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Decadent, hermetic, and gleefully hostile to realism, French writer-director Bertrand Mandico’s She Is Conann is the cinematic equivalent of a French Symbolist poem. Throughout, the oneiric imagery seeping from every frame takes precedence over narrative linearity. And yet, even as the film embodies the self-indulgent ideal of art for art’s sake, it devours itself from within and drops the viewer back into the arena of politics.

Lest we forget even for moment that we’re watching a film, She Is Conann is shot in black and white, aside from the sporadic flash of violence and one framing sequence set in hell’s antechamber, where a dead Conann (Françoise Brion) takes stock of her life of barbarism. For her guide, there’s the dog-headed punk clairvoyant Rainer (Elina Löwensohn), whose name could be an allusion to Rainer Maria Rilke or Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Their dialogue at any given moment...

“She Is Conann” is a new science fiction fantasy thriller feature, directed by Bertrand Mandico, starring Claire Duburcq, Christa Théret, Sandra Parfait, Agata Buzek, Nathalie Richard, Françoise Brion, Julia Riedler and Elina Löwensohn, releasing February 2, 2024 in theaters:

“…traveling through the abyss, underworld dog ‘Rainer’ recounts the six lives of ‘Conann’, perpetually put to death by her own future, across eras, myths and ages.

‘Follow her, from her childhood as a slave of ‘Sanja’ and her barbarian horde…

“…to her accession to the summits of cruelty at the doors of our world…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

"Six lives. Six incarnations." Altered Innocence has revealed the US trailer for a wild & crazy experimental French film called She Is Conann, a unique re-imagining of the classic Conan the Barbarian myth through a modern gender-swapped lens. Yes, you read that right! This premireed at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year in Directors' Fortnight, with stops at Fantastic Fest and Sitges. It'll be opening in February in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and more, with director Bertrand Mandico and the star at opening weekend showings at Anthology Film Archives in NYC. Conan's life at different stages is shown with a different aesthetic and rhythm from the classic Sumerian era to the near future. The film is a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip that boldly celebrates the influences of Fellini Satyricon, The Night Porter, The Hunger, and Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre to craft a moving portrait of a warrior...

Experimental French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico isn’t for everyone — i.e. an acquired taste whose visions push boundaries of cinematic expression — but he’s achieved something of a cult fandom over the last three decades. After last pairing with the director on 2022’s “After Blue” and 2017’s uninhibited Venice winner “The Wild Boys” — Cahiers du Cinéma’s top film of 2018 — the distributor Altered Innocence again teams with Mandico on another provocation. His 2023 Cannes premiere “She Is Conann,” nominated for the Queer Palm before going on to play at other festivals including Locarno, is an acid-trip transgressive riff on the Conan the Barbarian myth. IndieWire shares the trailer here.

Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.

Following The Wild Boys and After Blue, Conann marks the third feature-length project from prolific shorts filmmaker Bertrand Mandico. Many are still not convinced long-form fits his intense and imaginative style, but what’s certain is that Conann makes one heck of a watch. Part of the self-contained cosmos of Mandico’s explosive vision, this new film is a provocative tale of endurance and self-discovery inspired by the fantasy character Conan the Barbarian (or the Cimmerian). Mandico takes the figure of a sword and sorcery hero––obviously interested in his pulp magazine origins––and fashions a timeless, iterative narrative of phantasmagoric fluidity… and glitter.

Conann is framed by a first-person narration, that of Rainer the hellhound (Elina Löwensohn in impressive dog-faced costume), who roams the netherworld and is suspiciously attracted to the main protagonist, however antagonistic he may appear. But the hero is Conann, a queer rendition of an otherwise masculine symbol,...

Paris-based sales company beefs up slate ahead of Berlinale market.

Paris-based sales company Pyramide International has boarded Anna Novion’s Le Théorème de Marguerite and Marie Garel-Weiss’s Sur La Branche and will kick off pre-sales for the French dramas at the upcoming EFM.

Novion’s Le Théorème de Marguerite stars Ella Rumpf as the titular character, a brilliant mathematics student at France’s top university the Ecole Normale Supérieure. On the day of her thesis presentation, a mistake shakes up all the certainty in her planned-out life and she decides to quit everything and start afresh.

Rumpf notably starred...

Matthias Luthardt with Anne-Katrin Titze on his cello musicianship inspiring Clemens Berg’s role in Pingpong: “I used to play a lot when I was a teenager. I was playing intensely.”

My first interaction with Matthias Luthardt, the director of the upcoming Dh Lawrence adaptation of The Fox (Der Fuchs), written by Sebastian Bleyl, starring Luise Aschenbrenner (Dominik Graf’s Erich Kästner adaptation of Fabian: Going to the Dogs) and Christa Théret (Olivier Assayas’s Non-Fiction) was when I sent in a question during the Face to Face with German Films in 2022 filmmakers' panel in Berlin: “Which film you saw did you particularly like in 2021?” His response was Joachim Trier’s Oscar nominated The Worst Person In The World, starring Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie.

Sebastian Urzendowsky and Clemens Berg in Pingpong

Autumn 1929 - Shadows above Babylon and Pingpong,...

German Films, an agency that promotes German cinema worldwide, has announced the talent who will feature in its 7th annual Face to Face With German Films campaign. The high-profile platform sets out to bring international visibility to the wealth of ground-breaking talent working in film and TV in Germany, and shaping the future of the industry.

This year’s selected talent are documentary writer-director Sarah Noa Bozenhardt (“Among Us Women”), actor-producer-writer Sara Fazilat (“Nico”), actor-director Jerry Hoffmann (“Shahada”), film editor Julia Kovalenko (“System Crasher”), writer-director Matthias Luthardt (“Pingpong”), cinematographer and director Zamarin Wahdat (“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)”) and actor Anne Zander (“For Jojo”).

After spotlighting well-known actors, writers and directors such as Saskia Rosendahl (“Lore”), Alexander Fehling, Burhan Qurbani (“Berlin Alexanderplatz”) and Jonas Nay in its first five years, last year’s Face to Face With German Films – The Filmmakers campaign broadened its...

French sales agent Wild Bunch TV has acquired “The Rope,” a new fantasy drama series produced by Les Films de l’Instant and co-produced by Arte France and Versus Production which is premiering at this year’s Series Mania festival in Lille.

In the fantasy thriller, co-written and directed by Dominique Rocher, a small group of scientists working at a remote Norwegian base discover a seemingly endless piece of rope just outside their observatory which runs into the vast surrounding forest. Intrigued by the discovery, several members of the team group up and begin to follow the rope into the wilderness, while others stay behind to man the station.

Curiosity transforms into compulsion as the mystery deepens, forcing each character to face the life-changing consequences of choices they’ve made.

“The Rope” is adapted from novel “Das Seil” by Stefan aus dem Siepen, and boasts an impressive international cast including Suzanne Clément...

Talk. Talk. Talk. That’s what goes on in Non-Fiction, the new comedy of surprising gravity from writer-director Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria, Irma Vep). Oh, but what talk: a tumble of words flowing from a master. There’s sex, of course. — Non-Fiction is a French film — but in this look at the publishing world in the age of the digital invasion, Assayas is laughing on the edge of an abyss.

The film plunges us into a meeting that cool, collected publisher, Alain (Guillaume Canet), is having with an...

In the latest episode of CinemAddicts we review Non-Fiction, a witty and well acted tale headlined by Juliette Binoche (Let The Sunshine In) and Guillaume Canet (Tell No One).

Set in the Paris, the narrative centers on Alain (Canet), a publisher who engages in an affair with his co-worker Laure (Christa Théret). His wife Selena suspects [...]

The post CinemAddicts Podcasts Reviews Juliette Binoche Drama ‘Non-Fiction’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Writers and publishers, politicians and performers deal with a changing cultural landscape in Non-Fiction, the latest feature from writer and director Olivier Assayas. A snapshot of Parisian society about to succumb to the digital generation, it’s also a surprisingly supple romantic comedy in which couples form and dissolve with distinctively French sangfroid. Alain (Guillaume Canet), a publisher of “quality” literature, is facing the takeover of his house by a digital entrepreneur. His assistant Laure (Christa Théret) argues that books are obsolete anyway. Alain’s wife Selena (Juliette Binoche) feels trapped in her role as a “crisis management expert” (read: “cop”) in […]...

Writers and publishers, politicians and performers deal with a changing cultural landscape in Non-Fiction, the latest feature from writer and director Olivier Assayas. A snapshot of Parisian society about to succumb to the digital generation, it’s also a surprisingly supple romantic comedy in which couples form and dissolve with distinctively French sangfroid. Alain (Guillaume Canet), a publisher of “quality” literature, is facing the takeover of his house by a digital entrepreneur. His assistant Laure (Christa Théret) argues that books are obsolete anyway. Alain’s wife Selena (Juliette Binoche) feels trapped in her role as a “crisis management expert” (read: “cop”) in […]...

Olivier Assayas and Juliette Binoche deliver a very contemporary comedy about modern life and twitter. The characters all freely unload their opinions of our technical computer-driven age, life on the internet and how twitter, facebook, and texting obsess and drive our daily lives. Dramatically unrelenting observations of these (very interesting!) themes.

To say the least it is thought provoking and, as done here, very funny.

Endlessly talky, the film works for me as the characters’ — modern Parisians all — speculate on how the new and endlessly changing internet age has affected their lives. Thought provoking because the talk is brainy and challenging.

Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet reunite with seasoned director Olivier Assayas for this dialogue heavy, slyly seductive tale. And the internet.

Set in the world of the latter day bohemian intelligentsia of the Parisian publishing world, Non-Fiction traces the romantic and emotional fallout that results when a controversial writer...

Following Summer Hours and Clouds of Sils Maria, Juliette Binoche has reteamed with Olivier Assayas’s Non-Fiction (aka Double Vies), which jumps from conversation to conversation about technology’s influence on the world of book publishing (a clear-eyed metaphor for the director’s view of shifting landscape of cinema). After playing at Venice, Tiff, Nyff, and more, the film will arrive this May and now the U.S. trailer has landed.

Leonardo Goi said in his review,”Who needs a middle man’s subjectivity when you have algorithms predicting what people will like? Critics don’t matter much in Olivier Assayas’ talkative Non-Fiction, but they are not the only supposedly anachronistic relic to be thrown out of the window in this gentle and profoundly compassionate human comedy that draws from the ever-widening rift between old and new trends in the publishing industry to conjure up a tale of societal changes...

"Some people write feel-good books. I write feel-bad books." Sundance Selects (via IFC Films) has debuted the first official Us trailer for the intellectual indie comedy Non-Fiction, the latest from acclaimed French filmmaker Olivier Assayas. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year under the French title Doubles Vies, which translates to Double Lives, a reference to the characters in the film being writers who live "double lives" through their work. Set in the Parisian publishing world, an editor and an author find themselves in over their heads, as they cope with a middle-age crisis, the changing industry and their wives. This stars Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, Christa Théret, Nora Hamzawi, and Pascal Greggory. I saw this in Venice and it's a fun one, will really kick your brain into high gear thinking about all that it discusses. Here's the official Us trailer (+ French poster) for...

Six months after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, “Non-Fiction” has a trailer to accompany its warm reviews. “Clouds of Sils Maria” collaborators Olivier Assayas and Juliette Binoche reunited for the heady drama, which finds its leading lady discussing literature with Guillame Canet in Paris. Avail yourself of the trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis: “Juliette Binoche and Guillame Canet reunite with acclaimed director Olivier Assayas for this wry, slyly seductive tale of sex, lies, and literature. Set amidst the bohemian intelligentsia of the Parisian publishing world, ‘Non-Fiction’ traces the romantic and emotional fallout that results when a controversial writer (Vincent Macaigne) begins blurring the line between fact and fiction, using his real-life love affairs — including a passionate fling with an actress (Binoche) who happens to be married to his editor (Canet) — as fodder for his explosive new novel.”

In his Venice review of “Non-Fiction,” IndieWire’s David Ehrlich...

There’s always been an immediacy to the films of Olivier Assayas, but few have felt more timely than his latest, Non-Fiction (aka Double Vies), which jumps from conversation to conversation about technology’s influence on the world of book publishing (a clear-eyed metaphor for the director’s view of shifting landscape of cinema). After playing at Venice, Tiff, Nyff, and more, the film will arrive on France early next year and now the first trailer has landed, featuring stars Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, Nora Hamzawi, Christa Théret, and Pascal Greggory.

Leonardo Goi said in his review,”Who needs a middle man’s subjectivity when you have algorithms predicting what people will like? Critics don’t matter much in Olivier Assayas’ talkative Non-Fiction, but they are not the only supposedly anachronistic relic to be thrown out of the window in this gentle and profoundly compassionate human comedy that...

Following on from two of Olivier Assayas’ most accomplished films (Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper), Non-Fiction involves the French auteur delving further into the recurrent themes of consumerism, technology and celebrity in his work. This witty, conversational comedy puts the world of publishing under a microscope, particularly focusing on how digital consumption is transforming the industry and the notion of art itself. While feeling less obviously cinematic than his most recent endeavours, Non-Fiction provides a breezy, perceptive, and very funny portrait of literary publishing in the digital age.

Alain (Guillaume Canet) is a middle-aged book publisher in a rapidly changing industry who’s having an affair with his company’s new digital transition advisor Laure (Christa Théret). In the meantime, his wife Selena (Juliette Binoche), a TV-actress starring in a much-loved cop show, is sleeping with writer Léonard (Vincent Macaigne), whose long-time editor happens to be Alain. Léonard...

Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, Nora Hamzawi star in Olivier Assayas's Non-Fiction (Doubles Vies) with Christa Théret and Pascal Greggory Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Tom Volf's standout Maria By Callas on Maria Callas, with the voice of Joyce Didonato in the Spotlight on Documentary program; Special Events selection Morgan Neville's They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead documentary with Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, and Joseph McBride on the making of Orson Welles's The Other Side Of The Wind; and in the Main Slate Paul Dano's Wildlife, co-written with Zoe Kazan, starring Ed Oxenbould, Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Bill Camp, and Olivier Assayas's Non-Fiction (Doubles Vies) with Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, and Nora Hamzawi round out the four early bird highlights of the 56th New York Film Festival.

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead

They’ll Love Me When I...

Who needs a middle man’s subjectivity when you have algorithms predicting what people will like? Critics don’t matter much in Olivier Assayas’ talkative Non-Fiction, but they are not the only supposedly anachronistic relic to be thrown out of the window in this gentle and profoundly compassionate human comedy that draws from the ever-widening rift between old and new trends in the publishing industry to conjure up a tale of societal changes–and people caught in between them.

Nurturing a collaboration that fathered prior gems such as Summer Hours (2008) and the more recent Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), Non-Fiction adds another entry to the list of Assayas–Binoche duets, with the French muse still starring as an actress–albeit downgraded from the Clouds’ arthouse charmer to policewoman in a TV series of dubious quality. But Juliette Binoche no longer serves as the plot’s gravitating center, sharing the spotlight with...

Olivier Assayas crafts films of marvelous depths, simultaneously cinematic and literary in the richness of their pleasures, where the words people speak — and they can speak a lot — are only part of the picture. As much as Assayas enjoys verbal tangos, he demands that his audience pay attention to the footwork, to the foundations generating the words. Breaking from the style of recent successes “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Personal Shopper,” his latest, “Non-Fiction,” harks back to some of the director’s more openly philosophical earlier works. Yet this story of two couples dealing with change in their personal and professional lives, so packed with intellectual sparring, gets progressively lighter as it moves along, acknowledging the primacy of human interaction (foibles and all) over doctrine. It’s also full of humor, which will help sell the picture to critics and viewers hungry for smart French fare.

Assayas immediately plunges us...

It’s difficult to ask hard questions about change and technology and progress — particularly to consider whether “progress” is actually progress or not — without sounding like a cranky old man, but writer-director Olivier Assayas has now done it twice. 2008’s “Summer Hours” contemplated a world in which new generations seemed uninterested in preserving art history and cultural treasures of the past, and now a decade later, with “Non-Fiction,” he asks similarly pointed questions about the future of books and literature in the internet age.

That he does so with a minimum of breast-beating and a surfeit of sparkling wit no doubt helps the message go down, particularly since it’s clear that he’s not offering answers but instead merely asking the questions.

The film introduces us to a group of friends, lovers and colleagues, all of whom engage in spirited conversations about the state of writing, acting and politics,...

Several decades into the digital revolution, there’s still a twinge of discomfort whenever new work from a major auteur dares to invoke the internet. Even worse: when it does so by name. Facebook. YouTube. Snapchat. Such vulgar things become virtually unavoidable in any movie that’s about the modern world, but the transience of social media remains hard to reconcile with the timelessness of great cinema. It’s the residue of a cannon that’s loaded with dead men and often pointing backward, the legacy of a pantheon that tends to regard modernity as more of an existential threat than a tool at its disposal.

It’s also why Olivier Assayas’ sly and delightful “Non-Fiction” (née “E-book”) feels like such a lark at first — like a master filmmaker clearing his throat between more significant projects. That’s exactly what Assayas wants you to think.

It’s one thing when...

Get ready to embark on an awe-inspiring journey to the North Pole in the visually exquisite animated feature, Long Way North. Directed by celebrated filmmaker and animator Rémi Chayé (The Secret of Kells) and produced by Sacrebleu Productions (Oscar®-nominated Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage), Maybe Movies (Oscar®-nominated Ernest & Celestine) and Norlum Studios (Oscar®-nominated Song of the Sea), Long Way North won the coveted Audience Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the winner of Grand Prize at Tokyo Animation Festival, and is an Annie Award nominee for Best Animated Feature-Independent. This captivating animated feature, bolstered by emotionally resonant storytelling, has continued to attract universal acclaim as it enchants movie audiences and families around the world. On January 17, 2017, Shout! Factory Kids is proud to present Long Way North on DVD, two-disc Blu-ray™+ DVD Combo Pack (with digital copy), Digital HD and iTunes.

A spirited and inspiring tale of hope and courage,...

Directed by celebrated animator and filmmaker Rémi Chayé and produced by Sacrebleu Productions (Oscar®-Nominated Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage), Maybe Movies (Oscar®-Nominated Ernest & Celestine) and Norlum Studios (Oscar®-Nominated Song of the Sea), France 3 Cinéma and 2 Minutes, Long Way North won the coveted Audience Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the winner of Grand Prize and the Governor of Tokyo Award at Tokyo Animation Festival 2016. This captivating animated adventure, bolstered by emotionally resonant storytelling and visually exquisite hand-drawn animation, has continued to attract universal acclaim as it enchants movie audiences around the world.

A spirited and inspiring tale of hope and courage, Long Way North is the feature directorial debut of lauded animator Rémi Chayé (first Ad and head of storyboard for Oscar®-Nominated The Secret of Kells, The Painting) and tells the story of a young heroine persevering through a physical and emotional journey...

Marguerite Cohen Media Group Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya, d-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: A- Director: Xavier Giannoli Written by: Xavier Giannoli, Marcia Romano Cast: Catherine Frot, André Marcon, Michel Fau, Christa Théret, Denis Mpunga, Sylvain Dieuaide, Aubert Fenoy, Sophie Leboutte, Theo Cholbi Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 3/3/16 Opens: March 11, 2016 I’ll bet you like to sing in the shower? Why? Because you sound terrific. You have fallen in love with your own voice. That’s because singers don’t really hear their own voices as others hear them. Nowadays it’s easy to record yourself, and a quick chorus in front of a Sony ICDPX333 voice recorder would quickly [ Read More ]

The post Marguerite Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Xavier Giannoli on the lie of Charlie Chaplin: "Everything is true in the Dada performance." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Tristan Tzara, Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx, Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton in Sydney Pollack's Out Of Africa by Karen Blixen, Salieri and Mozart in Milos Forman's Amadeus, and Caruso the peacock helped to compose Xavier Giannoli's Marguerite, starring Catherine Frot with André Marcon, Aubert Fenoy, Michel Fau, Denis Mpunga, Sylvain Dieuaide and Christa Théret.

Meryl Streep in Stephen Frears' Florence Foster Jenkins, the next Steven Spielberg, Jeff Nichols, Midnight Special in Paris, Broadway Danny Rose, Woody Allen and Danny Kaye in Carnegie Deli and Carnegie Hall in New York excited the director during our conversation.

Hazel (Christa Théret) singing with Nedda (Petra Nesvacilová)

Anne-Katrin Titze: When did you first hear of Florence Foster Jenkins?

Xavier Giannoli: 15 years ago on the radio. I heard this...

The distributor has secured Us rights from Urban Distribution International to The Secret Of Kells director Rémi Chayé’s Long Way North (Tout En Haut Du Monde).

The Sacrebleu Productions, Maybe Movies and Norlum Studios film won the 2015 Annecy audience award and will receive its North American premiere at the New York International Children’s Film Festival (Feb 26-Mar 20).

The story takes place in late 19th century Russia as a young aristocratic girl flees the constraints of her life to reunite with her explorer grandfather in the Arctic.

The voice cast includes Chloé Dunn, Vivienne Vermes, Peter Hudson, Antony Hickling, Christa Théret, Feodor Atkine, Thomas Sagols and Rémi Caillebot.

Shout! Factory plans a strategic roll-out across multiple platforms, beginning with a theatrical launch this autumn through Shout’s family entertainment imprint, Shout! Factory Kids.

Read More: Cohen Media Group Acquires Venice Premiere 'Marguerite' Xavier Giannoli's "Marguerite" premiered to rave reviews at both the Telluride and Venice Film Festival last year. The movie is loosely inspired by the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, an American socialite who was ridiculed for her poor singing ability. Catherine Frot stars in the titular role, and she's accompanied by André Marcon, Michel Fau, Christa Théret and Denis Mpunga. The film is set during the 1920s in Paris, as a wealthy women spends most of her time singing opera and performing in elaborate costumes. Marguerite is an enthusiastic performer, but she is also terribly and comically out of tune. She eventually is deluded into thinking that she's a talented diva. "Marguerite" will be released in New York this April. No other release date information has been set. Watch the debut trailer above. Read More: Telluride: 4 Female-Centric Films...

Title: Marguerite Director: Xavier Giannoli Starring: Catherine Frot, André Marcon, Michel Fau, Christa Théret, Denis Mpunga, Sylvain Dieuaide, Aubert Fenoy, Sophia Leboutte, Théo Cholbi. The world has always been populated by talentless megalomaniacs. Usually most of these are attracted by the razzle dazzle of success, but very seldom there is a true passion for the arts that motivates them. This is not the case of Marguerite Dumont, a Baroness who lives for music and dreams of becoming an opera singer, but is totally tone-deaf. French director Xavier Giannoli shapes, with humor and sensitivity, the character of Marguerite into an utterly bighearted naive woman, who is led to believe she can  [ Read More ]

The post Marguerite Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

★★★☆☆ Set in 1920 and loosely inspired by the life of infamous soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, Marguerite (2015) is Xavier Giannoli's follow up to disappointing Superstar, which was in competition at Venice three years ago. Marguerite's main characters are wannabes who ultimately find themselves trapped in their own delusions. Marguerite Dumont (Catherine Frot) is an untalented opera singer who believes she has a wonderful voice, regularly performing for her aristocratic friends and behaving like a diva for her butler and amateur photographer Madelbos (Denis Mpunga). In this, she is a classic Giannoli character who falls victim to their own false beliefs.

Marguerite's rendition of Mozart's Queen of the Night sees her squawking throughout the whole aria, in one of the most hilarious, albeit ear-shattering, sequences seen in Venice so far and transformed what looked to be stiff period film into something altogether different. Marguerite is undeniably, and irreparably, tone-deaf, but...

★★★☆☆ Renoir (2012), Gilles Bourdos' sumptuous portrait of the French master's final years and his filmmaker son Jean's first creative stirrings, is big on atmosphere but lacks dramatic tension. Father (Michel Bouquet) and son (Vincent Rottiers) fall for the same woman, Andrée Heuschling (Christa Theret), who becomes Jean's wife and the leading actress in his early films. Set on the Cote d'Azur, Renoir opens with Andrée arriving on the elderly artist's doorstep claiming to be his next model. Suffering from advanced arthritis and mourning the recent loss of his wife, Renoir also employs a household of women to look after him.

The women cook and clean, tenderly dress the French artist's ravaged hands, mix his paints and ferry him between house and terrace or from riverbank to orchard. Revitalised by Andrée's sensuality, Renoir starts painting nudes again. By contrast his young son, Coco (Thomas Doret), is largely ignored. He wanders aimlessly...

Check out what's new to rent and own this week on the various streaming services such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical exclusives for rent, priced from $3-$10, in 24- or 48-hour periods Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (comedy documentary; Kevin Hart, Harry Ratchford; rated R) Pacific Rim (sci-fi action; Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman; also available in 3D; rated PG-13) Broadway Idiot (documentary; Green Day; rated PG) Drug War (action; Sun Honglei, Louis Koo; rated R) A Fierce Green Fire (documentary; Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Ashley Judd) Renoir (drama; Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret; rated R) Haunter (horror...

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Last year's best foreign film award went to Michael Haneke's drama Amour

Renoir, a tale of sunshine, oils and decorative nudity, has been selected as France's official submission for next year's best foreign film Oscar. A French-language film took the top prize last year with Michael Haneke's shattering death-bed drama Amour (although it was in fact an entry for Haneke's native Austria). This time around, the French tongue appears to be talking a different language.

Directed by Gilles Bourdos, Renoir is a period biopic set in the French Riviera in 1915 and charting the relationship between the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), his film-maker son Jean (Vincent Rottiers) and a model (Christa Theret) who becomes a muse for both men. The film played at the 2012 Cannes film festival and became a moderate art-house hit in the Us. But the reviews have been middling. "A syrupy drizzle of prettiness covers this cloying movie,...

Paris -- Gilles Bourdos’ Renoir has been chosen as France’s entry into the Oscar race. A seven-member committee that included Cannes head Thierry Fremaux, actress Isabelle Adjani and France’s Academy president Alain Terzian made the selection. Drama Renoir, which closed the Un Certain Regard sidebar section of Cannes earlier this year, trumped The Past, considered a front-runner for France’s entry. The Past won Oscar-nominee Berenice Bejo the best actress prize in the main competition at the film festival. The nominated bio-pic, starring Michel Bouquet and Christa Theret, was released in the U.S. in March. The story examines the painter late in life as he meets his last

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The Act Of Killing | This Is The End | Despicable Me 2 | The East | Stories We Tell | Hummingbird | Stand Up Guys | Renoir | I Want Your Love | Night Of Silence | The Battle Of The Sexes | Venus And Serena

The Act Of Killing (15)

(Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012, Den/Nor/UK/Swe/Fin) 122 mins

This astounding documentary is so packed with surreal scenarios, casual corruption and inhumanity, it's difficult to believe it's actually true. It tracks down perpetrators of Indonesia's 60s anti-communist massacres, finding them openly unrepentant about their past atrocities; so much so, they're happy to re-enact them as cinematic scenarios. As well as illuminating modern Indonesia, the process says much about history, its representation and its victors.

This Is The End (15)

(Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, 2013, Us) Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill. 107 mins

The apocalypse crashes James Franco's Hollywood house party, resulting in a enjoyably crude comedy that mixes stoner-buddy goofing...

This dramatisation of the painter's relationship with his son, his model and the new art of cinema leaves all the really interesting stuff out

A syrupy drizzle of tasteful prettiness covers this cloying movie about the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) and his film-maker son Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers). The dramatic link between them is Andrée (Christa Théret), a beautiful young woman who in 1915 was the elder Renoir's model, and then became Jean's lover: she was to be his collaborator in the emerging art of the cinema, an interesting part of her life that this film does not cover. Sadly, the arts of painting and film are evoked with equal lack of insight or passion; the relationship between father and son is uninspired, as is their relationship with Andrée, who does a lot of pseudo-sensual lounging about in sun-dappled softcore nudity. Bouquet is always a formidable presence on screen...

★★★★☆ Like the revered work of the artist himself, Renoir (2012) - director Giles Bourdos' biopic of the French impressionist, starring Michel Bouquet, Vincent Rottiers and Christa Théret - paints an idyllic picture of a life played out in bohemian decadence, tainted with rhapsodic and turbulent undercurrents. The arrival of the beautiful Andrée (Théret) at the estate of the reclusive artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Bouquet) on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915 has far-reaching effects on all who meet her. Initially employed as a muse to the artist, she quickly becomes unsure of her place within his household's strict hierarchy.

Only with the return of Pierre-Auguste's eldest son Jean (Rottiers), to convalesce after being wounded during the First World War, does Andrée find some form of role in the family as a catalyst between the cantankerous father and his impassioned young son. As with many of Pierre-August's paintings, people are at the core of Bourdos' work,...

Gilles Bourdos's film about the passion of the elderly impressionist for a young woman glows with the painter's own delight in the body and its pleasures

It's good to see a film about the private life of an artist that is not judgmental about his need for sex and beauty.

Renoir, directed by Gilles Bourdos and starring Michel Bouquet as the impressionist master, is the story of an old man's obsession with a young woman. It is set during the first world war, almost entirely on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's estate in the south of France. Renoir is old and ill, but his artistic fire burns bright, rekindled by a new model, Andrée, played by Christa Théret.

Cue a lot of nakedness in the golden light of Provence. Théret poses for Renoir in his studio, in a meadow, in a stream. The wizened, almost immobile old artist is unembarrassed. He knows what he likes.

“You can’t explain a painting, you have to feel it”, is a line uttered in Gilles Bourdos’s Renoir. Sadly, such a statement isn’t quite as exclusive to cinema, and here is an example of a film that, although certainly alluring and pleasing on the eye, has very little beneath the surface, in desperate need of some patent definition, as this biopic of two of France’s most renowned artistic talents doesn’t quite match up to the innovation and exceptional capabilities that our subjects had in abundance.

What with Renoir and Thérèse Desqueyroux, it seems that French filmmakers are tapping into the current trend of period dramas, that have proved to be so successful across Europe with the likes of Downton Abbey and A Royal Affair. This takes place on the French Riviera across the summer of 1915, at the picturesque abode of ageing Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir...

As the crème de la crème of the film industry begins invading the French Riviera for the 2013 Festival de Cannes, it is quite apropros for a movie about one of the Impressionist masters who spent his last days in the lush French countryside to open this week at the Regal Arbor here in Austin.

Based upon Jacques Renoir's work Le Tableau Amoureux, director and screenwriter Gilles Bourdos' drama Renoir paints a lush vignette of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) at the age of 74. Arthritis wreaks havoc on his body, and his middle son Jean (Vincent Rottiers) is dealing with his own combat wounds from his World War I mobilization.

The pair are both enamored and inspired by Renoir's latest model, the fiery headstrong young Andrée (Christa Theret). Pierre-Auguste's grief over the death of his wife Aline is lightened by Andrée's free-spirited nature and graceful body. Despite...

Review by Barbara Snitzer

While I highly recommend the new French movie Renoir, I feel obligated to caution that my recommendation might not apply to all Movie Geeks.

The most action-packed scene in this movie involves a paintbrush on canvas- no CGI, not even a montage to push the action along. This movie moves at the pace of Heinz ketchup being poured. If the mere description I’ve offered is making you fidget, watching this movie will feel like driving behind an elderly person going 45 mph with their blinker on. This is not the movie for you to go to impress a date; it won’t be long before a more appropriate French movie will be released.

For the rest of us, Renoir is an ambrosial two hour respite on the French Riviera, specifically Cagnes-sûr-Mer, generously offered by director Gilles Bourdos who is a native of nearby Nice. For those...

Chicago – Naming a picture after two of the great artistic minds in human history is quite a high bar to set. Director/co-writer Gilles Bourdos attempts to tell the tale of both impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) and his son, the future filmmaker Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers), who would go on to helm controversial masterpieces such as 1939’s “The Rules of the Game.” These are fascinating people, but the script doesn’t even begin to do them justice.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Taking place in the twilight of Pierre-Auguste’s life circa 1915, Bourdos’s lead-footed vignette upstages its two male subjects with the underdeveloped character of Andrée Heuschling (Christa Theret), a woman who would prove to be the favored muse for both artists. It’s hard to say how Andrée influenced these men, apart from exuding her youthful radiance, and there are times when the line between muse and prostitute becomes hopelessly blurred.

In Renoir, a languorous look at the last days of the storied painter, we get a view of the artist at odds with a blue-haired lady's notion of her favorite impressionist. It's a pivotal moment of Renoir family history, with father and son both taking creative and sexual inspiration from a shared love object: Pierre-Auguste's last model-muse. Future filmmaker Jean Renoir (a vulnerable Vincent Rottiers) is the middle son, recovering from a Wwi wound at the family farm at Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1915. Renoir père (affectingly played by Michel Bouquet) is 74, painfully hobbled by arthritis, and grieving the recent death of his wife. Christa Theret plays Andrée, the vibrant, pretty-in-petulance model who revives his creative, if not other, juices; a startling scene revea...

The Talent Family: Bourdos Abandons Genre for Elegant Biographical Period Piece

A summer signifying the encroaching end of one artist and the birth of another within one of France’s most famous families is the subject of Gilles Bourdos’ latest film, Renoir, based on the biographical novel penned by the great grandson of Auguste Renoir, Jacques (himself a notable cinematographer and photographer). A pastoral portrait that often reaches a resplendence with its moving images that evokes the works of its famed subject, this marks an aggressive change of pace for Bourdos, who has thus far seemed most interested in adapting mystery thrillers for the screen (and to middling effect, at least judging from his 2008 English language debut, Afterwards). Managing to avoid the clichés associated with lofty biopics, this straightforward rendering smartly focuses on a slight passage of time and isn’t driven by any overtly dramatic scenarios.

Set on the...

Title: Renoir Samuel Goldwyn Films Director: Gilles Bourdos Screenwriter: Jerome Tonnerre, Gilles Bourdos, Michel Spinosa, based on the book “Le Tableau armoureux” by Jacques Renoir Cast: Michel Bouquet, Christa Théret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, Romane Bohringer Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 3/21/13 Opens: March 29, 2013 A small percentage of the world’s people have a talent so immense that the rest of us may wonder what goes on in their personal lives to shape their avocations. Many in this elite circle may have unexceptional lives not worthy of the interest of a biographer, a novelist of a filmmaker. Not so Pierre-August Renoir, who may have been genetically privileged to be [ Read More ]

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Gilles Bourdos' Renoir has a new trailer, the poster and images in the gallery for the drama starring Michel Bouquet, Christa Théret and Vincent Rottiers. Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, Renoir opens in limited venues on March 29th. Jérome Tonnerre and helmer Gilles Bourdos wrote the script with the contribution of Michel Spinosa. Set on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, the lushly atmospheric film tells the story of celebrated Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in declining health at age 74, his middle son Jean, who returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I, and the radiantly beautiful Andrée, the young woman who rejuvenates, enchants and inspires both father and son.

Gilles Bourdos' Renoir has a new trailer, the poster and images in the gallery for the drama starring Michel Bouquet, Christa Théret and Vincent Rottiers. Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, Renoir opens in limited venues on March 29th. Jérome Tonnerre and helmer Gilles Bourdos wrote the script with the contribution of Michel Spinosa. Set on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, the lushly atmospheric film tells the story of celebrated Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in declining health at age 74, his middle son Jean, who returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I, and the radiantly beautiful Andrée, the young woman who rejuvenates, enchants and inspires both father and son.

Actress Ada Condeescu who has in just a trio of films (award-winning If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, the Cannes selected Loverboy and the much anticipated Wolf) and Arta Dobroshi’s whose stunning career resume began with the Dardenne’s Lorna’s Silence, Daniel Mulloy’s brilliant short Baby, and Catherine Corsini’s Cannes-selected Three Worlds are two of the ten names/faces who’ve been added to the list of 10 European actors selected as the 2013 Shooting Stars (annually presented at the Berlin Film Festival). Here is the complete list of ten names/faces to watch out for in European cinema:

Mikkel Boe Følsgaard: Nominated by Danish Film Institute

Laura Birn: Nominated by Finnish Film Foundation

Christa Theret: Nominated by uniFrance

Saskia Rosendahl: Nominated by German Films

Luca Marinelli: Nominated by Istituto Luce Cinecitta

Arta Dobroshi: Nominated by Kosova Cinematography Center

Ada Condeescu...