Ever since making his feature debut with the darkly comical Sitcom, French writer/director François Ozon has been making the world feeling horny and shocked with his films, often at the same time. With a body of work that also includes Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Under the Sand, In the House and the glorious one-two punch of 8 Women and Swimming Pool, you’d think the prolific provocateur might soon be running out of tricks.
Think again. His latest erotic thriller, L’amant double, which premiered in competition at Cannes this year, proved to be the film scandaleux of the festival. Starring Marine Vacth as Chloé, a young woman who one day discovers her psychiatrist partner Paul (Jérémie Renier) might have an evil twin brother and gradually loses herself in a web of deceit and kinks, it’s the kind of dangerously sexy farce at which Ozon excels.
We had...
Think again. His latest erotic thriller, L’amant double, which premiered in competition at Cannes this year, proved to be the film scandaleux of the festival. Starring Marine Vacth as Chloé, a young woman who one day discovers her psychiatrist partner Paul (Jérémie Renier) might have an evil twin brother and gradually loses herself in a web of deceit and kinks, it’s the kind of dangerously sexy farce at which Ozon excels.
We had...
- 10/18/2017
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
The Brothers Grimm loved nothing more than a horrifying, gruesome, decidedly older-skewing fairy tale. While their classic stories have often been sanitized for wider audiences, it appears as if Gkids’ upcoming feature film “The Girl Without Hands” is holding on to at least a few of the more terrifying details of the original story that has inspired the animated offering.
In the film, a starving miller makes a literal deal with Devil, only to find that he’s been tricked (such is the main problem with dealing with Satan, after all) and has accidentally sold off his cherished daughter. Initially protected by her disarmingly pure heart, the Devil eventually makes off with the girl’s actual hands, forcing her to embark on a hard-won journey to redemption that involves true love, a surprising new life, and more than one more run-in with the evil being that hurt her in the first place.
In the film, a starving miller makes a literal deal with Devil, only to find that he’s been tricked (such is the main problem with dealing with Satan, after all) and has accidentally sold off his cherished daughter. Initially protected by her disarmingly pure heart, the Devil eventually makes off with the girl’s actual hands, forcing her to embark on a hard-won journey to redemption that involves true love, a surprising new life, and more than one more run-in with the evil being that hurt her in the first place.
- 7/20/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The French film director on being haunted by Under the Skin, the music of La Femme, and the place where he had his first kiss
Born in 1967 in Paris, film-maker and screenwriter François Ozon studied at the film school La Fémis, and has cited directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Renoir as early influences. After the release of his debut feature Sitcom in France in 1998, he achieved international success with murder mystery 8 Women (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003), an erotic thriller starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. Since then, he has released a number of films including Potiche, In the House, Jeune & Jolie, and The New Girlfriend. His film Frantz, a drama set in a small German town after the first world war, is in cinemas now and L’amant double is in competition for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival.
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Born in 1967 in Paris, film-maker and screenwriter François Ozon studied at the film school La Fémis, and has cited directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Renoir as early influences. After the release of his debut feature Sitcom in France in 1998, he achieved international success with murder mystery 8 Women (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003), an erotic thriller starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. Since then, he has released a number of films including Potiche, In the House, Jeune & Jolie, and The New Girlfriend. His film Frantz, a drama set in a small German town after the first world war, is in cinemas now and L’amant double is in competition for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival.
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- 5/14/2017
- by François Ozon
- The Guardian - Film News
Author: Stefan Pape
There are few filmmakers working today quite as consistent as French auteur Francois Ozon and his latest, Frantz, is emblematic of this notion. Remaining faithful to his own sensibilities as a storyteller, each passing endeavour remains unique of its own accord, and where previous offerings such as In the House and The New Girlfriend thrived in their light and witty tendencies, Frantz represents a far more solemn, dramatic affair, highlighting the director’s noteworthy range.
Set during the aftermath of the First World War, we meet German widow Anna (Paula Beer), grieving the loss of her fiancé Frantz, living in the residency of his parents Hans (Ernst Stotzner) and Magda Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber). One morning when laying flowers on his deceased partner’s grave, she notices an elusive stranger doing the same, the Frenchman Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney). Intrigued as to what his connection could’ve been with Frantz,...
There are few filmmakers working today quite as consistent as French auteur Francois Ozon and his latest, Frantz, is emblematic of this notion. Remaining faithful to his own sensibilities as a storyteller, each passing endeavour remains unique of its own accord, and where previous offerings such as In the House and The New Girlfriend thrived in their light and witty tendencies, Frantz represents a far more solemn, dramatic affair, highlighting the director’s noteworthy range.
Set during the aftermath of the First World War, we meet German widow Anna (Paula Beer), grieving the loss of her fiancé Frantz, living in the residency of his parents Hans (Ernst Stotzner) and Magda Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber). One morning when laying flowers on his deceased partner’s grave, she notices an elusive stranger doing the same, the Frenchman Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney). Intrigued as to what his connection could’ve been with Frantz,...
- 5/8/2017
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
There are few filmmakers that can match Francois Ozon for versatility or for sheer volume of output. The acclaimed French helmer has made 16 films in his 20-year career, and his latest “L’Amant Double,” will be his eighth movie in ten years, arriving barely six months after his last film, “Frantz,” screened in theaters. Ozon has many modes — he’s recently made comedy-of-manners with “Potiche,” “Belle Du Jour”-style character study with “Young & Beautiful,” transgender comedy-drama with “The New Girlfriend,” and period romance with “Frantz,” but his latest sees him return to the sexy-thriller territory of some of his best movies, like 2003’s “Swimming Pool.”
Set to premiere in competition at Cannes in a few weeks, “L’Amant Double,” reteams Ozon with two previous stars: Dardennes favorite Jeremie Renier (“Potiche”), and “Young & Beautiful” lead Marine Vacth, with Jacqueline Bisset also in the cast.
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Set to premiere in competition at Cannes in a few weeks, “L’Amant Double,” reteams Ozon with two previous stars: Dardennes favorite Jeremie Renier (“Potiche”), and “Young & Beautiful” lead Marine Vacth, with Jacqueline Bisset also in the cast.
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- 4/28/2017
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
“Awards are like hemorrhoids. Sooner or later every asshole gets one,” François Ozon, one of France's most prolific director/screenwriters, has noted.
With Frantz, his pacifistic, feminist, and slightly homoerotic chronicling of a post-World War I love affair of sorts opening Stateside this week, he can say that with a smile. After all, this feature has already garnered eleven Cécar nominations, including one for best film, and a dozen more from various international film festivals.
For many folks, that’s no surprise. All they have to hear is that a new Ozon is unspooling at their local art house, and they’re hotfooting it to the ticket booth. Why? Few other directors have the ability to depict the psychosexual permutations of our fellow man better, at times accompanied with an unexpected Hitchcockian twist or a good dose of Almodóvarian tongue-in-cheek perversity.
In his 1996 short, "A Summer Dress," a young gay man,...
With Frantz, his pacifistic, feminist, and slightly homoerotic chronicling of a post-World War I love affair of sorts opening Stateside this week, he can say that with a smile. After all, this feature has already garnered eleven Cécar nominations, including one for best film, and a dozen more from various international film festivals.
For many folks, that’s no surprise. All they have to hear is that a new Ozon is unspooling at their local art house, and they’re hotfooting it to the ticket booth. Why? Few other directors have the ability to depict the psychosexual permutations of our fellow man better, at times accompanied with an unexpected Hitchcockian twist or a good dose of Almodóvarian tongue-in-cheek perversity.
In his 1996 short, "A Summer Dress," a young gay man,...
- 3/20/2017
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
(Note: This review was originally published after the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September 2016.) There is exactly one great sequence in “Frantz,” the latest film from modern master François Ozon (“The New Girlfriend,” “8 Women”), and even though it’s a short scene, it creates an impact that suggests that it was the entire reason for the film’s existence. The rest of “Frantz,” unfortunately, is a mostly dreary and heavy-handed affair in which the director (who co-wrote with Philippe Piazzo, loosely adapting a play by Maurice Rostand) examines the damaging cost of nationalism and the toll that war.
- 3/15/2017
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out. And if you're into box office and how movies might do, come play some of the box office games at EZ1 Productions including their new Pick 5 game!
This Past Weekend:
As expected, Legendary Pictures’ Kong: Skull Island won the weekend, and honestly, the Weekend Warrior’s original prediction of $61.6 million was pretty darn close to the movie’s opening weekend which ended up at $61 million. (Unfortunately, I chickened out on Thursday because my prediction was so much higher than all others and lowered it to $58 million, which was Still closer to than every other prediction last weekend.) Also, as expected (at least by me), Hugh Jackman’s Logan took a 2nd weekend tumble as has been the case with most X-Men movies,...
This Past Weekend:
As expected, Legendary Pictures’ Kong: Skull Island won the weekend, and honestly, the Weekend Warrior’s original prediction of $61.6 million was pretty darn close to the movie’s opening weekend which ended up at $61 million. (Unfortunately, I chickened out on Thursday because my prediction was so much higher than all others and lowered it to $58 million, which was Still closer to than every other prediction last weekend.) Also, as expected (at least by me), Hugh Jackman’s Logan took a 2nd weekend tumble as has been the case with most X-Men movies,...
- 3/15/2017
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
At first glance, it seemed odd for François Ozon – whose sexy melodramas more closely resemble thrillers – to remake a largely-unseen 1932 Ernst Lubitsch film (Broken Melody), even if it is said to be something of an outlier in the bawdy director’s filmography. I have not seen that Lubitsch film myself, unfortunately, but the more I thought about Ozon and Lubitsch, the more I realized they often share one prominent concern – malleable identity. Both often revisit the idea that one can quite literally be a different person depending on whose company you keep, and that any of these various identities need not necessarily be a lie. What’s in a name, after all. And the lie is sometimes necessary to maintain a sense of peace and harmony.
The film takes place in Germany, immediately after World War I, when anti-French sentiment still runs high. There, Anna (Paula Beer) lives with her...
The film takes place in Germany, immediately after World War I, when anti-French sentiment still runs high. There, Anna (Paula Beer) lives with her...
- 1/29/2017
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
Screwball comedy master Ernst Lubitsch took a rare stab at straight drama with 1932’s “Broken Lullaby,” the tense story of a soldier who attempts to make amends with the family of a man he killed in World War I. Preeminent French director François Ozon also wanders into unconventional territory with “Frantz,” his astonishingly beautiful and inquisitive remake of Lubitsch’s film, using it as a springboard for a profound look at alienation and grief.
Ozon captures much of the original movie’s strengths while broadening its themes, launching into richer territory with his most polished storytelling achievement since 2004’s “Swimming Pool.” While the entirety of “Frantz” holds less appeal than its gorgeous ingredients, it’s impossible to deny the sheer narrative sophistication that makes this gentle story much more than your average retread.
Largely set in the small German mountain town of Quedlingburg, the mostly black-and-white “Frantz” takes place in...
Ozon captures much of the original movie’s strengths while broadening its themes, launching into richer territory with his most polished storytelling achievement since 2004’s “Swimming Pool.” While the entirety of “Frantz” holds less appeal than its gorgeous ingredients, it’s impossible to deny the sheer narrative sophistication that makes this gentle story much more than your average retread.
Largely set in the small German mountain town of Quedlingburg, the mostly black-and-white “Frantz” takes place in...
- 9/5/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
French filmmaker Francois Ozon likes to keep his audience on their toes, and his last three pictures are a good example of how he likes to switch things up each time around. 2012’s comedy/mystery “In The House” was followed by 2013’s provocative erotic drama “Young & Beautiful,” and 2014’s “The New Girlfriend” was a transgender […]
The post First Trailer For Francois Ozon’s Wwi Film ‘Frantz,’ Screening At Venice & Tiff appeared first on The Playlist.
The post First Trailer For Francois Ozon’s Wwi Film ‘Frantz,’ Screening At Venice & Tiff appeared first on The Playlist.
- 8/8/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
A mad extortionist is blowing up rollercoaster rides. Put-upon George Segal must stop him because we all know that the time, the tide and roller coasters wait for no man. Producer Jennings Lang's by-the-numbers suspense thriller is light on suspense and thrills, but the cast is good and the screenplay at least partly intelligent. And hey -- it's got a teenage Helen Hunt! Rollercoaster Blu-ray Shout! Factory 1977 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 119 min. / Street Date June 21, 2016 / 19.99 Starring George Segal, Timothy Bottoms, Henry Fonda, Helen Hunt, Harry Guardino, Susan Strasberg, Craig Wasson, Robert Quarry, Quinn Redeker, Dick Wesson, Gary Franklin, Steve Guttenberg. Cinematography David M. Walsh Original Music Lalo Schifrin Written by Richard Levinson, William Link, Tommy Cook Produced by Jennings Lang Directed by James Goldstone
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Jaws inspired plenty of rip-off movies about sharks, bears, killer whales and monster octopi threatening beaches. Since it wasn't safe to go back to the water,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Jaws inspired plenty of rip-off movies about sharks, bears, killer whales and monster octopi threatening beaches. Since it wasn't safe to go back to the water,...
- 6/18/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In this special episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for Tuesday, January 26th 2016.
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Follow-Up Depatie-Freleng Supplements News Arrow Video: Cult Cinema sold out directly (Available from Amazon UK), BFI: Napoleon Criterion Collection: In A Lonely Place Disney: Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray 4/5 Flicker Alley: Blu-ray Mod, film noirs John Carpenter Lost Themes II Kino: Tijuana Toads, Roland and Rattfink, Beware! The Blob, Eleni, Fuzz, Absolution, Masters of Cinema: April announcements tomorrow Olive Films: April titles Second Run: teaming up with Arrow Video Shout! Scream: Manhunter cover, MST3K Vol 2, NightHawks, I Saw What You Did / You’ll Like My Mother Thunderbean: Flip the Frog and Cubby Bear Twilight Time: New February titles available for pre-order on Wednesday February 3rd: Where The Sidewalk Ends, Cowboy, The Big Heat,...
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Follow-Up Depatie-Freleng Supplements News Arrow Video: Cult Cinema sold out directly (Available from Amazon UK), BFI: Napoleon Criterion Collection: In A Lonely Place Disney: Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray 4/5 Flicker Alley: Blu-ray Mod, film noirs John Carpenter Lost Themes II Kino: Tijuana Toads, Roland and Rattfink, Beware! The Blob, Eleni, Fuzz, Absolution, Masters of Cinema: April announcements tomorrow Olive Films: April titles Second Run: teaming up with Arrow Video Shout! Scream: Manhunter cover, MST3K Vol 2, NightHawks, I Saw What You Did / You’ll Like My Mother Thunderbean: Flip the Frog and Cubby Bear Twilight Time: New February titles available for pre-order on Wednesday February 3rd: Where The Sidewalk Ends, Cowboy, The Big Heat,...
- 2/3/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
After premiering at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival in the Galas Program, via Cohen Media, the double 40th César Award nominated The New Girlfriend received a limited theatrical release a year later for a meager box-office take just under one hundred and fifty thousand. Based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, Francois Ozon’s playful subversion of gender dynamics hinges on camp, recalling a legion of vintage queer classics from decades ago (as well as Ozon’s own darker, challenging early filmography when the auteur was referred to as a terrible enfant). As politically correct agendas continue to be applied to queer characters, engulfing deliberations of appropriate representation, items such as Ozon’s film have become a rarity in the English language market. But there’s a perverse mixture of dark comedy and psychological unrest portrayed here, and Ozon gleefully captures a neglected energy of queer cinema once again relegated to the periphery of good taste.
- 2/2/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
If the meditative stylings of Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky were applied to the martial arts genre, the end result would likely resemble Hou Hsiao-hsien’s rapturous tone poem The Assassin. As much concerned with the essence of nature as it is the essence of humanity, this endlessly beautiful film is equal parts enigmatic storytelling as it is purely enthralling cinema. Though...
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
If the meditative stylings of Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky were applied to the martial arts genre, the end result would likely resemble Hou Hsiao-hsien’s rapturous tone poem The Assassin. As much concerned with the essence of nature as it is the essence of humanity, this endlessly beautiful film is equal parts enigmatic storytelling as it is purely enthralling cinema. Though...
- 1/29/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
We promised a grand total of 15 "Best of "2015" Lists (apart from the awards -- yeah, we're overplanning crazy) so here's the second to last. Diversity is the hot topic of the week and regardless of any one particularity (like an Oscar nominee list) thing are getting better on television (obviously) and at the movies, too, though you have to look a little bit harder. Still, if you go to a lot of movies and attempt to draw up lists like this you'll find you're spoilt for choice. There are so many more films these days directed by women, for gay audiences, for people of the color and the like. You just have to look beyond Big Hollywood and keep your eyes open for intriguing surprises if you do regularly hit the all wide releases multiplex.
Since 15 is a finite number (damn you math) not every film with an Lgbt character can make the list.
Since 15 is a finite number (damn you math) not every film with an Lgbt character can make the list.
- 1/20/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Franz
Director: François Ozon
Writer: François Ozon
Ex-terrible enfant is a perennial favorite on the festival circuit (2015 was only the third year in the past fifteen years of filmmaking where François Ozon didn’t unveil a new title). His prolific output sees him unveiling at a variety of prestigious festivals, having competed twice at Cannes (2003, 2013), four times in Berlin, and twice in Venice. His latest was 2014’s The New Girlfriend, a playful if rather anachronistic narrative featuring outmoded psychological presentations of gender identity (it premiered in Toronto, another platform Ozon has been known to premiere at). In time for 2016, Ozon has been working on a historical drama, the German co-production Franz, headlined by recent Cesar winner Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent). As usual, confirmations of the exact narrative have been kept under wraps by Ozon.
Cast: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Cyrielle Claire
Production Co./Producers: Mandarin’s Eric and Nicolas Altmayer,...
Director: François Ozon
Writer: François Ozon
Ex-terrible enfant is a perennial favorite on the festival circuit (2015 was only the third year in the past fifteen years of filmmaking where François Ozon didn’t unveil a new title). His prolific output sees him unveiling at a variety of prestigious festivals, having competed twice at Cannes (2003, 2013), four times in Berlin, and twice in Venice. His latest was 2014’s The New Girlfriend, a playful if rather anachronistic narrative featuring outmoded psychological presentations of gender identity (it premiered in Toronto, another platform Ozon has been known to premiere at). In time for 2016, Ozon has been working on a historical drama, the German co-production Franz, headlined by recent Cesar winner Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent). As usual, confirmations of the exact narrative have been kept under wraps by Ozon.
Cast: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Cyrielle Claire
Production Co./Producers: Mandarin’s Eric and Nicolas Altmayer,...
- 1/10/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Sisterhood of the Big C: Hardwicke and Case of the Dramatic Cancer Clause
Those who’ve been yearning for a remake of Garry Marshall’s beloved 1988 tearjerker Beaches but were afraid to admit it are in luck. Director Catherine Hardwicke has done just that with her latest film, Miss You Already, a contemporary documentation of two life-long girlfriends torn asunder by cancer. At times touching and not without a certain degree of emotional depth, there’s an odd tone of inauthenticity plaguing this melancholy friendship fantasy, enough to rob it of real dramatic integrity. It’s a rare portrait of sobering adulthood from Hardwicke, who tends to gravitate towards angsty portraits of rebellious teens, from her much loved debut Thirteen (2003) to the first chapter of the Twilight (2008) film series. But it’s another failed attempt at Hardwicke’s struggle to reinvent herself, following on the heels of fairy tale reboot...
Those who’ve been yearning for a remake of Garry Marshall’s beloved 1988 tearjerker Beaches but were afraid to admit it are in luck. Director Catherine Hardwicke has done just that with her latest film, Miss You Already, a contemporary documentation of two life-long girlfriends torn asunder by cancer. At times touching and not without a certain degree of emotional depth, there’s an odd tone of inauthenticity plaguing this melancholy friendship fantasy, enough to rob it of real dramatic integrity. It’s a rare portrait of sobering adulthood from Hardwicke, who tends to gravitate towards angsty portraits of rebellious teens, from her much loved debut Thirteen (2003) to the first chapter of the Twilight (2008) film series. But it’s another failed attempt at Hardwicke’s struggle to reinvent herself, following on the heels of fairy tale reboot...
- 11/5/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Review by Stephen Jones
The New Girlfriend is the sort of middle-brow, forgettable movie you’d stumble upon while watching Showtime in the mid 90’s. It has what it views as a tantalizing hook, seems to know very little about it, but thinks that knowing about it at all is enough. With the movie’s particular hook, cross-dressing, that probably Would have been enough in the mid 90s. But that was 20 years ago.
I’m not really in a position to delve into a movie from the perspective of trans issues. It’s not an experience I know well enough to speak from. But the main characters agreeing that “gay is less embarrassing than tranny” even had me cringe a little. This isn’t a movie I’d throw under the “transphobic” label, because in the end it seems to be on the side of David/Virginia being alright after all,...
The New Girlfriend is the sort of middle-brow, forgettable movie you’d stumble upon while watching Showtime in the mid 90’s. It has what it views as a tantalizing hook, seems to know very little about it, but thinks that knowing about it at all is enough. With the movie’s particular hook, cross-dressing, that probably Would have been enough in the mid 90s. But that was 20 years ago.
I’m not really in a position to delve into a movie from the perspective of trans issues. It’s not an experience I know well enough to speak from. But the main characters agreeing that “gay is less embarrassing than tranny” even had me cringe a little. This isn’t a movie I’d throw under the “transphobic” label, because in the end it seems to be on the side of David/Virginia being alright after all,...
- 9/25/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
★★★☆☆ Having continued his fascination with the secrets and lies that act as an ostensibly dormant undercurrent to everyday life with recent films such as In the House (2012) and Jeune & Jolie (2013) - the latter of which this shares a sexuality-based topic - François Ozon returns with The New Girlfriend (2015), an audacious but somewhat insubstantial drama featuring a French actor as you've never seen him before. Based on the short story collection by Ruth Rendell, The New Girlfriend and Other Stories - though given its own 'Ozonian' twist - the film sees Anaïs Demoustier playing Claire, a women who, after the death of her best friend, vows to watch over her child and husband David (Romain Duris).
- 9/21/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
François Ozon pays Ruth Rendell a slinky tribute, Pitch Perfect 2 hits all the right notes, while Keanu Reeves sharpens up in a menacing thriller
It is, perhaps, a curious indication of national genre snobbery that Ruth Rendell, surely one of our most silkily brilliant crime writers of any generation, died earlier this year with her oeuvre still largely untouched by British film-makers. Some respectable television adaptation, sure. A B-movie or two in the 80s, fine. But on the continent major film-makers – Claude Chabrol, Claude Miller, Pedro Almodovar – have known how to treat her nasty, needling narratives with the requisite style. To that group we can now add François Ozon, whose slinky, utterly delectable take on The New Girlfriend (Metrodome, 15) is both a liberal, Gallic-as-Gaultier interpretation, and as fitting a Rendell tribute as could have been released in the year of her passing.
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It is, perhaps, a curious indication of national genre snobbery that Ruth Rendell, surely one of our most silkily brilliant crime writers of any generation, died earlier this year with her oeuvre still largely untouched by British film-makers. Some respectable television adaptation, sure. A B-movie or two in the 80s, fine. But on the continent major film-makers – Claude Chabrol, Claude Miller, Pedro Almodovar – have known how to treat her nasty, needling narratives with the requisite style. To that group we can now add François Ozon, whose slinky, utterly delectable take on The New Girlfriend (Metrodome, 15) is both a liberal, Gallic-as-Gaultier interpretation, and as fitting a Rendell tribute as could have been released in the year of her passing.
Continue reading...
- 9/20/2015
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
Tone has always been an issue for François Ozon, the hit-or-miss filmmaker behind “Swimming Pool,” “In the House,” “8 Women” and “Young and Beautiful.” His work can be playful and dark, comical and serious, silly and harsh, often at the same time. When it works, as in “Swimming Pool” and the underrated “In the House,” the results can be wonderfully mysterious and wildly seductive. But when it doesn't, the results are awfully messy. “The New Girlfriend” is, without question, an Ozon mess. It is an endearing mess, in a way, thanks to its actors, but make no mistake, “The New Girlfriend” is one of Ozon’s weakest efforts to date. The film starts promisingly enough, with the bold image of a blonde woman in her wedding dress — in her coffin. This is Laura, the character whose presence, even in death, impacts every person onscreen. As Laura’s best friend Claire (French star Anaïs Demoustier,...
- 9/18/2015
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Playlist
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