News

This interview has been edited by Linda Marric for length and clarity

In his latest film, When Autumn Falls (2024), prolific French filmmaker François Ozon continues his exploration of intricate human dynamics with electric storytelling and sharp satirical humour. Set in a picturesque Burgundy village, the narrative centres on Michelle (Helene Vincent), a retired grandmother who anticipates a visit from her daughter and grandson. An innocent mistake disrupts her plans, triggering a series of unintended events that intertwine the past and present, challenging familial bonds and personal convictions.

The film showcases Ozon’s signature storytelling style, once again blending elements of drama and dark humour to delve into the complexities of ageing, family, and the unforeseen consequences of seemingly trivial actions.

We were delighted to speak to the director of 8 Women (2002), Swimming Pool (2003), Potiche (2010), Frantz (2016) and countless other titles – he wrote and directed 24 films in as many years – about his...

Music Box Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “When Fall Is Coming,” a mystery-filled thriller directed by French auteur François Ozon.

Represented internationally by Playtime, “When Fall Is Coming” premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival, where it won best screenplay and supporting actor for Pierre Lottin.

The movie had its U.S. premiere at the Palm Springs Festival and will next screen at Rendez-Vous With French Cinema on March 7. Music Box Films will release “When Fall Is Coming” in New York at the Film Forum on April 4 and is planning a national expansion. Home entertainment release plans will be announced this summer.

“When Fall Is Coming” revolves around the tumultuous life of Michelle (Hélène Vincent), who lived in Paris and has retired to a quiet existence in Burgundy. “The voracious hostility of her adult daughter Valérie (Sagnier) remains Michelle’s great puzzlement: how can a child for...

Some people are just better off dead. That’s the ultimate conclusion of the prolific French filmmaker François Ozon’s new domestic drama When Fall Is Coming, receiving its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival this week, but delivered with such sly delicacy, such slippery grace — no, actually, such sweetness — that there is simply no arguing with it.

Those qualities — delicacy, grace and sweetness — are largely encapsulated within the tidy person of Michelle. Michelle is the heroine of her own small but satisfying life and quite a few other lives besides, a woman with the time and inclination to be kind. On the day we meet her, she is driving her best friend to the prison where her son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) is being held. Visiting a prison is draining. Michelle waits outside, ready to listen to Marie-Claude...

French composer, pianist and conductor Philippe Rombi will be the guest of honour at the 24th World Soundtrack Awards in Belgium on October 16, 2024.

Rombi is best known for his collaborations with François Ozon on films including Swimming Pool, Young And Beautiful, In The House, Potiche, Frantz and last year’s The Crime Is Mine.

The composer has been nominated for four Cesar awards and two Lumieres. His other credits include Oscar nominee Joyeux Noël from Christian Carion, Danny Boon’s Welcome To The Sticks and Christophe Barratier’s The Time Of Secrets.

Rombi will attend the awards at Film Fest Ghent in October,...

Exclusive: Judith Godrèche is burning down the house. Her hope is that something better will emerge from the ashes.

In recent weeks, the French actress and director, a three-time César nominee known for starring in English and French-language hits including The Man In The Iron Mask, The Spanish Apartment and Potiche, has taken a match to a culture of silence and denial within France’s cinema world when it comes to sexual abuse. In her first trade interview, she talks to Deadline about her experiences, the motivation behind her campaign and what she hopes to achieve.

At the heart of Godrèche’s mission is the relationship she had with director Benoît Jacquot in the late 1980s, which began when she was only 14 years old, and he was 39. The minimum age of consent in France is 15.

Godrèche, now 51, lived with Jacquot for six years and appeared in his films The Beggars and The Disenchanted,...

Quick, silly and lent weight only by the costume department’s copious wigs and furs, “The Crime Is Mine” finds tireless French auteur François Ozon in the playful period pastiche mode of “Potiche” and “8 Women.” It’s a film less about any frenetic onscreen shenanigans as it is about its own mood board of sartorial and cinematic reference points — Jean Renoir, Billy Wilder, some vintage Chanel — and as such it slips down as fizzily and forgettably as a bottle of off-brand sparkling wine. This story of an aspiring stage star standing trial for a top impresario’s murder (and making the most of her moment in the tabloid flashbulbs) may be based on a nearly 90-year-old play, but for those versed more in Hollywood and Broadway than in French theater, Ozon’s adaptation resembles a kind of diva fanfic: What if Roxie Hart went up against Norma Desmond, except in rollicking 1930s Paris?...

Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire saw $2.5 million in Thursday previews as the Telugu action thriller opens in about 800 locations in North America. Bollywood superstar Shah Ruhk Kan toplines drama Dunki, his third film of the year after Pathaan and Jawan, both in the top ten of India’s highest-grossing films.

Presented by Moksha Movies/Pathyangira Cinemas, Salaar directed by Prashanth Neel, stars Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the story of a gang leader who makes a promise to a dying friend.

Indian films are a mainstay at the specialty box office, some weekends more than others. This is a big one. Key indie openings include Searchlight Pictures’ much-nominated All Of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh; Michel Franco’s Memory from Ketchup Entertainment; Freud’s Last Session from Sony Pictures Classics’ and Music Box Pictures’ The Crime Is Mine, all in limited release.

On Salaar: Prabhas (Baahubali) is one of the biggest stars of Telugu cinema.

Theatricality is the name of the game in The Crime Is Mine — for both the characters and the actors playing them. Even when the subject is murder, penury or thwarted ambition, everyone seems to be having a blast in François Ozon’s latest. Based on a 1934 play and set in the mid-’30s, the comedy opens with the image of a red velvet stage curtain, abounds in exquisite art deco flourishes, and is propelled by a screwball zaniness that arrives as a welcome antidote to awards season’s Serious Cinema Syndrome.

Sending up celebrity, the legal system and a medley of movie tropes, Ozon has spun serious ingredients into a zesty soufflé, albeit one that doesn’t avoid a sense of deflation. Led by two relative newcomers, with colorful support from a who’s who of French movie stars — key among them Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon and André Dussollier...

Music Box Films has dropped the trailer for “The Crime Is Mine,” François Ozon’s screwball comedy set in 1930s Paris starring Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder and Isabelle Huppert.

A showbiz caper with a feminist edge in the vein of Ozon’s “8 Women” and “Potiche,” “The Crime Is Mine” will open in New York on Dec. 25, followed by Los Angeles and a national expansion.

Tereszkiewicz, who won a César award for best newcomer for her performance in “Forever Young,” stars as a struggling actress, Madeleine, who lives with her best friend, Pauline (Marder), an unemployed lawyer, in a cramped flat. Opportunity knocks after a lascivious theatrical producer who made an inappropriate advance toward Madeleine turns up dead. Madeleine admits to the crime and is acquitted on the grounds of self-defense — and in result becomes a star, as well as a feminist icon.

“The Crime Is Mine” was freely adapted...

Music Box Films has acquired the US distribution rights to “The Crime is Mine” (“Mon Crime”). François Ozon directs the comedy of errors starring newcomers Rebecca Marder and Nadia Terezkiewicz, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon, and André Dussolier.

Music Box is aiming for a theatrical release later this year with a home video release to follow.

The picture, based on George Berr and Louis Verneuil’s 1934 play, concerns a struggling actress (Terezkiewicz) and her roommate (Marder), an unemployed attorney in 1930’s Paris. Madeleine ends up on trial for the murder of a movie producer, while Pauline serves as both defense counsel and media circus ringmaster to both of their mutual benefit. Their post-acquittal life of fame, fortune and glory is eventually undercut by certain revelations.

“The Crime is Mine” marks Music Box Films’ fifth collaboration with director Ozon, following “Potiche,” “Frantz,” “By the Grace of God” and “Summer of 85.

Music Box Films has bought U.S. rights to “The Crime Is Mine” (“Mon Crime”), a period comedy by French helmer François Ozon.

“The Crime Is Mine” stars Rebecca Marder and Nadia Tereszkiewicz, who just won the Cesar Award for female newcomer, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon and André Dussolier. Music Box Films plans a theatrical release for later this year, followed by a home entertainment rollout.

Adapted from a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, “The Crime Is Mine” follows struggling actress Madeleine (Tereszkiewicz), and her best friend and roommate Pauline (Marder), an unemployed lawyer in 1930s Paris. Madeleine ascends to fame after standing trial for the murder of a movie producer, with Pauline serving as defense counsel and media circus ringmaster. Upon Madeleine’s acquittal, a new life of fame, wealth and tabloid celebrity awaits — until the truth comes out.

The acquisition marks Music Box Films’ fifth collaboration with Ozon,...

Cohen Media Group has dropped the trailer for Francois Ozon’s drama “Everything Went Fine” ahead of its theatrical release in New York on April 14 and Los Angeles on April 21, followed by a national expansion.

“Everything Went Fine” is based on the autobiographical novel by author Emmanuèle Bernheim who previously collaborated on Ozon’s screenplays for “Under The Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “Ricky.”

The movie follows 85-year-old art collector André Bernheim (André Dussolier) who, after a debilitating stroke, demands that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau), help him end life on his own terms. Faced with a painful decision, Emmanuèle, with the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), begins sorting through the processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s final wish, as she is forced to reconcile her past with a complicated, stubborn, yet charismatic man.

Here’s the trailer:

“Everything Went Fine” also stars...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve)

Parenthood, relationships, and the creative process: three key elements of the cinema of Mia Hansen-Løve casually combine in Bergman Island, a playfully self-aware meta-portrait of the filmmaker and, indeed, of filmmaking itself. Introspective, inventive, and effortlessly calm; it follows a couple, both screenwriters, on an idyllic work retreat to Fårö, an island in the Baltic Sea (population: 498) just off the South East of Sweden. It’s the place Ingmar Bergman called home for the majority of his life, where he made many films and eventually died. – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

Denis Villeneuve has surmounted this slew of bad omens, by arguably––in filmmaking terms––making the most impersonal adaptation possible. For all his skill and talent,...

The U.S. lineup at Mubi next month has been unveiled, featuring films by Claude Chabrol, Paulo Rocha, Ulrich Köhler, and more. Notable new releases include Pedro Costa’s striking Locarno winner Vitalina Varela as well as the Julia Fox-led Pvt Chat (check out our extensive interview with director Ben Hozie here.).

As part of their series Thrills, Chills, and Exquisite Horrors, the Martin Scorsese favorite Wake in Fright joins Mubi, along with Fabrice Du Welz’s Alleluia, Nicolas Winding Refn’s underseen Fear X, and Ben Wheatley’s trippy A Field in England.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

October 1 | Alléluia | Fabrice Du Welz | Thrills, Chills, and Exquisite Horrors

October 2 | Styx | Wolfgang Fischer

October 3 | The Green Years | Paulo Rocha | Double Bill: Paulo Rocha

October 4 | Change of Life | Paulo Rocha | Double Bill: Paulo Rocha

October 5 | Your Day Is My Night | Lynne Sachs

October 6 | Hey, You!

Mars Films, the Paris-based distribution company that released Oscar winners “12 Years a Slave” and “Moonlight,” has finalized its restructuring plan with minority shareholder Vivendi Content, a branch of Universal Music Group and Canal Plus Group’s parent company.

Founded by Stephane Celerier and Valerie Garcia in 2007, the once thriving company has been in the process of financial restructuring and monitoring since Aug. 2019.

Vivendi, which had acquired a 30% stake in the company back in 2015, will convert its €11.2 million ($13 million) debt into equity and is acquiring Mars Films’ library of more than 200 titles for all rights in France.

The Mars catalogue includes hit French co-productions such as “La Famille Belier,” the hit French heart-warming comedy that was remade into “Coda,” “Two is a Family” with Omar Sy, Fred Cavayé’s “Le jeu”; and award-winning indies such as Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave,” Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” Asif Kapadia’s “Amy,...

The director on waiting 35 years to film the perfect gay love story, and how French cinema is coping with Covid

French writer-director François Ozon, 52, is famous for his prodigious output. He directed his first full-length feature, Sitcom, in 1998, and his 19th, Summer of 85, a love story about two teenage boys in a Normandy seaside town, is out in the UK this month. In between, his diverse output includes the musical 8 Women, the retro comedy Potiche, the Ruth Rendell adaptation The New Girlfriend and last year’s By the Grace of God.

What were you doing in the summer of ’85?

What was I doing? I think I went to Spain with a friend – I can’t remember exactly, I’d have to ask my parents. The film was going to be called Summer of 84. I changed the title because of Robert Smith of the Cure. I absolutely wanted to use their song In Between Days,...

Music Box Films has scooped U.S. rights to French auteur Francois Ozon’s “Summer of 85,” a highlight of Cannes 2020’s Official Selection which is set to play at Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals. The film is represented in international markets by the Paris-based company Playtime.

“Summer of 85” marks Ozon’s follow up to “By The Grace of God,” the winner of Berlin’s 2019 Silver Bear Award. “Summer of 85” reunites Ozon with Music Box, the U.S. distributor of “By The Grace of God,” “Potiche” and “Frantz.”

Music Box is planning to release the film theatrically next year, followed by a release on home entertainment.

Inspired by Aidan Chambers’ novel “Dance On My Grave,” “Summer of 85” is a poignant tale of first love. The film follows 16-year-old Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) and David (Benjamin Voisin), the mysterious and handsome 18-year-old who saves him when his boat...

François Ozon on By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu): “It was important to show the complexity of all these characters.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

François Ozon’s timely and relevant By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu), shot by Manuel Dacosse (Jean-François Richet’s The Emperor Of Paris) edited by Laure Gardette, and costumes by Pascaline Chavanne, stars Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud with Aurélia Petit, Josiane Balasko, Éric Caravaca, Martine Erhel, François Marthouret, Bernard Verley, Amélie Daure, Hélène Vincent, Max Libert, Nicolas Bauwens, Zuri François, Timi-Joy Marbot, and Zéli Marbot.

Alexandre Guérin (Melvil Poupaud) and François Debord (Denis Ménochet) with Gilles Perret (Éric Caravaca)

In the second half of my in-depth conversation with the director/screenwriter we discuss the complexity of the characters who are struggling to come to grips with memories from the past and the importance of the flashbacks in telling the story.

Music Box Films has acquired all U.S. rights to François Ozon’s “By the Grace of God,” a drama about the activist group that pushed French authorities to address a sex-abuse coverup in the Roman Catholic Church.

The film world-premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival and went on to win the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. Music Box Films plans a theatrical rollout this fall followed by a release on home entertainment platforms.

The movie, which was produced by Mandarin Cinema and co-produced and represented in international markets by Playtime, has been performing well at the French box office thanks to solid word of mouth. Distributed by Mars Films, “By the Grace of God” has already sold 850,000 admissions in local theaters since bowing five weeks ago.

“By the Grace of God” is based on an ongoing scandal in France involving Bernard Preynat, a priest who was accused...

Rolling off its triumph at the Berlin Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear, François Ozon’s Catholic church sexual abuse drama By “The Grace Of God” had a strong theatrical bow in France where it sold nearly 50,000 tickets on 290 screens on Feb. 20, its first day out

One of the best opening day for a French film so far this year, “By The Grace of God” is inspired by the scandal surrounding Bernard Preynat, a Roman Catholic priest who was accused of having abused scouts from 1986 to 1991, and was finally indicted in 2016 after several victims decided to file lawsuits. He is due to be tried later this year.

Produced by Eric and Nicolas Altmayer at Mandarin Cinema, “By The Grace of God” faced some legal turmoil in the run up to its release as Preynat’s lawyers attempted to delay the distribution of the film in France, arguing that...

Francois Ozon, whose latest film, “Double Lover,” competed at the Cannes Film Festival last year, is now making “By the Grace of God,” a drama looking at a real-life case of sexual abuses allegedly committed by a French priest in the late 1980s.

“By the Grace of God” is produced by Mandarin Production, in co-production with Playtime, which is also handling international sales. Mars Films will distribute the movie in France on Feb. 20. A world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival is likely.

Now in post-production, the film is inspired by the scandal surrounding Bernard Preynat, a Roman Catholic priest who was accused of having abused scouts from 1986 to 1991, and was only recently indicted after several victims decided to file lawsuits.

“By the Grace of God” follows Alexandre, a man in his 40s living in Lyon with his wife and children, who discovers that the priest who abused him decades...

The French movie star of French movie stars turns 75 today. She's won two prizes at Cannes, two at Berlinale, and two at the Césars (with 12 additional nominations) in her career that's been as lustrous as the famous golden hair. Catherine Deneuve hasn't been as celebrated in recent years as Isabelle Huppert (who is 10 years younger) but her list of classics, hits, and indelible experiments is long: Belle de Jour (BAFTA nomination), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Repulsion, Mississippi Mermaid, Tristana, Donkey Skin, The Hunger, The Metro (César win), Indochine, East/West, Pola X, Dancer in the Dark, 8 Women, and Kings and Queen among them.

The last eight years have been quiet but it wasn't so long ago that the one-two-three punch of voice work in the Oscar-nominated Persepolis (2007 -- she voiced both the French & English versions), an amazing performance in Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale...

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...

Author: Jo-Ann Titmarsh

François Ozon has an eclectic and varied filmography as a director, veering from the gentle fun of Potiche to the more sinister In the House. L’Amant Double definitely falls into the latter category, but that doesn’t mean there is no fun to be had.

The film opens with an eye-popping scene that we rarely see on the big screen (unless you go to a lot of obs and gynae conferences). And as this film is concerned with a woman’s sexuality, initially under wraps and then unleashed, I suppose it’s fair to take a literal peak at her hidden sex. The woman in question is Chloé (Marine Vacth, who also starred in Ozon’s Young & Beautiful). She’s got stomach cramps and can’t find any physical reason for it. Her gynaecologist suggests therapy and off Chloé goes to the office of Paul Meyer...

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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading Watch The Nsfw Full Trailer...

The film still shows a naked therapy session between Jérémie Renier and Marine Vacth.

French director François Ozon has unveiled a provocative first image of his upcoming erotic thriller Amant Double, co-starring Jérémie Renier and Marine Vacth.

Model turned actress Vacth stars as a fragile young woman who falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. She moves in with him but soon discovers that her lover is concealing part of his identity.

Ozon posted an image on his Twitter account late Wednesday of Vacth and Renier sitting naked in what appears to be a scene depicting a therapy session.

It is Vacth’s second collaboration with Ozon after her big screen debut in the Young & Beautiful, in which she played a teenager who dabbles in prostitution. Renier previously appeared in Ozon’s Criminal Lovers and Potiche. Jacqueline Bisset is also in the cast.

The film, which is sold internationally by Paris-based Films Distribution, is scheduled...

The film still shows a naked therapy session between Jérémie Renier and Marine Vacth.

French director François Ozon has unveiled a provocative first image of his upcoming erotic thriller Amant Double, co-starring Jérémie Renier and Marine Vacth.

Model turned actress Vacth stars as a fragile young woman who falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. She moves in with him but soon discovers that her lover is concealing part of his identity.

Ozon posted an image on his Twitter account late Wednesday of Vacth and Renier sitting naked in what appears to be a scene depicting a therapy session.

It is Vacth’s second collaboration with Ozon after her big screen debut in the Young & Beautiful, in which she played a teenager who dabbles in prostitution. Renier previously appeared in Ozon’s Criminal Lovers and Potiche. Jacqueline Bisset is also in the cast.

The film, which is sold internationally by Paris-based Films Distribution, is scheduled...

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,...

Edward Arentz is in a good mood. Earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, the Music Box Films managing director picked up a little Swedish comedy, “A Man Called Ove.” (That’s “oo-veh.”) No one else was much interested in the grumpy-old-man movie starring the original Wallander, Rolf Lassgård, which falls in the mold of Jack Nicholson’s “About Schmidt” or Clint Eastwood’s “Grand Torino” (without the guns).

But Arentz found himself crying, laughing, and deeply moved. And over the years he has learned to trust his gut. After all, he picked up U.S. rights to three other little Swedish films that became a worldwide phenomenon, “The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” series ($22 million U.S. total). That experience paved the way for “A Man Called Ove.” At $3.3 million, it’s the highest-grossing foreign-language film of 2016, has landed on the foreign-language Oscar shortlist, and has a strong shot at a nomination.

Edward Arentz is in a good mood. Earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, the Music Box Films managing director picked up a little Swedish comedy, “A Man Called Ove.” (That’s “oo-veh.”) No one else was much interested in the grumpy-old-man movie starring the original Wallander, Rolf Lassgård, which falls in the mold of Jack Nicholson’s “About Schmidt” or Clint Eastwood’s “Grand Torino” (without the guns).

But Arentz found himself crying, laughing, and deeply moved. And over the years he has learned to trust his gut. After all, he picked up U.S. rights to three other little Swedish films that became a worldwide phenomenon, “The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” series ($22 million U.S. total). That experience paved the way for “A Man Called Ove.” At $3.3 million, it’s the highest-grossing foreign-language film of 2016, has landed on the foreign-language Oscar shortlist, and has a strong shot at a nomination.

The prolific French film-maker tones down his often colourful palette to offer a loose adaptation of the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch drama Broken Lullaby, anchored beautifully by German actor Paula Beer

François Ozon is nothing if not a restless film-maker. Despite his ridiculously prolific rate (he’s the Woody Allen of France, churning out one to two films a year), he seems adverse to ever being labelled an auteur. He’s tackled everything from a classic Gallic farce (Potiche), to a murder mystery (8 Women), to an erotic thriller (Swimming Pool), all with varying degrees of success. With an Ozon joint, you never quite know what you’re going to get.

Related: François Ozon: 'I'll admit I'm a little bit twisted'

Continue reading...

The distributor has picked up François Ozon’s latest drama, which received its international premiere in Venice over the weekend.

Frantz takes place in 1919 and stars Paula Beer and Pierre Niney as two people whose lives are brought together by the death of a German during World War I.

Mandarin Films, the production company on every Ozon film since Potiche in 2010, produced Frantz.

Music Box distributed Potiche and has released several Mandarin titles including Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents.

Music Box brokered the deal with Films Distribution and plans a 2017 Q1 release.

“This is an eloquent, evocative and stunningly emotional film by a master filmmaker operating at the highest level,” said Music Box managing director Edward Arentz. “We’re very pleased to be working again with François, Mandarin and Films Distribution.”

“François Ozon’s Frantz stirred strong interest from Us buyers over the summer, but in the end we decided to put the movie in the hands...

Exclusive: Slate also includes new films by Alain Guiraudie and Raymond Depardon.

Wild Bunch will launch a new biopic of legendary sculptor Auguste Rodin at Unifrance’s January event Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris.

Vincent Lindon (The Measure Of A Man) will star in the film entitled Rodin, which will shoot in 2016 for a 2017 release to coincide with the centenary of the sculptor’s death in November 1917.

French director Jacques Doillon (Love Battles) will direct from his own screenplay.

It is Lindon’s first major role since his Palme d’Or-winning performance in social drama The Measure Of A Man at Cannes last May.

Casting is currently underway for the role of Rodin’s tragic collaborator and lover Camille Claudel and his long-suffering, life-long companion Rose Beuret.

The picture will start as Rodin turns 40 and enters one of the most productive periods of his artistic career in which he created works such as The Thinker and The...

The 44th edition of the Festival du Nouveau Cinema has just announced their entire lineup and it’s pretty insane! The festival which takes place in Montreal from October 7 to 18 is screening nearly 400 films and events in only 11 days. This includes 151 feature films and 203 short films from 68 countries – 49 world premieres, 38 North American premieres and 60 Canadian premieres. Give credit to the team of programmers: Claude Chamberlan, Dimitri Eipides Julien Fonfrède, Philippe Gajan, Karolewicz Daniel, Marie-Hélène Brousseau, Katayoun Dibamehr and Gabrielle Tougas-Frechette.

Below is the lineup. There’s a lot to process so take your sweet time!

Opening and closing

The whole New Testament directed by Jaco Van Dormael (Toto the Hero, Mr Nobody, The Eighth Day), will kick off this 44th edition.

After its world premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last May, the new opus unconventional Belgian director, starring Benoît Poelvoorde (Three Hearts, Ransom of Glory), Yolande Moreau (Mammuth,...

French auteur Andre Techine‘s In the Name of My Daughter received a decent theatrical run nearly a year after it premiered out of competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. With stars Catherine Deneuve and Guillaume Canet headlining, the recent Cesar win for Adele Haenel (her second) was also a recent news item when this finally premiered. A handsomely mounted piece based on a bit of unsolved criminal intrigue, the title doesn’t always work as a thriller, but maintains a rather melancholy stance as an off-kilter character piece for Deneuve and Haenel.

The latest from auteur (his seventh to feature Deneuve), feels like a missed opportunity, trying to play too many angles when it could have been more powerful following one strategic aim. Psychological thriller, jilted love story, historically inspired mafia fueled casino war rivalry, a powerful female crusader, a strange two decades late trial, and an unsolved murder...

Scene of the Crime: Techine’s Overly Involved True Crime Saga

Too often, In the Name of the Daughter, the latest from auteur André Téchiné (and his seventh to feature Catherine Deneuve), feels like a missed opportunity, trying to play too many angles when it could have been more powerful following one strategic aim. Psychological thriller, jilted love story, historically inspired mafia fueled casino war rivalry, a powerful female crusader, a strange two decades late trial, and an unsolved murder mystery are all bundled up in here, and sometimes this leads us through a fascinating maze. However, the film works best as a relationship study, featuring a pair of performances that are at, the very least, enjoyable. But much like his last film, 2011’s Unforgiveable, the French helmer is increasingly less interested in the why or how of his narrative, and maybe his wayward neglect for traditional storytelling explains...

Following Patricia Arquette's impassioned speech at the Oscars, the issue of equal rights for women, especially in the workplace where there is still a long way to go, has come to the fore again. The film industry itself has little to be proud of: only 11% of major films feature as many women as men, and less than a third of speaking characters are female. Only a sixth of all jobs in the industry belong to women and women make up only 9% of directors. This International Women's Day we look at ten films that have something to say about women in the workplace.

Potiche

Potiche

You might not expect a film about female achievement to open with a women running joyfully through the woods to a glade where cute animals come to greet her, but Potiche is a film that loves to play with audience expectations. Catherine Deneuve is the.

Catherine Deneuve: César Award Besst Actress Record-Tier (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'In the Courtyard / Dans la cour') (See previous post: "Kristen Stewart and Catherine Deneuve Make César Award History.") Catherine Deneuve has received 12 Best Actress César nominations to date. Deneuve's nods were for the following movies (year of film's release): Pierre Salvadori's In the Courtyard / Dans la Cour (2014). Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way / Elle s'en va (2013). François Ozon's Potiche (2010). Nicole Garcia's Place Vendôme (1998). André Téchiné's Thieves / Les voleurs (1996). André Téchiné's My Favorite Season / Ma saison préférée (1993). Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). François Dupeyron's Strange Place for an Encounter / Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre (1988). Jean-Pierre Mocky's Agent trouble (1987). André Téchiné's Hotel America / Hôtel des Amériques (1981). François Truffaut's The Last Metro / Le dernier métro (1980). Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Le sauvage (1975). Additionally, Catherine Deneuve was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category...

Palm Springs International Film Festival is the most accommodating to the industry, the easiest to get around with a frequent shuttle, the easiest to see great films, the best environment, the best audiences (all the shows are sold out) of festivals.

However, it is strange being surrounded by old people who are all my age. My prejudices against “old people” remains the same as when I considered them to be a part of my mother’s generation. However, some of these “old people” know so much more about the films, and their educated way of making choices of what to see are so much better than mine. I thought I knew everything...what a laugh. They know every director, all their past films, and they painstakingly plan with handwritten schedules and lots of discussion which films they will see.

I have been coming to the festival, almost “dropping in” on it since it is a mere 2 hour drive from L.A. for many years and everyone is always so helpful. It is totally familiar to me; it’s leisurely, very few restaurants (if any) are really great, there is a certain tackiness to the shops And there are always new film adventures and new folks to see.

This year I was happily hanging out the first weekend with Nancy Gerstman from Zeitgeist, and on the second weekend with Fortissimo’s Michael Werner and Tom Davia whose new company CineMaven (www.Cinemaven.com) sounds like a great company for festivals, filmmakers and companies needing acquisition help. We had a great dinner at Spencer’s where the Awards Luncheon was held.

On the recommendation of Mattijs Wouter Knol, the new head of the European Film Market at Berlin – on Facebook as he is now preparing the Efm and was not here – I watched “Clouds of Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas. Opinions on this film as with most films by Assayas, vary, but mine is that this languid study on acting and real life and how aging and death fit into the mix was a major treat. Like Polanski’s “Venus in Fur”, the alternating currents of acting and real life flow electrically with shocks and illumination included. Rather than aging, let’s call ourselves “ageless” and have an end to confusion about the inevitable life processes.

Like “Winters Sleep," another of my favorite “intellectual cinema” choices, in “Sils Maria”, the interior processes of the protagonists are revealed only in the unfolding of the story.

Kirsten Stewart played an amazing role as the actress’s young assistant in this deeply felt, intellectually worked out study of aging vs. ageless.

By biting off what seems like more than she can chew in consenting to play opposite the great Juliette Binoche who is at the height of her career, a young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal (Chloë Grace Moretz) gives Juliette Binoche the resolution to the unhappiness that has been nagging at her throughout the film.

Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years earlier. But back then, she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She doesn’t want to play this role but is coaxed by circumstances into playing it and when she discusses it with the young actress who blithely tells her it’s time to move on, she becomes the Eve of “All About Eve” and Juliette “gets” it.

Cinematography is by Yorick Le Saux (“Only Lovers Left Alive," “Potiche," “Carlos”). IFC has North American rights.

Moving on, I can’t wait to see Juliette Binoche in her next role, the Opening Night film of the Berlinale, Isabel Croixet's “Nobody Wants the Night ”. The film co-stars Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) and Gabriel Byrne (as explorer Robert Peary) and takes place in 1908 in the Arctic and Greenland. (Isa: Elle Driver

The other film I saw that first weekend was “Dancing Arabs” (Isa: The Match Factory) by Eran Riklis who was there to discuss the film as well. He had been a soldier in Israel’s worst war. He witnessed Sadat making peace with Israel. However, when Perez was assassinated, he saw Israel declining into a violent nation as peace became more and more elusive.

Dancing Arabs is a very popular novel in Israel. It is an odd title for this film, but it derives from a saying, “you can't dance at two weddings at the same time”. The film is also loosely based on another novel...Second Person Singular. But after filming a while, the characters took on lives of their own and the novels were more or less forgotten in the process of making the movie.

Lots of questions are left open in this film because there are no answers. In a way, the film is experimental. It opens as a charming family film, but changes and actually becomes almost morbid. People however do change, and the young “genius” living in a small Arab town in Israel/ Palestine becomes a mature man living in Berlin at the end of the story.

This is the first film of the male lead, Tawfeek Barhom. Who plays Eyad. While casting, Riklis said that the young actor told him he had known him since he was ten when he saw him making the movie “The Syrian Bride” in his village. He went to set every day for three weeks, and he knew he wanted to be an actor. On screen he is playing himself, and a lot of the story was true...he lived too long with the Jews, his Arab was no longer good. This he said at a screening held in the north of Israel to an audience of mostly Arabs who do not go to many movies, but were invited by Israel to see the film.

In the film he gives up his education for love of girl and she gives up her love for him for the love of her country. This is how minority relationships often turn out.

Eyad’s father’s reaction to the relationship of his university student son with an Israeli Jewish student is unexpected, but he too is buried by tradition whereas the mother with her small smile gives a ray of hope.

The scriptwriter-novelist, Sayed Kashua is brilliant, and this is a part of his real life. Kashua and Riklis have a love-hate relationship: when Kashua, who based the novel on his own life, saw the fine cut...he fainted. His wife said, “What are you complaining about, did your mother look like that?”

Sayed said complained that his own kids don't speak Arabic anymore, and so he took a sabbatical and is now in Champaign-Urbana at the University of Illinois.

The audience in Israel, judging by the 20 to 30 Facebook comments, they get daily consists of 20% Arabs which is great because they don't normally go to movies. Even a right wing Israeli said he liked the movie. The goes beyond right and left.

It is not a blockbuster, but it doing well. The word “Arab” might keep some people away.

On the second weekend I went to see “Salt of the Earth” (Isa: Ndm), now nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the Academy Awards, and “Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” by her grandniece Michelle Boyaner.

Sebastião Salgado’s photographs are linked by his son and director Wim Wenders to his life. With his own voice and that of his son, Juliano, they discover the undiscovered in photography and in their own lives.

“Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson” is the story of artist Edith Lake Wilkinson, committed to an asylum in 1925 and never heard from again. All her worldly possessions were packed into trunks and shipped to a relative in West Virginia where they sat in an attic for 40 years. Edith's great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, grew up surrounded by Edith's paintings, thanks to her mother who had gone poking through that dusty attic and rescued Edith's work. The film follows Jane in her decades-long journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith's buried life, return the work to Provincetown and have Edith's contributions recognized by the larger art world.

Read More: Sydney Levine on "Finding Vivian Maier"

In many ways this is similar to “Finding Vivian Maier," which also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Documentary category, in that both recover long lost and never acknowledged art which is astoundingly good art. This one goes further into the lesbian relationships of artists Edith and Jane and takes another unexpected step into the psychic world of a medium who actually solves the mystery of why Edith was committed and then forgotten. This is a must-see for art lovers and would make a great fiction film as well.

Another notable aspect of Psiff that is how, just before the Awards begin for Golden Globe and for the Academy, all the big name stars are here for two awards events. One, the opening night gala raises millions for the festival. The other, Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch brunch, brings more stars and that funny speech by Chris Rock (See Video Here).

Read More: Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev on his Oscar-Nominated "Leviathan"

Also remarkable is that, aside from the above Awards and then the final festival awards bestowed, the Golden Globes mirrored the Palm Springs Fest’s awards:

Actress in a drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” (Isa: Memento) won Psiff’s Achievement Award

Actor in a drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” (Uip) also received the Psiff Desert Palm Achievement Award.

Supporting actor, drama: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” (Isa: Sierra/ Affinity) received the Psiff Spotlight Award.

Director Richard Linklater, “Boyhood” (Uip/ Paramount) received the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.

Foreign Language Film: "Leviathan” (Isa: Pyramide) received the PSiFF Best Foreign Language Film.

Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, “Birdman” (Fox Searchlight), Inarritu received Psiff Director of the Year Award which was bestowed by “Birdman” star Michael Keaton. And the Golden Globe Award for Actor, musical or comedy, went to Michael Keaton for “Birdman”...

Nathaniel's adventures at Tiff continued

 François Ozon remains one of France's most prolific directors. Like most prolific auteurs this means an uneven filmography. Even the very good films can feel ever-so-slightly underrealized. Is it the rush or just the nature of the artistry of the prolific, all first draft energies, favorite or borrowed styles structures and themes, and just warming-up ideas with the occasional lightning-strike perfections?

Like many fans I'm still waiting for another of those lightning strike perfections like certain moments in Under the Sand or 8 Women in full but his not-quite-there efforts can still be highly appealing: Potiche anyone?

The New Girlfriend turns out to be all of the above with grand moments, messy ones, energetic diversions, familiar tropes and half formed ideas... which as it turns out is just fine for a movie about embryonic searches for new identities. It begins with a funereal yet beautiful opening...

French film star to be president of the Dinard British Film Festival’s 25th edition.

The Dinard British Film Festival (Oct 8-12) has named French film star Catherine Deneuve as its President of the competition jury for its 25th edition.

Deneuve, best known for her roles in Belle du Jour and Repulsion and more recently François Ozon’s Potiche, has more than 100 film credits to her name. Her breakthrough role was in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 1964 and she went on to work with directors including Francois Truffaut, Luis Buñuel and Roman Polanski.

Deneuve was nominated for an Oscar in 1993 for her performance in Indochine. She won César Awards for Indochine and The Last Metro (1980). She has also appeared in several English-language films such as 1983 cult classic The Hunger. In 2008, she appeared in her 100th film, Un conte de Noël.

The 70-year-old actress won the lifetime achievement award from the European Film Academy last December. Her last film...

Exclusive: Catherine Deneuve has joined the cast of Cannes award-winning director Jaco Van Dormael’s surreal comedy in which God lives in Brussels.

The Brand New Testament will star comedian Benoit Poelvoorde as God and Yolande Moreau as God’s wife. Deneuve, the Belle du Jour star who more recently starred in Potiche, also features.

The original story, co-written by Van Dormael and Thomas Gunzig, portrays God as an odious character who is disliked by his family.

His daughter, Ea, decides to run away from home but first hacks her father’s computer and lets everyone in the world know the date when they are going to die. God takes to the streets to find Ea and discovers the horrors of a world he created himself.

Produced by Van Dormael, Olivier Rausin, Daniel Marquet, David Grumbach, and Frank Van Passel, the film is set up as a Belgium, French and Luxembourg coproduction with an $11.4m (€8.3m) budget...

Veteran indie film world thesps Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman, Orange Is the New Black‘s Taylor Schilling along with French actress from Potiche fame Judith Godreche (who appears to be padding her current resume with English speaking roles) are currently cast for Patrick Brice’s nocturnally suggested comedy, titled The Overnight. TheWrap reports that Mark Duplass is producing for Duplass Brothers Productions along with Gettin’ Rad Productions’ Naomi and Adam Scott.

Gist: Set in Los Angeles, we’re guessing that this might include love, heartbreak and/or one night stands.

Worth Noting: Talk about a break out year. Brice saw his feature debut, Creep, get featured at SXSW and was quickly picked up by RADiUS-twc for what will be a set trilogy of films. Here is a snip-it of his short film subject.

Do We Care?: We’ve yet to see Creep, but we’re curious to see...

Hong Kong -- French screen icon Catherine Deneuve slammed her former co-star Gerard Depardieu for "not being a citizen" by moving away from France to avoid taxes, saying he's "not an example to follow." Deneuve was in Hong Kong promoting her latest film, On My Way, an official selection of the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which is currently underway. She appeared opposite Depardieu as recently as 2010 in French director Francois Ozon's Potiche. Story: Gerard Depardieu Talks Heavy Drinking, His Seven Passports, Putin and Pussy Riot Depardieu has citizenship in Belgium and Russia, the latter granted to him by Vladimir

read more...

★★★☆☆ Hot on the heels of the highly acclaimed In the House (2012), suddenly prolific French auteur François Ozon returned last year with coming-of-ager Jeune & Jolie (2013), an engaging if overly diminutive story of a teenager's blossoming sexuality set over four seasons. Having previously explored the combined mores, difficulties and ordinariness of sex and sexuality throughout his body of work, Ozon, after a string of features focusing on a more adult set of characters and situations (namely his piercing 2010 satire Potiche), returns to depictions of youths facing drastic turning points in their lives, in this case adolescence developing into inevitable maturity.

French actor takes snowy Berlin in her stride as she wins prize at a European film awards dominated by The Great Beauty

The wet snow that fell on Berlin on Saturday evening had nothing on the froideur of Catherine Deneuve, in town to receive a lifetime achievement prize at the European film awards and not best pleased about it either. "Lifetime achievement – those are not good words," the 70-year-old French actor told the press before the ceremony. "To achieve life is to mean that you are dead. It's not an award you give to someone who is still alive."

Deneuve was honoured for an impressive 50-year back catalogue that stretches from roles in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Repulsion and Belle de Jour through to more recent work in the likes of Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark and François Ozon's Potiche. Along the way she has been...

After 14 years reporting from the red carpet, our film diarist bids farewell with a selection of glilttering memories…

Best festival

Trash was born at Cannes in 1999, when the idea struck me that the best way to cover this polymorphously perverse festival was through a diary. So it's probably in that environment that my column has thrived most. It coincided with the rise of the "festival circuit", and I was fortunate to have the willing co-operation of the Observer and the festivals themselves in getting to cover so many of them.

I still recall the jolt of a morning vodka with Alan Parker in Moscow where, because his Pink Floyd film The Wall was the most famous bootleg of the Soviet era, he is some kind of deity. Marrakech is a wonderful setting for a film festival and I shall cherish an afternoon with Martin Scorsese there, even though he spilt...

Catherine Deneuve: 2013 European Film Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Catherine Deneuve has been named the recipient of the the European Film Academy’s 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award for her "outstanding body of work." And outstanding it is. Yesterday, I posted an article about Dirk Bogarde (Victim, Death in Venice, Despair), one of the rare performers anywhere on the planet to have consistently worked with world-class international filmmakers. The Paris-born Catherine Deneuve, who turns 70 next October 22, is another one of those lucky actors. (Photo: Catherine Deneuve at the Potiche premiere at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.) Deneuve’s directors have included an eclectic and prestigious list of filmmakers from various countries. Those include Belle de Jour and Tristana‘s Luis Buñuel; Le Sauvage and La Vie de Château‘s Jean-Paul Rappenau; The Hunger‘s Tony Scott; Un Flic‘s Jean-Pierre Melville; The Mississippi Mermaid and The Last Metro‘s François Truffaut...

French actress to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at European Film Awards.

The European Film Academy is to present French actress Catherine Deneuve with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The star of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion and more recently François Ozon’s Potiche and of will be an honorary guest at the 26th European Film Awards ceremony on Dec 7 in Berlin, where she will collect the honour.

The 69-year-old actrees first gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion (1965) and Luis Buñuel’s Belle de jour (1967). Deneuve was nominated for an Oscar in 1993 for her performance in Indochine. She won César Awards for Indochine and The Last Metro (1980). She has also appeared in several English-language films such as 1983 cult classic The Hunger. In 2008, she appeared in her 100th film, Un conte de Noël.

She is currently shooting Trois Coeurs with director Benoît Jacquot.