The New Girlfriend (2014)

A young woman makes a surprising discovery about the husband of her late best friend.

Director:

François Ozon

Writers:

Ruth Rendell (novel), François Ozon (screenplay)

Stars:

Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Romain Duris	...	David / Virginia
Anaïs Demoustier	...	Claire
Raphaël Personnaz	...	Gilles
Isild Le Besco	...	Laura
Aurore Clément	...	Liz, la mère de Laura
Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat	...	Robert, le père de Laura
Bruno Pérard	...	Eva Carlton
Claudine Chatel	...	La nounou
Anita Gillier	...	Infirmière
Alex Fondja	...	Aide-soignant
Zita Hanrot	...	Serveuse restaurant
Pierre Fabiani	...	Homme salon de thé
Mayline Dubois	...	Laura 7 ans
Anna Monedière	...	Claire 7 ans
Brune Kalnykow	...	Lucie 7 ans

Storyline

Claire and Laura have been friends since primary school. Now, in their adult lives, with each happily married, to Gilles and David respectively, they are as close as ever. Then Laura dies after an illness and Claire's world is suddenly very empty. Being the godmother of Laura's child, Lucie, Claire visits David and Lucie, only to discover he has a startling secret...

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Plot Keywords:

transvestism | mistaken for gay | pantyhose | high heels | stockings | 

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Taglines:

Ozon's farce on the French Farce of comedy.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong sexual content and graphic nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

When baby Lucie is being fed by bottle, a kind of little toy radio is playing. The attentive listener will recognize a fragment of the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) by J.S. Bach.

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Goofs

At the start, when Laura had her eyes closed; her appeared to be natural looking blue color. In reality, her eyes would had been discolored to a lighter blue.

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Connections

References Angel (2007)

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Soundtracks

La Vie sans Virginia
Orchestrated & Conducted By Philippe Rombi
(p) 2014 Cristal Records

User Reviews

The less you know, the better

Sometimes, the less you know about a film, the more you are likely to enjoy it. This is one of those times. All I really knew about the movie was that it was French and appreciated by public and critics alike. That was enough for me and ensured that the surprises really were surprises.

You need to know more? OK, the film is based on a 1985 short Story by Ruth Rendell and the directed by François Ozon ("Potiche"). What? You want more? The core of the film is the relationship between characters - the husband and best friend of the recently deceased Laura - ably acted by Romain Duris and Anaïs Demoustier.

Oh, gosh. You want to know what it's about? Let's just say that it's an amusingly serious - if this is not too oxymoronic - examination of sexual identity. And that really is all I'm going to tell you about this enjoyable movie. Now see it for yourself.

PS 1 Why are there so few reviews of this interesting film on IMDb?

PS 2 Why do the IMDb reviews of this film give away so many plot spoilers?

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 September 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

The New Girlfriend

Filming Locations:

Studios de Paris, La Cité du Cinéma, Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$39,035, 20 September 2015

Gross USA:

$146,754

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,215,796

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandarin Films, FOZ, Mars Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1