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Paul Schneider on Trainspotting to Bright Star: "There was that monologue that Kelly Macdonald spoke to Ewan McGregor." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In our conversation, Paul Schneider tells of the importance Jan Chapman and Jane Campion's The Piano had, working with Christophe Honoré and Andrew Dominik, and meeting Nick Cave during The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. We started out with Métamorphoses and Les Bien-aimés, La La Land and Jacques Demy, onto the influence of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in Billy Wilder's The Apartment.

Paul Schneider in The Daughter

Paul Schneider, All The Real Girls director David Gordon Green, Loving and Midnight Special director Jeff Nichols, David Lachapelle, and Ma director Celia Rowlson-Hall - all went to the North Carolina School of the Arts. Paul stars with Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, Odessa Young, Ewen Leslie, and with Anna Torv and Wilson Moore...

Four new movies are coming to the Criterion Collection this April: Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Rumble Fish,” Wim Wenders’ “Buena Vista Social Club” and George Stevens’ “Woman of the Year.” In addition, two musicals directed by Jacques Demy already in the Collection are receiving new standalone editions: “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort.” More information below.

Read More: The Criterion Collection’s 2017 Lineup: What Movies Are Being Added This Year?

“Tampopo”

“The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges, our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café...

We're about one month away from the announcement of this year's Honorary Oscar recipients. They're usuallly announced at the end of August for a November Governor's Awards ceremony. This year's ceremony will be on November 12th. Last year rumors circled that it was Doris Day's turn but that didn't turn out to be accurate. For the past two years, The Film Experience has tried to make up for the dearth of movie site reporting about the Oscar Honorary careers (beyond the sharing of press releases / YouTube videos of their speeches) with mini-retrospectives so we're always hoping they'll choose well to give us wonderful careers to discuss right here. 

Let's reprint a list of worthies we shared a year or so ago, with a few adjustments, in case any of the elites in the Academy are undecided about who to put forth or get behind for these coveted honors.

 

James Ivory...

Les Malheurs de Sophie

Director: Christophe Honoré

Writers: Christophe Honoré, Gilles Tourand

One of France’s most underrated directors (at least judging on the level of attention he receives overseas) is Christophe Honoré, who is perhaps best known for his 2007 film, Love Songs, which played in the Main Competition at Cannes. A unique and utterly charming musical, Honore followed up his collaboration with Alex Beaupain with less success for 2011’s Beloved, which closed the Cannes Film Festival. Usually casting either Louis Garrell, Chiara Mastroianni or both in nearly all his features, his latest, Metamorphoses (2014), an adaptation of the famed text by Greek poet Ovid, premiered at Venice Days with little fanfare. Honore’s also responsible for the provocative George Bataille adaptation, Ma Mere (2004) which features an infamous performance from Isabelle Huppert. His tenth feature film, Les Malheurs de Sophie (Sophie’s Woes), is loosely based on a famed children’s...

The Cannes Film festival was an exceptional edition for French films this year. A focus on the rising generation of French actors and directors that have been highlighted in Cannes and will most certainly be the stars of tomorrow was compiled by Unifrance chief Isabelle Giordano.

They are a force to be reckoned with. Unifrance films is ready to bet that you will certainly hear about these ten talented people. They represent the French cinema of today and will soon be on the screens worldwide.

Emmanuelle Bercot

An actress and a director, Emmanuelle Bercot began by enrolling at the Cours Florent drama school and taking dancing lessons after her baccalaureate. She graduated from Femis in 1998, after winning the Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for her short film "Les Vacances," in 1997. After her first few roles in the films of Jean-François Richet and Michel Deville, her career as an actress took off when Claude Miller gave her one of the main roles in "La Classe de neige" (1998). The following year, she made the headlines with the medium-length film she directed called "La Puce," presented in the selection of Un Certain Regard at Cannes. This film tells of the love affair between a 35-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl, played by Isild Le Besco.

Her first feature-length film, "Clément" (2001), is about the life of a troubled woman who has one adventure after another with various men until she meets a 14-yearold boy. Her second film, "Backstage" (2004), continues to explore teenage angst through a relationship between a hit singer and a young obsessional fan. She earned her first critical and public acclaim with "On My Way" (2013), the third film written by the director for Catherine Deneuve, in which the star plays a woman who has decided to leave everything behind and hit the road in France.

She was indisputably the most talked about person during the Cannes Film Festival 2015, both as an actress and a director. Thierry Frémaux surprised everyone by announcing that "Standing Tall," Emmanuelle Bercot’s fourth feature-length film would open the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Emmanuelle Bercot says that she has rediscovered the social fiber of her beginnings with this tale of juvenile delinquency. After the enthusiastic and unanimous reception of her film, she won the Best Actress Award for her role as a woman under the influence of love in the film "Mon Roi" by Maïwenn, with whom she co-wrote the script for "Polisse," which won the Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012

Thomas Bidegain

Thomas Bidegain may well be one of the best known French screenwriters in the profession today, but it took him ten years to achieve this status. His career path in film is anything but ordinary. He started out in the 1990s by distributing and producing independent American films: "Ice Storm" by Ang Lee and "Chasing Sleep" by Michael Walker. He came back to France and joined MK2 where he became director of distribution. In 1999, he returned to production for "Why Not." In 2007, he told the story of his attempt to stop smoking in "Arrêter de fumer tue," a personal diary that was turned into a documentary, then a book.

In the meantime, he began screenwriting and worked on several projects. In 2009, he wrote the screenplay for Jacques Audiard’s film, "A Prophet," alongside Nicolas Peufaillit and Abdel Raouf Dafri, which won the Grand Prix du Jury in 2009. He participated in Audiard’s next film, "Rust and Bone" and "Our Children" by Joachim Lafosse. He was also the co-writer for "Saint Laurent" by Bertrand Bonello. Winning a César for the best original script and a César for the best adaptation, he presented "Cowboys" at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes this year, his first film as a director. He is also co-writer of "Ni le ciel ni la terre" by Clément Cogitore, presented during the Semaine de la Critique, as well as co-writer of the script for Jacques Audiard’s latest film, "Dheepan," which won the Palme d’Or.

Louise Bourgoin

Louise Bourgoin attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts for five years, during which she began her career as a model. After she graduated from art school in 2004, she radically changed direction and became a presenter on cable TV. She was Miss Météo in Le Grand Journal on Canal + from 2006 to 2008. Her slot became essential viewing and attracted a wide audience, including the attention of the film industry.

She began her acting career in "The Girl from Monaco" by Anne Fontaine, and her performance earned her a César nomination for Most Promising Actress. This recognition led to a whole series of roles and launched her career in film. She headed the bill of several films in 2010 ("White as Snow" by Christophe Blanc, "Sweet Valentine" by Emma Luchini, and "Black Heaven" by Gilles Marchand). The same year, Luc Besson selected her for the leading role in "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec."

Since then, Louise Bourgoin has played in film after film, and has taken her first steps in the international scene with her part in the American film "The Love Punch" by Joel Hopkins. She attracted attention at the Cannes Film Festival this year with her unusual role in Laurent Larivière’s first film, "I Am a Soldier," presented at Un Certain Regard.

Anaïs Demoustier

Her passion for acting started at a very young age and rapidly pushed her to take drama classes. She auditioned, when still a teenager, and got her first role alongside Isabelle Huppert in "Time of the Wolf" by Michael Haneke. After this, her career was launched and she played in a series of films among which "L’Année suivante" by Isabelle Czajka, "Hellphone" by James Huth, "The Beautiful Person" by Christophe Honoré, "Sois sage" by Juliette Garcias, "Sweet Evil" by Olivier Coussemacq, "Dear Prudene" by Rebecca Zlotowski, "Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Robert Guédiguian, "Thérèse Desqueyroux" by Claude Miller, "Quai d’Orsay" by Bertrand Tavernier, "Paris Follies" by Marc Fitoussi, etc.

A filmography rich of 30 films for an actress who isn’t 30 years old yet. In 2014, the press talked about the blooming of Anaïs Demoustier because her face and poise became essential to cinema. Present in "Bird People" by Pascale Ferran, "Caprices" by Emmanuel Mouret, "À trois on y va" by Jérôme Bonnell and "The New Girlfriend" by François Ozon, she is Marguerite in the last Valérie Donzelli’s film, "Marguerite et Julien" screened in Official selection in Cannes.

Louis Garrel

The son of actress Brigitte Sy and the director Philippe Garrel, he began his career in film thanks to his father, who started filming him at the age of six in "Emergency Kisses," alongside his mother and his grandfather, Maurice Garrel. He went onto study drama at the Conservatoire National d’Art Dramatique. He made his real cinema debut in 2001 in the film "Ceci est mon corps" by Rodolphe Marconi. Two years later, he played opposite Michael Pitt and the future Bond girl, Eva Green, in "The Dreamers" by Bernardo Bertolucci.

He then starred in another of his father’s films, "Regular Lovers". His performance earned him the César for the Most Promising Actor in 2005. Since then, he has played alongside the greatest, such as Isabelle Huppert in "Ma mère" by Christophe Honoré. This marked the beginning of a long collaboration between the filmmaker and the actor. They worked together in the film "In Paris" with Romain Duris, then in 2007 in "Love Songs" with Ludivine Sagnier, in "The Beautiful Person" with Léa Seydoux, in "Making Plans" for Lena with Chiara Mostroianni and, finally, in " Beloved" with Catherine Deneuve. He also topped the bill with Valéria Bruni Tedeschi in "Actresses," whom he worked with again in 2013 in "A Castle in Italy."

In 2010, he directed a short film, "The Little Tailor," in which he directed Léa Seydoux. He performed once again in one of his father’s films, "A Burning Hot Summer," followed by "Jealousy." In 2014, he starred in Bertrand Bonello’s film "Saint Laurent," a role which led to another César nomination, but this time in the best supporting role category. His first feature-length film, "Two Friends," presented at a Certain Regard, was applauded by the critics. He also starred in "Mon Roi," Maïwenn’s fourth feature-length film, alongside Emmanuelle and Vincent Cassel, presented as part of the official selection.

Guillaume Gouix

After studying at the Conservatoire in Marseille and the Ecole Régionale d’Acteur de Cannes, Guillaume Gouix began his career in television. He played the male lead in "The Lion Cubs," by Claire Doyon, in 2003. Noted for his performance, especially the highly physical aspect of it and his intense gaze, he then played a series of supporting roles as a young hoodlum in "Les Mauvais joueurs" by Frédéric Balekdjian and in "Chacun sa nuit," by Jean-Marc Barr and Pascal Arnold. He featured in the 2007 war film "Intimate Enemies" by Florent Emilio Siri, thus confirming his taste for complex characters.

The following year, he was applauded for his performance in the film "Behind the Walls" by Christian Faure. In 2010, he starred in "22 Bullets" by Richard Berry and in 2011, he established his reputation with roles in "Nobody Else But You" by Gérald Hustache-Mathieu, "Et soudain, tout le monde me manque" by Jennifer Devoldere, and "Jimmy Rivière," Teddy Lussi-Modeste’s film debut.

He also appeared in "Midnight in Paris" by Woody Allen. He more recently starred in "Attila Marcel," by Sylvain Chomet, in which he played the lead role, in "French Women" by Audrey Dana, and "The Connection" by Cédric Jimenez with Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lelouche. He performed in three films presented at Cannes this year ("Les Anarchistes" by Elie Wajeman, which opened the Semaine de la Critique, "La Vie en grand" by Mathieu Vadepied, which closed the week, and in "Enragés" by Eric Hannezo, screened at the Cinéma de la Plage). He also directed his first short film "Alexis Ivanovitch, vous êtes mon héros" in 2011 and will soon start on a feature-length film, which is currently being written. He will be topping the bill in 2015 with "Braqueurs," a thriller by Julien Leclercq.

Ariane Labed

Born in Greece to French parents, Ariane Labed has always navigated between her two countries. She studied drama at the University of Provence and began her acting career treading the boards. After setting up a company combining dance and theater, Ariane Labed returned to live in Greece where she played at the National Theater of Athens. 2010 was the year of her first film, "Attenberg," directed by Athiná-Rachél Tsangári. "Alps" by Yorgos Lanthi-mos, the following year, confirmed the talent of this strangely charming actress. Two years later, she starred in "Before Midnight" by Richard Linklater where she played the role of Anna. The follow-up to "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset," this third part of the saga was a great success, making Labed known to a wider audience.

In 2014, she played a young sailor in "Fidelio, Alice’s Odyssey," who is torn between faithfulness and her desire to live her life. Winning the best actress award at the Locarno Film Festival and nominated for a César, the French actress gives a brilliant performance in Lucie Borleteau’s first feature-length film. She joined Yorgos Lanthimos in Cannes in 2015, where he won the Prix du Jury for his film "The Lobster."

Vincent Macaigne

Vincent Macaigne is the leading light in young French cinema. He joined the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris in 1999, appearing on stage and assuming the role of director. His free adaptations of the great classics of literature and drama earned him public and critical acclaim. He directed "The Idiot" by Dostoïevski and presented "Au moins j’aurai laissé un beau cadavre in Avignon," inspired by Hamlet. He also rapidly made a name for himself in demanding art-house films. In 2001, he was seen for the first time in "Replay" by Catherine Corsini. In 2007, he starred in "On War" by Bertrand Bonello and in 2010, in "A Burning Hot Summer" by Philippe Garrel.

Since 2011, Vincent Macaigne’s presence in short, medium and full-length films has gradually increased. Faithful to his directors, he has starred in several of their films. As is the case with his friend Guillaume Brac, who directed him in "Le Naufragé," "Tonnerre" and "Un monde sans femmes." He was awarded the Grand Prix and the Prix Télérama at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and the Prix Lutin for Best Actor in this film. Under the direction of Vincent Mariette, he played in "Les Lézards" then "Fool Circle." In 2013, we find the funny and touching thirty-something in "La fille du 14 juillet" by Antonin Peretjatko, "Age of Panic" by Justine Triet, and "2 Autumns, 3 Winters" by Sébastien Betbeder.

He was discovered by the general public at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Considered a figurehead of the revival of French cinema, Vincent has drawn the attention of the Cahiers du Cinéma, and even the British newspaper The Observer, which referred to him as the “new Gérard Depardieu”. In 2011, he directed "What We’ll Leave Behind," a very well-received medium-length film which won the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival. He also starred in Mia Hansen-løve’s 2014 film "Eden." He plays one of the main roles in the actor Louis Garrel’s first feature-length film, "Two Friends," presented during the Semaine de la Critique. He also featured in his 2011 film, La Règle de trois.

Vimala Pons

From the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique, where she attended drama classes even though she wanted to be a screenwriter, to circus tents, Vimala Pons is an acrobat in all senses of the word. The 29-year-old actress has established her physical and poetic presence in French art-house films. She began her career in film with Albert Dupontel in "Enfermés dehors" in 2006. She then starred in "Eden Log" by Franck Vestiel in 2007, then in "Granny’s Funeral" by Bruno Podalydès in 2012.

Since then, we have seen her cross France in a little blue dress in "La Fille du 14 juillet," (she plays the girl) by Antonin Peretjatko, and changing into a lioness in "Métamorphoses," by Christophe Honoré. The impetuous muse of French independent film, Vimala Pons played in "Vincent" by Thomas Salvador this year. The actress has made a name for herself in 2015, in particular with "Comme un avion" by Bruno Podalydès, "Je suis à vous tout de suite" by Baya Kasmi, "La vie très privée de Monsieur Sim" by Michel Leclerc, and "L’Ombre des femmes" by Philippe Garrel (presented at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs this year in Cannes). She has also begun an international career, with a leading role in Paul Verhoeven’s latest film, "Elle."

Alice Winocour

The director Alice Winocour started out at Femis. After going into law, she returned to film and won three prizes for her short film "Kitchen: Prix TV5" for the best French-language short film, best international short film and the Silver Bear at the Festival of Nations (Ebensee). For "Magic Paris," she was awarded the jury prize at the St. Petersburg International Documentary, Short Film and Animated Film Festival.

She continued her career by writing the script for the film "Ordinary," by Vladimir Perisic. At the Cannes Film Festival 2012, Alice Winocour made a marked entry in the international arena with a film by a woman about women and the unchanging way of looking at them. In the film "Augustine," we are told the story of a professor and his patient, played by Vincent Lindon and Soko respectively. In 2015, she brought out her second feature-length film, "Maryland," which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. She is also the co-writer of "Mustang," by Denis Gamze Ergüven, presented at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.

Les Malheurs de Sophie

Director: Christophe Honoré // Writers: Christophe Honoré, Gilles Taurand

One of France’s most underrated directors (at least judging on the level of attention he receives overseas) is Christophe Honoré, who is perhaps best known for his 2007 film, Love Songs, which played in the Main Competition at Cannes. A unique and utterly charming musical, Honore followed up his collaboration with Alex Beaupain with less success for 2011’s Beloved, which closed the Cannes Film Festival. Usually casting either Louis Garrell, Chiara Mastroianni or both in nearly all his features, his latest (see trailer below), Metamorphoses (2014), an adaptation of the famed text by Greek poet Ovid, premiered at Venice Days with little fanfare. Honore’s also responsible for the provocative George Bataille adaptation, Ma Mere (2004) which features an infamous performance from Isabelle Huppert. His tenth feature film, Sophie’s Woes, is loosely based on a famed children’s novel by the Countess of Segur,...

Metamorphoses

Director: Christophe Honore

Writers: Christophe Honore

Producer: Philippe Martin

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: George Babluani, Damien Chapelle, Sebastien Hirel

While his last film, 2011’s Beloved was unfairly criticized for being more of the same from the musically inclined provocateur, whose films sometimes feel like (in tone, not visual style) a sexually playful Jacques Demy, his latest effort, an adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s epic mythological narrative, sees Honore changing it up a bit. Continuing his penchant for adapting difficult literary works (his 2004 Isabelle Huppert headlined Ma Mere was an unfinished novel by Georges Bataille and 2008’s The Beautiful Person was inspired by a novel by Madame de La Fayette), Honore’s cast consists of mostly unknown actors, his first film in over a decade not to star either of his muses, Louis Garrel or Chiara Mastroianni. With such lofty aspirations, the enigmatic Honore’s latest...

The pomme doesn't fall too far from the tree, after all. Beloved French actress Catherine Deneuve's daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, has just been announced as the new face of Fendi fragrances.

Mastroianni, an actress in her own right, is the daughter of Deneuve and Italian film star Marcello Mastroianni. Along with acting, fragrance shilling seems to be all in the family, as maman Deneuve spent the better part of the late '70s fronting campaigns for Chanel's No. 5 perfume. We bet Karl Lagerfeld, creative director for both Chanel and Fendi, was looking to channel the same icon energy with his latest casting choice.

We're eagerly awaiting the unveiling of Mastroianni's Fendi ads, but in the meantime, take a walk down memory lane with a few of Deneuve's classic campaigns. Think this is a "like mother, like daughter" scenario?

Photos:

Vraiment chic:

Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter,...

I had so many different ideas with which to celebrate today that I didn't manage to get any of them done. It's a typical problem when you have more ideas than time and when indefatigable ambition meets easily exhaustable execution. So herewith... a few off the cuff Lists celebrating actresses that work primarily outside of the English language that are every bit as good and sometimes a whole lot better than their American/English/Aussie counterparts who get the bulk of attention in the global market.

The gold standard here is always Deneuve. "Catherine Deneuve"... go ahead, sound it out. The name itself just reverberates with glamour but the razzle dazzle of her international celebrity is hardly the reason she's the gold standard. She's also got a filmography that would be the envy of any actor who cares about cinema beyond their own image and though she'll turn 70 this fall,...

Box office comparisons between the current and the previous Die Hard movies [See previous post: "Is the latest Willis / Die Hard movie a domestic box-office hit or a flop?"] However, when compared to the previous four movies in the franchise, the latest entry is nothing but a box-office disappointment -- though, I should add, it's the first movie in the franchise not to open in late spring/summer. (Pictured above: Willis as the invincible hero John McClane in A Good Day to Die Hard.) Directed by John McTiernan (who's currently facing a potential one-year prison sentence for lying to the FBI during the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping investigation several years ago), the original Die Hard movie released in 1988 scored $7.5 million (approximately $14 million today) at 1,276 theaters on its first weekend in wide release, July 22-24. The movie eventually cumed with $83 million (approximately $162.5 million today) in the United States and Canada. Director Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) grossed $21.74m (approx. $41m today) at 2,507 venues on its opening...

For a filmmaker whose movies are so instantly recognizably His and his alone, John Waters's annual top ten list adventure at Artforum is not what you'd expect... until you've followed it for a few years that is. It's not the crazy comic camp-fest his movies would suggest. There's usually a mix of outre movies, risque movies, documentaries, and the highbrow dramas. He's all over the place. Literally. Though the 66 year old director hasn't made a movie in eight years he recently hitchhiked across the country and is writing a book about it ("Carsick") to be published next year.

John ♥ Rachel

His number one choice is The Deep Blue Sea... and after Rachel Weisz's win at the Nyfcc that movie is suddenly being talked up again.

1 The Deep Blue Sea

2 Paradise: Faith

3 Paradise: Love

4 Amour

Misery is really in this year. “Hurts! Hurts! Hurts!” yells out the dying elderly wife to her longtime-caretaker husband,...

Reservoir Dogs actor Harvey Keitel and Oscar-nominated actress Catherine Deneuve are set to portray late-blooming romantic lovers in their twilight days in yet-untitled romance drama, marking Robert Cantarella’s feture directorial debut.

The film follows the story of a Brussels-located divorcee (Deneuve) who, upon the death of her boyfriend, relocates to Los Angeles, where she becomes a waitress and meets Keitel’s character, with whom she starts a passionate relationship.

Deneuve and Keitel are set to play late-blooming lovers in an untitled romantic drama helmed by first-timer Cantarella who is a renowned French theater playwrite-director.

Since 2004, Cantarella has produced documentaries and fictional films and this year he is proposing a new text by Christophe Honoré, A Young Man is Killed.

Deneuve’s latest film is a 2011 musical Les Bien-aimés, co-starring her real-life daughter Chiara Mastroianni, while Keitel’s latest is a 2012 romantic comedy-drama film Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson.

Eye For Film caught up with French film director Christophe Honoré as his latest film, Beloved was due to open at New York's IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

AKTMy first question was about Jacques Demy looming large in his work, via small asides, such as a family that only has daughters (a quote from Demy’s Umbrellas Of Cherbourg) or cheerful incest songs (as in Demy’s Once Upon A Time) are reminiscent of the late master of the French musical.

Ch: My relation with Jacques Demy starts at the beginning. I come from Brittany, from a very small village. I dreamt of the cinema at 14. My grandmother lived in Nantes and I discovered Lola, Jacques Demy’s movie there. Of course, my family and everybody said, how can you dream of making movies – of course I knew nobody in cinema. And for me, when I discovered Jacques Demy and learned.

Christophe Honoré's latest film stars some of the greatest actors in contemporary France. Beloved features Catherine Deneuve, who appears alongside her real-life daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, as well as Ludivine Sagnier, who is best-known for her work in François Ozon's racy film Swimming Pool. Make no mistake -- Beloved is about women, although the men are no slouches: Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, Paul Schneider, Michel Delpech and Rasha Bukvic round out the main cast. But Honoré's focus is about love and loss, specifically for the multifaceted and often mysterious female characters we see on screen. We had the opportunity to sit down with the filmmaker to discuss his life and work in order to find out more about his motivations. Scroll down for images.

You’ve recently co-written ‘Let My People Go.’ How did you get involved with this project?

It’s actually really simple. I give some courses at Fémis,...

(Beloved world premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by IFC Films. It opens theatrically on August 17, 2012. Visit the film’s website to learn more.)

Beloved, the latest film from French writer/director Christophe Honoré, uses the history of the late 20th century as a framework for exploring the difficult love affairs of a mother, Madeleine (played as a young woman by Ludivine Sagnier and as an older woman by Catherine Deneuve) and her daughter, Vera (Chiarra Mastroianni). Like much of Honoré’s work, the movie is rich with allusions not only to literary and theatrical forms, but to the history of the cinema itself; opening in a Parisian shoe store in 1964, it takes Honoré only a few moments to reference The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Cléo From 5 To 7 and Les Bonnes Femmes before, in a single beat, spinning directly into a nod to Belle Du Jour.

After 2007's Love Songs, writer/director Christophe Honoré tackles the musical comedy genre again, with a deeply personal film, Beloved. This time it's a period piece with the legendary Catherine Deneuve and the famed Czech director Milos Forman, along with his regular set of collaborators- Louis Garrel, Chiara Mastroianni and Ludivine Sagnier. Mastroianni, last seen in the title role of Lena in Honoré's 2009 non-musical, Making Plans for Lena, takes another leading role here, as a woman slogging through a messy love life in a sinister decade we call the 90s. As in Lena, she is mesmerizing in this. The film also reunites real life mother-daughter team playing mother-daughter -Deneuve and Mastroianni appeared together in two films- André Téchiné's My Favorite Season and Arnaud Desplechin's...

With celebrated French filmmaker Christophe Honoré's latest star-studded musical "Beloved" opening in select theaters (and on VOD) this Friday via Sundance Selects, Indiewire is happy to announce that we're giving away five DVD box sets of some of Honoré's best work. Read More: Christophe Honoré on 'Beloved': "I think my characters are very free with their sexuality" The set includes "Dans Paris," "Making Plans for Lena," "La Belle Personne" and what may be his best known film, "Love Songs," starring Ludivine Sagnier and Louis Garrel (both of whom also star in "Beloved"). Fill out my online form. var m7x0q1;(function(d, t) { var s = d.createElement(t), options = { 'userName':'allabouteat1', 'formHash':'m7x0q1', 'autoResize':true, 'height':'423', 'async':true, 'header':'show', 'ssl':true}; s.src = ('https:' == d.location.protocol ? 'https://' :...

With his sprawling new musical Beloved, starring Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel and Milos Forman(!) getting a limited release in North America, I sat down with writer/director Christophe Honoré, a former columnist of Les Cahiers du Cinema and the French New Waver's heir apparent.I went to the screening of Beloved with my mother-in-law, who is 70 years old and a big fan of musicals, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Catherine Deneuve and all that. The film takes place in the 1960s and the 1990s spanning two generations. It's very literary, dense and much longer than your previous films. How did it all come about? Before I answer that, what did your mother-in-law think about it? She loved it. Good. It's important for me to...

As the closing night film at Cannes in 2011 -- and, as such, lumped in historically with such bland films as "The Tree," "What Just Happened?," "Chromophobia" and "The Age of Darkness" -- writer-director Christophe Honoré's "Les Bien-Aimés" (aka "The Beloved") was already at a disadvantage. Sidelined out of competition, offered up as a final course to cineastes whose metaphorical bellies are already set to burst from an excess of riches, no one was going to think too much about the movie, regardless of its quality. Honoré's film in fact falls short of even the minimal expectations set by circumstance, to be truly tedious, flat and hollow -- a recycled exploration of themes and techniques the director has used before inside the bloated casing of a movie with a 145-minute running time. Bouncing between eras in France, "Les Bien-Aimés" is the story of both Madeleine...

Paul Schneider guested on the most recent episode of The Newsroom as the man Emily Mortimer cheated on Jeff Daniels with, but what do we think tipped the scales in Schneider's favor when it comes to allure? Well, maybe Emily got a look at this exclusive clip from Christoph Honore's new movie musical Beloved, opening this Friday in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco (and sneaking tonight at Bam), where Schneider plays a musician at odds with lover Chiara Mastroianni ... and sings. In French. Bradley Cooper would no doubt approve, and Leslie Knope, who had a history with Schneider's Mark Brendanawicz on Parks and Recreation, might do a double take.

Title: Beloved (Les bien-aimés) Sundance Selects Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten Grade: B Director: Christophe Honoré Screenwriter: Christophe Honoré Cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel, Milos Forman, Paul Schneider Screened at: Broadway, NYC, 8/1/12 Opens: August 17, 2012 The not-so-big secret is that men and women think of sex in different terms. To a man, sex is…sex. To a woman, it’s love, or in the case of one of the characters in Christophe Honoré’s “Beloved” a way to make a living. What happens in this romance-cum-music is that one man thinks he has fallen in love with a woman particularly after their first sexual encounter. The [ Read More ]...

IFC Releasing has setup its late Summer/early Fall schedule and has locked in four films - the Catherine Deneuve-led Beloved for August 17th, the Lauren Ambrose-led comedy Sleepwalk with Me for August 24th, Josh Radnor's comedy Liberal Arts for September 14th, and the documentary How to Survive a Plague for September 21st.

The Frank Langella-led Robot and Frank has now been scheduled for August 24th.

CBS Films have pushed back the airline-set supernatural thriller 7500 from this August to an unspecified 2013 date. They've also moved up the Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz-led remake of Gambit from January 11th 2013 to October 12th 2012.

Paramount has announced a November 2nd release date for the Robert Zemeckis-directed and Denzel Washington-led pilot legal case drama Flight. As a direct result, they have also pushed back the Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen road trip comedy The Guilt Trip from November 2nd to Christmas Day.

Like his Les Chansons d'Amour, Christophe Honoré's Beloved (aka Les Bien-Aimés) is a homage to the French new wave and especially to Jacques Demy's musicals Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. But the film lacks Demy's lightness and charm, as its well-heeled, beautifully dressed characters dance and sing themselves from the 1960s to 2007. They fall in love, practise a little stylish prostitution and, as the action moves from Prague to Paris to London to Montreal, they're affected by, but do not genuinely experience, the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Aids crisis in the 80s, and the horrors of 9/11. Catherine Deneuve is as wonderful as she was in her early films with Demy, and her screen daughter is played by her real life daughter, the enchanting Chiara Mastroianni, who like Ludivine Sagnier and Louis Garrel, starred in Les Chansons d'Amour. Those who like Beloved will file it under guilty pleasures.

Dark Shadows (12A)

(Tim Burton, 2012, Us) Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jackie Earle Haley. 113 mins

Another expensive pop-gothic fantasy (remake) for Depp and Burton's gallery – how long before either they get bored or we do? This time Johnny's an effete 18th-century vampire, reawakened in 1972 to reunite with his dysfunctional Addams-like descendants and marvel at the modern world. Expect fish-out-of-water silliness, a light shade of darkness, and the usual descent into messiness.

Café De Flore (15)

(Jean-Marc Vallée, 2011, Can) Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent, Hélène Florent. 121 mins

Music and mystery add a great deal to this well-made emotional drama, which switches between a present-day DJ and a 1970s mother (Paradis) whose child has Down's syndrome.

Beloved (15)

(Christophe Honoré, 2011, Fra/UK/Cze) Chiara Mastroianni, Ludivine Sagnier, Catherine Deneuve. 139 mins

Using flashbacks and musical moments, Honoré tells the story of a former prostitute, her daughter and the men in their lives.

As expected, American Pie: Reunion had a solid first week at the box office but didn’t trouble the all-conquering Avengers at the top of the cinematic pile.

Truth be told I don’t see anything getting near the Marvel epic for another week or so yet either. It smashed the opening weekend box office record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in the States and unsurprisingly a sequel has been confirmed this week by the studio.

This week’s big release though should do a pretty bit of business at the box office as well with Tim Burton’s latest quirky baroque offering Dark Shadows making its arrival on the big screen.

Burton has amassed some serious box office bank with his recent offerings such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factor and Alice in Wonderland and can now pretty much do whatever he pleases in the eyes of his employers.

★★☆☆☆ Prolific French director Christophe Honoré reunites with composer Alex Beaupain for yet another post-modern musical drama, Beloved (Les Bien-Aimés, 2011). Boasting an all-star French cast including Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni and Louis Garrel, as well as outsourcing talent from abroad (Czech director Milos Forman, American Paul Schneider), Honoré's latest fails to live up to its initial ambitious promise.

Read more »...

American Pie: Reunion (15)

(Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, 2012, Us) Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy, Alyson Hannigan. 113 mins

It's rare to see teen-movie characters all grown up, and this illustrates the reason why: they just make us feel old. The gang's all here, reverting to their old non-pc habits even as they mourn their lost youth. It's patchy and often dodgy comedy, but there's still something heartening about Stifler's defiant idiocy and Jim's dad's middle-age second chance.

Safe (15)

(Boaz Yakin, 2012, Us) Jason Statham, Catherine Chan. 94 mins

Triads, Russian mobsters, cops and everyone else in New York falls foul of Statham in another ludicrous but fast-moving actioner.

Two Years At Sea (U)

(Ben Rivers, 2012, UK) Jake Williams. 90 mins

Extraordinary, otherworldly observation of a modern-day Scottish hermit.

Goodbye First Love (15)

(Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011, Fra/Ger) Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky. 111 mins

Heartfelt study of a young teen's formative romantic fortunes.

The Lucky One (12A)

(Scott Hicks,...

Her father, Marcello Mastroianni, was Italy's biggest film star, while her mother, Catherine Deneuve, was the queen of French cinema. As her latest film is released, Chiara Mastroianni reveals the artistic secrets she inherited from Europe's golden couple

When you've grown up as the daughter of not one but two screen icons, you might be fed up with talking about how great your parents are. Especially when you're in the same business. Not so with Chiara Mastroianni. "I hate talking about myself," the actor tells me very early into our interview. "So, you know, I can just bury all that quite easily. If someone wants to know about my mother and father, I tell them – everyone thinks they know them better than I do anyway."

In mainland Europe that may be true, though they are perhaps less revered in modern-day Britain. Mastroianni's parents are Catherine Deneuve, still the grande dame of the French screen,...

Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film

The big story

Name the computer nerd who has had the biggest effect on all our lives? Yes, well, they already made a film about Mark Zuckerberg, so let's all look forward to Jobs – the forthcoming film about the late Apple supremo Steve Jobs, pioneer of the iPod, the iPad, the iMac, the iPhone and scores of other fancy-looking techware beginning with a little "i". And who in all Hollywood has been picked to impersonate one of the greatest brains ever to walk the earth? A shoo-in for that intellectual giant Ashton Kutcher, owner of the world's biggest Twitter account (or something), and veteran of such deathless cinematic masterworks as Dude, Where's My Car? ("Sweet!"). The film that will now be called The Kutcher Job is in fact one of two duelling biogs of the Apple CEO. Sony...

David Lynch prepares to unleash his surreal debut pop promo, while Catherine Deneuve and daughter reveal their love for Boots the chemist

Lynch mob

David Lynch has made his first pop promo – and it's possibly the weirdest, angriest video of all time. The director of Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks released an album, Crazy Clown Time, last year, and its two previous singles, "I Know" and "Good Day Today", had videos directed by other people, submitted through online competitions a nd judged by Lynch and his UK music label, Rob da Bank's Sunday Best recordings. However, for the next single (the album's title track) Lynch has decided to take charge himself.

The result is as bizarre and unsettling as you'd hope. It shows a group of young people trying to have a good time in a backyard but instead creating a nightmare scenario of topless women having beer poured...

In a tribute to British filmmaker Ken Russell, who died in November 2011 at the age of 84, a selection of his work is being presented at several London cinemas this month.

Among his credits are 1971's X-rated The Devils starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave; 1975's Tommy, a star-studded smash-hit film version of The Who's rock opera; the 1980 sci-fi film Altered States, adapted from Paddy Chayefsky's novel and providing the feature film debuts of William Hurt and Drew Barrymore; and the 1988 cult classic horror flick The Lair of The White Worm, based on Bram Stoker's novel and starring Hugh Grant.

The programme of the London season of screenings ranges from his earliest television documentaries through to his most acclaimed feature films, plus discussions and special events.

Ken Russell Forever, which began on March 10 and finishes on March 20, has already screened films including Gothic, Crimes of Passion, Whore, Tommy, Altered States,...

Omar Sy, Maïwenn Best Film L'Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close / House of Tolerance by Bertrand Bonello * The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius L'Exercice de l'État by Pierre Schoeller Le Havre by Aki Kaurismaki Intouchables / Untouchable by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache Best Director Bertrand Bonello for House of Tolerance Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist Aki Kaurismaki for Le Havre * Maiwenn for Polisse Pierre Schoeller for L'Exercice de l'État Best Actress * Bérénice Bejo in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni in Les Bien-Aimés / Beloved by Christophe Honoré Valérie Donzelli in La Guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War by Valérie Donzelli Marina Fois, Karin Viard in Polisse by Maïwenn Clotilde Hesme in Angèle et Tony / Angèle and Tony d'Alix Delaporte Best Actor Jean Dujardin in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius Olivier Gourmet in L'Exercice de l'État by Pierre Schoeller Joey Starr in Polisse by Maïwenn * Omar Sy in Untouchable d'Eric Toledano,...

Still from The Artist

The 2011 edition of Mumbai Film Festival can boast of a strong French connection. Not only does it include a strong line-up of French films in a special section, but it will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cannes Critics Week by presenting a retrospective of 25 films.

The special section called ‘Rendez-vous with French Cinema’ will be co-organized with the French Embassy in India and Unifrance. For those who remember, this is the fourth edition of the event in Mumbai which has been merged with the Mumbai Film Festival this year. The past three editions were held separately as film festivals. This section will bring to Mumbai some of the critically acclaimed contemporary French films which include The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius, The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Robert Guédiguian and Declaration of War by ValérieDonzelli.

The Artist which will open the section competed at the Cannes Film...

French actor Louis Garrel at a small dinner hosted by IFC Films/Sundance Selects in Toronto this week. Garrel stars in Christophe Honoré's "Beloved" (Les bien-aimés), which is screening as a Gala at the Toronto International Film Festival. Starring Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Milos Forman, Ludivine Sagnier, Garrel, Paul Schneider and Michel Delpech, the film is a story about two generations of women and their lovers spanning the '60s to the 21st century.

Sundance Selects acquired North American rights to the Christophe Honoré-directed Beloved. The film, which stars Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel, Paul Schneider, and Milos Forman, closed the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and plays here at Toronto in a gala premiere. It’s produced by Why Not Productions, France 2 Cinéma, Sixteen Films, Negativ with the Participation of Canal + France. Described as a romantic musical drama, the film spans 3 decades and follows a mother and daughter’s misadventures in love. Deal was made by Sundance Selects president Jonathan Sehring and acquisitions senior vice president Arriana Bacco, with Celluloid Dreams repping the filmmakers.

Murder. Suicide. Pedophilia. Prostitution. Just another day at Cannes. The murder came from the very last competition film, Once Upon a time in Anatolia, the longest, most demanding film of the official selection. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s previous movie was the very accessible, entertaining drama Three Monkeys, but this time around, he returned to his previous style: quiet, bleak, without giving much information. A group of men are driving through the country, looking for a corpse after the murderer has confessed the crime. They can’t find the body and while searching, they engage in what appears to be random chatter. They find the body after 90 minutes, and by this point the audience realizes that most of that apparently pointless talk has major significance, not in the crime itself, but in the different lives of all the men involved in the procedure. This is not an easy film, but if...

"As the closing night film at Cannes — and, as such, lumped in historically with such bland films as The Tree, What Just Happened?, Chromophobia and Days of Darkness — writer-director Christophe Honoré's Les Bien-Aimés (aka Beloved) is already at a disadvantage," begins James Rocchi at the Playlist. "Sidelined out of competition, offered up as a final course to cineastes whose metaphorical bellies are already set to burst from an excess of riches, no one was going to think too much about the movie, regardless of its quality. Honoré's film in fact falls short of even the minimal expectations set by circumstance, to be truly tedious, flat and hollow — a recycled exploration of themes and techniques the director has used before inside the bloated casing of a movie with a 145-minute running time."

Honoré's films "are not musicals as Americans might think of them or, for that matter, as Jacques Demy...

As the closing night film at Cannes--and, as such, lumped in historically with such bland films as "The Tree," "What Just Happened?," "Chromophobia" and "The Age of Darkness"--writer-director Christophe Honoré's "Les Bien-Aimés" (aka "The Beloved") is already at a disadvantage. Sidelined out of competition, offered up as a final course to cineastes whose metaphorical bellies are already set to burst from an excess of riches, no one was going to think too much about the movie, regardless of its quality. Honoré's film in fact falls short of even the minimal expectations set by circumstance, to be truly tedious, flat and…...

Christophe Honoré -- director of bittersweet, entertaining pictures like Love Songs and Dans Paris -- makes films that seem very, very French when you're watching them in New York, but merely enjoyably normal when you see them in France. The festival's closing-night film, Honoré's Les Bien-Aimés (Beloved), is a family epic -- as well as a musical and a romance -- that lasts nearly two-and-a-half hours, and sometimes it comes close to being too top-heavy. But the picture has plenty in its favor, too.

Celluloid Dreams, the Sales Agent and Production Co. based out of Paris have got a pair of films playing in the festival's line-up in the closing night film Honore's Beloved and the Ucr selected Loverboy from Romania. The top title in our books is Marjane Satrapi's Chicken with Plums which is currently in post and would currently be a contender for a Venice slot and Frederick Wiseman's next docu (see pic above) and an Italian number from Marco Bellocchio called Sorelle Mai. Here is their menu items: Beloved (Les Bien-AIMÉS) by Christophe HONORÉ - Completed Greetings To The Devil (Saluda Al Diablo De Mi Parte) by Carlos Esteban Orozco - Completed Loverboy by Catalin Mitulescu - Completed Another Silence by Santiago Amigorena - Post-Production Atrocious by Fernando Barreda Luna - Completed Bullhead (Rundskop) by Michaël R. Roskam - Completed Chicken With Plums (Poulet Aux Prunes) by Marjane Satrapi...

Ok, here’s the information that comes from the organizers of the upcoming Festival de Cannes! The Festival has announced that Christophe Honoré’s upcoming project, titled Les Bien-aimés, or if you prefer – The Beloved, will be the official closing film, playing on Sunday, May 22nd. For all of you who forgot, The Cannes Film Festival [...] Cannes 2011: Les Bien-aimés/The Beloved by Christophe Honoré is a post from: www.FilmoFilia.com...

Updated through 5/3.

The Cannes Film Festival has announced that Christophe Honoré's Les bien-aimés (Beloved), featuring Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Paul Schneider and Miloš Forman, will close the festival on May 22, screening Out of Competition.

According to Septimovici, the story begins in the 60s as Madeleine (Sagnier) leaves Paris to meet her new husband, Jaromil, in Prague. As Soviet tanks roll into the city in 1968, the couple is separated. Decades later, the 90s, and Madeleine, now played by Deneuve, sees her daughter (Mastroianni, Deneuve's real-life daughter), fall for a man in London — but her love goes unrequited. Honoré's stated that he intends to contrast the 60s, those years of love and revolution and sexual liberation, with the 90s, an era shot through with the ominous threat of AIDS and an overall fear of commitment. And his mode will be the musical; the film is an overt homage to Jacques Demy,...

Just over a week to go now until the Cannes Film Festival kicks off and the sneak peeks continue to roll in. A clip from the recently announced closing film "Les Bien-aimés" ("The Beloved") has hit and it's a bit of a surprise. Running just under three minutes, it features real-life mother-and-daughter Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni at a train station singing "Une fille légère." It's cute and kind of sad in the way that's so very French but also kind of endearing as well. The film features a pretty solid cast that also includes Ludivine Sagnier, Milos Forman, Louis…...

A clip has been released from Christophe Honoré’s Les Bien-aimés (The Beloved), the closing ceremony film of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, and Michel Delpech. The clip features Deneuve and her daughter Chiara (who is also the daughter of Marcello Mastroianni) singing “Une fille légère”, written by Alex Beaupain.

Here’s the official synopsis:

From Paris in the Sixties to London in the 2000s, Madeleine and her daughter Véra come and go in the lives of the men that they move. But living lighthearted love becomes more difficult as the years go by. How do you resist the force of passing time and which attacks our deepest sentiments?

via The Collider...

A clip from Christophe Honoré's Les Bien-aimés (The Beloved) has been released, a little over two weeks before its premiere at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. The French movie will screen following the awards ceremony on Sunday, May 22. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, Michel Delpech and Paul Schneider, the musical comedy draws us “into Prague of the sixties, London of the '80s, the world of Sept. 11 and Paris of today in a singular, melancholy and romantic work of art,” according to the film fest's press release. Hit the jump for the synopsis and to watch Deneuve and her daughter Chiara (daughter of late Italian legend Marcello Mastroianni) singing “Une fille légère”, written by Alex Beaupain. Les Bien-aimés will be Honoré's second film to screen at Cannes, although it will be out-of-competition. Les Chansons d’amour, which had also starred Chiara Mastroianni,...

Starting with the 64th edition, festival de Cannes will welcome a guest country to the festival each year. Egypt will be the first country to be welcomed in 2011. Egypt has been chosen because of its revolution of January 25 which demonstrated its collective strength and desire for democracy.

The tribute to Egypt will take place on May 18, 2011 and Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine will be remembered.

It will be followed by the screening of 18 jours, a work grouping the short films of ten Egyptian filmmakers. These filmmakers along with twenty actors, six writers, eight cameramen, eight sound engineers, five set-designers, three costume designers, seven film editors, three post-production companies and a dozen technicians filmed ten short film stories based on the January 25 revolution in Egypt. This endeavor was under pressure, without a budget and on a totally voluntary basis. All profits from the film will be given towards the organisation of political...

Christophe Honoré's Les bien-aimés / The Beloved will close the 2011 Cannes Film Festival on May 22. The out-of-competition screening will take place after Robert De Niro and his Official Competition jury hand out the Palme d'Or and other awards. The Beloved follows a couple of love stories in 1960s Prague and 1980s London, in addition to Paris in the early 21st century. The Beloved cast includes Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni (Deneuve's daughter with Marcello Mastroianni), Louis Garrel, Michel Delpech, and two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker and Czech emigre Milos Forman. Honoré's Les chansons d'amour / Love Songs, which also starred Garrel, Sagnier, and Mastroianni, was among the Palme d'Or contenders at the 2007 Cannes festival. Photo: via Variety...

The Beloved (Les Bien-aimés) has been selected to close the 64th Cannes Film Festival on Sunday May 22, Deadline has discovered.

Directed by Christophe Honoré, The Beloved (Les Bien-aimés) stars Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroiani, Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, Michel Delpech and Paul Schneider.

Cannes representatives describe the film as embodying “characters that draw us into Prague of the 1960′s, London of the 1980′s, the world of September 11 and Paris of today in a singular, melancholy and romantic work of art.”

The 64th Cannes Film Festival will run from May 11 – 22, and feature new films from Terrence Malick, Pedro Almodóvar, Lynne Ramsay, Lars von Trier, and many more. You can find details of the full line-up here.

If last year had a dearth of big name celebs, attendees at the Cannes Film Festival this year will be beating them off with a stick. Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Tilda Swinton, Ryan Gosling, John C. Reilly, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mia Wasikowska...the list goes on, and one more addition to the festival promises more paparazzi guests. The festival has announced that Christophe Honoré's "Les Bien-aimés" (aka "The Beloved" though we think it sounds better en francais) will be the official closing film for the Cannes Film Festival playing on Sunday, May 22nd. Featuring…...

Cannes 2011's closing night film will be Les Bien-aimés (The Beloved), from director Christophe Honoré. The film will screen out of competition on May 22, following the awards ceremony. Les Bien-aimés stars Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroiani, Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, Michel Delpech and Paul Schneider as characters guiding us throughout decades in Prague, London, the "world of Sept. 11," and modern day Paris. Honoré's film Les chansons d’amour premiered at Cannes 2007 (Honoré pictured on set with his actors). Here is a synopsis via IOnCinema: Scripted by Honoré, this romantic comedy takes place over two time periods. In the first, during the 1960s, Madeleine leaves Paris to join her new husband Jaromil in Prague. The arrival of Russian tanks in the city marks ...