French composer, pianist and conductor Philippe Rombi will be the guest of honour at the 24th World Soundtrack Awards in Belgium on October 16, 2024.
Rombi is best known for his collaborations with François Ozon on films including Swimming Pool, Young And Beautiful, In The House, Potiche, Frantz and last year’s The Crime Is Mine.
The composer has been nominated for four Cesar awards and two Lumieres. His other credits include Oscar nominee Joyeux Noël from Christian Carion, Danny Boon’s Welcome To The Sticks and Christophe Barratier’s The Time Of Secrets.
Rombi will attend the awards at Film Fest Ghent in October,...
Rombi is best known for his collaborations with François Ozon on films including Swimming Pool, Young And Beautiful, In The House, Potiche, Frantz and last year’s The Crime Is Mine.
The composer has been nominated for four Cesar awards and two Lumieres. His other credits include Oscar nominee Joyeux Noël from Christian Carion, Danny Boon’s Welcome To The Sticks and Christophe Barratier’s The Time Of Secrets.
Rombi will attend the awards at Film Fest Ghent in October,...
- 3/19/2024
- ScreenDaily
Update: Xavier Giannoli’s Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) leads nominations for the 2022 César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscar. The Venice premiere scored 15 mentions, followed by Leos Carax’s Annette, which opened the Cannes Film Festival last year and has 11 nominations. They are followed by Valérie Lemercier’s Aline, the musical dramedy inspired by the life of Céline Dion which also debuted in Cannes and has 10 nods. (Scroll down for the full list of nominations.)
Interestingly, the three films that France shortlisted for the International Feature Academy Award race came in on the lower end. Cédric Jiminez’s Bac Nord (The Stronghold) took seven nominations, while Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening settles for four, tying Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane.
The latter was France’s eventual entry to the Oscars, but did not make the shortlist. It was also shut out of the Best Film category at the Césars today.
Interestingly, the three films that France shortlisted for the International Feature Academy Award race came in on the lower end. Cédric Jiminez’s Bac Nord (The Stronghold) took seven nominations, while Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening settles for four, tying Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane.
The latter was France’s eventual entry to the Oscars, but did not make the shortlist. It was also shut out of the Best Film category at the Césars today.
- 1/26/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Due to its persistent on-screen presence, the swimming pool can be taken for granted; but beneath the surface it is cinema’s Jungian friend, representing secrets lying underneath. It exudes glamour and danger, shifting beyond conscious realms. It is a key to transformation, coming of age tales and renewed relationships. It is a status symbol and whether or not the pool is intact says a lot about the mood of the film and the state of its characters. Away from states of intensity, the swimming pool emerges on screen as a signifier of a time to unwind and to forget life past the poolside. The films featured in this mix show how the pool alludes mysterious symbolism and sexual awakening; murder, lust, and love brush shoulders as sun kissed babes in bikinis whisper sweet truths or uncover deadly secrets (such as the strange swimming pool activities in Three Women or...
- 8/23/2021
- MUBI
Stars: Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber, Anton von Lucke | Written by François Ozon, Philippe Piazzo | Directed by François Ozon
A remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film Broken Lullaby, itself based on a stage play, Frantz is the latest character-based drama from prolific French director François Ozon. Deeply melancholy and very moving, it’s a proper old school tearjerker, and more accessible than its austere monochrome aesthetic might imply.
1919. Widowed Anna (Paula Beer) lives in Quedlinberg with the Hoffmeisters, the parents of her late husband, Frantz, who was killed in battle the previous year. One day Anna visits Frantz’s grave and finds fresh flowers. The flowers were laid by a visiting Frenchman named Adrien (Pierre Niney). He says he knew Frantz.
The Hoffmeisters tentatively welcome Adrien into their home. Mrs Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber) and Anna are keen to establish a posthumous emotional connection with Frantz via Adrien.
A remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film Broken Lullaby, itself based on a stage play, Frantz is the latest character-based drama from prolific French director François Ozon. Deeply melancholy and very moving, it’s a proper old school tearjerker, and more accessible than its austere monochrome aesthetic might imply.
1919. Widowed Anna (Paula Beer) lives in Quedlinberg with the Hoffmeisters, the parents of her late husband, Frantz, who was killed in battle the previous year. One day Anna visits Frantz’s grave and finds fresh flowers. The flowers were laid by a visiting Frenchman named Adrien (Pierre Niney). He says he knew Frantz.
The Hoffmeisters tentatively welcome Adrien into their home. Mrs Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber) and Anna are keen to establish a posthumous emotional connection with Frantz via Adrien.
- 7/20/2017
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
The International Film Music Critics Association has revealed nominations for best in movie music from 2014, and prolific composers James Newton Howard ("The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1," "Maleficent") and Alexandre Desplat ("Godzilla," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "The Imitation Game," "The Monuments Men") led the way with seven and six nominations respectively. Film score of the year contenders include just two Best Original Score Oscar nominees: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and Hans Zimmer's "Interstellar." "The Imitation Game" and Jóhann Jóhannsson's "Theory of Everything," however, were both nominated in the drama category. "Maleficent" landed the most nominations for a film with four, while DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon 2" picked up three (each of them another if you count composer of the year honors for Howard and John Powell respectively). Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be revealed on Feb. 19. And be sure...
- 2/6/2015
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
Airy & banal, Ozon’s Latest is as Indistinct as its Title
Moving right along the trajectory we’re all well familiar with by now, François Ozon makes yet another sexed-up François Ozon film with this tale of a year in the life of a nubile seventeen year-old prostitute. With plenty of beautifully photographed flesh to prevent a heavy onset of boredom, Jeune et Jolie suffers from a sterile first half that feels just like any other erotic French drama; attempts at characterization are actively avoided, and it makes for a removed viewing experience – however intentional it may be – that does the film few favors. At times resembling a watered down Catherine Breillat film or a less idiosyncratic remake of Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty, only a 2nd act tonal shift toward lighter Ozon territory livens things up, before fluttering to a landing (or two…or three…) that reveals Ozon’s...
Moving right along the trajectory we’re all well familiar with by now, François Ozon makes yet another sexed-up François Ozon film with this tale of a year in the life of a nubile seventeen year-old prostitute. With plenty of beautifully photographed flesh to prevent a heavy onset of boredom, Jeune et Jolie suffers from a sterile first half that feels just like any other erotic French drama; attempts at characterization are actively avoided, and it makes for a removed viewing experience – however intentional it may be – that does the film few favors. At times resembling a watered down Catherine Breillat film or a less idiosyncratic remake of Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty, only a 2nd act tonal shift toward lighter Ozon territory livens things up, before fluttering to a landing (or two…or three…) that reveals Ozon’s...
- 4/23/2014
- by Blake Williams
- IONCINEMA.com
Director Francois Ozon’s latest film, “Jeune Et Jolie” (“Young and Beautiful”) made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Our own Kevin Jagernauth wasn’t too impressed, giving it a “C” partially because of Ozon’s underwhelming narrative that uses “a young woman’s risk-filled sexual awakening as an illustration of coming-of-age, while also demanding a realism from a situation that he keeps far from being rationalized and justified.” Although it has yet to grace our shores, the film’s soundtrack has been revealed. The tracklisting include quite a few tracks from Ozon’s long-term composer, Philippe Rombi (who worked on Ozon's “Swimming Pool,” “Angel,” and “In the House”) along with some youthful, electro-charged tracks (from the likes of M83, Crystal Castles, Vitalic and more) and the softer tunes of French pop legend Francoise Hardy. Starring Marine Vacth, Charlotte Rampling, and Geraldine Pailhas, there’s no word on its U.
- 8/7/2013
- by Kristen Lopez
- The Playlist
The nominations for the César Awards aka the French Oscars were announced. "Farewell, My Queen," "Amour," "Camille Redouble," "In the House," "Rust & Bone," "Holy Motors," and "What's My Name" are competing for the Best Picture category. We'll find out the winners on February 22nd.
Here's the full list of nominees of the 2013 César Awards:
Best Picture
Farewell, My Queen
Amour
Camille Redouble
In The House
Rust & Bone
Holy Motors
What.s In A Name
Best Director
Benoît Jacquot, Farewell, My Queen
Michael Haneke, Amour
Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Redouble
François Ozon, In The House
Jacques Audiard, Rust & Bone
Leos Carax, Holy Motors
Stéphane Brizé, Quelques Heures De Printemps
Best Actress
Catherine Frot, Les Sauveurs Du Palais
Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Redouble
Corinne Masiero, Louise Wimmer
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Léa Seydoux, Farewell, My Queen
Hélène Vincent, Quelques Heures De Printemps
Best Actor
Jean-Pierre Bacri, Cherchez Hortense
Patrick Bruel, What...
Here's the full list of nominees of the 2013 César Awards:
Best Picture
Farewell, My Queen
Amour
Camille Redouble
In The House
Rust & Bone
Holy Motors
What.s In A Name
Best Director
Benoît Jacquot, Farewell, My Queen
Michael Haneke, Amour
Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Redouble
François Ozon, In The House
Jacques Audiard, Rust & Bone
Leos Carax, Holy Motors
Stéphane Brizé, Quelques Heures De Printemps
Best Actress
Catherine Frot, Les Sauveurs Du Palais
Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Redouble
Corinne Masiero, Louise Wimmer
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Léa Seydoux, Farewell, My Queen
Hélène Vincent, Quelques Heures De Printemps
Best Actor
Jean-Pierre Bacri, Cherchez Hortense
Patrick Bruel, What...
- 1/27/2013
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
How to describe Francois Ozon’s In the House… Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is a teacher of literature, critical of his pupils except for the one student – Claude (Ernst Umhauer) – who’s just written a voyeuristic document about his new friend Rapha (Bastien Ughetto) as his French assignment. Germain questions Claude’s critical depiction of his friend’s family home, but gets drawn into Claude’s increasingly fanciful stories from ‘in the house.’ Germain starts to influence Claude’s writing, recommending changes to passages of the story, but these recommendations may be impacting on Claude’s treatment of Rapha, his doting father (Denis Menochet) and bored mother (Emmanuelle Seigner) within their home.
Layered and metatextual to the extreme, In the House (based on a play by Juan Mayorga) must have been a complicated film to assemble. At times it descends into Pedro Almodovar territory, bored of its own plot, bored of its characters,...
Layered and metatextual to the extreme, In the House (based on a play by Juan Mayorga) must have been a complicated film to assemble. At times it descends into Pedro Almodovar territory, bored of its own plot, bored of its characters,...
- 11/4/2012
- by Brogan Morris
- Obsessed with Film
Life During Wartime: Barratier Schmaltifies Nazi Occupied France
France has made a considerable move to reclaim her literature, as not one but two French productions of Louis Pergaud’s 1912 novel, War of the Buttons, have been released this year. This brings the total number of filmed adaptations of the celebrated novel to five, with two original French versions (in 1937 and 1962), and the better known 1994 UK version from John Roberts previously standing as the definitive English speaking film version. However, thus far, the Us will only be privy to one of the new additions, that directed by Christophe Barratier, the man whose directorial debut, 2004’s The Chorus was nominated for Best Foreign film in Americaland (the other, from Yann Samuell, whose 2003 debut, the much celebrated Love Me If You Dare top lines Guillaume Canet, used in Barratier’s ensemble here, but has yet to receive distribution in the Us market...
France has made a considerable move to reclaim her literature, as not one but two French productions of Louis Pergaud’s 1912 novel, War of the Buttons, have been released this year. This brings the total number of filmed adaptations of the celebrated novel to five, with two original French versions (in 1937 and 1962), and the better known 1994 UK version from John Roberts previously standing as the definitive English speaking film version. However, thus far, the Us will only be privy to one of the new additions, that directed by Christophe Barratier, the man whose directorial debut, 2004’s The Chorus was nominated for Best Foreign film in Americaland (the other, from Yann Samuell, whose 2003 debut, the much celebrated Love Me If You Dare top lines Guillaume Canet, used in Barratier’s ensemble here, but has yet to receive distribution in the Us market...
- 10/12/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
File this under: for completist nerd soundtrack obsessives only (which we sadly fall into quite snugly). Ok, you've seen the tracklist for Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom," which features artists like Benjamin Britten, Françoise Hardy, Hank Williams and more. And based on various accounts from Cannes this morning, including our own very positive revew from the Croisette, "Moonrise Kingdom" is certainly Anderson's live-action return to form. We can't wait.
But for soundtrack completists and Wes Anderson obsessives (of which there are many), many will note and know that every soundtrack disc is rarely ever complete. There are always a handful of songs featured in the movie that aren't on the official soundtrack for various myriad reasons; sometimes it's a rights issue and or sometimes it's simply aesthetical CD space (sometimes you want to curate a nice little disc that doesn't go on forever too).
So with "Moonrise Kingdom" screening comes...
But for soundtrack completists and Wes Anderson obsessives (of which there are many), many will note and know that every soundtrack disc is rarely ever complete. There are always a handful of songs featured in the movie that aren't on the official soundtrack for various myriad reasons; sometimes it's a rights issue and or sometimes it's simply aesthetical CD space (sometimes you want to curate a nice little disc that doesn't go on forever too).
So with "Moonrise Kingdom" screening comes...
- 5/16/2012
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Strategic Marketing Group has released a soundtrack album for the new movie adaptation of War of the Buttons (La guerre des boutons). The album includes the original score by composer Klaus Badelt, which was recorded with the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The soundtrack is currently only available in France, but a domestic release is expected in the near future. To listen to audio clips from the score, check out the French Amazon site. La guerre des boutons is directed by Yann Samuell (Love Me if You Dare, My Sassy Girl) and produced by Matthew Gledhill. The movie tells the classic story of the battles waged by a band of kids from two rival villages in the southern French countryside. The film was released in France last month. No domestic release date has been announced so far.
Philippe Rombi has also recently scored another version of War of the Buttons entitled La nouvelle guerre des boutons.
Philippe Rombi has also recently scored another version of War of the Buttons entitled La nouvelle guerre des boutons.
- 10/3/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
Chicago – The dreamy and lyrical often forges a duet with the brooding and ominous in the work of French auteur François Ozon, perhaps best known to American audiences for his 2003 mystery “Swimming Pool,” misleadingly billed as a Hitchcockian thriller. It was, in fact, a psychosexual drama about one uptight author’s self-actualization, and the mysterious young woman who sets it into motion.
This woman may or may not be the author’s younger, more liberated alter ego, though Ozon wisely blurs the lines of his puzzle pieces, opting for abstractness over exposition. His 2009 effort, “Ricky,” is much more of a straightforward fantasy, yet Ozon utilizes its playful imagery to paint a touching portrait of the perils and joys of parenthood. Released under the radar in America, this film is sure to delight unsuspecting audiences with its numerous beguiling plot twists.
DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0
For about its first 40 minutes, Ozon leads viewers...
This woman may or may not be the author’s younger, more liberated alter ego, though Ozon wisely blurs the lines of his puzzle pieces, opting for abstractness over exposition. His 2009 effort, “Ricky,” is much more of a straightforward fantasy, yet Ozon utilizes its playful imagery to paint a touching portrait of the perils and joys of parenthood. Released under the radar in America, this film is sure to delight unsuspecting audiences with its numerous beguiling plot twists.
DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0
For about its first 40 minutes, Ozon leads viewers...
- 4/8/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
I don't believe I have ever reported the nominees for the International Film Music Critics Association before, but in the spirit of covering more award season news than is probably necessary I figured, "What the hell?" The nominees listed below make up the fifth annual International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Excellence with Wall-e receiving the most nominations including Film Score of the Year, Best Score for an Animated Film, Best Film Composition (for "Define Dancing") and Composer of the Year for Thomas Newman. The other big nominee is Danny Elfman who received the most individual nominations this year with seven: Composer of the Year; Film Score of the Year and Best Documentary Score for Standard Operating Procedure; Best Drama Score for Milk; Best Action/Adventure Score and Best Individual Cue for Wanted ("Success Montage"); and Best Fantasy/Science Fiction Score for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The International...
- 1/17/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
It is odd to think that a relative handful of British, French and German soldiers on the front lines of World War I could have foreseen the harmony between those three countries that would only be achieved toward the end of the 20th century.
On Christmas Eve 1914, officers and soldiers who slaughtered each other from trenches barely 100 kilometers apart on a daily basis, put down their weapons to share wine and food, exchange photographs and memories, and play a game of soccer in the snow.
It was an extraordinary act of human generosity and humility although later the men's superior officers would regard it as fraternizing with the enemy and make them pay for it.
With a cast of Scottish, German and French actors all speaking their own language, writer-director Christian Carion has fashioned a deeply moving and uplifting piece that should find appreciative audiences everywhere.
That is not to say the film is overly sentimental, only that when war-torn men facing the darkest hell imaginable join to shake hands and smile and sing to the plangent accompaniment of bagpipes, only the sternest eye will remain dry.
Stories from war are often bizarre, and World War I seemed to offer the strangest. Carion's screenplay swiftly sketches the characters who soon become fully formed. There are scenes of great bravery, simple decency and extraordinary humor.
On the German side, there's a famous tenor named Sprink (Benno Furmann) who is called up to serve as a private. His partner, Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger), conspires to arrange a recital for a Prussian nobleman near the front line so they can be together.
On the British side, there are two brothers Jonathan (Steven Robertson) and William (Robin Laing) who rush to sign up for war, accompanied to their surprise by their local priest, Palmer (Gary Lewis), who registers as stretcher bearer.
The French are led by a talented lieutenant named Audebert (Guillaume Canet) whose superior officer is his father, General Francais Bernard Le Coq) and whose pregnant wife is at home behind enemy lines.
All three military services send booze and trinkets to their men at the front to give them a forlorn sort of Christmas. The Germans send out 100,000 Christmas trees complete with lights and tinsel.
Palmer starts things off by playing the bagpipes with the Scots joining him in song. Then Sprink, who has taken Sorensen to the trenches to sing for his fellows, responds with the carol "Silent Night", and Palmer accompanies him. Palmer follows with "O Come All Ye Faithful", which Sprink starts to sing and, placing a Christmas tree atop the trench, he climbs up himself risking potential gunfire.
No one fires, and soon the trench is alight with Christmas trees as men on all sides climb out to meet and greet each other. The episode was briefly but brilliantly depicted in Richard Attenborough's 1969 epic "Oh What a Lovely War!" and Carion's film, beautifully shot and acted, fleshes out the story to make it ever more memorable.
JOYEUX NOEL (MERRY CHRISTMAS)
Nord-Ouest
Credits: Director/screenwriter: Christian Carion; Producer: Christophe Rossignon; Cinematographer: Walther Vanden Ende; Production designer: Jean-Michel Simonet; Editor: Andrea Sedlackova; Music: Philippe Rombi. Cast: Anna Sorensen: Diane Kruger; Nikolaus Sprink: Benno Furmann; Audebert: Guillaume Canet; Palmer: Gary Lewis; Ponchel: Danny Boon; Horstmayer: Daniel Bruhl; Gordon: Alex Ferns; Jonathan: Steven Robertson; Gueusselin: Lucas Belvaux; General: Bernard Le Coq; Bishop: Ian Richardson; Jorg: Frank Witter; Le Konprinz: Thomas Schmauser; Zimmermann: Joachim Bissmeier; William: Robin Laing; La chatelaine: Suzanne Flon; Le chatelain: Michel Serrault.
No MPAA rating, running time 115 minutes...
On Christmas Eve 1914, officers and soldiers who slaughtered each other from trenches barely 100 kilometers apart on a daily basis, put down their weapons to share wine and food, exchange photographs and memories, and play a game of soccer in the snow.
It was an extraordinary act of human generosity and humility although later the men's superior officers would regard it as fraternizing with the enemy and make them pay for it.
With a cast of Scottish, German and French actors all speaking their own language, writer-director Christian Carion has fashioned a deeply moving and uplifting piece that should find appreciative audiences everywhere.
That is not to say the film is overly sentimental, only that when war-torn men facing the darkest hell imaginable join to shake hands and smile and sing to the plangent accompaniment of bagpipes, only the sternest eye will remain dry.
Stories from war are often bizarre, and World War I seemed to offer the strangest. Carion's screenplay swiftly sketches the characters who soon become fully formed. There are scenes of great bravery, simple decency and extraordinary humor.
On the German side, there's a famous tenor named Sprink (Benno Furmann) who is called up to serve as a private. His partner, Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger), conspires to arrange a recital for a Prussian nobleman near the front line so they can be together.
On the British side, there are two brothers Jonathan (Steven Robertson) and William (Robin Laing) who rush to sign up for war, accompanied to their surprise by their local priest, Palmer (Gary Lewis), who registers as stretcher bearer.
The French are led by a talented lieutenant named Audebert (Guillaume Canet) whose superior officer is his father, General Francais Bernard Le Coq) and whose pregnant wife is at home behind enemy lines.
All three military services send booze and trinkets to their men at the front to give them a forlorn sort of Christmas. The Germans send out 100,000 Christmas trees complete with lights and tinsel.
Palmer starts things off by playing the bagpipes with the Scots joining him in song. Then Sprink, who has taken Sorensen to the trenches to sing for his fellows, responds with the carol "Silent Night", and Palmer accompanies him. Palmer follows with "O Come All Ye Faithful", which Sprink starts to sing and, placing a Christmas tree atop the trench, he climbs up himself risking potential gunfire.
No one fires, and soon the trench is alight with Christmas trees as men on all sides climb out to meet and greet each other. The episode was briefly but brilliantly depicted in Richard Attenborough's 1969 epic "Oh What a Lovely War!" and Carion's film, beautifully shot and acted, fleshes out the story to make it ever more memorable.
JOYEUX NOEL (MERRY CHRISTMAS)
Nord-Ouest
Credits: Director/screenwriter: Christian Carion; Producer: Christophe Rossignon; Cinematographer: Walther Vanden Ende; Production designer: Jean-Michel Simonet; Editor: Andrea Sedlackova; Music: Philippe Rombi. Cast: Anna Sorensen: Diane Kruger; Nikolaus Sprink: Benno Furmann; Audebert: Guillaume Canet; Palmer: Gary Lewis; Ponchel: Danny Boon; Horstmayer: Daniel Bruhl; Gordon: Alex Ferns; Jonathan: Steven Robertson; Gueusselin: Lucas Belvaux; General: Bernard Le Coq; Bishop: Ian Richardson; Jorg: Frank Witter; Le Konprinz: Thomas Schmauser; Zimmermann: Joachim Bissmeier; William: Robin Laing; La chatelaine: Suzanne Flon; Le chatelain: Michel Serrault.
No MPAA rating, running time 115 minutes...
- 5/17/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Francois Ozon upholds his reputation as one of France's most provocative new filmmakers with "Criminal Lovers", a voyeuristic, noir fairy tale of a thriller.
A prize winner at the recent Outfest 2000, which also screened the prolific Ozon's upcoming "Water Drops on Burning Rocks", the creepy if uneven picture should still do well by its niche audience.
Natacha Regnier, who took home a slew of acting awards for her performance in "The Dreamlife of Angels", is the coldly manipulative Alice, a jaded teen who successfully persuades her naive, sexually uncertain boyfriend Luc (Jeremie Renier) to help murder the swaggering Said Salim Kechiouche) for reasons that aren't made clear until much later in the film.
For the time being, we're expected to just go with the program as this supposedly amoral twosome also finds time to hold up a jewelry store before turning to the business of disposing of a freshly killed body.
They find an ideal place deep in the woods, but once they complete the burial, they discover they are hopelessly lost. Hungry and tired, Luc and Alice stumble upon a hidden cabin occupied by a hermit (Miki Manojlovic). He doesn't take too kindly to trespassers who also happen to be murderers.
Forced into a rat-infested cellar until their fate may be decided by the woodsman, Luc and Alice occupy their time by flashing back to the events leading up to their crime until their grizzled host reveals his decidedly unpredictable intentions.
It's certainly hard not to be provocative with a film that manages to conjure the likes of "Natural Born Killers", "The Blair Witch Project" and "Hansel and Gretel", with homoerotic overtones. And if it would seem like that grouping might make for very strange bedfellows, the truth is that those thematic elements don't always add up to a satisfyingly integrated mix.
But Ozon manages to keep it all quite intriguing, constantly peeling back the layers of an enigmatic narrative that at times treads a very fine line between sensationalism and camp.
While the two young leads are fairly limited by their one-
dimensional characters, Manojlovic, a favorite of directors Emir Kusturica and Goran Paskaljevic, delivers an ideally weighted performance as the scary but oddly sympathetic hunter. He's an alternative-lifestyle fantasy take on a familiar Brothers Grimm archetype.
Also creating an effectively unsettling vibe is director of photography Pierre Stoeber, whose restless, often hand-held cinematography is accompanied by Philippe Rombi's similarly anxious score.
CRIMINAL LOVERS
Strand Releasing
Fidelite Prods., Studio Canal Plus,
La Sept/ARTE Euro Space (Japan)
with the participation of Canal Plus
and support from CNC (France)
Producers: Marc Missonnier, Olivier Delbosc
Director-screenwriter: Francois Ozon
Director of photography: Pierre Stoeber
Production designer: Arnaud de Moleron
Editor: Dominique Petrot
Costume designer: Pascaline Chavanne
Music: Philippe Rombi
Color/stereo
Cast
Alice: Natacha Regnier
Luc: Jeremie Renier
Woodsman: Miki Manojlovic
Said: Salim Kechiouche
Karim: Yasmine Belmadi
Running time - 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A prize winner at the recent Outfest 2000, which also screened the prolific Ozon's upcoming "Water Drops on Burning Rocks", the creepy if uneven picture should still do well by its niche audience.
Natacha Regnier, who took home a slew of acting awards for her performance in "The Dreamlife of Angels", is the coldly manipulative Alice, a jaded teen who successfully persuades her naive, sexually uncertain boyfriend Luc (Jeremie Renier) to help murder the swaggering Said Salim Kechiouche) for reasons that aren't made clear until much later in the film.
For the time being, we're expected to just go with the program as this supposedly amoral twosome also finds time to hold up a jewelry store before turning to the business of disposing of a freshly killed body.
They find an ideal place deep in the woods, but once they complete the burial, they discover they are hopelessly lost. Hungry and tired, Luc and Alice stumble upon a hidden cabin occupied by a hermit (Miki Manojlovic). He doesn't take too kindly to trespassers who also happen to be murderers.
Forced into a rat-infested cellar until their fate may be decided by the woodsman, Luc and Alice occupy their time by flashing back to the events leading up to their crime until their grizzled host reveals his decidedly unpredictable intentions.
It's certainly hard not to be provocative with a film that manages to conjure the likes of "Natural Born Killers", "The Blair Witch Project" and "Hansel and Gretel", with homoerotic overtones. And if it would seem like that grouping might make for very strange bedfellows, the truth is that those thematic elements don't always add up to a satisfyingly integrated mix.
But Ozon manages to keep it all quite intriguing, constantly peeling back the layers of an enigmatic narrative that at times treads a very fine line between sensationalism and camp.
While the two young leads are fairly limited by their one-
dimensional characters, Manojlovic, a favorite of directors Emir Kusturica and Goran Paskaljevic, delivers an ideally weighted performance as the scary but oddly sympathetic hunter. He's an alternative-lifestyle fantasy take on a familiar Brothers Grimm archetype.
Also creating an effectively unsettling vibe is director of photography Pierre Stoeber, whose restless, often hand-held cinematography is accompanied by Philippe Rombi's similarly anxious score.
CRIMINAL LOVERS
Strand Releasing
Fidelite Prods., Studio Canal Plus,
La Sept/ARTE Euro Space (Japan)
with the participation of Canal Plus
and support from CNC (France)
Producers: Marc Missonnier, Olivier Delbosc
Director-screenwriter: Francois Ozon
Director of photography: Pierre Stoeber
Production designer: Arnaud de Moleron
Editor: Dominique Petrot
Costume designer: Pascaline Chavanne
Music: Philippe Rombi
Color/stereo
Cast
Alice: Natacha Regnier
Luc: Jeremie Renier
Woodsman: Miki Manojlovic
Said: Salim Kechiouche
Karim: Yasmine Belmadi
Running time - 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/26/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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