Mediawan-owned Storia Television is teaming up with French public broadcaster France Televisions on “Et la montagne fleurira,” an ambitious period drama which starts to shoot today, May 19, on the French Riviera.
Eléonore Faucher, whose feature debut “A Common Thread” won Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2004, wrote and directs the series. Faucher most recently helmed the crime mystery “La Maladroite” with Isabelle Carré (“De Gaulle”) and Émilie Dequenne (“Love Affair(s)).”
Based on Françoise Bourdon’s novel “La Mas des Tilleuls,” the series is a six-part family saga set in 1837 in Provence and follows a man, Jean-Baptiste, who was banned from this childhood home by his father after being wrongfully accused of having abused his step mother, Seraphine. Jean-Baptiste runs away to live with his aunt and eventually become a merchant of rare flowers and finds love with Lila. But his happiness is crushed when a revolt spreads across Provence, forcing him...
Eléonore Faucher, whose feature debut “A Common Thread” won Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2004, wrote and directs the series. Faucher most recently helmed the crime mystery “La Maladroite” with Isabelle Carré (“De Gaulle”) and Émilie Dequenne (“Love Affair(s)).”
Based on Françoise Bourdon’s novel “La Mas des Tilleuls,” the series is a six-part family saga set in 1837 in Provence and follows a man, Jean-Baptiste, who was banned from this childhood home by his father after being wrongfully accused of having abused his step mother, Seraphine. Jean-Baptiste runs away to live with his aunt and eventually become a merchant of rare flowers and finds love with Lila. But his happiness is crushed when a revolt spreads across Provence, forcing him...
- 5/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Shimla Mirchi movie review is here. Marking the return of the prolific Ramesh Sippy, this rom com with a twist stars Hema Malini, Rajkummar Rao and Rakul Preet Singh. Finally seeing the light after a struggle of around five years, Shimla Mirchi is released today ? January 03 2019. So how is it?.. Let?s find out in the movie review of Shimla Mirchi.
Immediate reaction when the end credits roll
Some things will never change. Songs popping up from rom com, a sufi Punjabi track in Bollywood, if romance has to bloom, it?s better to zooms at alps if not Switzerland then Shimla, the ever graceful Hema Malini and whatever dud the prolific Ramesh Sippy makes, our love for Sholay will never die.
The Story of Shimla Mirchi
Based on one of world?s best all time classics ? The Cyrano De Bergerac the 1990 French comedy-drama film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau which...
Immediate reaction when the end credits roll
Some things will never change. Songs popping up from rom com, a sufi Punjabi track in Bollywood, if romance has to bloom, it?s better to zooms at alps if not Switzerland then Shimla, the ever graceful Hema Malini and whatever dud the prolific Ramesh Sippy makes, our love for Sholay will never die.
The Story of Shimla Mirchi
Based on one of world?s best all time classics ? The Cyrano De Bergerac the 1990 French comedy-drama film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau which...
- 1/3/2020
- GlamSham
"Enjoy the future and whatever will come." An official trailer has debuted an indie B&w sultry drama titled Show Me What You Got, the feature directorial debut of an experienced cinematographer who's worked on numerous acclaimed documentaries. An undeniable spark during a chance meeting leads a curious group of three 30-somethings to explore their sexuality while rumbling from Los Angeles to Italy, and discover the profound effect strangers can have on the trajectory of their lives. The film stars up-and-comers Cristina Rambaldi, Neyssan Falahi, and introducing Mattia Minasi; also featuring Pietro Genuardi, Giusy Frallonardo, Anne Brochet, and Karen Obilom. This looks incredibly sensual, sexual, and thoughtful, an examination of life and the challenges of relationships. There's some clearly gorgeous shots in this trailer. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Svetlana Cvetko's Show Me What You Got, direct from YouTube: In a richly filmed black-and-white, three late-twentysomethings come...
- 9/23/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Girls Just Wanna Have: Achache’s Breezy Sophomore Feature
After adapting Muriel Barbery’s celebrated novel The Hedgehog for her 2009 debut, director Mona Achache returns with her latest feature, Gazelles, based on the successful one woman show “Camille Attaque” of its star Camille Chamoux. Fans of her fantastic first outing may be a bit disappointed by the slightness of her latest, which feels akin to English language female buddy comedies, but happens to be a bit more refreshing due to its realistic female characters. Given its familiar scenario, Achache and Chamoux manage an energetic rendition of heterosexual female thirtysomethings finding empowerment as they overcome the building ennui of pre-mid-life crises brought on by refusing to accept standards they’ve had no say in creating. But even with its frank, sexual embrace in tow, there is a constant itchy niggle shadowing every scene because that fact of the matter is, we...
After adapting Muriel Barbery’s celebrated novel The Hedgehog for her 2009 debut, director Mona Achache returns with her latest feature, Gazelles, based on the successful one woman show “Camille Attaque” of its star Camille Chamoux. Fans of her fantastic first outing may be a bit disappointed by the slightness of her latest, which feels akin to English language female buddy comedies, but happens to be a bit more refreshing due to its realistic female characters. Given its familiar scenario, Achache and Chamoux manage an energetic rendition of heterosexual female thirtysomethings finding empowerment as they overcome the building ennui of pre-mid-life crises brought on by refusing to accept standards they’ve had no say in creating. But even with its frank, sexual embrace in tow, there is a constant itchy niggle shadowing every scene because that fact of the matter is, we...
- 2/3/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Stand-up comic and film actor Gad Elmaleh is not only considered the funniest person in France, but he's also dating Monaco's Charlotte Casiraghi, the stunning royal granddaughter of the late Princess Grace Kelly. And Casiraghi is expecting their first child together later this year. Virtually unknown in the U.S., Elmaleh, 42, was actually in Woody Allen's Oscar-winning Midnight in Paris, as the misguided Détective Tisserant. Starting Friday, American audiences will have the opportunity to see him again, this time in his starring role in the financial thriller Capital, opposite Gabriel Byrne and directed by Oscar-winning French director Costa-Gavras. Here...
- 10/25/2013
- by Paul Chi
- PEOPLE.com
Princess Caroline of Monaco's happiness streak continues. After People reported that her son Andrea Casiraghi is set to tie the knot with his fiancée, South American heiress Tatiana Santo Domingo, on Aug. 31, sources confirm that the Princess's daughter, Charlotte Casiraghi, is expecting her first child with French comedian and actor Gad Elmaleh before Christmas. The good news doesn't end there: Charlotte, 27, and Morocco-born Elmaleh, 42, are also engaged and plan to wed this fall in a private ceremony. "Theirs is a beautiful love story and now there is a baby on the way,” a friend of Elmaleh tells People. "It's a proud moment for them.
- 8/6/2013
- by Peter Mikelbank and Paul Chi
- PEOPLE.com
It shouldn’t have to be this way, but the summer movie-going season is generally known far more for big, bombastic spectacles than for smart, affecting character-based films. That’s not a knock on blockbusters as there were actually quite a few good ones in theaters the past few months, but it’s more an unfortunate commentary on how the smaller films are often lost in the shuffle of May to July if they’re even released at all. But August is the month where explosions and CGI slowly give way to dialogue and character, and it’s here where an intimate look at life, death, and defying expectations just might find the audience it deserves. Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) has had enough. She’s only eleven years old, but she’s already had her fill of life’s absurdities thanks to a family that annoys far more than they enrich. Her...
- 8/18/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Chicago – In our special French film festival edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the Chicago showing of the film “The Hedgehog” at the closing night of the Music Box Theatre’s Chicago French Film Festival! “The Hedgehog” star Josiane Balasko will be at this showing in person!
The film’s original title is “Le hérisson”. “The Hedgehog” stars Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride, Wladimir Yordanoff, Sarah Lepicard, Jean-Luc Porraz and Gisèle Casadesus from writer and director Mona Achache based on the novel by Muriel Barbery.
To win your free pass to the closing-night Chicago showing of “The Hedgehog” at the Chicago French Film Festival courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This showing is on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Directions to enter this...
The film’s original title is “Le hérisson”. “The Hedgehog” stars Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride, Wladimir Yordanoff, Sarah Lepicard, Jean-Luc Porraz and Gisèle Casadesus from writer and director Mona Achache based on the novel by Muriel Barbery.
To win your free pass to the closing-night Chicago showing of “The Hedgehog” at the Chicago French Film Festival courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This showing is on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Directions to enter this...
- 7/21/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Title: The Hedgehog (Le Herisson) Directed By: Mona Achache Written By: Mona Achache, from Muriel Barbery’s novel “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” Cast: Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/28/11 Opens: August 19, 2011 Things are seldom what they seem. An eleven-year-old girl, one would figure, would be watching Disney cartoons, checking out her email on a BlackBerry, and giggling with friends over boys in her class. A janitor who mops the floors of a building but probably would not know how to fix a leaky sink would hardly be expected to curl up with Tolstoy. Yet both of these...
- 6/30/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Le Monde and other French news outlets are reporting that Alain Corneau has succumbed to cancer at the age of 67. Just last week, Jordan Mintzer reviewed Corneau's latest, Crime d'amour (Love Crime), for Variety, calling it a "taut, sinister psycho-procedural." Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier and having just opened in theaters in France, the film is set to screen in a couple of weeks at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In 1992, Corneau's Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) swept France's César Awards, winning best film, director, cinematography (Yves Angelo), supporting actress (Anne Brochet), music (Jordi Savall), costume design (Corinne Jorry) and sound. In 2004, Corneau was awarded the Prix René Clair.
Updates, 8/31: "Mr Corneau's movies included science fiction, police thrillers, a look at office politics in Japan and a mood piece about ancient India," writes Douglas Martin in the New York Times, "but...
In 1992, Corneau's Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) swept France's César Awards, winning best film, director, cinematography (Yves Angelo), supporting actress (Anne Brochet), music (Jordi Savall), costume design (Corinne Jorry) and sound. In 2004, Corneau was awarded the Prix René Clair.
Updates, 8/31: "Mr Corneau's movies included science fiction, police thrillers, a look at office politics in Japan and a mood piece about ancient India," writes Douglas Martin in the New York Times, "but...
- 9/1/2010
- MUBI
Screened
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- Truffaut used to say Hitchcock filmed his murder scenes like love scenes and his love scenes like murder scenes. Patrice Leconte seems to have something like that in mind in his new film, "Intimate Strangers", a peculiar love story designed like a suspense mystery. From Pascal Esteve's moody and insistent musical score, sounding very much like Bernard Herrmann's work for Hitchcock, to cameraman Eduardo Serra's careful, almost geometric compositions, the film has the look of a suspense thriller. We expect a bloody knife or mangled corpse to turn up at any moment. Yet Leconte and co-writer Jerome Tonnerre have something else in mind.
Set for release soon in France, "Intimate Strangers" should perform well there, with Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini heading a fine cast. Leconte's movies are usually strong enough to make it to North America, and this should prove no exception, even if it's not equal to his most sublime films, such as "Ridicule", "Monsieur Hire" and last year's "The Man on the Train".
Leconte calls his film "a sentimental thriller," which is about right. A chance meeting, a case of mistaken identity, a woman in trouble and a jealous husband all fuel the thriller aspect. But what is really at stake are the emotional lives of two unlikely people, people who were never supposed to meet but do. They then fall into a relationship that deepens with each meeting and opens up new vistas for both. Dare we call it love?
Anna (Bonnaire) comes to a building to see a shrink. Because of slight dyslexia that causes her to get directions mixed up, she knocks on the door of tax attorney William Faber (Luchini). The mild-mannered taxman is initially too startled by her intimate confessions to correct her mistake. At her next appointment, he tries to level with her, and by her third visit, she has realized her error and angrily declares that his failure to reveal his true identity is tantamount to psychological rape.
Yet she returns, and soon the two cannot do without their weekly meetings. Gradually, William comes to wonder about this strange woman: Is she in danger? Does her husband truly exist? He gets an answer to the latter question when the husband, Marc Gilbert Melki), shows up at his office.
Anna in turn wonders about the tax consultant. He lives a life a little too neat and tidy, having taken over his father's business and seemingly never ventured far into the world. There is a bit of cat-and-mouse here, where each tries to establish a level of trust and confidence with the other.
The movie has other characters. The shrink (Michel Duchaussoy) down the hall, the one Anna was supposed to see, offers advice to the man who "poached" his client. William's longtime secretary (Helene Surgere) has her own ideas about what is going on behind her boss' closed door. Then there is Anna's husband, William's ex-girlfriend (Anne Brochet) and her new boyfriend (Laurent Gamelon), and we're not quite certain what role each will play in the story, which adds to the suspense.
Leconte uses a few interiors and even less exteriors to create the movie's own world, which is somewhat romanticized and somewhat sinister. This world is one in which the real danger lies in emotional intimacy and the degree to which one is willing to question one's life.
The film does get claustrophobic
it never quite achieves the balance between a two-character study and a larger world, as did "The Man on the Train". The film also could do with a bit more humor, most of which is supplied by the sagacious shrink. But the effort here is admirable and the ending satisfying if a little pat for such an unusual story.
INTIMATE STRANGERS
Les Films Alain Sarde/France 3 Cinema/Zoulous Films/Assise Production
Credits:
Director: Patrice Leconte
Screenwriters: Jerome Tonnerre, Patrice Leconte
Producer: Alain Sarde
Executive producer: Christine Gozlan
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production designer: Ivan Maussion
Music: Pascal Esteve
Costume designer: Annie Perier-Bertaux
Editor: Joelle Hache
Cast:
William: Fabrice Luchini
Anna: Sandrine Bonnaire
Dr. Monnier: Michel Duchaussoy
Jeanne: Anne Brochet
Marc: Gilbert Melki
Luc: Laurent Gamelon
Mrs. Mulon: Helene Surgere
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- Truffaut used to say Hitchcock filmed his murder scenes like love scenes and his love scenes like murder scenes. Patrice Leconte seems to have something like that in mind in his new film, "Intimate Strangers", a peculiar love story designed like a suspense mystery. From Pascal Esteve's moody and insistent musical score, sounding very much like Bernard Herrmann's work for Hitchcock, to cameraman Eduardo Serra's careful, almost geometric compositions, the film has the look of a suspense thriller. We expect a bloody knife or mangled corpse to turn up at any moment. Yet Leconte and co-writer Jerome Tonnerre have something else in mind.
Set for release soon in France, "Intimate Strangers" should perform well there, with Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini heading a fine cast. Leconte's movies are usually strong enough to make it to North America, and this should prove no exception, even if it's not equal to his most sublime films, such as "Ridicule", "Monsieur Hire" and last year's "The Man on the Train".
Leconte calls his film "a sentimental thriller," which is about right. A chance meeting, a case of mistaken identity, a woman in trouble and a jealous husband all fuel the thriller aspect. But what is really at stake are the emotional lives of two unlikely people, people who were never supposed to meet but do. They then fall into a relationship that deepens with each meeting and opens up new vistas for both. Dare we call it love?
Anna (Bonnaire) comes to a building to see a shrink. Because of slight dyslexia that causes her to get directions mixed up, she knocks on the door of tax attorney William Faber (Luchini). The mild-mannered taxman is initially too startled by her intimate confessions to correct her mistake. At her next appointment, he tries to level with her, and by her third visit, she has realized her error and angrily declares that his failure to reveal his true identity is tantamount to psychological rape.
Yet she returns, and soon the two cannot do without their weekly meetings. Gradually, William comes to wonder about this strange woman: Is she in danger? Does her husband truly exist? He gets an answer to the latter question when the husband, Marc Gilbert Melki), shows up at his office.
Anna in turn wonders about the tax consultant. He lives a life a little too neat and tidy, having taken over his father's business and seemingly never ventured far into the world. There is a bit of cat-and-mouse here, where each tries to establish a level of trust and confidence with the other.
The movie has other characters. The shrink (Michel Duchaussoy) down the hall, the one Anna was supposed to see, offers advice to the man who "poached" his client. William's longtime secretary (Helene Surgere) has her own ideas about what is going on behind her boss' closed door. Then there is Anna's husband, William's ex-girlfriend (Anne Brochet) and her new boyfriend (Laurent Gamelon), and we're not quite certain what role each will play in the story, which adds to the suspense.
Leconte uses a few interiors and even less exteriors to create the movie's own world, which is somewhat romanticized and somewhat sinister. This world is one in which the real danger lies in emotional intimacy and the degree to which one is willing to question one's life.
The film does get claustrophobic
it never quite achieves the balance between a two-character study and a larger world, as did "The Man on the Train". The film also could do with a bit more humor, most of which is supplied by the sagacious shrink. But the effort here is admirable and the ending satisfying if a little pat for such an unusual story.
INTIMATE STRANGERS
Les Films Alain Sarde/France 3 Cinema/Zoulous Films/Assise Production
Credits:
Director: Patrice Leconte
Screenwriters: Jerome Tonnerre, Patrice Leconte
Producer: Alain Sarde
Executive producer: Christine Gozlan
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production designer: Ivan Maussion
Music: Pascal Esteve
Costume designer: Annie Perier-Bertaux
Editor: Joelle Hache
Cast:
William: Fabrice Luchini
Anna: Sandrine Bonnaire
Dr. Monnier: Michel Duchaussoy
Jeanne: Anne Brochet
Marc: Gilbert Melki
Luc: Laurent Gamelon
Mrs. Mulon: Helene Surgere
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- Truffaut used to say Hitchcock filmed his murder scenes like love scenes and his love scenes like murder scenes. Patrice Leconte seems to have something like that in mind in his new film, "Intimate Strangers", a peculiar love story designed like a suspense mystery. From Pascal Esteve's moody and insistent musical score, sounding very much like Bernard Herrmann's work for Hitchcock, to cameraman Eduardo Serra's careful, almost geometric compositions, the film has the look of a suspense thriller. We expect a bloody knife or mangled corpse to turn up at any moment. Yet Leconte and co-writer Jerome Tonnerre have something else in mind.
Set for release soon in France, "Intimate Strangers" should perform well there, with Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini heading a fine cast. Leconte's movies are usually strong enough to make it to North America, and this should prove no exception, even if it's not equal to his most sublime films, such as "Ridicule", "Monsieur Hire" and last year's "The Man on the Train".
Leconte calls his film "a sentimental thriller," which is about right. A chance meeting, a case of mistaken identity, a woman in trouble and a jealous husband all fuel the thriller aspect. But what is really at stake are the emotional lives of two unlikely people, people who were never supposed to meet but do. They then fall into a relationship that deepens with each meeting and opens up new vistas for both. Dare we call it love?
Anna (Bonnaire) comes to a building to see a shrink. Because of slight dyslexia that causes her to get directions mixed up, she knocks on the door of tax attorney William Faber (Luchini). The mild-mannered taxman is initially too startled by her intimate confessions to correct her mistake. At her next appointment, he tries to level with her, and by her third visit, she has realized her error and angrily declares that his failure to reveal his true identity is tantamount to psychological rape.
Yet she returns, and soon the two cannot do without their weekly meetings. Gradually, William comes to wonder about this strange woman: Is she in danger? Does her husband truly exist? He gets an answer to the latter question when the husband, Marc Gilbert Melki), shows up at his office.
Anna in turn wonders about the tax consultant. He lives a life a little too neat and tidy, having taken over his father's business and seemingly never ventured far into the world. There is a bit of cat-and-mouse here, where each tries to establish a level of trust and confidence with the other.
The movie has other characters. The shrink (Michel Duchaussoy) down the hall, the one Anna was supposed to see, offers advice to the man who "poached" his client. William's longtime secretary (Helene Surgere) has her own ideas about what is going on behind her boss' closed door. Then there is Anna's husband, William's ex-girlfriend (Anne Brochet) and her new boyfriend (Laurent Gamelon), and we're not quite certain what role each will play in the story, which adds to the suspense.
Leconte uses a few interiors and even less exteriors to create the movie's own world, which is somewhat romanticized and somewhat sinister. This world is one in which the real danger lies in emotional intimacy and the degree to which one is willing to question one's life.
The film does get claustrophobic
it never quite achieves the balance between a two-character study and a larger world, as did "The Man on the Train". The film also could do with a bit more humor, most of which is supplied by the sagacious shrink. But the effort here is admirable and the ending satisfying if a little pat for such an unusual story.
INTIMATE STRANGERS
Les Films Alain Sarde/France 3 Cinema/Zoulous Films/Assise Production
Credits:
Director: Patrice Leconte
Screenwriters: Jerome Tonnerre, Patrice Leconte
Producer: Alain Sarde
Executive producer: Christine Gozlan
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production designer: Ivan Maussion
Music: Pascal Esteve
Costume designer: Annie Perier-Bertaux
Editor: Joelle Hache
Cast:
William: Fabrice Luchini
Anna: Sandrine Bonnaire
Dr. Monnier: Michel Duchaussoy
Jeanne: Anne Brochet
Marc: Gilbert Melki
Luc: Laurent Gamelon
Mrs. Mulon: Helene Surgere
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- Truffaut used to say Hitchcock filmed his murder scenes like love scenes and his love scenes like murder scenes. Patrice Leconte seems to have something like that in mind in his new film, "Intimate Strangers", a peculiar love story designed like a suspense mystery. From Pascal Esteve's moody and insistent musical score, sounding very much like Bernard Herrmann's work for Hitchcock, to cameraman Eduardo Serra's careful, almost geometric compositions, the film has the look of a suspense thriller. We expect a bloody knife or mangled corpse to turn up at any moment. Yet Leconte and co-writer Jerome Tonnerre have something else in mind.
Set for release soon in France, "Intimate Strangers" should perform well there, with Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini heading a fine cast. Leconte's movies are usually strong enough to make it to North America, and this should prove no exception, even if it's not equal to his most sublime films, such as "Ridicule", "Monsieur Hire" and last year's "The Man on the Train".
Leconte calls his film "a sentimental thriller," which is about right. A chance meeting, a case of mistaken identity, a woman in trouble and a jealous husband all fuel the thriller aspect. But what is really at stake are the emotional lives of two unlikely people, people who were never supposed to meet but do. They then fall into a relationship that deepens with each meeting and opens up new vistas for both. Dare we call it love?
Anna (Bonnaire) comes to a building to see a shrink. Because of slight dyslexia that causes her to get directions mixed up, she knocks on the door of tax attorney William Faber (Luchini). The mild-mannered taxman is initially too startled by her intimate confessions to correct her mistake. At her next appointment, he tries to level with her, and by her third visit, she has realized her error and angrily declares that his failure to reveal his true identity is tantamount to psychological rape.
Yet she returns, and soon the two cannot do without their weekly meetings. Gradually, William comes to wonder about this strange woman: Is she in danger? Does her husband truly exist? He gets an answer to the latter question when the husband, Marc Gilbert Melki), shows up at his office.
Anna in turn wonders about the tax consultant. He lives a life a little too neat and tidy, having taken over his father's business and seemingly never ventured far into the world. There is a bit of cat-and-mouse here, where each tries to establish a level of trust and confidence with the other.
The movie has other characters. The shrink (Michel Duchaussoy) down the hall, the one Anna was supposed to see, offers advice to the man who "poached" his client. William's longtime secretary (Helene Surgere) has her own ideas about what is going on behind her boss' closed door. Then there is Anna's husband, William's ex-girlfriend (Anne Brochet) and her new boyfriend (Laurent Gamelon), and we're not quite certain what role each will play in the story, which adds to the suspense.
Leconte uses a few interiors and even less exteriors to create the movie's own world, which is somewhat romanticized and somewhat sinister. This world is one in which the real danger lies in emotional intimacy and the degree to which one is willing to question one's life.
The film does get claustrophobic
it never quite achieves the balance between a two-character study and a larger world, as did "The Man on the Train". The film also could do with a bit more humor, most of which is supplied by the sagacious shrink. But the effort here is admirable and the ending satisfying if a little pat for such an unusual story.
INTIMATE STRANGERS
Les Films Alain Sarde/France 3 Cinema/Zoulous Films/Assise Production
Credits:
Director: Patrice Leconte
Screenwriters: Jerome Tonnerre, Patrice Leconte
Producer: Alain Sarde
Executive producer: Christine Gozlan
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production designer: Ivan Maussion
Music: Pascal Esteve
Costume designer: Annie Perier-Bertaux
Editor: Joelle Hache
Cast:
William: Fabrice Luchini
Anna: Sandrine Bonnaire
Dr. Monnier: Michel Duchaussoy
Jeanne: Anne Brochet
Marc: Gilbert Melki
Luc: Laurent Gamelon
Mrs. Mulon: Helene Surgere
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Now in his fifth decade of filmmaking, French master Jacques Rivette shows no signs of his intellectual arteries hardening or cinematic vigor diminishing. In fact, by all rights, his new film "The Story of Marie and Julien" should belong to a young indie filmmaker wanting to turn the cinema of the fantastic on its head with an audacious metaphysical drama.
As is nearly always the case, Rivette's rhythms are leisurely. The 150-minute film, which premiered here at the festival, studies its characters in the most scrupulous details of their often strange and enigmatic behavior. This is certainly the cinema of the art house, and even there many habitues may be immune to such a somber "Story".
At this particular moment in his life, Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) -- a man in his 40s who repairs antique clocks in his old, rambling Paris house -- is dominated by two women. Marie (beautiful Emmanuelle Beart), whom he met the year before, then loved and lost, haunts his dreams. Madame X (Anne Brochet), a woman whose secrets he is privy to, falls victim to his blackmail scheme.
Then he encounters Marie again. While she is at times remote and lethargic, he eagerly enters into an affair with her that grows more passionate with each passing day.
Marie moves in with Julien and even participates in his blackmail scheme. She spends part of her days in an upstairs room, acquiring and rearranging its furniture for some ominous purpose. Julien continues to tinker with his clocks or, metaphorically speaking, with time, which seems to be working against him and Marie. But it is Madame X who understands the dangerous secret that could unravel the couple's life together.
Even as the contours of the secret grow more apparent before its revelation, Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
The style is austere, with no music and a soundtrack frequently booming with everyday noises -- a shoe dropping, the tick of a clock, the scrape of moving furniture on a wood floor. The actors move and behave as if in a dream. The mood is grave, and those elements one might call "otherworldly" are presented matter-of-factly.
The couple's longing gazes and frenzied couplings suggest the passion of desperation, where even as they make love they fantasize about other lovers and couplings to make up for the fleeting time they have together. As the minimalist masterwork concludes, both Marie and Julien find the means to cope with the problems of memory, love and loss.
THE STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
Pierre Grise Prods.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Screenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette
Producer: Martine Marignac
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Costume designer: Laurence Struz
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Marie: Emmanuelle Beart
Julien: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Madame X: Anne Brochet
Adrienne: Bettina Kee
Publisher: Olivier Cruveiller
Concierge: Mathias Jung
Friend: Nicole Garcia
Running time -- 150 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/12/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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