Catherine Deneuve: César Award Besst Actress Record-Tier (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'In the Courtyard / Dans la cour') (See previous post: "Kristen Stewart and Catherine Deneuve Make César Award History.") Catherine Deneuve has received 12 Best Actress César nominations to date. Deneuve's nods were for the following movies (year of film's release): Pierre Salvadori's In the Courtyard / Dans la Cour (2014). Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way / Elle s'en va (2013). François Ozon's Potiche (2010). Nicole Garcia's Place Vendôme (1998). André Téchiné's Thieves / Les voleurs (1996). André Téchiné's My Favorite Season / Ma saison préférée (1993). Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). François Dupeyron's Strange Place for an Encounter / Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre (1988). Jean-Pierre Mocky's Agent trouble (1987). André Téchiné's Hotel America / Hôtel des Amériques (1981). François Truffaut's The Last Metro / Le dernier métro (1980). Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Le sauvage (1975). Additionally, Catherine Deneuve was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category...
- 1/30/2015
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Ciné-Sud has two films selected for Toronto: the Iranian feature “ Red Rose” (handled internationally by Udi – Urban Distribution International) and the Vietnam-France-Norway-Germany co-production “Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere” by Nguyen Hoang Diep which will premiere September 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Venice/ Critics Week before moving to Toronto And with no international sales agent to date.
In Locarno, "Los ausentes" (“The Absent Ones) by Nicolas Pereda, a Mèxico-Spain-France coproduction is screening out of competition on August 11! The international sales agent is Caravan Pass, a former production company formed in 2005 in Paris by Natalie Dana. In 2014 founder Natalie and industry celeb-acquisitions persona, Elizabeth Dreyer, turned the company to international sales as well. They are actively seeking completed/ unlaunched films and projects at the financing stage.
Natalie Dana worked in sales at some of the industry’s most recognizable sales agencies, including Mercure and Celluloid Dreams. She also headed distribution for various film distributors and selected films for the prestigious Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival for five years. Under her guidance, Caravan Pass has produced or co-produced four feature films and two documentaries, partnering with notable production companies in several countries including Brazil and Italy.
Elizabeth Dreyer began her career in acquisitions, acquiring completed films and projects for North America for Miramax Films and Focus Features. As an independent consultant she has since sourced and sold remakes to international producers, advised renowned distributors around the world on pre-buys and completed film pickups, and developed feature films for proven French film producers looking to access the international market. She most recently handled sales and acquisitions for Celluloid Dreams.
Ciné-Sud Promotion itself started in 1993 as a company designed to promote art house films (Rachid Bouchareb, Wang Chao, Guillermo Del Toro, Raymond Depardon, Djibril Diop Mambety, Julio Medem, Jafar Panahi, Manuel Poirier, Arturo Ripstein, Paulo Rocha, Carlos Saura, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, Jean-Philippe Toussaint… amongst others). There is still the press promotion department which is now under the leadership of Claire Viroulaud, publicist for many art house movies.
In 2001 Thierry Lenouvel, the founder, created a production arm and has thus far produced or co-produced 30 films which have won more 150 international awards.
The mission remains constant: Quality, without frontiers, without constraints of form, style or genre, researching emerging talents and supporting already acclaimed directors with projects whch deliver a singular and important message for and about humanity and our society utilizing strong cinematic forms.
This is only a part of all Thierry has created. Read on, dear reader, read on.
Amiens International Film Festival
Although many festivals now have competitions for cash prizes and forums for pitching and co-production meetings, Amiens stands out with its Fund for Aid for the Development of Feature Film Script and its ties to its creator, Ciné Sud, that privately owned feature film production company transformed by prolific producer Thierry Lenouvel created the Fund in 1996.
The Screenplay Development Fund (Fonds d'aide au développment du scénario or Fads) is awarded during the Amiens Film Festival to a project at one of the most critical stages in the life of a movie, that is at script stage. In its 19 years of existence it has supported 79 feature film scripts of which 39 were completed, 9 are shooting now, 21 are in development. More than 632,600 Euros have been granted. Cnac, the Venezuelan film organization has given a grant of 10,000 € for the past five years.
Fads partners: National Film Centre and Moving • International Organization of la Francophonie • Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs • Moroccan National Center for Cinema (Ccm) • Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema • Regional Council of Picardy • Central Fund for Social Activities picture • Independent National Film Centre (Cnac - Venezuela)
In 2014, four scholarships of € 10,000 each were granted to directors of the following projects:
Family Gustavo Cordova Rondon (Venezuela) which has also won:
Cnac Script Development Fund (Venezuela)
Amiens Script Development Fund 2013
Ibermedia Development Fund 2013
And it has been selected to participate at:
Produire Au Sud Andean Workshop 2013
Ibermedia Project Development Workshop 2013
Oaxaca Screenwriters Lab 2014
Berlinale Talent Project Market 2014
The Court Of My Mother Idriss Diabaté (Côte d'Ivoire)
My Favorite Fabric Gaya Jiji (Syria)
Territoria Nora Martirosyan (Armenia)
And an additional grant of € 7,000 was awarded to the French project Dance Silent of Pradeepan Raveendran.
The rules and the application form of the next Script Fund of Amiens (due August 18!) that he created is available online or on request…from Thierry or even from me!
And, last but not least, Thierry brings "Cinema in Motion" from San Sebastian (who decided to stop the program in 2013) to Venice where it's now called " Final Cut in Venice", a workshop to help six works in progress from Africa and Arabic World toward completion with the support of French and Italian technical industries.
For more information contact:
Thierry Lenouvel
thierry [At] cinesudpromotion.com
Some films produced by Ciné-Sud:
Tirana. Year Zero by Fatmir Koci (France/Albania/ Belgium), Competition/Venice 2001, Golden Alexander/Thessaloniki
Rachida by Yamina Bachir Chouikh (France/Algeria), Official Selection/Cannes 2002
Fuse ! (Gori Vatra) by Pjer Zalica (Bosnia/Austria/Turkey/France), Silver Leopard/Locarno 2003
Wall by Simone Bitton (France/Israel), Directors Fortnight/Cannes 2004, Special Jury Prize/Sundance, Grand Prix/Marseille, Pesaro, Montreal, Jerusalem
Moolaade by Sembene Ousmane (Sénégal/France/Burkina/Maroc), Grand Prix Un Certain Regard/Cannes 2004, Best Foreign Film/American Critics Awards
Falafel by Michel Kammoun (Lebanon/France), Bayard d’Or/Namur 2006, Silver Muhr/Dubai, Bronze Palm/Valencia
Pomegranates And Myrrh by Najwa Najjar (Palestine/Germany/France), Competition/Sundance 2009, Rotterdam, 1st price in Doha
Rachel by Simone Bitton (France/Belgium), Forum/Berlin 2009, Competition/Cinema du Réel 2009
Every Day Is A Holliday by Dima El Horr (France/Lebanon/Germany),Toronto 2009, Roma, Dubai, Rotterdam, New York 2010
Mothers by Milcho Manchevski (Macedonia/Bulgaria/France),Toronto 2010, Berlin (Panorama) 2011
The Stoplight Society by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia/France/Spain/ Germany), best Colombian film of the year/Cartagena 2011, Best Director/Amiens 2010, Best 1st film/Huelva 2010
El Campo by Hernan Belon (Argentina/Italy/France) – Venice 2011/Critics Week
Fat, Bald, Short Man (Colombia/France) – more than 20 selections in 2011/2012
La Playa by Juan Andres Arango (Colombia/Brazil/France) – Cannes 2012/Official Selection, Un Certain Regard
Villegas by Gonzalo Tobal (Argentina/France) – Cannes 2012/Official Selection
La Sirga by William Vega (Colombia/Mexico/France) – Cannes 2012/Directors Fortnight
Qissa by Anup Singh (India/Germany/France/Holland) – Toronto 2013/Netpac award, Rotterdam 2014/Audience Award
Dust On The Tongue by Ruben Mendoza (Columbia/France) – Cartagena 2014/Best film, best director
Mateo by Maria Gamboa (Colombia/France) – Cartagena 2014/Jury Special award
Run, Boy, Run by Pepe Danquart (Germany/France) – Cannes Junior 2014
In post-production :
Red Rose by Sepideh Farsi (Iran/France/Grèce)
Los Ausentes by Nicolas Pereda (Mexico/Spain/France)
Ausencia by Chico Teixeira (Brazil/France)
Flapping In The Middle Of Nowhere by Nguyen Hiang Diep (Vietnam/France/Norvège/Allemagne)
In development :
Kill Two Birds With One Stone by Fejria Deliba (France)
Embrace Of The Serpent by Ciro Guerra (Colombie/Vénézuela/France)
Mantra, Song Of Scorpions by Anup Singh (Inde/Suisse/France)
Sal by William Vega (Colombie/Allemagne/France)
Parable Of A Blind Christ (Chili/France)
Land And Shade by Cesar Acevedo (Colombie/France)
D’Une Rive L’Autre by Sepideh Farsi (France)...
In Locarno, "Los ausentes" (“The Absent Ones) by Nicolas Pereda, a Mèxico-Spain-France coproduction is screening out of competition on August 11! The international sales agent is Caravan Pass, a former production company formed in 2005 in Paris by Natalie Dana. In 2014 founder Natalie and industry celeb-acquisitions persona, Elizabeth Dreyer, turned the company to international sales as well. They are actively seeking completed/ unlaunched films and projects at the financing stage.
Natalie Dana worked in sales at some of the industry’s most recognizable sales agencies, including Mercure and Celluloid Dreams. She also headed distribution for various film distributors and selected films for the prestigious Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival for five years. Under her guidance, Caravan Pass has produced or co-produced four feature films and two documentaries, partnering with notable production companies in several countries including Brazil and Italy.
Elizabeth Dreyer began her career in acquisitions, acquiring completed films and projects for North America for Miramax Films and Focus Features. As an independent consultant she has since sourced and sold remakes to international producers, advised renowned distributors around the world on pre-buys and completed film pickups, and developed feature films for proven French film producers looking to access the international market. She most recently handled sales and acquisitions for Celluloid Dreams.
Ciné-Sud Promotion itself started in 1993 as a company designed to promote art house films (Rachid Bouchareb, Wang Chao, Guillermo Del Toro, Raymond Depardon, Djibril Diop Mambety, Julio Medem, Jafar Panahi, Manuel Poirier, Arturo Ripstein, Paulo Rocha, Carlos Saura, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, Jean-Philippe Toussaint… amongst others). There is still the press promotion department which is now under the leadership of Claire Viroulaud, publicist for many art house movies.
In 2001 Thierry Lenouvel, the founder, created a production arm and has thus far produced or co-produced 30 films which have won more 150 international awards.
The mission remains constant: Quality, without frontiers, without constraints of form, style or genre, researching emerging talents and supporting already acclaimed directors with projects whch deliver a singular and important message for and about humanity and our society utilizing strong cinematic forms.
This is only a part of all Thierry has created. Read on, dear reader, read on.
Amiens International Film Festival
Although many festivals now have competitions for cash prizes and forums for pitching and co-production meetings, Amiens stands out with its Fund for Aid for the Development of Feature Film Script and its ties to its creator, Ciné Sud, that privately owned feature film production company transformed by prolific producer Thierry Lenouvel created the Fund in 1996.
The Screenplay Development Fund (Fonds d'aide au développment du scénario or Fads) is awarded during the Amiens Film Festival to a project at one of the most critical stages in the life of a movie, that is at script stage. In its 19 years of existence it has supported 79 feature film scripts of which 39 were completed, 9 are shooting now, 21 are in development. More than 632,600 Euros have been granted. Cnac, the Venezuelan film organization has given a grant of 10,000 € for the past five years.
Fads partners: National Film Centre and Moving • International Organization of la Francophonie • Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs • Moroccan National Center for Cinema (Ccm) • Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema • Regional Council of Picardy • Central Fund for Social Activities picture • Independent National Film Centre (Cnac - Venezuela)
In 2014, four scholarships of € 10,000 each were granted to directors of the following projects:
Family Gustavo Cordova Rondon (Venezuela) which has also won:
Cnac Script Development Fund (Venezuela)
Amiens Script Development Fund 2013
Ibermedia Development Fund 2013
And it has been selected to participate at:
Produire Au Sud Andean Workshop 2013
Ibermedia Project Development Workshop 2013
Oaxaca Screenwriters Lab 2014
Berlinale Talent Project Market 2014
The Court Of My Mother Idriss Diabaté (Côte d'Ivoire)
My Favorite Fabric Gaya Jiji (Syria)
Territoria Nora Martirosyan (Armenia)
And an additional grant of € 7,000 was awarded to the French project Dance Silent of Pradeepan Raveendran.
The rules and the application form of the next Script Fund of Amiens (due August 18!) that he created is available online or on request…from Thierry or even from me!
And, last but not least, Thierry brings "Cinema in Motion" from San Sebastian (who decided to stop the program in 2013) to Venice where it's now called " Final Cut in Venice", a workshop to help six works in progress from Africa and Arabic World toward completion with the support of French and Italian technical industries.
For more information contact:
Thierry Lenouvel
thierry [At] cinesudpromotion.com
Some films produced by Ciné-Sud:
Tirana. Year Zero by Fatmir Koci (France/Albania/ Belgium), Competition/Venice 2001, Golden Alexander/Thessaloniki
Rachida by Yamina Bachir Chouikh (France/Algeria), Official Selection/Cannes 2002
Fuse ! (Gori Vatra) by Pjer Zalica (Bosnia/Austria/Turkey/France), Silver Leopard/Locarno 2003
Wall by Simone Bitton (France/Israel), Directors Fortnight/Cannes 2004, Special Jury Prize/Sundance, Grand Prix/Marseille, Pesaro, Montreal, Jerusalem
Moolaade by Sembene Ousmane (Sénégal/France/Burkina/Maroc), Grand Prix Un Certain Regard/Cannes 2004, Best Foreign Film/American Critics Awards
Falafel by Michel Kammoun (Lebanon/France), Bayard d’Or/Namur 2006, Silver Muhr/Dubai, Bronze Palm/Valencia
Pomegranates And Myrrh by Najwa Najjar (Palestine/Germany/France), Competition/Sundance 2009, Rotterdam, 1st price in Doha
Rachel by Simone Bitton (France/Belgium), Forum/Berlin 2009, Competition/Cinema du Réel 2009
Every Day Is A Holliday by Dima El Horr (France/Lebanon/Germany),Toronto 2009, Roma, Dubai, Rotterdam, New York 2010
Mothers by Milcho Manchevski (Macedonia/Bulgaria/France),Toronto 2010, Berlin (Panorama) 2011
The Stoplight Society by Ruben Mendoza (Colombia/France/Spain/ Germany), best Colombian film of the year/Cartagena 2011, Best Director/Amiens 2010, Best 1st film/Huelva 2010
El Campo by Hernan Belon (Argentina/Italy/France) – Venice 2011/Critics Week
Fat, Bald, Short Man (Colombia/France) – more than 20 selections in 2011/2012
La Playa by Juan Andres Arango (Colombia/Brazil/France) – Cannes 2012/Official Selection, Un Certain Regard
Villegas by Gonzalo Tobal (Argentina/France) – Cannes 2012/Official Selection
La Sirga by William Vega (Colombia/Mexico/France) – Cannes 2012/Directors Fortnight
Qissa by Anup Singh (India/Germany/France/Holland) – Toronto 2013/Netpac award, Rotterdam 2014/Audience Award
Dust On The Tongue by Ruben Mendoza (Columbia/France) – Cartagena 2014/Best film, best director
Mateo by Maria Gamboa (Colombia/France) – Cartagena 2014/Jury Special award
Run, Boy, Run by Pepe Danquart (Germany/France) – Cannes Junior 2014
In post-production :
Red Rose by Sepideh Farsi (Iran/France/Grèce)
Los Ausentes by Nicolas Pereda (Mexico/Spain/France)
Ausencia by Chico Teixeira (Brazil/France)
Flapping In The Middle Of Nowhere by Nguyen Hiang Diep (Vietnam/France/Norvège/Allemagne)
In development :
Kill Two Birds With One Stone by Fejria Deliba (France)
Embrace Of The Serpent by Ciro Guerra (Colombie/Vénézuela/France)
Mantra, Song Of Scorpions by Anup Singh (Inde/Suisse/France)
Sal by William Vega (Colombie/Allemagne/France)
Parable Of A Blind Christ (Chili/France)
Land And Shade by Cesar Acevedo (Colombie/France)
D’Une Rive L’Autre by Sepideh Farsi (France)...
- 8/8/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
San Sebastian Film Festival
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- Peruvian-born French director Manuel Poirier has an undoubted obsession for the French countryside in most of his films including "Western", which earned him a Jury Prize in Cannes 10 years ago. Now comes "The House", a cleverly built character study of two men and two women in their relation to a country cottage. The film, which opened in Paris in late August, competes for the Golden Shell in San Sebastian.
The film has an indubitable outmoded charm, but the path towards its moving ending is a long one for impatient audiences, making international market perspectives quite limited. "The House" more likely will tour film festivals as an example of a classical French romantic drama.
Poirier, who wrote the script, follows the inner journey of Malo, owner of a small printing company, at a key moment of his life as he is about to divorce and is for the first time away from his three children. While visiting a country house in company of his friend Remi, he falls upon a letter written by a child, Cloe, to her father and takes it with him.
He contacts the owners, two sisters who are forced to sell the house at an auction to pay their late father's debts. Malo starts falling in love with the younger sister (who happens to be Cloe), and tries to buy the house in order to allow her to keep it.
This very minimalist story establishes both the charm and the limits of the film. Poirier shows a sensitive touch for framing and for imposing a delicate, slow pace but it's a pace that can easily irritate some.
The two best sequences are situated towards the end of the film, both genuinely compelling and intensely acted between Malo (Sergi Lopez) and Cloe (Berenice Bejo). The first is the auction scene, in which Malo feels obliged to bid an unexpected sum. Deliberately theatrical, it contrasts Cloe's despair to see her house (hence her childhood memories) escape her to Malo's face as he is overwhelmed by the situation. This offers a light counterpoint to a dramatic moment. Then comes the two lovers' reunion at Malo's place, in which Poirier composes a choreographic movement within a confined space to express the intensity of their relationship.
Lopez, a well-known Catalan actor who divides his career between French and Spanish stage and screen, is once again impressive in showing the inner wounds of a middle-aged man who realizes this turn may be crucial in his life. It is no surprise that this ninth collaboration with the director works smoothly.
Bejo, who had her first hit in "OSS 117" last year, shows the range of her talent as her character gives in to long-restrained emotions and wonderfully expresses sorrow or incipient love with a simple eye blink.
Worth mentioning is the music partly composed by Canadian singer Lhasa, which adds passion to this otherwise dry slice of lives likely to remind French cinema buffs of Eric Rohmer's sentimental studies -- without reaching Rohmer's standard of artistic purity.
THE HOUSE
Diaphana Prods.
Credits:
Writer/director: Manuel Poirier
Producer: Michel Saint-Jean
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Production designer: Capucine Flavin
Music: Lhasa, Jean Massicotte
Costume designer: Stephanie Watrignant
Editor: Simon Jacquet
Cast:
Malo: Sergi Lopez
Remi: Bruno Salomone
Cloe: Berenice Bejo
Laura: Barbara Schulz
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- Peruvian-born French director Manuel Poirier has an undoubted obsession for the French countryside in most of his films including "Western", which earned him a Jury Prize in Cannes 10 years ago. Now comes "The House", a cleverly built character study of two men and two women in their relation to a country cottage. The film, which opened in Paris in late August, competes for the Golden Shell in San Sebastian.
The film has an indubitable outmoded charm, but the path towards its moving ending is a long one for impatient audiences, making international market perspectives quite limited. "The House" more likely will tour film festivals as an example of a classical French romantic drama.
Poirier, who wrote the script, follows the inner journey of Malo, owner of a small printing company, at a key moment of his life as he is about to divorce and is for the first time away from his three children. While visiting a country house in company of his friend Remi, he falls upon a letter written by a child, Cloe, to her father and takes it with him.
He contacts the owners, two sisters who are forced to sell the house at an auction to pay their late father's debts. Malo starts falling in love with the younger sister (who happens to be Cloe), and tries to buy the house in order to allow her to keep it.
This very minimalist story establishes both the charm and the limits of the film. Poirier shows a sensitive touch for framing and for imposing a delicate, slow pace but it's a pace that can easily irritate some.
The two best sequences are situated towards the end of the film, both genuinely compelling and intensely acted between Malo (Sergi Lopez) and Cloe (Berenice Bejo). The first is the auction scene, in which Malo feels obliged to bid an unexpected sum. Deliberately theatrical, it contrasts Cloe's despair to see her house (hence her childhood memories) escape her to Malo's face as he is overwhelmed by the situation. This offers a light counterpoint to a dramatic moment. Then comes the two lovers' reunion at Malo's place, in which Poirier composes a choreographic movement within a confined space to express the intensity of their relationship.
Lopez, a well-known Catalan actor who divides his career between French and Spanish stage and screen, is once again impressive in showing the inner wounds of a middle-aged man who realizes this turn may be crucial in his life. It is no surprise that this ninth collaboration with the director works smoothly.
Bejo, who had her first hit in "OSS 117" last year, shows the range of her talent as her character gives in to long-restrained emotions and wonderfully expresses sorrow or incipient love with a simple eye blink.
Worth mentioning is the music partly composed by Canadian singer Lhasa, which adds passion to this otherwise dry slice of lives likely to remind French cinema buffs of Eric Rohmer's sentimental studies -- without reaching Rohmer's standard of artistic purity.
THE HOUSE
Diaphana Prods.
Credits:
Writer/director: Manuel Poirier
Producer: Michel Saint-Jean
Director of photography: Pierre Milon
Production designer: Capucine Flavin
Music: Lhasa, Jean Massicotte
Costume designer: Stephanie Watrignant
Editor: Simon Jacquet
Cast:
Malo: Sergi Lopez
Remi: Bruno Salomone
Cloe: Berenice Bejo
Laura: Barbara Schulz
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/24/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CANNES -- The U.K. Film Council is pumping £431,207 ($699,000) into French writer-director Manuel Poirier's Chemins de Traverse (Crossroads), the government-backed funding organization said Thursday. The cash injection, from the council's production fund headed by Robert Jones, is expected to spark controversy in the United Kingdom because it is a French-language film. The movie follows the tale of a father and son traveling across Brittany in France and their growing relationship. It stars Sergi Lopez (Dirty Pretty Things), who plays the father, Victor, and Kevin Miranda (Les P'tits gars Ladouceur) as the teenage boy. No budget was given for the title, which is shooting in France.
- 5/16/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
For a film headed south, Competition entry "Western" is misleadingly titled. A road movie with nowhere to go, it tests the viewer's endurance for a two-hour trek with two losers from Brittany, France. To be sure, there are a few laughs along the way, but they are spaced too far apart across the cinematic terrain to be worth the trip.
Directed and co-written by Manuel Poirier, the film stars Sergi Lopez as the womanizing Paco, an erstwhile shoe salesman who has to hit the pavement when the hobo Nino (Sacha Bourdo) steals Paco's car. Love-starved Nino steals the car to impress a woman to no avail, while Paco succeeds in picking up a woman when he loses his car. The woman dumps Paco when she discovers his predilection for prevarication. Such comedic twists and ironies come close to popping the clutch on this film, but "Western" never really picks up any speed.
Take, for example, the hilarious sequence in which woman-chaser Paco concocts a plan to find a woman for Nino, from whom most women run. Together, they create a questionnaire exclusively for women for the ostensible purpose of identifying the ideal man. It is all a ruse, of course, to identify the one woman in the village who would find the repulsive Nino attractive.
The door-to-door polling that follows is full of comic potential, as is the "climax" of the sequence when Nino is abandoned in bed by the woman who concludes that he is too good for her. Like an engine turning over, this montage suggests that the cinematic vehicle has much horsepower, but ultimately Poirer cannot jump- start this movie.
The signs of sexism that appear throughout "Western"'s landscape contribute to the lessening of the film's comic potential. In an awkward and unsuccessful scene, Nino accuses all women of superficiality for falling for the allegedly handsome Paco.
Lopez, however, is no leading man, and the tendency for virtually all attractive women in the film to fall for his charlatan charms does not simply defy credulity but suggests that all women are stupid, lovesick or both.
Besides its pace, "Western" is a trip with a few highlights. Poirier and co-writer Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet deserve some credit for a couple of moments of levity. Lopez and Bourdo deliver acceptable performances, as do the host of women they conquer along the way. Elisabeth Vitali and Marie Matheron are especially iridescent as the only two women who see the light when it comes to Paco.
Speaking of the light, "Western"'s lighting looks as if the sun failed to set during the shoot as every image seems overexposed. Perhaps this look is intentional or merely the psychological projection of a viewer who could not wait for the sun to set on this film.
WESTERN
In competition
Director Manuel Poirier
Producer Maurice Bernart
Screenwriters Manuel Poirier,
Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet
Exececutive producer Michel St. Jean
Director of photography Nara Keo Kosal
Production manager Malek Hamzaoui
Editor Yann Dedet
Sound Jean-Paul Bernard
Original music Bernardo Sandoval
Cast:
Paco Sergi Lopez
Nino Sacha Bourdo
Marinette Elisabeth Vitali
Natalie Marie Matheron
Baptiste Basile Siekoua
Running time -- 136 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Directed and co-written by Manuel Poirier, the film stars Sergi Lopez as the womanizing Paco, an erstwhile shoe salesman who has to hit the pavement when the hobo Nino (Sacha Bourdo) steals Paco's car. Love-starved Nino steals the car to impress a woman to no avail, while Paco succeeds in picking up a woman when he loses his car. The woman dumps Paco when she discovers his predilection for prevarication. Such comedic twists and ironies come close to popping the clutch on this film, but "Western" never really picks up any speed.
Take, for example, the hilarious sequence in which woman-chaser Paco concocts a plan to find a woman for Nino, from whom most women run. Together, they create a questionnaire exclusively for women for the ostensible purpose of identifying the ideal man. It is all a ruse, of course, to identify the one woman in the village who would find the repulsive Nino attractive.
The door-to-door polling that follows is full of comic potential, as is the "climax" of the sequence when Nino is abandoned in bed by the woman who concludes that he is too good for her. Like an engine turning over, this montage suggests that the cinematic vehicle has much horsepower, but ultimately Poirer cannot jump- start this movie.
The signs of sexism that appear throughout "Western"'s landscape contribute to the lessening of the film's comic potential. In an awkward and unsuccessful scene, Nino accuses all women of superficiality for falling for the allegedly handsome Paco.
Lopez, however, is no leading man, and the tendency for virtually all attractive women in the film to fall for his charlatan charms does not simply defy credulity but suggests that all women are stupid, lovesick or both.
Besides its pace, "Western" is a trip with a few highlights. Poirier and co-writer Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet deserve some credit for a couple of moments of levity. Lopez and Bourdo deliver acceptable performances, as do the host of women they conquer along the way. Elisabeth Vitali and Marie Matheron are especially iridescent as the only two women who see the light when it comes to Paco.
Speaking of the light, "Western"'s lighting looks as if the sun failed to set during the shoot as every image seems overexposed. Perhaps this look is intentional or merely the psychological projection of a viewer who could not wait for the sun to set on this film.
WESTERN
In competition
Director Manuel Poirier
Producer Maurice Bernart
Screenwriters Manuel Poirier,
Jean-Fran‚ois Goyet
Exececutive producer Michel St. Jean
Director of photography Nara Keo Kosal
Production manager Malek Hamzaoui
Editor Yann Dedet
Sound Jean-Paul Bernard
Original music Bernardo Sandoval
Cast:
Paco Sergi Lopez
Nino Sacha Bourdo
Marinette Elisabeth Vitali
Natalie Marie Matheron
Baptiste Basile Siekoua
Running time -- 136 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/12/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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