Indie Sales has hopped aboard Across The Sea, French-Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s second feature that will premiere as a special screening at Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
Moroccan TV star Ayoub Gretaa stars in the Marseille-set 1990s melodrama as Nour, an undocumented immigrant from Morocco with big dreams whose life turns upside down when he meets a charismatic police officer and his wife and a love triangle unfolds.
Anna Mouglalis and Grégoire Colin co-star in the decade-spanning film that follows Nour as he grows older, explores love and seeks a better life amidst the backdrop of the Rai music-focused party...
Moroccan TV star Ayoub Gretaa stars in the Marseille-set 1990s melodrama as Nour, an undocumented immigrant from Morocco with big dreams whose life turns upside down when he meets a charismatic police officer and his wife and a love triangle unfolds.
Anna Mouglalis and Grégoire Colin co-star in the decade-spanning film that follows Nour as he grows older, explores love and seeks a better life amidst the backdrop of the Rai music-focused party...
- 5/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Critics’ Week, spotlighting first and second features, has unveiled the competition and special screenings selection for its 63rd edition running May 15-23.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.
The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...
Scroll down for full list of titles
Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.
The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...
- 4/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar dedicated to first and second films, will open with Jonathan Millet’s psychological thriller “Ghost Trail” and wrap with Emma Benestan’s genre film “Animale.”
“Ghost Trail” and “Animale” are two of the 11 features slated for Critics’ Week, which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival.
The sole U.S. film of the selection is Constance Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” a bittersweet film about two Chinese immigrants living in Queens who bond following a tragic death and find meaning in each other’s company. “As humble and dignified as its characters, this first, realistic and intimate, film sheds light on a community that is little seen,” said Ava Cahen, Critics’ Week’s artistic director. “Blue Sun Palace” stars Lee Kang-sheng whose recent credits include “Twisted Strings.”
Besides the opening and closing films, the Special Screenings section will comprise of Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s “Across the...
“Ghost Trail” and “Animale” are two of the 11 features slated for Critics’ Week, which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival.
The sole U.S. film of the selection is Constance Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” a bittersweet film about two Chinese immigrants living in Queens who bond following a tragic death and find meaning in each other’s company. “As humble and dignified as its characters, this first, realistic and intimate, film sheds light on a community that is little seen,” said Ava Cahen, Critics’ Week’s artistic director. “Blue Sun Palace” stars Lee Kang-sheng whose recent credits include “Twisted Strings.”
Besides the opening and closing films, the Special Screenings section will comprise of Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s “Across the...
- 4/15/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Update: the first poster for and a new image from Serpent’s Path are below, courtesy Cinefil, which lists the French release date as June 14. Sounds like a Cannes premiere to us!
Few directors loom over 2024 like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who’s expected to debut two films these next twelve months. We just learned of Chime, a genre-bending Japanese feature, and for some time have anticipated Serpent’s Path, a remake of his (fantastic) 1998 horror thriller that’s set to star Damien Bonnard and Ko Shibasaki (The Boy and the Heron). Today brings a major update courtesy the financier Tax Shelter, who’ve shared three stills featuring Mathieu Amalric (previously of Kurosawa’s Daguerrotype) and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, while further digging has revealed the involvement of Michaël Vander-Meiren.
Though it had been reported this new Serpent’s Path (perhaps officially subtitled La vengeance du serpent) would be female-led, Tax Shelter’s synopsis...
Few directors loom over 2024 like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who’s expected to debut two films these next twelve months. We just learned of Chime, a genre-bending Japanese feature, and for some time have anticipated Serpent’s Path, a remake of his (fantastic) 1998 horror thriller that’s set to star Damien Bonnard and Ko Shibasaki (The Boy and the Heron). Today brings a major update courtesy the financier Tax Shelter, who’ve shared three stills featuring Mathieu Amalric (previously of Kurosawa’s Daguerrotype) and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, while further digging has revealed the involvement of Michaël Vander-Meiren.
Though it had been reported this new Serpent’s Path (perhaps officially subtitled La vengeance du serpent) would be female-led, Tax Shelter’s synopsis...
- 3/20/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Look out, Hong Sangsoo. Your distinction as the most prolific director working today is being challenged. It’s been nearly four years since Kiyoshi Kurosawa last released a film with 2020’s Wife of a Spy, but in 2024, the Japanese director will make up for lost time, premiering a trio of new films.
As featured in our 2024 preview, he remade his own film with Serpent’s Path, starring Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric, Grégoire Colin, and Ko Shibasaki. Before that feature sets its premiere, his 45-minute thriller Chime will debut at Berlinale this month. Now, a third 2024 film has been unveiled with Cloud.
Screen Daily reports he’s already finished shooting the project, with the first still featured above, and is in the editing process with a Japanese release planned for this September. Backed by Nikkatsu Corporation and Tokyo Theatres Company Inc., the Kurosawa-scripted project stars The Boy and the Heron‘s Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii,...
As featured in our 2024 preview, he remade his own film with Serpent’s Path, starring Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric, Grégoire Colin, and Ko Shibasaki. Before that feature sets its premiere, his 45-minute thriller Chime will debut at Berlinale this month. Now, a third 2024 film has been unveiled with Cloud.
Screen Daily reports he’s already finished shooting the project, with the first still featured above, and is in the editing process with a Japanese release planned for this September. Backed by Nikkatsu Corporation and Tokyo Theatres Company Inc., the Kurosawa-scripted project stars The Boy and the Heron‘s Masaki Suda as Ryosuke Yoshii,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
After landing in Cannes with outstanding French-Moroccan cinema items in the Un Certain Regard selected Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds (read review) and Directors’ Fortnight selected Faouzi Bensaïdi’s Déserts (see interview) Saïd Hamich Benlarbi will be taking his producer’s hat and alternating with the director’s clapperboard for his sophomore feature which just added some new players. According to Le Film Francais reports Saïd Hamich Benlarbi will direct Anna Mouglalis and Grégoire Colin (along with the already cast Ayoub Gretaa) in that La Mer Au Loin. Benlarbi will produce via his label Barney Production along with The Jokers’ Manuel Chiche. His debut film Return to Bollene received a prestigious Louis Delluc award nomination.…...
- 10/30/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Among the ten competition films selected for TIFF’s prestige Platform programme, Héléna Klotz makes her long-awaited return to features with Spirit of Ecstasy (aka La Vénus d’argent). Starring Claire Pommet (the singer goes by the name of Pomme) in her debut, we also find Niels Schneider, Sofiane Zermani, Anna Mouglalis, Grégoire Colin and Denis Ménochet among the cast. Les Films du bélier’s Justin Taurand produced the film. We have your first looks with a couple of exclusive clips. The film is set to have its world premiere on September 11th.
In the first clip we have the pairing of Pommet as Jeanne Francoeur and Schneider (who was featured in Klotz’s debut 2012 film) who clearly have a past (were they old flames) with Francoeur having undergone some fundamental personal changes – breaking away from forces that keep her close at bay.…...
In the first clip we have the pairing of Pommet as Jeanne Francoeur and Schneider (who was featured in Klotz’s debut 2012 film) who clearly have a past (were they old flames) with Francoeur having undergone some fundamental personal changes – breaking away from forces that keep her close at bay.…...
- 8/28/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
An edgy new voice within the world of French genre, Adrien Beau worked as a designer and scenographer for the likes of Dior, John Galliano and Agnes B before making his feature debut with the offbeat vampire movie “Vourdalak.”
Produced by Judith-Lou Levy at Les Films du Bal, “Vourdalak” will world premiere at Venice Critics’ Week and will likely be one of its boldest entries. At a time when horror has become a mainstream genre overloaded with special effects, “Vourdalak” couldn’t be more radical. Lensed in Super 16, the film’s central character is a vampire patriarch named Gorcha, played by a marionette that Beau operates and lends his voice to.
In an interview with Variety ahead of the festival, Beau says he got the idea for the film after he and Levy came across “La Famille du Vourdalak,” a strange vampire novella penned by Alexeï Konstantinovitch Tolstoï, published in...
Produced by Judith-Lou Levy at Les Films du Bal, “Vourdalak” will world premiere at Venice Critics’ Week and will likely be one of its boldest entries. At a time when horror has become a mainstream genre overloaded with special effects, “Vourdalak” couldn’t be more radical. Lensed in Super 16, the film’s central character is a vampire patriarch named Gorcha, played by a marionette that Beau operates and lends his voice to.
In an interview with Variety ahead of the festival, Beau says he got the idea for the film after he and Levy came across “La Famille du Vourdalak,” a strange vampire novella penned by Alexeï Konstantinovitch Tolstoï, published in...
- 7/28/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Cinema can be a powerful tool for tackling contemporary anxieties, but it’s rarely done as sensitively and artfully as in Alice Winocour’s poignant mass shooting drama “Revoir Paris.” While one could argue that certain terrors should never be recreated, Winocour proves that with a sensitive touch, even the most harrowing of tragedies can be alchemized into a stirring contemplation of societal ills. Filtering the intensity through one woman’s struggle to piece together her memories of a fateful night, “Revoir Paris” tells a sobering story of survival, trauma, and the power of human connection.
Illuminated by a masterful performance by French actress Virginie Efira, “Revoir Paris” makes the unimaginable experience of surviving a violent attack beautifully real and painfully universal. The film never wallows in sentimentality or dwells in the violence (leave it to the French to be so matter-of-fact about a mass shooting), instead grounding the narrative...
Illuminated by a masterful performance by French actress Virginie Efira, “Revoir Paris” makes the unimaginable experience of surviving a violent attack beautifully real and painfully universal. The film never wallows in sentimentality or dwells in the violence (leave it to the French to be so matter-of-fact about a mass shooting), instead grounding the narrative...
- 6/23/2023
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Picking up the pieces of her life after a terrorist attack in Paris, Mia attempts to reconcile fragmented memories and relationships old and new in Alice Winocour’s powerfully nuanced drama Revoir Paris. Also starring Pacifiction‘s Benoît Magimel and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, the film is another example of Winocour’s mastery of immersing her audience in the headspace of her characters, creating an empathetic portrait of searching for slivers of happiness and meaning in the wake of trauma.
While at Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema and ahead of the film’s U.S. release this Friday, I spoke with Winocour about her filmmaking process, being inspired by David Cronenberg and Agnès Varda, capturing the emotional intricacies of trauma, casting her ensemble, reactions to the film in Paris, and more.
The Film Stage: In all of your films you do an incredible job putting...
While at Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema and ahead of the film’s U.S. release this Friday, I spoke with Winocour about her filmmaking process, being inspired by David Cronenberg and Agnès Varda, capturing the emotional intricacies of trauma, casting her ensemble, reactions to the film in Paris, and more.
The Film Stage: In all of your films you do an incredible job putting...
- 6/22/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The start of any month brings with it batches of movies added to streaming services’ libraries. As of this week, Netflix has “Girl, Interrupted,” “Steel Magnolias” and “Traffic,” HBO Max has “Blue Valentine,” “Hustle & Flow” and “Parasite,” and Hulu has “Atonement” and “Boogie Nights.” A handful of newer titles are also premiering digitally. First up is a spellbinding thriller featuring some of Hollywood’s hottest young actors.
The contender to watch this week: “How to Blow Up a Pipeline”
Neon picked up this eco-thriller out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, after which it won raves for its gripping portrait of young DIY environmental activists who band together to destroy oil pipes in West Texas. Based on Andreas Malm‘s nonfiction book of the same name, “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” stars Ariela Barer (“Runaways”), Sasha Lane (“American Honey”), Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus”), Marcus Scribner...
The contender to watch this week: “How to Blow Up a Pipeline”
Neon picked up this eco-thriller out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, after which it won raves for its gripping portrait of young DIY environmental activists who band together to destroy oil pipes in West Texas. Based on Andreas Malm‘s nonfiction book of the same name, “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” stars Ariela Barer (“Runaways”), Sasha Lane (“American Honey”), Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus”), Marcus Scribner...
- 5/6/2023
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Revoir Paris Trailer — Alice Winocour‘s Revoir Paris (2022) movie trailer has been released by Music Box Films. The Revoir Paris trailer stars Benoît Magimel, Nastya Golubeva, Virginie Efira, Grégoire Colin, Maya Sansa, and Amadou Mbow. Crew Alice Winocour wrote the screenplay for Revoir Paris. “Written in collaboration with Jean-Stéphane Bron and Marcia [...]
Continue reading: Revoir Paris (2022) U.S. Movie Trailer: Virginie Efira is a Mass-shooting Survivor in Alice Winocour’s Film...
Continue reading: Revoir Paris (2022) U.S. Movie Trailer: Virginie Efira is a Mass-shooting Survivor in Alice Winocour’s Film...
- 3/4/2023
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
It is a fascinating thing to watch someone’s history of protest and addiction collide and conspire to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable and expose its parent family as reprehensible. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles the renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her fight through the AIDS and opioid crisis, but this is bigger than a biographical documentary. Through slideshows, interviews, and family videos, Poitras weaves a riveting, heartbreaking interconnected story of generational pain, its influence over the blurry boundaries between life and art. – Jake K-s.
Where to Stream: VOD
Close (Lukas Dhont)
Dhont’s sophomore feature offers no narrative or stylistic fireworks, but it captures feelings so fine and true they...
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
It is a fascinating thing to watch someone’s history of protest and addiction collide and conspire to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable and expose its parent family as reprehensible. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles the renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her fight through the AIDS and opioid crisis, but this is bigger than a biographical documentary. Through slideshows, interviews, and family videos, Poitras weaves a riveting, heartbreaking interconnected story of generational pain, its influence over the blurry boundaries between life and art. – Jake K-s.
Where to Stream: VOD
Close (Lukas Dhont)
Dhont’s sophomore feature offers no narrative or stylistic fireworks, but it captures feelings so fine and true they...
- 3/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
While she had been working for two decades, Virginie Efira received much-deserved wider acclaim leading Benedetta and Sibyl a few years back. She returned to the festival circuit last year with a pair of staggeringly great performances, in Alice Winocour’s Paris Memories and Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children.
With both set to arrive in the U.S. over the next few months, along with playing at Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema over the next few days, the trailer for Winocour’s drama has now landed. The film, in which Efira picked up César award for Best Actress, follows her character trying to pick up the pieces of her life after experiencing a terrorist attack in Paris. Also starring Pacifiction lead Benoît Magimel and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, the drama is another example of Winocour’s mastery of immersing her audience in the headspace...
With both set to arrive in the U.S. over the next few months, along with playing at Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema over the next few days, the trailer for Winocour’s drama has now landed. The film, in which Efira picked up César award for Best Actress, follows her character trying to pick up the pieces of her life after experiencing a terrorist attack in Paris. Also starring Pacifiction lead Benoît Magimel and Claire Denis regular Grégoire Colin, the drama is another example of Winocour’s mastery of immersing her audience in the headspace...
- 3/2/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
This month’s installment of Deep Cuts Rising features a variety of horror movies. Some selections reflect a specific day or event in March, and others were chosen at random.
Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.
From dinosaurs to a killer clown, here are five hidden horror gems and deep cuts that you can check out in March 2023.
The Fantasist (1986)
Directed by Robin Hardy.
Despite her family’s mixed reaction to her decision, Moira Harris‘ sheltered but curious character moves to Dublin to be a teacher. There she becomes the next target of a serial killer who gradually escalates from phone calls to murder. The protagonist of The Fantasist eventually suspects her pushy American neighbor (Timothy Bottoms) to be the culprit.
While best known for directing The Wicker Man, and to a lesser extent The Wicker Tree,...
Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.
From dinosaurs to a killer clown, here are five hidden horror gems and deep cuts that you can check out in March 2023.
The Fantasist (1986)
Directed by Robin Hardy.
Despite her family’s mixed reaction to her decision, Moira Harris‘ sheltered but curious character moves to Dublin to be a teacher. There she becomes the next target of a serial killer who gradually escalates from phone calls to murder. The protagonist of The Fantasist eventually suspects her pushy American neighbor (Timothy Bottoms) to be the culprit.
While best known for directing The Wicker Man, and to a lesser extent The Wicker Tree,...
- 3/1/2023
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
"Someone was with me. He held my hand." Music Box FIlms has revealed the official US trailer for a French drama titled Revoir Paris, translated in English to Paris Memories. This initially premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year and then recently won a Cesar Award (France's Oscars) for Best Actress. It's opening in June in art house theaters in NYC, and it will also play at the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema event this spring at the Lincoln Center if anyone wants to give it an early look. A meditation on healing, the film tells the story of Mia, who survives a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant, and still feels haunted by the trauma, yet unable to recollect memories of the tragic attack. Determined to reconstruct the sequence of events and reestablish a sense of normalcy, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened.
- 3/1/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Music Box is unveiling the trailer for “Revoir Paris,” a French drama boasting a Cesar-winning performance by Virginie Efira. The movie, which bowed at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and played at Toronto, will have its New York premiere on June 23 at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Film Center.
A meditation on healing, the film tells the story of Mia (Efira), a married translator who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant, and feels haunted by the trauma, yet unable to recollect memories of the tragic attack. Determined to reconstruct the sequence of events and reestablish a sense of normalcy, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened. In the process she forms bonds with fellow survivors, including banker Thomas (Benoît Magimel) and teenager Félicia (Nastya Golubeva). Efira, who just won a Cesar Award for her role in the film, stars opposite Magimel, the Cesar-winning actor of “Pacifiction,...
A meditation on healing, the film tells the story of Mia (Efira), a married translator who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant, and feels haunted by the trauma, yet unable to recollect memories of the tragic attack. Determined to reconstruct the sequence of events and reestablish a sense of normalcy, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened. In the process she forms bonds with fellow survivors, including banker Thomas (Benoît Magimel) and teenager Félicia (Nastya Golubeva). Efira, who just won a Cesar Award for her role in the film, stars opposite Magimel, the Cesar-winning actor of “Pacifiction,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Women at War (Les Combattantes) is a French series created by Camille Treiner and Cécile Lorne starring Audrey Fleurot, Julie De Bona, Camille Lou and, Sofia Essaïdi.
TF1 offers this luxury series in French style which is epic and heroic and tells us the story of four women during World War I.
It is a lavish production as far as scenes and atmosphere created in which we delve into chapter by chapter in a first class recreation led by four women who offer us a choral and polyedric point of view of an epoch.
Women at War (2022)
This is a series that artfully combines genres and, which, in the tradition of the genre, gives its all in the editing and composition that rests on a spectacular soundtrack.
A delight that is a French super production now on Netflix and which will ver surely be enjoued by those who like epic...
TF1 offers this luxury series in French style which is epic and heroic and tells us the story of four women during World War I.
It is a lavish production as far as scenes and atmosphere created in which we delve into chapter by chapter in a first class recreation led by four women who offer us a choral and polyedric point of view of an epoch.
Women at War (2022)
This is a series that artfully combines genres and, which, in the tradition of the genre, gives its all in the editing and composition that rests on a spectacular soundtrack.
A delight that is a French super production now on Netflix and which will ver surely be enjoued by those who like epic...
- 1/19/2023
- by Veronica Loop
- Martin Cid - TV
Paris-based sales company is hosting several market premieres at Rendez-Vous.
Paris-based sales company The Party has acquired Happy! (working title), Pascal Plisson’s upcoming documentary about children with disabilities who chase their dreams despite the obstacles they face.
Writer and filmmaker Plisson’s doc On The Way To School was a box office success in France with 1.4 million admissions and sold to 18 countries worldwide in addition to winning the best documentary award at the Cesars in 2014. He is also behind recent docs Grand Jour, released in 2015, and Gogo in 2019 about a 94 year-old woman attending school in Kenya.
With Happy!, Plisson...
Paris-based sales company The Party has acquired Happy! (working title), Pascal Plisson’s upcoming documentary about children with disabilities who chase their dreams despite the obstacles they face.
Writer and filmmaker Plisson’s doc On The Way To School was a box office success in France with 1.4 million admissions and sold to 18 countries worldwide in addition to winning the best documentary award at the Cesars in 2014. He is also behind recent docs Grand Jour, released in 2015, and Gogo in 2019 about a 94 year-old woman attending school in Kenya.
With Happy!, Plisson...
- 1/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
For our most comprehensive year-end feature we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2022. We’ve asked contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions—a selection of those personal lists will be shared in coming days—and from tallied votes has a top 50 been assembled.
Without further ado, check out our rundown of 2022 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2023.
50. A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Payal Kapadia’s breakthrough work is a quasi-documentary with something of Chris Marker’s postmodern essay films, following a young film school student, “L,” who experiences a romantic and political coming-of-age amidst the anti-democratic changes wrought in Modi’s India. Yet it boldly eschews the informational and concrete approach of many political documentaries, allowing us a filmic...
Without further ado, check out our rundown of 2022 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2023.
50. A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Payal Kapadia’s breakthrough work is a quasi-documentary with something of Chris Marker’s postmodern essay films, following a young film school student, “L,” who experiences a romantic and political coming-of-age amidst the anti-democratic changes wrought in Modi’s India. Yet it boldly eschews the informational and concrete approach of many political documentaries, allowing us a filmic...
- 12/22/2022
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Amazon Prime Video has come a long way since launching in France in 2016. The streamer, whose first French film original, “The Mad Women’s Ball,” recently picked up an International Emmy Award, unveiled a landmark deal with French guilds during a posh dinner with industry players and talent in Paris on Wednesday evening (Nov. 30).
On the guest list at the chic Lutetia Hotel was a laundry list of talent that’s in business with Prime Video, including Philippe Lacheau (“Lol”), Franck Gastambide (“Medellin”), Eloise Lang (“La Graine”), Melha Bedia (“Miskina”), Ziad Doueiri (“Coeurs Noirs”), as well as producers Alain Goldman, Pathé Films’ Ardavan Safaee, Mandarin’s Eric Altmayer, CG Cinema’s Charles Gillibert, Metropolitan FilmExport’s Victor Hadida, Newen’s Romain Bessi, and Asasha Group’s Gaspard de Chavagnac, among many others.
Announced by Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country manager in France, the four-year deal was signed with the guilds AnimFrance,...
On the guest list at the chic Lutetia Hotel was a laundry list of talent that’s in business with Prime Video, including Philippe Lacheau (“Lol”), Franck Gastambide (“Medellin”), Eloise Lang (“La Graine”), Melha Bedia (“Miskina”), Ziad Doueiri (“Coeurs Noirs”), as well as producers Alain Goldman, Pathé Films’ Ardavan Safaee, Mandarin’s Eric Altmayer, CG Cinema’s Charles Gillibert, Metropolitan FilmExport’s Victor Hadida, Newen’s Romain Bessi, and Asasha Group’s Gaspard de Chavagnac, among many others.
Announced by Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country manager in France, the four-year deal was signed with the guilds AnimFrance,...
- 12/1/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Claire Denis’s Both Sides of the Blade, starring Juliette Binoche, joins other classics where three’s a crowd, from The Piano to The Favourite
Call it the original triangle of sadness. As much as the mores and taboos of screen romance have shifted over the decades, the love triangle has remained a constant: a problem that screenwriters rarely manage to solve without someone being hurt or worse. Ménage à trois solutions are rare; heteronormative coupledom must usually prevail. And yet our fascination endures with the simultaneously simple and wildly complicated crisis of loving two people at once – rarely depicted with more adult candour than in Claire Denis’s new drama Both Sides of the Blade, now streaming on Mubi.
The story is slender but urgent: radio presenter Sara (Juliette Binoche) is happy in her 10-year marriage to former rugby player Jean (Vincent Lindon) until a chance sighting of her...
Call it the original triangle of sadness. As much as the mores and taboos of screen romance have shifted over the decades, the love triangle has remained a constant: a problem that screenwriters rarely manage to solve without someone being hurt or worse. Ménage à trois solutions are rare; heteronormative coupledom must usually prevail. And yet our fascination endures with the simultaneously simple and wildly complicated crisis of loving two people at once – rarely depicted with more adult candour than in Claire Denis’s new drama Both Sides of the Blade, now streaming on Mubi.
The story is slender but urgent: radio presenter Sara (Juliette Binoche) is happy in her 10-year marriage to former rugby player Jean (Vincent Lindon) until a chance sighting of her...
- 11/19/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
The series is about an intersex teen dealing with a new high school.
Disney+ Emea has signed a deal with France TV Distribution to distribute the French high school drama series About Sasha throughout Europe (excluding France), the UK, the Middle East and Africa in 2023.
The French-language series about an intersex youth struggling with questions of identity recently aired on France TV’s online Gen Z-oriented platform Slash.
About Sasha follows its eponymous intersex title character who must navigate the turmoil of starting a new high school and dealing with embracing her feminine side after being born and raised a boy.
Disney+ Emea has signed a deal with France TV Distribution to distribute the French high school drama series About Sasha throughout Europe (excluding France), the UK, the Middle East and Africa in 2023.
The French-language series about an intersex youth struggling with questions of identity recently aired on France TV’s online Gen Z-oriented platform Slash.
About Sasha follows its eponymous intersex title character who must navigate the turmoil of starting a new high school and dealing with embracing her feminine side after being born and raised a boy.
- 10/17/2022
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
“You have to know how to reject roles so as not to enter into a system in which women are only seen in a certain way,” French actress Juliette Binoche said here on Sunday, according to ‘Variety’.
Binoche spoke up for women while answering questions from the media at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where she is a recipient this year of the festival’s Donostia Award as a tribute to her career.
‘The English Patient’ star is a go-to actress for a slew of auteur directors, including Krzysztof Kieslowski and Claire Denis, who joined her on stage to discuss ‘Both Sides of the Blade’, this year’s Silver Bear winner for Best Director at the Berlinale.
A love triangle film co-starring Binoche, the film will be screened at the festival before the award’s presentation. ‘Both Sides of the Blade’ also stars Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colin.
“You have...
Binoche spoke up for women while answering questions from the media at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where she is a recipient this year of the festival’s Donostia Award as a tribute to her career.
‘The English Patient’ star is a go-to actress for a slew of auteur directors, including Krzysztof Kieslowski and Claire Denis, who joined her on stage to discuss ‘Both Sides of the Blade’, this year’s Silver Bear winner for Best Director at the Berlinale.
A love triangle film co-starring Binoche, the film will be screened at the festival before the award’s presentation. ‘Both Sides of the Blade’ also stars Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colin.
“You have...
- 9/18/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
“You have to know how to reject roles so as not to enter into a system in which women are only seen in a certain way,” said French actor Juliette Binoche on Sunday.
Binoche spoke up for women whilst answering questions from the press at the San Sebastián Film Festival where she is a recipient this year of the festival’s Donostia Award, as a tribute to her career.
“The English Patient” star is a go-to actress for a slew of auteur directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski and Claire Denis.
Denis joined her on stage to discuss “Both Sides of the Blade,” a love triangle film co-starring Binoche, which will screen at the festival before the award’s presentation.
“Both Sides of the Blade” also stars Vincent Lindon and Grégoire Colin.
“You have to go instead to the new. And you have to jump into the unknown and work outside of macho codes,...
Binoche spoke up for women whilst answering questions from the press at the San Sebastián Film Festival where she is a recipient this year of the festival’s Donostia Award, as a tribute to her career.
“The English Patient” star is a go-to actress for a slew of auteur directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski and Claire Denis.
Denis joined her on stage to discuss “Both Sides of the Blade,” a love triangle film co-starring Binoche, which will screen at the festival before the award’s presentation.
“Both Sides of the Blade” also stars Vincent Lindon and Grégoire Colin.
“You have to go instead to the new. And you have to jump into the unknown and work outside of macho codes,...
- 9/18/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
The French screen star opens up about her life mirroring the plot of new film Both Sides of the Blade and putting male cinema icons in their place
Broaching personal matters in an interview can be tricky. Laying the groundwork, not appearing prurient, choosing your words carefully so as not to spook your subject – all these elements are crucial. They are also completely unnecessary in the case of Juliette Binoche. We are fewer than five minutes into our Zoom call and already the 58-year-old actor is leaning forward in her seat in an office in Paris and trawling through intimate memories. “I fell in love with two men in my 20s,” she says, matter of factly. “It was unbearable. Quite unbearable.”
This is apropos Both Sides of the Blade, her third film with the sensual, uncompromising director Claire Denis. Binoche plays Sara, a radio talkshow host torn between two brooding men: her boyfriend,...
Broaching personal matters in an interview can be tricky. Laying the groundwork, not appearing prurient, choosing your words carefully so as not to spook your subject – all these elements are crucial. They are also completely unnecessary in the case of Juliette Binoche. We are fewer than five minutes into our Zoom call and already the 58-year-old actor is leaning forward in her seat in an office in Paris and trawling through intimate memories. “I fell in love with two men in my 20s,” she says, matter of factly. “It was unbearable. Quite unbearable.”
This is apropos Both Sides of the Blade, her third film with the sensual, uncompromising director Claire Denis. Binoche plays Sara, a radio talkshow host torn between two brooding men: her boyfriend,...
- 9/9/2022
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
In Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade, Sara (Juliette Binoche) is an ex-girlfriend of her husband Jean's (Vincent Lindon) one-time friend, François (Grégoire Colin). He exists as a dormant piece of the past in the quiet intersection of the couple’s love. As in all good tales about marriage, there are two sides to their story. In a stable, loving relationship, the story's two-sidedness is harmless, but in an unstable partnership, that two-sidedness can be decisive—a double-edged blade. As long as its edge remains dull, its existence doesn't make any difference, but it has the potential to threateningly, suddenly sharpen. Sara and Jean go on vacation; they swim; they say sweet things to one another; they embrace with genuine affection in the morning. It's only when Sara sees François—who then recruits Jean for his new business—that a renewed awareness of his existence disturbs the peace of the oblivious.
- 7/24/2022
- MUBI
Juliette Binoche as “Sara” in Claire Denis’ Both Sides Of The Blade. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Curiosa Films. An IFC Films release
Juliette Binoche and French stars Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colin deliver top-notch acting in a love triangle drama, in renowned director Claire Denis’s Both Sides Of The Blade. Previously titled Fire in English, this well-acted French romantic drama’s French title is Avec Amour Et Acharnement, which translates as “With Love and Fury,” which would have worked in English as well. Juliette Binoche’s character Sara certainly is playing with fire, when her eye strays to an old flame despite her better judgment, threatening her present loving relationship. Plenty of sparks fly as a result.
Juliette Binoche plays Sara, who is in a loving, long-term relationship with Jean (Vincent Lindon), Sara
had left her previous amour Francois (Gregoire Colin) for Jean, his best friend and business partner,...
Juliette Binoche and French stars Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colin deliver top-notch acting in a love triangle drama, in renowned director Claire Denis’s Both Sides Of The Blade. Previously titled Fire in English, this well-acted French romantic drama’s French title is Avec Amour Et Acharnement, which translates as “With Love and Fury,” which would have worked in English as well. Juliette Binoche’s character Sara certainly is playing with fire, when her eye strays to an old flame despite her better judgment, threatening her present loving relationship. Plenty of sparks fly as a result.
Juliette Binoche plays Sara, who is in a loving, long-term relationship with Jean (Vincent Lindon), Sara
had left her previous amour Francois (Gregoire Colin) for Jean, his best friend and business partner,...
- 7/16/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Fire Review — Fire (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Claire Denis, written by Claire Denis and Christine Angot and starring Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Gregoire Colin, Bulle Ogier, Issa Perica, Alice Houri, Mati Diop, Bruno Podalydes and Lola Creton. French filmmaker Claire Denis’ new film, Fire (also known as Both Sides of the [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Fire (2022): Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon Amaze in a Probing Dramatic Film...
Continue reading: Film Review: Fire (2022): Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon Amaze in a Probing Dramatic Film...
- 7/11/2022
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
The nation’s fourth-largest cinema chain is testing a new subscription program called MovieFlex+ that includes a curated set of small and mid-sized films each week for no extra charge.
“We can’t live off just blockbusters,” chairman and CEO Greg Marcus tells Deadline. “We cannot just live off dinner. We need breakfast and lunch too.”
The launch of the 14.99 monthly service comes as the box office renaissance for wide-release studio franchises is clear, but whether that’s trickling down to smaller films less so. At issue is the long-term health of a theatrical ecosystem with breadth and depth of product.
Marcus began testing MovieFlex+ in two markets in January along with a general subscription plan, also new, called MovieFlex for 9.99 a month that offers one free film of choice. Both programs have deals on concessions and other perks. At two Columbus theaters, Crossroads and Pickering, where both programs are available,...
“We can’t live off just blockbusters,” chairman and CEO Greg Marcus tells Deadline. “We cannot just live off dinner. We need breakfast and lunch too.”
The launch of the 14.99 monthly service comes as the box office renaissance for wide-release studio franchises is clear, but whether that’s trickling down to smaller films less so. At issue is the long-term health of a theatrical ecosystem with breadth and depth of product.
Marcus began testing MovieFlex+ in two markets in January along with a general subscription plan, also new, called MovieFlex for 9.99 a month that offers one free film of choice. Both programs have deals on concessions and other perks. At two Columbus theaters, Crossroads and Pickering, where both programs are available,...
- 7/8/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
A slow burn that never quite bursts into flame, “Both Sides of the Blade” is likely to appeal most to those who are already fans of director Claire Denis. That said, would anyone turn down the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with her luminous leading lady, Juliette Binoche?
Certainly not Jean, smitten lover of Binoche’s enigmatic Sara. The film opens with the two of them on vacation, frolicking in the ocean and unable to keep their hands off each other. The rather mournful score from Tindersticks, which could have been lifted from a 1970s divorce drama, is our early hint at troubles unseen.
Jean and Sara, it turns out, have been together for nearly a decade and still seem to be madly in love. But then we notice that he has to ask for her credit card when he wants to go shopping. She spots her ex-boyfriend...
Certainly not Jean, smitten lover of Binoche’s enigmatic Sara. The film opens with the two of them on vacation, frolicking in the ocean and unable to keep their hands off each other. The rather mournful score from Tindersticks, which could have been lifted from a 1970s divorce drama, is our early hint at troubles unseen.
Jean and Sara, it turns out, have been together for nearly a decade and still seem to be madly in love. But then we notice that he has to ask for her credit card when he wants to go shopping. She spots her ex-boyfriend...
- 7/7/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
When two veteran stars collide in a romantic triangle psychodrama directed by French auteur Claire Denis, the alchemy is powerful. “Both Sides of the Blade,” adapted by Denis and Christine Angot from her 2018 novel “Un tournant de la vie,” won raves and the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2022 Berlinale. That’s partly because Oscar winner Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”) and Vincent Lindon (Palme d’Or-winner “Titane”), who had never worked together before, struck sparks on their austere pandemic set.
“There was some tension sometimes because of his nature,” Binoche told IndieWire during a recent Zoom call. “His need of controlling is very strong. And I’m not like that at all. So I was a little taken aback by that situation. But at the same time, I had to accept it, because there was no other way. And Claire was letting it happen. She’s not a...
“There was some tension sometimes because of his nature,” Binoche told IndieWire during a recent Zoom call. “His need of controlling is very strong. And I’m not like that at all. So I was a little taken aback by that situation. But at the same time, I had to accept it, because there was no other way. And Claire was letting it happen. She’s not a...
- 7/7/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
This interview was originally conducted in March during Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendezvous with French Cinema program.
This year, Juliette Binoche pulls double duty in Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendezvous with French Cinema program, leading a pair of selections as women with only the most tenuous connection to one another. In Claire Denis’ latest feature, “Both Sides Of The Blade,” Binoche forms one point in a charged love triangle with her ex-husband (Grégoire Colin) and her new man (Vincent Lindon), a rugged rugby pro just on the other side of a prison sentence.
Continue reading ‘Both Sides Of The Blade’: Juliette Binoche Talks Trust With Director Claire Denis, “Warm Pool” Sex Scenes & More at The Playlist.
This year, Juliette Binoche pulls double duty in Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendezvous with French Cinema program, leading a pair of selections as women with only the most tenuous connection to one another. In Claire Denis’ latest feature, “Both Sides Of The Blade,” Binoche forms one point in a charged love triangle with her ex-husband (Grégoire Colin) and her new man (Vincent Lindon), a rugged rugby pro just on the other side of a prison sentence.
Continue reading ‘Both Sides Of The Blade’: Juliette Binoche Talks Trust With Director Claire Denis, “Warm Pool” Sex Scenes & More at The Playlist.
- 7/7/2022
- by Charles Bramesco
- The Playlist
Claire Denis Talks ‘Both Sides Of The Blade,’ Working With Juliette Binoche Again & More [Interview]
This interview was conducted in March during Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema.
The incomparable Claire Denis has come to New York City for Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema, where her latest feature “Both Sides of the Blade” (formerly known as “Fire“) has been set for its US premiere. The third collaboration between the director and her recent muse Juliette Binoche, the drama finds the mature yet sensual Sara torn between men — her fresh-out-the-clink amour Vincent Lindon and her ex Grégoire Colin — as well as the versions of herself they represent.
Continue reading Claire Denis Talks ‘Both Sides Of The Blade,’ Working With Juliette Binoche Again & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
The incomparable Claire Denis has come to New York City for Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema, where her latest feature “Both Sides of the Blade” (formerly known as “Fire“) has been set for its US premiere. The third collaboration between the director and her recent muse Juliette Binoche, the drama finds the mature yet sensual Sara torn between men — her fresh-out-the-clink amour Vincent Lindon and her ex Grégoire Colin — as well as the versions of herself they represent.
Continue reading Claire Denis Talks ‘Both Sides Of The Blade,’ Working With Juliette Binoche Again & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 7/5/2022
- by Charles Bramesco
- The Playlist
"Ohh, mon amour!!" IFC Films has revealed the sultry official US trailer for an indie "erotic thriller" made by French filmmaker Claire Denis titled Both Sides of the Blade, which originally premiered at the very forgettable 2022 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. The film also goes under the title Fire, or the French title Avec amour et acharnement which translates directly to With love and dedication; but I've heard Denis has been upset about the title she prefers and none of them really work well for this one anyway. The film is a love triangle story about a woman caught between two men, her long-time partner and his best friend, her former lover. Both Sides of the Blade stars Juliette Binoche, Grégoire Colin, and Vincent Lindon. I saw this film at Berlinale and hated it, along with everyone else I talked to, it's a poorly shot mess and has no...
- 6/22/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Claire Denis’ “Both Sides of the Blade” was almost unfortunately, vaguely titled “Fire” in the U.S. after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Thankfully, Denis and distributor IFC Films are sticking to the muchbetter original title, named for a song composed by Denis stalwart Tindersticks, for this moody romantic drama starring Juliette Binoche as a radio journalist flailing in a messy love triangle.
Denis adapts Christine Angot’s 2018 novel “Un tournant de la vie,” about a romantic entanglement spiraling out of control. Star Binoche does a complete 180 on the searching idealist she played in Denis’ 2017 “Let the Sunshine In,” here as radio journalist Sara. She’s been in a passionate, loving, and stable relationship with her ex-con boyfriend Jean (Vincent Lindon) for ten years (and Denis’ camera doesn’t flinch at the bodily particulars of their lusty vigor). But before they met, Sara was with François...
Denis adapts Christine Angot’s 2018 novel “Un tournant de la vie,” about a romantic entanglement spiraling out of control. Star Binoche does a complete 180 on the searching idealist she played in Denis’ 2017 “Let the Sunshine In,” here as radio journalist Sara. She’s been in a passionate, loving, and stable relationship with her ex-con boyfriend Jean (Vincent Lindon) for ten years (and Denis’ camera doesn’t flinch at the bodily particulars of their lusty vigor). But before they met, Sara was with François...
- 6/22/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Claire Denis is back with two new features this year, the first of which comes to theaters in just a few weeks. Both Sides of the Blade—which premiered at Berlinale earlier this year, where Denis deservedly picked up Best Director—is a stunning romantic drama following Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon as a couple whose relationship is disrupted when an old flame (Grégoire Colin) returns. Ahead of a July 8 theatrical release and August 23 VOD debut, the new U.S. trailer is here.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “In Both Sides of the Blade a romance breaks down and threatens to break up in a stylish apartment overlooking the sweet Parisian skyline. The director is of course Claire Denis, a filmmaker whose last work began in a place that looked like Eden and ended in a spaceship plummeting toward no less than a black hole. A baroque melodrama that...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “In Both Sides of the Blade a romance breaks down and threatens to break up in a stylish apartment overlooking the sweet Parisian skyline. The director is of course Claire Denis, a filmmaker whose last work began in a place that looked like Eden and ended in a spaceship plummeting toward no less than a black hole. A baroque melodrama that...
- 6/22/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
It takes a few seconds for Mia’s life to unravel in Alice Winocour’s Paris Memories, then a whole lifetime to stitch it back together. Up until a fateful November night, the thirty-something (Virginie Efira) roams the French capital in a state of trouble-free bliss. She shares a luminous flat with her partner Vincent (Grégoire Colin) and an orange tabby cat; works as a Russian interpreter for politicians and intellectuals; and races through the City of Light on a Triumph, her outfit and helmet the same anthrax shade of the bike—a near superhero vision. It’s during a late-night ride that the sky suddenly breaks, forcing her to take shelter inside L’Étoile D’Or, a fancy bistro somewhere in the city center. She’s waiting for the rain to stop when a scream pierces the air and the first bullets start pelting tables and patrons.
Ostensibly a work of fiction,...
Ostensibly a work of fiction,...
- 6/2/2022
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
It’s intriguing for a long-term fan of a director, perhaps even one whose films you’ve grown up alongside the last decade or two, to watch them stumble slightly. But for Claire Denis, the remarkable auteur in question, even her strongest works can have a teetering, tentative quality, as if you were discovering the dawning narrative and emotional progression in tandem with her.
Stars at Noon––based on a minor novel by the underrated American author Denis Johnson––is Denis’ second film to premiere this year, after Both Sides of the Blade at the Berlinale, and a slightly rocky reaction to that film diminished some of the anticipation for this one. Her latest work is not one that feels fully achieved and realized, suggesting an absolutely confident mastery of her primary source material, but it’s still deeply watchable, laden with sex and intimacy in a way that doesn’t apologize for itself,...
Stars at Noon––based on a minor novel by the underrated American author Denis Johnson––is Denis’ second film to premiere this year, after Both Sides of the Blade at the Berlinale, and a slightly rocky reaction to that film diminished some of the anticipation for this one. Her latest work is not one that feels fully achieved and realized, suggesting an absolutely confident mastery of her primary source material, but it’s still deeply watchable, laden with sex and intimacy in a way that doesn’t apologize for itself,...
- 5/27/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
It’s over six years since the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris that ruptured the country’s national consciousness and political agenda, but the events are only gaining currency for European filmmakers. This year’s Berlin festival brought us Isaki Lacesta’s “One Year, One Night,” an impressionistic reflection on survivor’s guilt in the long-term wake of the Bataclan nightclub massacre; at Cannes this year, Cedric Jimenez’s thriller “November” takes a more procedural approach to the aftermath. Another Cannes selection, Alice Winocour’s fictionalized but plainly Bataclan-inspired “Paris Memories,” effectively splits the difference, delving into a survivor’s damaged psyche following a mass restaurant shooting in Paris, but giving her a linear, investigative course of healing, as she tracks down sympathetic strangers to help disentangle her memories of that night.
It’s a modest film with a heart very much on its torn sleeve, given force and ballast...
It’s a modest film with a heart very much on its torn sleeve, given force and ballast...
- 5/22/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The latest from Claire Denis, Fire (Both Sides of the Blade), explores the complexities of relationships past and present but gets muddled in the process.
Navigating the endless maze of emotion is a fine tight-rope to walk. Mammoth tasks is nothing new for Denis, a bold filmmaker whose work is always interesting. And Fire also sees Denis working with Christine Angot again on the screenplay.
With the UK premiere taking place at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival this romantic drama takes in the outskirts of Paris. We see middle-aged couple Jean (Vincent Lindon) and Sara (Juliette Binoche) blissfully in a bubble of euphoria. This, however, doesn’t last long with the return to the scene of former lover, François (Grégoire Colin), to complicate matters.
This is not quite the high drama you typically expect from a love-triangle we normally see on the big screen. It certainly isn’t the...
Navigating the endless maze of emotion is a fine tight-rope to walk. Mammoth tasks is nothing new for Denis, a bold filmmaker whose work is always interesting. And Fire also sees Denis working with Christine Angot again on the screenplay.
With the UK premiere taking place at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival this romantic drama takes in the outskirts of Paris. We see middle-aged couple Jean (Vincent Lindon) and Sara (Juliette Binoche) blissfully in a bubble of euphoria. This, however, doesn’t last long with the return to the scene of former lover, François (Grégoire Colin), to complicate matters.
This is not quite the high drama you typically expect from a love-triangle we normally see on the big screen. It certainly isn’t the...
- 3/8/2022
- by Thomas Alexander
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Claire Denis has spent over 10 years dreaming of adapting “The Stars at Noon,” but didn’t believe it could happen. In 2020, A24 announced the 1984-set thriller would star Robert Pattinson and Margaret Qualley, marking a reunion between Denis and Pattinson after her ambitious outer space drama “High Life.” Yet after Pattinson exited “Stars” due to production delays on “The Batman” amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Denis was seemingly back at square one.
Enter her latest film, “Fire.” “I thought maybe ‘The Stars at Noon’ would never exist, so maybe this is my last film,” Denis told her friend, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, during a talk at New York’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, presented by Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center. “I don’t know, it was a weird thing.”
“Fire,” also known as “Both Sides of the Blade” in its original title, was filmed during the lockdown with DIY tactics like...
Enter her latest film, “Fire.” “I thought maybe ‘The Stars at Noon’ would never exist, so maybe this is my last film,” Denis told her friend, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, during a talk at New York’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, presented by Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center. “I don’t know, it was a weird thing.”
“Fire,” also known as “Both Sides of the Blade” in its original title, was filmed during the lockdown with DIY tactics like...
- 3/7/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: IFC Films has set a July 8 stateside release date for Claire Denis’ Berlin Film Festival winner Fire, starring Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon.
The movie, which won Denis the Best Director prize in Berlin, is a love triangle story about a woman caught between two men, her long-time partner and his best friend, her former lover.
Denis wrote the script with French novelist Christine Angot. The film also stars Mati Diop, Bulle Ogier, Issa Perica and Hana Magimel.
DoP is Eric Gautier, whose credits include Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is The Purest White, and the film was produced by Curiosa Film with associate producer Jacqueline de Croÿ of Dear Gaia Films.
Set in the winter in Paris, Fire (previously known internationally as Both Sides Of The Blade) tells the tale of a fiery love triangle involving Jean (Lindon) and Sara (Binoche) who have been living together for 10 years. When they first met,...
The movie, which won Denis the Best Director prize in Berlin, is a love triangle story about a woman caught between two men, her long-time partner and his best friend, her former lover.
Denis wrote the script with French novelist Christine Angot. The film also stars Mati Diop, Bulle Ogier, Issa Perica and Hana Magimel.
DoP is Eric Gautier, whose credits include Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is The Purest White, and the film was produced by Curiosa Film with associate producer Jacqueline de Croÿ of Dear Gaia Films.
Set in the winter in Paris, Fire (previously known internationally as Both Sides Of The Blade) tells the tale of a fiery love triangle involving Jean (Lindon) and Sara (Binoche) who have been living together for 10 years. When they first met,...
- 2/25/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Deception director Arnaud Desplechin tells Anne-Katrin Titze about the Emmanuelle Devos Kings & Queen connection to Andrew Wylie that led to a phone call from Philip Roth.
Arnaud Desplechin’s adaptation with Julie Peyr of Philip Roth’s Deception (Tromperie), starring Denis Podalydès, Léa Seydoux (Bruno Dumont’s France), Emmanuelle Devos, and Anouk Grinberg, is a highlight of the 27th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. Claire Denis’s Fire (Avec Amour Et Acharnement), starring Juliette Binoche (in a Free Talk with Constance Meyer’s Robust star Déborah Lukumuena), Grégoire Colin (Nora Martirosyan’s Should The Wind Drop), and Vincent Lindon is the Opening Night selection. Jim Jarmusch is the Guest of Honour of this year’s festival.
An in-person Q&a with Kent Jones and Arnaud Desplechin will follow a screening of Diane at the French Institute Alliance Française Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Our Love Affairs: Arnaud Desplechin...
Arnaud Desplechin’s adaptation with Julie Peyr of Philip Roth’s Deception (Tromperie), starring Denis Podalydès, Léa Seydoux (Bruno Dumont’s France), Emmanuelle Devos, and Anouk Grinberg, is a highlight of the 27th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. Claire Denis’s Fire (Avec Amour Et Acharnement), starring Juliette Binoche (in a Free Talk with Constance Meyer’s Robust star Déborah Lukumuena), Grégoire Colin (Nora Martirosyan’s Should The Wind Drop), and Vincent Lindon is the Opening Night selection. Jim Jarmusch is the Guest of Honour of this year’s festival.
An in-person Q&a with Kent Jones and Arnaud Desplechin will follow a screening of Diane at the French Institute Alliance Française Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Our Love Affairs: Arnaud Desplechin...
- 2/23/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
While we’re hopeful that 2022 may see the premiere of two new Claire Denis films, the first one has now seen the light of day. Fire (aka Both Sides of the Blade), shot during the pandemic, recently premiered at Berlinale, will stop by Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema next month, and arrive this summer via IFC Films. Ahead of the release, the first trio of clips have now arrived, which preview the story of a love triangle, with a cast featuring Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Grégoire Colin, Issa Perica, Bulle Ogier, and Mati Diop.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “In Fire a romance breaks down and threatens to break up in a stylish apartment overlooking the sweet Parisian skyline. The director is of course Claire Denis, a filmmaker whose last work began in a place that looked like Eden and ended in a spaceship plummeting...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “In Fire a romance breaks down and threatens to break up in a stylish apartment overlooking the sweet Parisian skyline. The director is of course Claire Denis, a filmmaker whose last work began in a place that looked like Eden and ended in a spaceship plummeting...
- 2/15/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Denis’s first film in Berlinale Competition is co-sold by Anton and Wild Bunch International (Wbi).
Anglo-French producing and financing outfit Anton and Paris-based sales powerhouse Wide Bunch International (Wbi) have posted a raft of deals on French director Claire Denis’s love triangle drama Fire (aka Both Sides Of The Blade), following its world premiere in competition at the Berlinale on Saturday (Feb 12).
The sales teams headed by Anton president of international production and distribution Cécile Gaget and Wbi head of sales Eva Diederix have co-sold the title into more than 30 key territories worldwide.
In Europe, it has been...
Anglo-French producing and financing outfit Anton and Paris-based sales powerhouse Wide Bunch International (Wbi) have posted a raft of deals on French director Claire Denis’s love triangle drama Fire (aka Both Sides Of The Blade), following its world premiere in competition at the Berlinale on Saturday (Feb 12).
The sales teams headed by Anton president of international production and distribution Cécile Gaget and Wbi head of sales Eva Diederix have co-sold the title into more than 30 key territories worldwide.
In Europe, it has been...
- 2/13/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
In Fire a romance breaks down and threatens to break up in a stylish apartment overlooking the sweet Parisian skyline. The director is of course Claire Denis, a filmmaker whose last work began in a place that looked like Eden and ended in a spaceship plummeting toward no less than a black hole. A baroque melodrama that might just maybe be a trolling farce, Fire‘s concerns are of a more earthbound variety–though if the insistent strings of Tindersticks’ score are something to go by, they are of no less importance. (Yeah right.)
Fire finds Denis collaborating for the second time with playwright Christine Angot, with whom she made 2018’s Let the Sunshine In, now the first of what has become a trilogy with Juliette Binoche. The French actress does her thing again as one half of this film’s wilting relationship, playing Sara, a radio host who used...
Fire finds Denis collaborating for the second time with playwright Christine Angot, with whom she made 2018’s Let the Sunshine In, now the first of what has become a trilogy with Juliette Binoche. The French actress does her thing again as one half of this film’s wilting relationship, playing Sara, a radio host who used...
- 2/12/2022
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
A white woman living in a post-colonial African country refuses to abandon her family’s coffee plantation even as civil war brews around her. A derelict spaceship full of criminals sails across the stars towards a black hole, adrift between their histories on Earth and the oblivion that awaits them in the cosmos. A former officer in the French Foreign Legion remembers his time stationed in Djibouti, where his men lost themselves in the desert (and each other) while preparing for a fight that never came.
The people in Claire Denis movies are seldom in a hurry, but they’re often out of time. They’re drawn and quartered between the soft flesh of memory and the acrid metal of waking life — pulled apart by an artist whose films are as fluid as memories, and yet also mesmerized by the violence of inflexible social constructs that separate people against each other and themselves.
The people in Claire Denis movies are seldom in a hurry, but they’re often out of time. They’re drawn and quartered between the soft flesh of memory and the acrid metal of waking life — pulled apart by an artist whose films are as fluid as memories, and yet also mesmerized by the violence of inflexible social constructs that separate people against each other and themselves.
- 2/12/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Juliette Binoche puts in another tremendous performance in Claire Denis’ drama Both Sides Of The Blade. The Berlin Film Festival competition title is an intimate slow-burner that sets a credible scene, but doesn’t quite deliver on the mystery it promises.
Binoche plays Sara, a radio presenter who has been with Jean (Vincent Lindon) for 10 years. They appear to be very much in love. Gradually, it’s revealed that they met through Sara’s ex-boyfriend François (Grégoire Colin), whom she suddenly spots in the street one day.
Consumed by strong feelings, Sara is unnerved when François gets in touch with Jean, suggesting they work together on a new business venture. She becomes paranoid when the two men meet up — and increasingly confused when she finally gets to speak with François.
The melodramatic score uses traditional thriller tropes to suggest that something ominous may happen,...
Binoche plays Sara, a radio presenter who has been with Jean (Vincent Lindon) for 10 years. They appear to be very much in love. Gradually, it’s revealed that they met through Sara’s ex-boyfriend François (Grégoire Colin), whom she suddenly spots in the street one day.
Consumed by strong feelings, Sara is unnerved when François gets in touch with Jean, suggesting they work together on a new business venture. She becomes paranoid when the two men meet up — and increasingly confused when she finally gets to speak with François.
The melodramatic score uses traditional thriller tropes to suggest that something ominous may happen,...
- 2/12/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Juliette Binoche completes an intriguing love triangle that highlights the incompatible emotions that coexist in an affair
Claire Denis’s new film is a seductively indirect love triangle, a drama of the mind as much as the heart. It’s intriguing if contrived and anticlimactic, though acted at the highest pitch of sensual conviction. Denis has co-written the screenplay with the author Christine Angot, with whom she wrote her previous movie Let the Sunshine In, and this has the same novelistic feel. The original French title is Feu, ou Avec Amour et Acharnement; the English subtitle comes from a Tindersticks’ track composed especially for this film about the lacerating agony of an impossible choice: (“I’m sliding down both sides of the blade”).
The three combatants are heavyweights of French cinema. Juliette Binoche is Sara, a presenter on a highbrow Paris radio talk show, who for 10 years has lived with...
Claire Denis’s new film is a seductively indirect love triangle, a drama of the mind as much as the heart. It’s intriguing if contrived and anticlimactic, though acted at the highest pitch of sensual conviction. Denis has co-written the screenplay with the author Christine Angot, with whom she wrote her previous movie Let the Sunshine In, and this has the same novelistic feel. The original French title is Feu, ou Avec Amour et Acharnement; the English subtitle comes from a Tindersticks’ track composed especially for this film about the lacerating agony of an impossible choice: (“I’m sliding down both sides of the blade”).
The three combatants are heavyweights of French cinema. Juliette Binoche is Sara, a presenter on a highbrow Paris radio talk show, who for 10 years has lived with...
- 2/12/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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