“The Nature of Love,” Monia Chokri’s sexy romantic comedy that beat Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” in the best foreign-language film race at this year’s Cesar Awards, has been acquired by Music Box Films for the U.S.
“The Nature of Love” world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard to strong reviews, followed by a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Chokri’s film stars Magalie Lépine-Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. Music Box Films will open “The Nature of Love” in theaters this summer with a home entertainment release to follow. The film is produced by Metafilms and co-produced by Mk Productions.
“The Nature of Love” follows 40-year-old philosophy professor Sophia, who abandons her stable and conventional marriage for a passionate affair with Sylvian, a craftsman renovating her country house. Their romantic impulses are complicated by intellectual and social differences.
“Monia Chokri takes a familiar romantic comedy...
“The Nature of Love” world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard to strong reviews, followed by a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Chokri’s film stars Magalie Lépine-Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. Music Box Films will open “The Nature of Love” in theaters this summer with a home entertainment release to follow. The film is produced by Metafilms and co-produced by Mk Productions.
“The Nature of Love” follows 40-year-old philosophy professor Sophia, who abandons her stable and conventional marriage for a passionate affair with Sylvian, a craftsman renovating her country house. Their romantic impulses are complicated by intellectual and social differences.
“Monia Chokri takes a familiar romantic comedy...
- 4/4/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
In a creative output that saw her add a harvest of three feature films in the last five years, after 2019’s A Brother’s Love and 2022’a Babysitter we now find Monia Chokri celebrating lightning in a bottle attraction, longing, and what it looks like when we rationalize surrendering to our emotions and abandoning our safeguards. Her third oeuvre Simple comme Sylvain (aka The Nature of Love) has ties to her astounding debut short Quelqu’un d’extraordinaire (2013) where actress Magalie Lépine-Blondeau began as perhaps Chokri’s creative muse. Sporting autumn browns and on one occasion wearing dish gloves, here Lépine-Blondeau steps into the character of Sophia, a 40-year-old philosophy professor who finds herself well beyond the seven-year itch, as her world is thrown into chaos, leaving her to ponder, “should I stay or should I go?”…...
- 10/19/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love” has been acquired for U.K. and Ireland distribution by Vertigo Releasing.
The film stars Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. In the film, the cosy married life of lecturer and intellectual Sophia (Blondeau) takes a bold new turn when she meets Sylvain (Cardinal), the ruggedly charming handyman at her new chalet and she embarks on a steamy and all-consuming affair.
“The Nature of Love” premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand earlier this year and since then has played Toronto and Zurich among other festivals. It has its U.K. premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 13 and will play Chicago post that.
“Female mid-life crises are not explored in this mode of storytelling as often their male counterpart: While the tragedy of the woman who f—s around and finds out is a mainstay of plenty of great literature and cinema,...
The film stars Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. In the film, the cosy married life of lecturer and intellectual Sophia (Blondeau) takes a bold new turn when she meets Sylvain (Cardinal), the ruggedly charming handyman at her new chalet and she embarks on a steamy and all-consuming affair.
“The Nature of Love” premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand earlier this year and since then has played Toronto and Zurich among other festivals. It has its U.K. premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 13 and will play Chicago post that.
“Female mid-life crises are not explored in this mode of storytelling as often their male counterpart: While the tragedy of the woman who f—s around and finds out is a mainstay of plenty of great literature and cinema,...
- 10/10/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Canadian director Monia Chokri isn’t big on Hollywood romance movies that glorify unavailable men who eventually become the prize of women chasing them.
“It’s been done, so I don’t need to do another Pretty Woman,” she dismissively tells The Hollywood Reporter about The Nature of Love, a French-language film about two people from different classes falling in love at first sight, that has been screening at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s Horizons section after its world premiere in Cannes.
For Chokri, romance is a surrogate for female expression as her tragicomedy tackles how women view themselves sexually and behave among men. “It’s about what she feels in her mind,” the director says of Sophia, a 40-year-old Montreal philosophy professor played by Magalie Lépine-Blondeau.
Sophia is in a stable, yet sex-less relationship with her partner Xavier (Francis William Rheaume), but finds her sexual desire is reawakened,...
“It’s been done, so I don’t need to do another Pretty Woman,” she dismissively tells The Hollywood Reporter about The Nature of Love, a French-language film about two people from different classes falling in love at first sight, that has been screening at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s Horizons section after its world premiere in Cannes.
For Chokri, romance is a surrogate for female expression as her tragicomedy tackles how women view themselves sexually and behave among men. “It’s about what she feels in her mind,” the director says of Sophia, a 40-year-old Montreal philosophy professor played by Magalie Lépine-Blondeau.
Sophia is in a stable, yet sex-less relationship with her partner Xavier (Francis William Rheaume), but finds her sexual desire is reawakened,...
- 7/4/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The rom-com has always appeared to be in safe hands with French-language cinema, but Quebecois director Monia Chokri wanted to push the boundaries of the genre even further with her new film “Simple comme Sylvain.”
“French people like to talk about love but they always do it in the same way of toxic relationships. And there aren’t so many [rom-coms] made by women,” says Chokri, who was last in Cannes in 2019 with her debut feature, “A Brother’s Love,” which won Un Certain Regard’s Jury Cup de Coeur.
“Simple comme Sylvain” centers on a posh French-Canadian woman in a sexless marriage who turns her life upside down when she has an affair with her contractor.
The Quebec-born actor broke out in meaty roles in Canadian auteur Denys Arcand’s “The Age of Darkness” and Xavier Dolan’s “Heartbeats” and “Laurence Anyways.” She also acts in “Simple comme Sylvain,” playing her protagonist’s outspoken best friend,...
“French people like to talk about love but they always do it in the same way of toxic relationships. And there aren’t so many [rom-coms] made by women,” says Chokri, who was last in Cannes in 2019 with her debut feature, “A Brother’s Love,” which won Un Certain Regard’s Jury Cup de Coeur.
“Simple comme Sylvain” centers on a posh French-Canadian woman in a sexless marriage who turns her life upside down when she has an affair with her contractor.
The Quebec-born actor broke out in meaty roles in Canadian auteur Denys Arcand’s “The Age of Darkness” and Xavier Dolan’s “Heartbeats” and “Laurence Anyways.” She also acts in “Simple comme Sylvain,” playing her protagonist’s outspoken best friend,...
- 5/20/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love” opens by introducing us to 40-year-old philosophy professor Sophia (Magalie Lépine Blondeau) and her husband Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume), as they enjoy a dinner party with friends. Said friends (one of whom is played by the director) are similarly middle-class progressive types with nice homes and comfortable lives; Sophia’s job in particular allows a strand of metatextual self-commentary in an otherwise predominantly broad and sexy comedy. It is, of course, a cast-iron rule of cinema that if a film opens with a middle-class dinner party, you’re about to see somebody’s bourgeois certainties undermined, and Chokri doesn’t disappoint.
On the drive home, Sophia and Xavier gossip about their friends’ love lives. Supposedly one of the other couples has sex three or four times a week, but also fights constantly. Xavier is of the opinion that a peaceful but sexless life is preferable,...
On the drive home, Sophia and Xavier gossip about their friends’ love lives. Supposedly one of the other couples has sex three or four times a week, but also fights constantly. Xavier is of the opinion that a peaceful but sexless life is preferable,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Catherine Bray
- Variety Film + TV
In Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love” (“Simple comme Sylvain”), a posh French-Canadian woman in a sexless marriage turns her life upside down for an affair with her contractor.
The film, which is being shopped to buyers in Cannes by Mk2 Films, will world premiere in Un Certain Regard on May 18.
Magalie Lépine-Blondeau delivers a powerhouse performance as Sofia, a 40-year-old philosophy professor in a stable yet stifling relationship with long-term partner Xavier.
When they buy a chalet to refurbish, she meets the strapping, jovial Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), who arrives one day to provide a quote for the renovations. The pair jump headlong into a steamy relationship, but as their romance wears on, Sofia realizes that their backgrounds and interests make them far more different than she first thought.
Chokri previously directed “My Brother’s Wife,” which won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard in 2019. Chokri, who directs and wrote the screenplay,...
The film, which is being shopped to buyers in Cannes by Mk2 Films, will world premiere in Un Certain Regard on May 18.
Magalie Lépine-Blondeau delivers a powerhouse performance as Sofia, a 40-year-old philosophy professor in a stable yet stifling relationship with long-term partner Xavier.
When they buy a chalet to refurbish, she meets the strapping, jovial Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), who arrives one day to provide a quote for the renovations. The pair jump headlong into a steamy relationship, but as their romance wears on, Sofia realizes that their backgrounds and interests make them far more different than she first thought.
Chokri previously directed “My Brother’s Wife,” which won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard in 2019. Chokri, who directs and wrote the screenplay,...
- 5/12/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Simple comme Sylvain
A film that was put into development shortly after she premiered 2019’s La femme de mon frère at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Monia Chokri received some backing Sodec and Telefilm coin for her third film while she was in the midst of preparing her sophomore feature in 2022’s Babysitter (Sundance – Midnight section seelction). Production on Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain took place last October just north of Montreal. Produced by Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant, this is more or less a tale about the seven year itch which involves Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal.…...
A film that was put into development shortly after she premiered 2019’s La femme de mon frère at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Monia Chokri received some backing Sodec and Telefilm coin for her third film while she was in the midst of preparing her sophomore feature in 2022’s Babysitter (Sundance – Midnight section seelction). Production on Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain took place last October just north of Montreal. Produced by Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant, this is more or less a tale about the seven year itch which involves Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal.…...
- 1/12/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Willie Nelson in a scene from ‘Willie Nelson and Family’ (Photo Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival’s lineup will include 64 Short Films and four Indie Episodic projects. More than 10,000 short film submissions were received, and the 64 selected represent work from 23 countries. 519 Indie Episodic submissions were submitted and the four selected represent five countries.
The 2023 Festival will take place in person from January 19–29. Select films will be available online beginning January 24th.
“Short films and episodic projects are an integral aspect of the overall mission of the Sundance Institute — to empower artists who are taking risks, bringing new perspectives to the forefront, and creating work that entertains and provokes conversation,” stated Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “These platforms provide artists with the ability to expand beyond the boundaries of traditional cinema, while also motivating a unique creativity through an ever expanding format.”
Indie Episodic
Chanshi...
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival’s lineup will include 64 Short Films and four Indie Episodic projects. More than 10,000 short film submissions were received, and the 64 selected represent work from 23 countries. 519 Indie Episodic submissions were submitted and the four selected represent five countries.
The 2023 Festival will take place in person from January 19–29. Select films will be available online beginning January 24th.
“Short films and episodic projects are an integral aspect of the overall mission of the Sundance Institute — to empower artists who are taking risks, bringing new perspectives to the forefront, and creating work that entertains and provokes conversation,” stated Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “These platforms provide artists with the ability to expand beyond the boundaries of traditional cinema, while also motivating a unique creativity through an ever expanding format.”
Indie Episodic
Chanshi...
- 12/13/2022
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival officially announced the Shorts and Indie Episodic programs.
Notable artists and talent in the shorts program include Paul Feig, Angela Sarafyan, Kate Flannery, Yalitza Aparicio Martinez, Angela Trimbur, Ken Marino, Bi Gan, and Shannon Plumb. Selections range from more than 23 countries, including Iran and Ukraine.
The Sundance Institute will offer in-person premieres for the Indie Episodic works, with Shorts screened in curated programs. Beginning January 24, all Indie Episodic projects and selected Shorts will also be available to stream online through the end of the festival. The 2023 festival will take place January 19 through 29, 2023, in person in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24–29.
This upcoming year’s Short Film program includes work from 23 countries, and the Indie Episodic represents works from five countries. Forty-six percent of the filmmakers identify as women, and filmmakers...
Notable artists and talent in the shorts program include Paul Feig, Angela Sarafyan, Kate Flannery, Yalitza Aparicio Martinez, Angela Trimbur, Ken Marino, Bi Gan, and Shannon Plumb. Selections range from more than 23 countries, including Iran and Ukraine.
The Sundance Institute will offer in-person premieres for the Indie Episodic works, with Shorts screened in curated programs. Beginning January 24, all Indie Episodic projects and selected Shorts will also be available to stream online through the end of the festival. The 2023 festival will take place January 19 through 29, 2023, in person in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24–29.
This upcoming year’s Short Film program includes work from 23 countries, and the Indie Episodic represents works from five countries. Forty-six percent of the filmmakers identify as women, and filmmakers...
- 12/13/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday revealed its 2023 lineup of episodic projects and 64 shorts, the latter culled from the fest’s highest number of submissions at 10,981.
The shorts span 23 countries, including projects from Iran (Azheh) and Ukraine (Liturgy of anti-tank obstacles), with works from such artists as Paul Feig (Help Me Understand producer), Westworld actress Angela Sarafyan (Power Signal), The Office‘s Kate Flannery (Help Me Understand), Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio Martinez (Sweatshop Girl), The Feels’ Angela Trimbur (Mirror Party), Party Down‘s Ken Marino (Help Me Understand), Bi Gan (director of Cannes Certain Regard title A Long Days Journey Into Night director) and Shannon Plumb (Walk of Shame) to name a few.
Related Story Sundance Film Festival Lineup Set With Ukraine War, Little Richard, Michael J. Fox, Judy Blume Docs; Pics With Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jonathan Majors; More Related Story 'The Amazing Maurice' Heads To France,...
The shorts span 23 countries, including projects from Iran (Azheh) and Ukraine (Liturgy of anti-tank obstacles), with works from such artists as Paul Feig (Help Me Understand producer), Westworld actress Angela Sarafyan (Power Signal), The Office‘s Kate Flannery (Help Me Understand), Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio Martinez (Sweatshop Girl), The Feels’ Angela Trimbur (Mirror Party), Party Down‘s Ken Marino (Help Me Understand), Bi Gan (director of Cannes Certain Regard title A Long Days Journey Into Night director) and Shannon Plumb (Walk of Shame) to name a few.
Related Story Sundance Film Festival Lineup Set With Ukraine War, Little Richard, Michael J. Fox, Judy Blume Docs; Pics With Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jonathan Majors; More Related Story 'The Amazing Maurice' Heads To France,...
- 12/13/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival also unveils 64 shorts.
Sundance Film Festival organisers have unveiled four Indie Episodic series including the first authorised work exploring the life of American musician Willie Nelson and new work from Xavier Dolan, as well as 64 short films.
Thom Zimny and Oren Moverman directed Willie Nelson And Family for Blackbird Presents and Sight Unseen and the documentary series chronicles the ups and downs of Nelson’s life. The festival will premiere two of five episodes.
The Indie Episodics line-up includes The Night Logan Woke Up from Xavier Dolan, the French Canadian filmmaker behind features like Mommy and I Killed My Mother.
Sundance Film Festival organisers have unveiled four Indie Episodic series including the first authorised work exploring the life of American musician Willie Nelson and new work from Xavier Dolan, as well as 64 short films.
Thom Zimny and Oren Moverman directed Willie Nelson And Family for Blackbird Presents and Sight Unseen and the documentary series chronicles the ups and downs of Nelson’s life. The festival will premiere two of five episodes.
The Indie Episodics line-up includes The Night Logan Woke Up from Xavier Dolan, the French Canadian filmmaker behind features like Mommy and I Killed My Mother.
- 12/13/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Night Where Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up (La nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s’est réveillé) is a Canadian miniseries written and directed by Xavier Dolan. It stars Julie LeBreton, Xavier Dolan and Patrick Hivon.
Synopsis
One night in October 1991, the fate of Mimi, her brother Jules and their friend Logan is forever changed by a terrible incident which leads to their separation. Many years later, following her mother’s death, Mimi returns to her hometown and meets Jules for the first time since then. That is when they both realize that nothing can ever be the same.
The Night Where Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up (2022-) Director
Xavier Dolan
Cast
Julie Le Breton / Mireille Larouche
Xavier Dolan / Elliot Larouche
Patrick Hivon / Julien Larouche
Éric Bruneau / Denis Larouche
Magalie Lépine-Blondeau / Chantal Gladu
Julianne Côté / Stéfanie
Jasmine Lemée / Mireille (14 years old)
Elijah Patrice-Baudelot / Julien (16 years old)
See full credits >>...
Synopsis
One night in October 1991, the fate of Mimi, her brother Jules and their friend Logan is forever changed by a terrible incident which leads to their separation. Many years later, following her mother’s death, Mimi returns to her hometown and meets Jules for the first time since then. That is when they both realize that nothing can ever be the same.
The Night Where Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up (2022-) Director
Xavier Dolan
Cast
Julie Le Breton / Mireille Larouche
Xavier Dolan / Elliot Larouche
Patrick Hivon / Julien Larouche
Éric Bruneau / Denis Larouche
Magalie Lépine-Blondeau / Chantal Gladu
Julianne Côté / Stéfanie
Jasmine Lemée / Mireille (14 years old)
Elijah Patrice-Baudelot / Julien (16 years old)
See full credits >>...
- 12/6/2022
- by TV Shows Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid - TV
"Time helps and heals our mistakes." Club illico in Quebec has debuted the first official trailer for a series titled The Night Where Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up, also known as The Night Logan Woke Up. If you've been wondering when we'll see the next, new film from the acclaimed Quebecois filmmaker Xavier Dolan - this is his latest project. But it's a series, not a new film this time, which is what so many directors are doing right now in these strange times for the film industry. This one follows the story of three friends whose lives are shattered after one commits rape. One October night in 1991, the destinies of Mireille, her brother Julien and their best friend Laurier are forever changed by a terrible incident and their paths go their separate ways. Both families are broken. Nothing will ever be the same again… This stars Patrick Hivon, Magalie Lépine Blondeau,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Coming off the still-fresh release of her sophomore film in Babysitter (it was a Sundance world preem albeit virtual edition), production has already begun on Monia Chokri‘s third feature, Simple Comme Sylvain. Thanks to the socials we learn that Magalie Lépine Blondeau (the actress who toplined Chokri’s brilliant 2013 short Quelqu’un d’extraordinaire) once again reteam with the director. A project that was mentioned as early as 2019 and benefitted from some Sodec and Telefilm coin is being produced by Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant. Production is taking place just outside of Montreal. Xavier Dolan’s regular Dp André Turpin is the cinematographer here.…...
- 10/7/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Maddie Dyer and Rachel Griffiths.
After bonding on Ride Like a Girl, Rachel Griffiths and emerging writer-director Madeleine Dyer are jointly developing a TV comedy series based on a prominent Australian actor.
Describing Rachel’s concept as a new age, male version of Eliza Dolittle, Dyer says the plot will follow the actor as he learns to be ‘woke’ in how he relates to women and conducts himself in the current social climate.
They envisage an Extras-style series where actors and celebrities will play versions of themselves and are still in discussions with the actor about his participation.
Dyer spent five months with Griffiths on a Screen Australia-funded director’s attachment and director’s assistant on pre-production and principle shoot of the Michelle Payne biopic starring Teresa Palmer and Sam Neill.
That collaboration prompted Griffiths to laud Dyer as a “sister zeitgeist hunter” during her Hector Crawford memorial lecture at Screen Forever.
After bonding on Ride Like a Girl, Rachel Griffiths and emerging writer-director Madeleine Dyer are jointly developing a TV comedy series based on a prominent Australian actor.
Describing Rachel’s concept as a new age, male version of Eliza Dolittle, Dyer says the plot will follow the actor as he learns to be ‘woke’ in how he relates to women and conducts himself in the current social climate.
They envisage an Extras-style series where actors and celebrities will play versions of themselves and are still in discussions with the actor about his participation.
Dyer spent five months with Griffiths on a Screen Australia-funded director’s attachment and director’s assistant on pre-production and principle shoot of the Michelle Payne biopic starring Teresa Palmer and Sam Neill.
That collaboration prompted Griffiths to laud Dyer as a “sister zeitgeist hunter” during her Hector Crawford memorial lecture at Screen Forever.
- 11/25/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Writer-director Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways begins in 1989, two years into Fred (Suzanne Clément) and Laurence's (Melvil Poupaud) relationship. Everything seems hunky dory, until Laurence drops a bomb on Fred -- he wants to become a woman, but he wants to continue his romantic relationship with Fred. Just because he wants to be a woman does not mean that he loves Fred any less. The problem is that Fred is attracted to men, not women. As if dipping his toes into the pool of womanhood, Laurence begins to dress like a woman and wear makeup. As a result he is fired from his job, gets in barroom brawls and loses Fred. Laurence's transition from male to female is a long and difficult one. As we jump forward through the years, we find Laurence in a relationship with Charlotte (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau) and Fred is married with a child. Nonetheless, everyone in...
- 11/4/2012
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
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