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Justine Triet became the second female filmmaker in the Cesar Award’s 49-year history to win the best director trophy for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which also won best film, original screenplay, actress for Sandra Huller, supporting actor for Swann Arlaud and editing at the French film industry’s big night. Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” also dominated the race, picking up a raft of prizes, including cinematography, costumes, visual effects and music. The ceremony unfolded at the Olympia Theater in Paris on Friday evening and aired lived on Canal+.

Triet’s movie, which is vying for five Oscars, stars Hüller as a novelist who is put on trial following the mysterious death of her husband at their remote chalet. The movie is produced by Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelleas.

Triet dedicated her best film award to all women,...

Christopher Nolan, whose latest movie “Oppenheimer” just won five Golden Globes, will will receive an honorary Cesar Award, alonsgide Agnes Jaoui, a beloved French actor, screenwriter and filmmaker, during its 49th edition, which will be held at Olympia Concert Hall on Feb. 23.

“Christopher Nolan is a master of mise-en-scene, capable of redefining the limits of cinematic excellence and propelling us beyond the boundaries of space and time,” stated the Cesar Awards.

Jaoui, meanwhile, formed a duo with the late Jean-Pierre Bacri for over three decades, collaborating on a number of films that were both critical and commercial hits. This included “The Taste of Others,” which won two Cesar Awards and was nominated for a best foreign-language Oscar in 2001, as well as the Cannes competition entry “Look at Me” in 2004. She’s also had a successful solo career, starring in the popular series “En therapie” and films including “La vie de ma mere,...

David Fincher will be presented with the French Film Academy’s highest award, the César d’honneur for lifetime achievement, at February’s César Awards, the French equivalent to the Oscars.

The French Academy praised the director of “Se7en,” “Fight Club,” “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network” as “one of those rare directors whose entire filmography has become iconic over the years.”

“An outstanding technician, a true visionary, his cinema is hypnotic, cerebral, a source of inspiration for countless artists,” the Academy said in the press release announcing the honor.

“He shocked us with “Se7en,” kept us on the edge with “The Game,” and struck us again with “Fight Club.” With “Zodiac,” “The Social Network,” “Gone Girl,” which is his biggest film success so far, or with “Mank”, he breaks the usual codes and garners raving international reviews,” the statement continued.

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‘Bones and All’ Director Luca Guadagnino...

Albert Dupontel’s “Bye Bye Morons” won seven prizes, including best film and director, at the 46th Cesar Awards which took place as an in-person, yet socially distanced event at the Olympia concert hall in Paris on March 12. The ceremony was held in the presence of nominees only.

“Bye Bye Morons” also won awards for best supporting actor for Nicolas Mairé, original screenplay, cinematography and set design, as well as a prize voted on by high school students. A dark comedy, “Bye Bye Morons” stars Virginie Efira as a seriously ill woman on a mission to reunite with her long-lost child with the help of a man who’s having a burnout. Efira,

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s),” which was nominated for 13 awards, picked up the best supporting actress nod for Emilie Dequenne.

The best actor nod went to Sami Bouajila for his performance in Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s Tunisian drama “A Son.

Gruff French actor and screenwriter known as the ‘tenderest of our grouches’

Any admirer of French cinema over the past 40 years will have developed a soft spot for the hangdog looks and gruff, rumpled charm of the actor Jean-Pierre Bacri, who has died aged 69 of cancer. In the tradition of Walter Matthau, he brought sympathetic comic shading to even the most irredeemable worrywart or miseryguts. His speciality was a saturnine impatience with life that was nonetheless susceptible to glimmers of optimism; he could mope and hope with equal conviction. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, praised his “laconic and sensitive humanity”, calling him “the tenderest of our grouches”.

Those qualities were present also in Bacri’s award-winning screenplays, written mostly with his longtime partner Agnès Jaoui; their collaboration outlived the end of their relationship in 2012. They co-wrote and starred in a series of urbane and insightful comedies of manners, which Jaoui also directed,...

French actor and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Bacri died of cancer in Paris on Monday at the age of 69. Bacri’s death was confirmed by his agent, Anne Alvares-Correa, to Afp.

Bacri, whose career started in the 80s, delivered, along with Agnes Jaoui, his wife and lifelong friend, films and plays such as “The Taste of Others” and “Kitchen and Outbuildings,” which gained cult status in France. And he never stopped working. He was celebrated by many different generations of audiences and artists for his sharp humor, sense of observation and uncompromising integrity.

Bacri’s popularity could be observed through the success of most films he headlined. His most recent roles include “C’est la vie,” a 2017 comedy-drama directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, and “Place Publique,” which he co-wrote with Jaoui, who directed. Together with Jaoui, Bacri created and often starred in films which explored human nature and relationships through dark humor.

Jean-Pierre Bacri, the French actor and screenwriter known for his collaborations with Agnès Jaoui, has died at the age of 69. He died after a battle with cancer according to multiple French reports which cited his agent Anne Alvares-Correa.

Bacri broke out on the stage and screen in the 1980s, including appearing in Luc Besson’s 1985 thriller Subway alongside Isabelle Adjani and Christopher Lambert. It was in that decade that he also first met Jaoui, and the pair would go on to have a vibrant creative partnership that spanned films including the multi-Cesar Award-winning Smoking / No Smoking, Family Resemblances and The Taste Of Others, with the latter also nominated for the foreign language film Oscar in 2001.

The duo’s work for the stage was also highly regarded, with their play Cuisine Et Dépendances winning then a Molière Award before they adapted it for the big screen. Their writing also won prizes...

Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri in Let's Talk About The Rain Photo: UniFrance One of French cinema's most beloved actors (as well as script writer and director) Jean-Pierre Bacri died earlier today after a long struggle with cancer.

Bacri who was 69, often appeared in tandem with his constant companion of many years Agnès Jaoui whom he met in 1986 during rehearsals for Harold Pinter’s play The Birthday Party. It was a starting point for an enduring personal and professional collaboration including the script written jointly for first the theatre and then cinema of Cuisine et dépendances. It was followed by the adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn’s Intimate Exchanges, Smoking/No Smoking (directed by Alain Resnais), in 1993, for which they won a César, and followed by Cédric Klapisch’s Family Resemblances(also a César winner) in 1996. He scored a reputation outside France for Same Old Song (1997), also by Alain Resnais.

The...

Total of 842 people from 59 countries invited by AMPAS.

This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has invited 842 people from 59 countries to join its membership.

The strong cohort of international film names includes two producers of Cold War, the directors of Dogman, Stan & Ollie, and I Am Not A Witch, and various executives from different facets of the industry.

International executives invited include Eric Lagesse of French sales and distribution outfit Pyramide Films, London-based Netflix development and acquisitions executive Funa Maduka, Michele Halberstadt of French distribution and sales outfit Arp Selection, Lebanese producer and distributor Georges Schoucair of Abbout Productions,...

Eye Haïdara and Jean-Pierre Bacri ans Max and Adèle in C’est La Vie! "When you have such great partners as Jean-Pierre Bacri and Gilles Lellouche, you just follow them and dance with them." Photo: Courtesy of Cinefile French actress Eye Haïdara is a rising star in her homeland and British audiences can get to see some of what the fuss is all about this week, when she co-stars in the latest frothy and uproarious comedy by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, C'est La Vie! (Le Sens De La Fête). She'll also be seen in Season 2 of Amazon's spy dramedy Patriot, when it returns to the streaming service later this year.

I caught up with her on a flying visit to Edinburgh Film Festival earlier this summer, where the film was receiving its UK premiere ahead of its release in cinemas tomorrow (August 31). Haïdara, who was nominated as 'most...

Film comes from The Intouchables directors.

C’est La Vie! (Le Sens De La Fête), the French comedy starring Jean-Pierre Bacri and Gilles Lelouche, has been acquired for UK and Ireland release by Cinéfile.

The film comes from writer-director duo Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, the Bafta-nominated pair behind the mega-hit comedy The Intouchables, which starred Omar Sy and François Cluzet and grossed more than $400m worldwide before being remade as The Upside starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart.

Gaumont handles sales on the title, which unfolds against the background of a chateau wedding erupting into a nightmare for the party’s cantankerous planner.

Eye Haïdara and Jean-Pierre Bacri ans Max and Adèle discuss tactics in C’est La Vie! Photo: Courtesy of Cinefile French rising star Eye Haïdara will present the British premiere of French comedy C’est La Vie! (Le Sens De La Fête) at Edinburgh International Film Festival and participate in a post-screening question and answer session.

Cesar newcomer nominee Eye Haïdara Haïdara was nominated for Most Promising Female Newcomer in the César Awards earlier this year for her role as Adèle, the feisty wedding planner assistant to maestro Jean-Pierre Bacri in the film, which charts the chaotic run-up to a country wedding. She also received the Lumière Prize - the French equivalent of the Golden Globes - for Best Female Newcomer for the role.

The 35-year-old had her first screen role in Audrey Estrougo’s Regarde-moi, charting a romantic triangle, followed by Jean-Luc Godard’s Film Socialisme and Teddy Lussi-Modeste’s Jimmy Rivière.

One of the biggest local films in France last year was the mainstream comedy <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/cest-la-vie-le-sens-de-la-fete-1038031" target="_blank"><em>C’est la vie</em></a>, in which a wedding caterer, played by professional grouch Jean-Pierre Bacri, saw the perfect day he’d planned for his clients hilariously unravel. What was noteworthy about the project, which closed the Toronto fest, is that it privileged a point of view closer to all the people working that day — from the musicians to the cooks, waiters and wedding photographers — than to the rich people throwing the lavish, chateau-set party.

For those left wondering how the bougie peeps might have ...

One of the biggest local films in France last year was the mainstream comedy C’est la vie, in which a wedding caterer, played by professional grouch Jean-Pierre Bacri, saw the perfect day he’d planned for his clients hilariously unravel. What was noteworthy about the project, which closed the Toronto fest, is that it privileged a point-of-view closer to all the people working that day — from the musicians to the cooks, waiters and wedding photographers — than to the rich people throwing the lavish, chateau-set party.

For those left wondering how the bougie peeps might have felt during such...

“Bpm” triumphed at the César Awards, taking home the prizes for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Antoine Reinartz), Best Male Newcomer (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), Best Original Score, and Best Editing. Robin Campillo’s drama about AIDS activists in Paris also won the Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but wasn’t nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film — a snub that was met with some controversy.

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless,” which is nominated for the Oscar, won the equivalent award. Albert Dupontel’s “Au revoir là-haut” also had a big night, taking Best Director, Best Actress (Jeanne Balibar), and three other prizes. Full list of winners:

Best Film

“Bpm,” Robin Campillo

“Au revoir là-haut,” Albert Dupontel

“Barbara,” Mathieu Amalric

“Le Brio,” Yvan Attal

“Patients,” Grand Corps Malade, Mehdi Idir

“Petit Paysan,” Hubert Charuel

“C’est La Vie,” Eric Tolédano, Olivier Nakache

Best Director

Robin Campillo,...

Place Publique

The multi-faceted Agnès Jaoui is a highly decorated director/writer/actress with a commendable resume. Of her four Cesar wins, three have been for Best Screenplay (including for Alain Resnais’ 1993 Smoking/No Smoking, Cedric Klapisch’s 1996 Family Resemblances, and her own directorial debut, 2000’s The Taste of Others, which also won Best Film (she also snagged a Best Actress win for Resnais’ Same Old Song in 1997, which she also co-wrote with her usual collaborator Jean-Pierre Bacri).

Continue reading...

When a few hundred films stop by the Toronto International Film Festival, it’s certainly impossible to cover everything, but we were able to catch around 100 features — and, with that, it’s time to conclude our experience, following the festival’s own award winners. We’ve rounded up our favorite films seen during the festival, followed by a list of the complete coverage.

Stay tuned over the next months (or years) as we bring updates on films as they make their way to screens. One can also click here for a link to all of our coverage, including news, trailers, reviews, and much more. As always, thanks for reading, and let us know what you’re most looking forward to in the comments below.

The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)

In the Taliban-controlled Afghan city of Kabul, Nora Twomey’s debut film as sole director (she co-helmed Oscar nominee The Secret of Kells...

The new comedy from the makers of French hit Untouchable has fine cast, led by Jean-Pierre Bacri, but it just isn’t funny or exciting enough

Writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano had a hit in 2011 with their odd-couple heartwarmer Untouchable, starring François Cluzet as the quadriplegic wheelchair-user who hires Omar Sy as his nurse. (The Hollywood remake of it, The Upside, is also playing in Toronto.) Now they are back with something machine-tooled to be an undemanding feelgood comedy. It stars the always formidable and dyspeptic Jean-Pierre Bacri as Max, the chief of a hospitality company in Paris that provides food, booze, music and service for super-classy parties of all sorts. He is just about tolerant of all the idiots and assholes that he employs, and indeed the idiots and assholes who form his customer base; his patience is tested to destruction when he takes on a massive job,...

I went into Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s latest film C’est la vie! knowing nothing about it. My assumption from their two previous works, Intouchables and Samba, was that it would prove a charmingly funny dramedy tinged with relevant politics and racial complexity. Well, I was wrong. Whereas the latter film honed in on the former’s politics, this one strips them away completely to focus solely on the comedy. The result is an uproariously contemporary riff on Robert Altman’s underrated classic A Wedding. While it doesn’t spread out quite so large a net—focusing almost exclusively on wedding planner Max (Jean-Pierre Bacri) and his eccentric crew—it still wonderfully distills the fiscal and logistical absurdity of such formally traditional celebrations with biting satire, broad pratfalls, and expertly rendered caricature to its essence.

They don’t ease us in either as the tone immediately reveals itself.

Exclusive: Gaumont unveils Lemercier comedy Homecoming [pictured] and Kev Adams’s feelgood drama To The Top.

Gaumont has launched sales on Valérie Lemercier’s comedy Homecoming about a woman in her 50s who goes through a second youth when a change in professional and personal fortunes forces her to move back in with her parents.

It marks a fifth time in the director’s chair for popular French actress Lemercier after comedies including Palais Royal! and The Ultimate Accessory.

Lemercier also stars as the central character of Marie-Francine who has to contend with her over-bearing parents while rebuilding her life.

Edouard Weil’s Rectangle Productions is producing the film which began shooting April 20 for delivery in the second half of 2017.

Gaumont has also taken on sales of Serge Hazanavicius’s To The Top starring box office draw Kev Adams as a champion snowboarder with aspirations of taking on Mount Everest.

He heads to the French snowboarding Mecca Chamonix...

Exclusive– French superstar filmmakers Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano are re-teaming for their latest feature C’est La Vie, a dramedy that follows the behind the scenes of a wedding. Jean-Pierre Bacri and Gilles Lellouche are on-board to star in the picture, which will once again have Nakache and Toledano’s trademark humanist world view as we follow the big night of newlyweds Pierre and Helena through the eyes of all those who work to make the night as magical as…...

2015 was a successful year regarding the quantity and quality of foreign productions shot in Poland. At the beginning of the year, Anne Fontaine (“Coco Before Chanel,” “Perfect Mothers”) filmed a French-Polish co-production “Agnus Dei” in Warmia, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film features Polish and French actresses among others Lou de Laage, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek and Joanna Kulig.

In the spring, the crew of a Polish-German-French-Belgian co-production about the life of Maria Sklodowska-Curie (dir. Marie Noelle) spent 20 days on the set in among others Lodz, Leba and Krakow. The cast is international, and the film is made in French. The Polish Nobelist is portrayed by Karolina Gruszka (“Oxygen”).

The summer brought about increased activity of German producers. A Zdf TV show, “Ein Sommer in…” was filmed in two resort towns in the north-eastern Poland – Mikolajki and Mragowo. Ard and Tvp collaborated on the set of "Polizeiruf 110" ("Police Call 110"), which was filmed in July and August among others in a Polish border-town – Swiecko. Also in July began the shooting of a new part of detective TV series "Der Usedom-Krimi" filmed on both the Polish and German side of the Usedom island.

However, a true influx of foreign productions took place in the autumn. American-Polish thriller “Chronology” was filmed in Poznan. The cast includes William Baldwin (TV series "Gossip Girl," "Adrift in Manhattan") and Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “From Dusk till Dawn”).

The Goetz Palace in Brzesk, in Malopolska hosted filmmakers from India who for six days were shooting “Fitoor,” an Indian adaptation of Dickens's “Great Expectations.” The crew consisted of over 40 Indians and almost 80 Poles. Another crew from India – this time from the so-called Kollywood in the south of the country – spent twenty days on the set in various Polish locations (among others Zakopane, Walbrzych, Krakow, Leba). The film titled “24” features Surya, a Tamil superstar, in the main role.

The autumn months were also very intensive in Lodz with three simultaneous big film sets. Andrzej Wajda (“The Promised Land,” “Walesa. Man of Hope”) worked on his new film “Powidoki”; Opus Film, the producer of “Ida”, organized for an Israeli partner eleven-day shoot to a film set in 1970s – “Past Life,” directed by Avi Nesher; and American director Martha Coolidge (“The Prince and Me,” TV shows “Sex and the City,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Weeds”) filmed her project “Music, War and Love,” whose producer is among others Fred Roos known from such films as “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather” or “Lost in Translation.” The picture features Adelaide Clemens (“The Great Gatsby”), Connie Nielsen (“Gladiator”), Toby Sebastian (“Game of Thrones”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Nymphomaniac”).

The end of the year was also very successful for Malopolska and Krakow. Two movies were filmed in the region – an American-British biography of Martin Luther commissioned by PBS with Padraic Delaney (“The Wind that Shakes the Barley,” “The Tudors”) in the main role; and a feature titled “True Crimes” starring two-time winner of a Golden Globe – Jim Carrey (“The Truman Show,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Mask”) as the protagonist. The crew spent 32 days on the set in Krakow. The picture was directed by Greek Alexandros Avranas (“Miss Violence”), written by Jeremy Brock (“Brideshead Revisited,” “The Last King of Scotland”), and produced by Brett Ratner (“X-Men 3: the Last Stand,” TV series “Rush Hour”). Accompanying Jim Carrey were Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Nymphomaniac,” “Antichrist”); Marton Csokas (“The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”) and Polish actors Agata Kulesza (“Ida”) and Robert Wieckiewicz (“Walesa. Man of Hope”).

The first information about productions planned for 2016 has already been released. In January, Krakow will host the crew of French black comedy “Grand Froid,” Gérard Pautonnier's debut featuring Jean-Pierre Bacri (“The Taste of Others,” “Let It Rain”), Olivier Gourmet (“Rosetta,” “The Son”) and Arthur Dupond (“Bus Palladium”). The project won the first edition of the Krakow International Film Fund.

Tout de suite maintenant

Director: Pascal Bonitzer

Writers: Pascal Bonitzer, Agnes de Sacy

The multifaceted Cesar Award nominee Pascal Bonitzer is best known as a screenwriter, specifically on a number of multiple projects for directors such as Jacques Rivette, Anne Fontaine, and Andre Techine. On top of acting in a variety of films, he’s been directing his own films since his 1996 debut, Encore. Bonitzer is set to have a prolific 2016, having written Anne Fontaine’s (set to premiere at Sundance 2016) and Raoul Peck’s The Eyes of Karl Marx (Bonitzer also wrote Peck’s 2014 film, Murder in Pacot). But we’re very interested in his seventh stint as a director with Tout de suite maintenant (Now, and I Mean Now). Produced by Sbs, the film concerns a young woman hired by a mergers & acquisitions company only to find her boss and father share a significant animosity for mysterious reasons.

★☆☆☆☆Kristin Scott Thomas stars alongside Jean-Pierre Bacri in director Pascal Bonitzer's Looking for Hortense (2012), a diminutive and largely atonal French comedy of manners that sets about weaving issues of immigration and nationality into its story of a beleaguered family, only to find itself entirely wanting in the narrative department. Scott Thomas plays Iva, a frustrated stage director trying to inject two actors with a sense of passion before her latest play enters dress rehearsals. She also fails to infuse passion into a dormant relationship with her partner, Damien (Bacri), and their son, Noé (Marin Orcand Tourres).

To mark the release of Looking for Hortense on December 2nd we’ve been given 5 copies to give away on DVD.

Damien (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a Chinese civilization professor, lives with his partner, Iva (Kristin Scott Thomas), a stage director, and their son Noé. The couple’s relationship has drifted into routine that has drained it of love. Damien finds himself trapped one day by Iva, who orders him to ask his father, a senior member of the French Council of State, for help in preventing Zorica (Isabelle Carré), a woman Iva knows, from being deported. But Damien and his father don’t get on and are barely ever in touch with each other. This dangerous mission throws Damien into a spiral that will turn his life upside down.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

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You can pre-order Looking for Hortense on DVD now at Amazon.

Pascal Bonitzer's good-looking family drama may be conventional but it's extremely well acted

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In this attractive family drama, Pascal Bonitzer, a former critic for Cahiers du Cinéma, is surprisingly close to the traditional, neatly turned middle-class cinéma de papa that Truffaut and other new wave directors scorned. Both of them exuding characteristic intelligence, Jean-Pierre Bacri and Kristin Scott Thomas play a well-off Parisian couple with an adolescent son. He's a professor of Chinese culture teaching a class for business executives preparing to work in China, she's an avant-garde theatre director, their marriage is approaching the rocks, and he can't bring himself to tell her that he hasn't managed to get his pompous father, a senior judge, to obtain a visa extension for a Serbian relative of hers. It's like a Haneke plot turned into a comforting boulevard play, but it's...

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa | The Lone Ranger | Foxfire | David Bowie Is Happening Now | Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters | Grown Ups 2 | Looking For Hortense | Silence | Chennai Express

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (15)

(Declan Lowney, 2013, UK) Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney, Sean Pertwee, Felicity Montagu, Anna Maxwell Martin. 90 mins

Coogan's comic alter-ego goes big screen at last, but fear not: he's just as pathetically provincial and inadvertently offensive as he ever was – and just as consistently hilarious. A siege situation at Partridge's Norfolk radio station is the excuse to "open out" the scenario and explore the talk DJ's latent heroic side, but – as usual – the day is saved by Coogan's deft characterisation, some great writing and a love/hate fascination with Middle English mediocrity.

The Lone Ranger (12A)

(Gore Verbinski, 2013, Us) Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer. 149 mins

Where Verbinski and Depp struck a great action-comedy balance with Pirates Of The Caribbean (and Rango), attempts...

Jean-Pierre Bacri's hangdog features set the tone for Pascal Bonitzer's graceful dying fall of a film

The French character actor Jean-Pierre Bacri has a stooped gait, a weathered face and a hangdog air. This makes him the perfect touchstone for Pascal Bonitzer's lugubrious Paris-set redemption tale, a film that's positively marinated in tears, red wine and cigarette smoke. Bacri stars as Damien, a sad professor, shunned by both his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) and his dad, and toiling to save a fetching local waitress (Isabelle Carré) from being deported. Hopes fade, and true love falters. But the performances are tart and tannic, ensuring the film goes out with a graceful dying fall.

Rating: 3/5

World cinemaDramaXan Brooks

theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...

★★★☆☆ Pascal Bonitzer's domestic dramedy Looking for Hortense (2012), starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Jean-Pierre Bacri and Isabelle Carré, has a topical slant that lifts the film out of mediocrity. Iva (Scott Thomas), a successful theatre director, asks her partner Damien (Bacri), a lecturer in Chinese Studies, to try and prevent the deportation of her sister's friend Zorica (Carré), an illegal immigrant he has never met. Damien's aloof father (Claude Rich) is a senior member of the French Council of State and knows all the right people in high places. Unwillingly, out of a sense of duty to Iva, Damien makes an appointment to see him.

Pressed for time, they meet in a Japanese restaurant where Damien is visibly shocked to see his elderly father flirting with a young male waiter. Distracted, he vacillates and fails to raise Zorica's case. Meanwhile, Iva starts an affair with her leading actor and Damien demands...

Some of the most enjoyable movies to have come out of Europe in the past couple of years have been French romantic comedies (From-coms), with the likes of Delicacy, Populaire and Heartbreaker illuminating our screens, with their effortless charm and whimsicality. Now we can add another to our collection, as director Pascal Bonitzer reunites with British actress Kristin Scott Thomas in his latest picture Looking for Hortense.

We delve into the troubling life of Damien (Jean-Pierre Bacri), who is a professor of Japanese civilisation by day, and a long suffering husband of Iva (Scott Thomas) by night. As the latter’s romantic affair causes rifts between their marriage and they start arguing incessantly in front of their young son, Damien has his head turned by the beautiful illegal immigrant Aurore (Isabelle Carré). With expulsion from France looming, Damien has the power to keep his new friend in the country, as...

Intelligent, elegant, unfussy drama of the kind that comes so easily to our French cousins, Looking for Hortense will delight those wanting something for the mind to chew over. Jean-Pierre Bacri is Damien, an Asian studies professor having trouble with his father, son and wife, Iva, played in suitably brittle form by Kristin Scott Thomas. Salvation of some kind seems to come from Isabelle Carré's bookstore assistant, but nothing runs smoothly in this affecting Parisian gem.

Only God Forgives | The Heat | Paradise: Hope | The Conjuring | Red 2 | My Father And The Man In Black | From Up On Poppy Hill | The Smurfs 2 | Heaven's Gate

Only God Forgives (18)

(Nicolas Winding Refn, 2013, Fra/Thai/Us/Swe) Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Tom Burke. 90 mins

The Drive dream team are back together in Bangkok, but those hoping for a cute Gosling droolathon will be disappointed. This is more a cinematic slab of red meat: lean, raw, bloody and blunt, but with much to savour. Executed with great formal rigour, it's a stylised revenge story centred on Gosling's almost mute gangster, his terrifying mother (Scott Thomas) and an even more terrifying Thai cop (Pansringarm).

The Heat (15)

(Paul Feig, 2013, Us) Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demián Bichir. 117 mins

Buddy sparks inevitably fly when Bullock's uptight FBI agent is partnered with McCarthy's foul-mouthed Boston cop, in a comedy that serves up plenty of female-oriented crudity,...

Pascal Bonitzer’s Looking for Hortense (Cherchez Hortense, in the original French) is finally set to arrive on our shores this summer, having debuted at Venice last year to positive early reviews.

The film earned two nominations at the César Awards earlier in the year, the French equivalent of the Oscars. And with its August UK release date just a few weeks away, we’ve got the new UK quad poster to exclusively share.

Looking For Hortense is a bittersweet ‘comedie de moeurs’ that is French in spirit but universal in appeal. Damien (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a Chinese civilization professor, lives with his partner, Iva (Kristin Scott Thomas), a stage director, and their son Noé. The couple’s relationship has drifted into routine that has drained it of love. Damien finds himself trapped one day by Iva, who orders him to ask his father, a senior member of the French Council of State,...

Title: Au bout du conte (Under the rainbow) Director: Agnès Jaoui Starring: Agnès Jaoui, Agathe Bonitzer, Arthur Dupont, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui, Benjamin Biolay Fairytales can be mocked, warped and actualised, leading to outstanding results. The ultimate movie shot by Oscar-nominated Agnès Jaoui attempts to play around with these archetypes, but the results aren’t so successful. ‘Au bout du conte’ – which literally means at the beginning of a tale, but has been translated to ‘Under the rainbow’ (probably to tease the ‘Over the Rainbow’ fantastic interregnum) – opens with a dream sequence that sets the stage for its fantasy-tinged storyline about an innocent twenty year old sophisticated girl, Laura (Agathe [ Read More ]

The post Au bout du conte (Under the rainbow) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

The nominations for the César Awards aka the French Oscars were announced. "Farewell, My Queen," "Amour," "Camille Redouble," "In the House," "Rust & Bone," "Holy Motors," and "What's My Name" are competing for the Best Picture category. We'll find out the winners on February 22nd.

Here's the full list of nominees of the 2013 César Awards:

Best Picture

Farewell, My Queen

Amour

Camille Redouble

In The House

Rust & Bone

Holy Motors

What.s In A Name

Best Director

Benoît Jacquot, Farewell, My Queen

Michael Haneke, Amour

Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Redouble

François Ozon, In The House

Jacques Audiard, Rust & Bone

Leos Carax, Holy Motors

Stéphane Brizé, Quelques Heures De Printemps

Best Actress

Catherine Frot, Les Sauveurs Du Palais

Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone

Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Redouble

Corinne Masiero, Louise Wimmer

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Léa Seydoux, Farewell, My Queen

Hélène Vincent, Quelques Heures De Printemps

Best Actor

Jean-Pierre Bacri, Cherchez Hortense

Patrick Bruel, What...

Following the Toronto International Film Festival line-up earlier this week, the 69th Venice Film Festival has weighed in with their choices this morning. Outside of films also premiering at Tiff — including most notably Ramin Bahrani‘s At Any Price and Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder – they have a strong batch of films not at that fest. We have the highly anticipated next feature from Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours, Carlos), titled Something In The Air, as well as Brian De Palma‘s sensual thriller Passion with Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.

Then things get a little silly with Harmony Korine‘s James Franco and Selena Gomez gangster/party film Spring Breakers. Rounding out the other major titles are Susanne Bier following up her Oscar win with Love Is All You Need and Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25. The lack of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s heavily rumored The Master...

Now that the Razzie Awards for the worst films of the year have devolved into cheap shots at easy targets, perhaps it's time for their foreign equivalents to carry on the torch. Consider France's Gérard Awards, which, at the very least, have a lot more fun with the titles of their prizes. They also manage to put a few awards-darlings in their place. For example, The Artist's Jean Dujardin can now add a Gérard trophy to his shelf for "Actor who we hope you like a lot because you're about to see his face everywhere for the next thirty years." Other highlights include Jean-Pierre Bacri's (Subway) win for "cult actor who played in good movies and then one day, apparently got bored." Also, Hollywoo (not...

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Deneuve, 68, will be the recipient of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 39th Chaplin Award. The annual fundraising gala benefiting Lincoln Center programs will be held on Monday, April 2, at the Alice Tully Hall in New York. The evening will include films clips and a party. [Full list of Film Society of Lincoln Center (Fslc) Chaplin Award Honorees.] Catherine Deneuve's career spans more than five decades, from André Hunebelle's Les collégiennes / The Schoolgirls (1957), Jacques-Gérard Cornu's L'homme à femmes / Ladies Man (1960), and Michel Fermaud and Jacques Poitrenaud's Les Portes claquent / The Door Slams 1960) to her latest efforts: Christophe Honoré's Les Biens-aimés / The Beloved, shown at last year's Cannes Film Festival; Thierry Klifa's Les Yeux de sa mère / His Mother's Eyes; and Laurent Tirard's upcoming Astérix et Obélix: Au Service de Sa Majesté / Astérix et Obélix: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, as Cordelia, the Queen of England, opposite frequent co-star Gérard Depardieu and Edouard Baer.

If it's too cold to leave the house for your local theater, there's plenty of options if you stay inside online, on demand and on DVD. What follows is your guide to all the new releases coming your way between now and April.

Online and On Demand

My French Film Festival

Thanks to bids for Oscar consideration, the winter is traditionally one of the rare times foreign films get plenty of attention in the States, particularly at West Coast festivals such as Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. However, Francophiles in particular will be excited to know you won't have to go to California or New York -- or even Paris for that matter -- to be able to catch some of the most recent cinema from France since uniFrance is unveiling My French Film Festival, which is being billed as the "first exclusively online film festival celebrating French talent" that...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Gulliver’s Travels – Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel

Little Fockers – Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro

True Grit – Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld

Movie of the Week

True Grit

The Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld

The Plot: A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer.

The Buzz: This one’s an easy pick for “Movie of the Week,” as for me, Jack Black has worn out his welcome, and any film I’ve ever seen with the word “Focker” in the title was absolutely horrid. Though the Coen Brothers have been hit-and-miss in the last decade, with amazing highs (No Country For Old Men, O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and abysmal lows (Burn After Reading, Intolerable Cruelty), this film, a modern day rehash of the old John Wayne vehicle, looks quite good.

Much has been made of the way that comedy doesn’t travel well across national borders, as so much of it is based in the familiarity of local customs. But if Let It Rain is any indication, what separates us is not so much the truth at the heart of jokes but the manner in which they are presented. Here, France seems to have its social structure set up in much the same way that ours is, with the greatest divide being between the rich and the poor, and with those not benefitted by it completely unable to work together to do anything about it. But whereas an American version might seem harsh and patronizing, the French notion of satire is more absurd, with all of its characters gently mocked while still generally being able to save face.

When Agathe Villanova (Agnes Jaoui), a feminist on the French political scene,...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"The Films of Rita Hayworth"

Released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

A collection of five of the brunette bombshell's films -- the 1944 Gene Kelly musical "Cover Girl" and her most famous film "Gilda," as well as the 1945 musical "Tonight and Every Night," "Miss Sadie Thompson" and "Salome," which are making their first appearance on DVD -- with introductions by Martin Scorsese on "Tonight and Every Night," Baz Luhrmann on "Cover Girl" and Patricia Clarkson on "Miss Sadie Thompson," the original trailers for each of the films and a featurette with Scorsese and Luhrmann comparing notes on "Gilda."

"Angel"

Directed by François Ozon

Released by Mpi Home Video

It's been a long journey for French filmmaker Ozon's first fully-English film - he's already made three others since "Angel" premiered at Berlinale in 2007, but it boasts a bunch of big names including Michael Fassbender,...

Note: this is not some casting news headline from a couple of years back. Wild Grass featured ensemble of André Dussollier, Sabine Azéma, Mathieu Amalric and Anne Consigny are joining Alain Resnais' next feature, which will begin lensing in January of next year. Also joining the cast of Vous N'avez Encore Rien Vu, we have Jean-Pierre Bacri, Isabelle Nanty and trio Pierre Arditi, Lambert Wilson and Claude Rich who all appeared in Resnais' 2006 film Private Fears in Public Places. Filming begins in January and will last for. Gist: Co-written by Resnais and Laurent Herbiet, this is adapted from Jean Anouilh’s stage play Eurydice, where a violinist Orphée and touring actress Eurydice leave everything behind to fulfill their love. But jealousy takes hold of Orphée. Worth Noting: For a French filmmaker who has made very little amount of films, he sure if cranking them out in the late stages of his career.

To spotlight France's young filmmakers, the first ever online French film festival will run January 14 to 29, 2011, thanks to Unifrance and Allociné, France's Centre National de la Cinématographie and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ten features (either from first or second time directors, with recent French releases), ten shorts and select classic films will be available via Video On Demand with several language subtitle options. They will award three prizes: one voted by online public viewers, another by foreign bloggers and another by the international press. As of December, the festival's site, myfrenchfilmfestival.com, will be up with trailers and interviews. Festival selections include: Feature Film Selection Adieu Gary by Nassim Amaouche with Jean-Pierre Bacri In a working class city, abandoned by most of ...

Let It Rain is a modern day comedy/drama set in the south of France. It took me a few minutes to figure out the connections between some of the main characters. I was able to get my bearings not too long into the film. A voice over narrator would have been extremely helpful a la Woody Allen in many of his films.

The story begins with Karim and Michel deciding to collaborate on a documentary about a successful woman. Karim is a former filmmaking student of Michele.s who works the front desk of a small local hotel to provide for his new bride, Severine, while trying to get a break in film. His partner, Michel is the source of much of the humor in the film. He bumbles through their plans and tries to exude an air of intellectual superiority when he has no idea about what is happening.

Jul 07, 2010

Let It Rain is a very French light comedy about character much more than wacky situations. The very talented co-writer/director/star Agnes Jaoui collaborates again with co-writer/star/husband Jean-Pierre Bacri in a piece that will feel a bit too slight and inconsequential for some audiences (even Francophiles) but that features enough quality performances in pursuit of true character development that it merits a recommendation for those who still believe fictional film can capture genuine human behavior. With a great ensemble, beautiful locations, and a winking sense of humor, Let It Rain may be ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...

Quickcard Review

Let It Rain (Parlez-moi de la pluie)

Directed by: Agnes Jaoui

Cast: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jamel Debouzze, Agnes Jaoui, Pascale Arbillot

Running Time: 2 hrs

Rating: R

Release Date: July 2, 2010

Plot: An upcoming politician (Jaoui) is asked to be interviewed by the man (Bacri) her sister is having an affair with.

Who’S It For?: Fans of dialogue-driven comedies, with this one being in the vein of something that a less-morbid Woody Allen might write.

Overall

Sometimes, real life is funny enough. Let It Rain is a charming comedy with honest folk encountering situations that must be stolen from the scripts of our own lives – there’s a hint of romance between two hotel employees, a disagreement on “relationship titles” between an upcoming politician and her boyfriend, and a story of cheating that includes a loving mother and a bumbling documentary filmmaker. All of these characters have their own stories,...

The Americanized title of Agnès Jaoui’s Parlez-moi De La Pluie doesn’t match up with a literal translation—“talk to me of the rain”—but marketers can’t be blamed for trying to infuse a hint of action into a movie that boils down to a series of tart conversations. Jaoui and her husband Jean-Pierre Bacri (with whom she traditionally co-writes and co-stars), specialize in barbed comedies of haute bourgeois manners; they wrote Smoking/No Smoking and Same Old Song for Alain Resnais before stepping out on their own with 2000’s The Taste Of Others. In Let ...

In her new film, Let it Rain, French writer/director/actress, Agnès Jaoui, tackles race, class, gender, and politics in a dramedic kind of way. Oh, and she explains why The West Wing wouldn't fly in France. Agnès Jaoui directing Let it RainFrench talent Agnès Jaoui is a multi-hyphenate of the highest order: as a writer, director and actress, she is just as at home in the theatre as she is behind (and in front of) the camera. With her longtime writing partner, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jaoui has developed a body of work (including The Taste of Others, Look at Me) that depict the daily lives of French citizens with wit, charm, and authenticity. In her third effort as director, Jaoui presents Let it Rain (French title: Parlez-moi de la pluie, which translates to Talk to Me About the Rain). Jaoui plays...

Gender politics are at the heart of this script director-actress Agnés Jaoui co-wrote with her husband, Jean-Pierre Bacri.

Interested in putting together a documentary on an influential woman, Michel (Bacri) and Karim (Jamel Debbouze) approach the only influential woman they know: Agathe (Jaoui), a feminist author who is visiting her childhood home in the south of France to run for an election and help her sister sort out their mother’s affairs. Karim knows her best: His mother Mimouna (Mimouna Hadji, a nonpro on whom the character is based) has been her family’s housekeeper since she was a girl. What Agathe doesn’t know is that Michel is sleeping with her sister Florence (Pascale Arbillot), who is married with children.

Michel and Karim, it turns out, are ill equipped to mange even this modest project. Miscommunication, forgotten batteries and the titular weather all conspire to render their shoot a comedy of errors.