, U.S.
Related story: Christie's digital gets screen billing
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its most American-friendly lineup in years, capped off with new titles from Renny Harlin, Paul Schrader and Robin Swicord.
Toronto boasts no official competition. But the Hollywood contingent booked for the twice-nightly gala screenings at Roy Thomson Hall looks set to turn the high-profile venue into an industry shindig.
Among the six new gala titles are Harlin's "Cleaner", a Sony Pictures Entertainment thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a cop-turned-crime scene cleaner; the Richard Attenborough-directed love story "Closing the Ring", starring Shirley MacLaine, Mischa Barton and Neve Campbell; and Schrader's "The Walker", a ThinkFilm release starring Woody Harrelson and Lauren Bacall that comes to Toronto by way of Berlin, Cannes and Sydney.
Also joining the Roy Thomson Hall party are two Sony Pictures Classics releases: Kenneth Branagh's Michael Caine-Jude Law starrer "Sleuth", which first bowed in Venice, and Swicord's "The Jane Austen Book Club", starring Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman and Maria Bello. Also booked for a gala is French director Alain Corneau's "Le Deuxieme Souffle", starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci.
Those titles join such earlier Roy Thomson Hall entries as Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe", Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream", Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton", Gavin Hood's "Rendition", Terry George's "Reservation Road" and Aristomenis Tsirbas' "Terra".
Toronto, which in recent years has stepped up efforts to make its festival more Hollywood friendly, also has included 28 U.S.-produced films in its 50-strong Special Presentations sidebar.
The latest Special Presentations titles include the Michael Moore documentary "Captain Mike Across America", Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Melisa Wallack and Bernie Goldmann's "Bill", Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts" and Jason Reitman's "Juno", the follow-up to "Thank You for Smoking", which was a Toronto festival breakout hit two years ago.
Also joining today are the latest works from Jonathan Demme, Alison Eastwood, Brian De Palma, Thomas McCarthy and Anand Tucker.
Toronto will unspool 352 films between Sept. 6 and 15 -- 261 features and 91 shorts. The lineup includes 101 world premieres and 108 North American premieres, many of which will bow in Venice before jumping the pond to Toronto. In addition, 71 of the films are directorial debuts.
The festival lineup promises a strong French contingent, including a dozen titles arriving in Toronto with U.S. distribution deals in hand.
High-profile French titles looking for U.S. distribution include Amos Gitai's "Disengagement", Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee En Deux", which will bow in Venice, and Eric Rohmer's "Les Amours D'Astreet et De Celadon," another North American premiere by way of Venice.
John Kochman, executive director of Unifrance USA, said the strong French presence in Toronto is due primarily to festival co-directors Piers Handling and Noah Cowan remaining "unreconstructed Francophiles" eager to program French titles in their event.
Other new titles announced Wednesday include Wayne Wang's "The Princess of Nebraska" and "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," both portraits of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Wang will bring the two indie titles films to the festival's Masters program.
Toronto added eight more documentaries to its Real to Reel section, including films by Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner, Olga Konskaya and Andrea Nekrasov, Julian Schnabel, Ran Tal, Philippe Kholy and Grant Gee.
In addition, the previously announced "Body of War", co-directed by Ellen Spiro and talk show legend Phil Donahue, will see its premiere accompanied by a live performance by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who wrote original songs for the Iraq documentary.
The festival has its usual complement of films about war and political protest that, according to festival co-director Noah Cowan, reflect a "seriousness of purpose and a real sense of drive to tell political stories."
"In many ways, the body of films recalls the American independent movie of the 1970s," he added.
American auteur films including Alan Ball's "Nothing Is Private", a drama about sexual politics and bigotry set against the backdrop of the 1991 Gulf War, De Palma's war drama "Redacted" and Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" reflect anti-war "provocation," Cowan said.
Toronto's lineup also includes a surprising number of crime-themed dramas, including Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", a drama about three friends taking on a life of big-city crime; Comeau's fugitive drama "Le Deuxieme Souffle"; Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," a thriller about a botched robbery; Brad Furman's "The Take", about the aftermath of an armored car heist; and Ira Sachs' "Married Life", a drama about a husband who kills his wife to spare her the shame of divorce.
Cowan said that the crime-themed movies this year recall the '70s-era vigilante movies that coincided with Vietnam.
"When the U.S. is faced with wars that are frustrating in their inability to be totally understood, that comes out in their films," Toronto's top programr said.
"Just as the 1970s, there's films that reflect paranoia about government and police corruption and which come from a frustration and rage about what's happening in the world," he added.
Other Toronto highlights announced Wednesday include talks by President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, an update on Bill Maher and Larry Charles' anti-religion documentary and a briefing on the ongoing crisis in Darfur courtesy of International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Don Cheadle.
Toronto is set to open Sept. 6 with Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" and close 10 days later with another Canadian film, Paolo Barzman's "Emotional Arithmetic".
A complete list of titles screening at Toronto follows:
Galas:
"Across the Universe", Julie Taymor, U.S.
"L'Age Des Tenebres", Denys Arcand, Canada
"Blood Brothers", Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong
"Caramel", Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France
"Cassandra's Dream", Woody Allen, Britain
"Cleaner", Renny Harlin, U.S.
- 8/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
La Fille Coupee en Deux (The Girl Cut in Two)
PARIS -- Claude Chabrol has been making movies for half a century, turning out films with clockwork regularity at the rate of one a year. His favored themes are self-destructive behavior and polished perversity, and customers seeking more of the same will not be disappointed with his latest offering, La Fille Coupee en Deux, whose literal translation would be The Girl Cut in Two.
The director's name recognition should ensure decent boxoffice, and the film is boosted by a talented cast and excellent cinematography by Edouardo Serra. But its impact is weakened by a limp ending and a sense that it all adds up to rather less than the sum of its parts.
Chabrol's starting point is the 1906 murder of Stanford White, the architect of Madison Square Garden, whose killing by the husband of his actress mistress gave rise to what was described in its time as the "trial of the century." Transposing the story to contemporary France allows him to do what Chabrol enjoys most -- skewering the mores of the rich and powerful, particularly the moneyed bourgeoisie.
When celebrity novelist Charles Saint-Denis (Francois Berleand) meets at a book-signing ceremony weather forecaster Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivigne Sagnier) -- her name, signifying snow, is intended to herald purity as well as her job -- his urbanity and wit are enough to attract her sexually despite his being twice her age.
His rival Paul Gaudens (Benoit Magimel) is the spoilt, rich and slightly disturbed heir to an industrial fortune. Paul is used to getting what he wants and does not take kindly to losing out to a much older man. Eventually, Charles tires of his conquest and gives her the brush-off, enabling Paul To win her on the rebound.
A society wedding is announced, causing Charles to renew his interest. He shows up as Gabrielle is trying on her wedding dress. She tells him she will give it all up and return to him if he will leave his wife Dona (Valeria Cavalli), but for Charles that would be a real betrayal, or a self-indulgence.
The marriage goes ahead. Paul, realizing where Gabrielle's affections really lie, is consumed with jealously. He shows up at a charity event organized by his do-gooding mother Genevieve (Caroline Silhol), where Charles is to speak, and guns him down as he addresses the gathering.
A postscript deals with Genevieve's maneuverings to persuade Gabrielle to testify in her son's favor. He finally receives a lenient sentence for psychiatric reasons. The movie concludes with a visual metaphor, the cutting in two of the title, after Gabrielle signs on as a magician's assistant.
The borrowed story is a pretext for Chabrol to revel in the incidential details of French social life and its sexual undertones: the publishing world in which Charles moves (Mathilda May is particularly eye-catching as his publicist Capucine); the shallow, predatory world of television in which the pert, pretty Gabrielle is irresistible bait to middle-aged middle management; and the world of refined manners and inherited wealth that turns out monsters like Paul and his siblings.
Ultimately what Chabrol is concerned with is class conflict, summed up by the matriarch Genevieve's dismissal of Gabrielle's mother Marie (Marie Bunel), who runs the bookshop where Gabrielle first met Charles, as "the little book-seller."
Berleand excels as the libertine Charles and presumably Chabrol's spokesman when he confides to a friend, during a visit to a high-class brothel, that he cannot decide whether society "is heading towards puritanism or towards decadence." Berleand appears set to succeed the late Philippe Noiret as the embodiment of weary, surly but nevertheless engaging Gallic cynicism.
As Paul, all strut, sharp suits and cigars, Magimel does nothing to harm his reputation as a promising young talent. However Sagnier is miscast: Innocence is not part of her natural register. She is unconvincing in her portrayal of a young woman falling durably in love with an older man and capable of entering a living-room on her hands and knees with a peacock's fan emerging from her backside as -- as Chabrol would have it -- an expression of purity.
LA FILLE COUPEE EN DEUX
Aliceleo Cinema, France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director: Claude Chabrol
Writers: Cecile Maistre, Claude Chabrol
Producer: Patrick Godeau
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production design: Francoise Benoit-Fresco
Music: Matthieu Chabrol
Costumes: Mic Cheminal
Editor: Monique Fardoulis
Cast:
Gabrielle Deneige: Ludivigne Sagnier
Paul Gaudens: Benoit Magimel
Charles Saint-Denis: Francois Berleand
Capucine Jamet: Mathilda May
Genevieve Gaudens: Caroline Silhol
Marie Deneige: Marie Bunel
Dona Saint-Denis: Valeria Cavalli
Running time -- 115 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The director's name recognition should ensure decent boxoffice, and the film is boosted by a talented cast and excellent cinematography by Edouardo Serra. But its impact is weakened by a limp ending and a sense that it all adds up to rather less than the sum of its parts.
Chabrol's starting point is the 1906 murder of Stanford White, the architect of Madison Square Garden, whose killing by the husband of his actress mistress gave rise to what was described in its time as the "trial of the century." Transposing the story to contemporary France allows him to do what Chabrol enjoys most -- skewering the mores of the rich and powerful, particularly the moneyed bourgeoisie.
When celebrity novelist Charles Saint-Denis (Francois Berleand) meets at a book-signing ceremony weather forecaster Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivigne Sagnier) -- her name, signifying snow, is intended to herald purity as well as her job -- his urbanity and wit are enough to attract her sexually despite his being twice her age.
His rival Paul Gaudens (Benoit Magimel) is the spoilt, rich and slightly disturbed heir to an industrial fortune. Paul is used to getting what he wants and does not take kindly to losing out to a much older man. Eventually, Charles tires of his conquest and gives her the brush-off, enabling Paul To win her on the rebound.
A society wedding is announced, causing Charles to renew his interest. He shows up as Gabrielle is trying on her wedding dress. She tells him she will give it all up and return to him if he will leave his wife Dona (Valeria Cavalli), but for Charles that would be a real betrayal, or a self-indulgence.
The marriage goes ahead. Paul, realizing where Gabrielle's affections really lie, is consumed with jealously. He shows up at a charity event organized by his do-gooding mother Genevieve (Caroline Silhol), where Charles is to speak, and guns him down as he addresses the gathering.
A postscript deals with Genevieve's maneuverings to persuade Gabrielle to testify in her son's favor. He finally receives a lenient sentence for psychiatric reasons. The movie concludes with a visual metaphor, the cutting in two of the title, after Gabrielle signs on as a magician's assistant.
The borrowed story is a pretext for Chabrol to revel in the incidential details of French social life and its sexual undertones: the publishing world in which Charles moves (Mathilda May is particularly eye-catching as his publicist Capucine); the shallow, predatory world of television in which the pert, pretty Gabrielle is irresistible bait to middle-aged middle management; and the world of refined manners and inherited wealth that turns out monsters like Paul and his siblings.
Ultimately what Chabrol is concerned with is class conflict, summed up by the matriarch Genevieve's dismissal of Gabrielle's mother Marie (Marie Bunel), who runs the bookshop where Gabrielle first met Charles, as "the little book-seller."
Berleand excels as the libertine Charles and presumably Chabrol's spokesman when he confides to a friend, during a visit to a high-class brothel, that he cannot decide whether society "is heading towards puritanism or towards decadence." Berleand appears set to succeed the late Philippe Noiret as the embodiment of weary, surly but nevertheless engaging Gallic cynicism.
As Paul, all strut, sharp suits and cigars, Magimel does nothing to harm his reputation as a promising young talent. However Sagnier is miscast: Innocence is not part of her natural register. She is unconvincing in her portrayal of a young woman falling durably in love with an older man and capable of entering a living-room on her hands and knees with a peacock's fan emerging from her backside as -- as Chabrol would have it -- an expression of purity.
LA FILLE COUPEE EN DEUX
Aliceleo Cinema, France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director: Claude Chabrol
Writers: Cecile Maistre, Claude Chabrol
Producer: Patrick Godeau
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production design: Francoise Benoit-Fresco
Music: Matthieu Chabrol
Costumes: Mic Cheminal
Editor: Monique Fardoulis
Cast:
Gabrielle Deneige: Ludivigne Sagnier
Paul Gaudens: Benoit Magimel
Charles Saint-Denis: Francois Berleand
Capucine Jamet: Mathilda May
Genevieve Gaudens: Caroline Silhol
Marie Deneige: Marie Bunel
Dona Saint-Denis: Valeria Cavalli
Running time -- 115 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/10/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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