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Victoria Bedos, the creator and co-writer of “La Famille Belier,” the hit French movie that was remade into Sian Heder’s Oscar-nominated “Coda,” is getting ready to make her feature debut with Focus Features/Universal in France.

For her directorial debut, “Leo et moi,” Bedos will once tell the bittersweet story of a teenager set against an unusual backdrop, a theme she probed in “Famille Belier.” “Leo et moi” (working title) is produced by Hélène Cases at Lionceau Films and follows 14-year-old Marie-Luce Bison, who lives with her widowed father at a group home for seniors in rural France. Universal will distribute the film in theaters in France and Focus Features has global rights.

In the film, Marie, growing up as an outsider surrounded by elderly people and her distant father, isn’t like anyone else at school and the other kids notice it. One day, fed up of being bullied by her classsmates,...

French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, known for films like Breathless and Two Women, has died at age 88. The actor, whose death was confirmed by his lawyer to Afp News Agency, died at his home in Paris. No cause of death has been given.

Belmondo, born in 1933 in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, got his start in acting in the 1950s, first working in theater before moving into film. He collaborated with French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard in 1958 short Charlotte And Her Boyfriend, and went on to work with Godard several more times,...

Jean Dujardin is off on a mission to Africa for the latest in the Oss 117 franchise scheduled as the final screening in this year’s Cannes Film Festival. His dancing partner is Fatou N’Diaye (Image Photo: Gaumont/Christophe Brochet Although the rumour machine has been rife for weeks the organisers of Cannes Film Festival finally have confirmed that the Last Screening (Dernière séance) of this year’s 47th edition will be the latest iteration of the spy spool Oss 117: From Africa With Love, which will hit French cinema screens in August.

Oss 117: From Africa With Love marks the third outing as the spy for Jean Dujardin Photo: Gaumont/Christophe Brochet The first two in the series Oss 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies and Oss 117: Lost In Rio were directed by Michel Hazanavicius who has relinquished the reins for the new film to director Guy Bedos on...

A day ahead of the Cannes Film Festival’s announcement of the Official Selection of films set to receive the ‘Cannes 2020′ label on June 3, the festival’s artistic director Thierry Fremaux penned a letter to contextualize this year’s unlikely edition.

While the festival’s physical edition was canceled in April following the French government’s ban on large-scale events, Fremaux said the selection committee received a record 2,067 features for consideration, up from last year’s 1,845 films.

“The crisis and the slowing down of post-production activity did not have an impact on the number of movies submitted,” Fremaux noted.

In his letter, Fremaux lauded the festival’s Official Selection.

“It says that film, which disappeared from theaters for three months in 2020, and for the first time since they were created by the Lumiere (brothers) on Dec. 28, 1895, is more alive than ever,” Fremaux said.

Speaking of the films set to receive the label on Wednesday,...

In French, the name Bedos carries a certain reputation. The son of beloved local comedian Guy Bedos, Nicolas always knew he wanted to make movies, but just because he had a famous father didn’t mean the path was necessarily easy. Despite collaborating with dad early on, and writing several original plays in his mid-20s, it wasn’t until Bedos achieved his own celebrity that he found the opportunity to direct.

“The French first came to know me as a satirist,” says the now-40-year-old Bedos, who made his reputation as an ultra-sarcastic (and occasionally controversial) cultural commentator on a popular weekly talk show. “I think it was truly a gift from heaven that I wasn’t able to make movies that early.”

At 20, his taste wasn’t fully formed, but influenced more by what others looked up to — the French New Wave, snobbish auteur cinema — which, with a bit of life experience,...

Danièle Delorme and Jean Gabin in 'Deadlier Than the Male.' Danièle Delorme movies (See previous post: “Danièle Delorme: 'Gigi' 1949 Actress Became Rare Woman Director's Muse.”) “Every actor would like to make a movie with Charles Chaplin or René Clair,” Danièle Delorme explains in the filmed interview (ca. 1960) embedded further below, adding that oftentimes it wasn't up to them to decide with whom they would get to work. Yet, although frequently beyond her control, Delorme managed to collaborate with a number of major (mostly French) filmmakers throughout her six-decade movie career. Aside from her Jacqueline Audry films discussed in the previous Danièle Delorme article, below are a few of her most notable efforts – usually playing naive-looking young women of modest means and deceptively inconspicuous sexuality, whose inner character may or may not match their external appearance. Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire (“Open for Inventory Causes,” 1946), an unreleased, no-budget comedy notable...

Friends With Money: Aging Europeans a Case Study in Robelin’s Sophomore Feature

Inevitably, Stephane Robelin’s latest feature, All Together (a mutated English translation of the original French title, which literally means If We All Lived Together? ) will be compared to this year’s contrived but hugely successful geriatric adventure, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, since this seems tailor made for that demographic. But this French feature, while not an overtly successful feature, manages to avoid feeling strained with false melodrama and hammy end-of-the-road wisdoms. Instead, this subdued venture gathers some legendary and some undervalued thespians for a pleasant, if inconsequential look at getting older.

Five friends that have regularly gotten together for the past forty years are all beginning to discover that they need to start planning soon for the inevitable. Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) and Jean (Guy Bedos) own a large home not fully utilized since their...

Title: All Together (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?) Kino Lorber/ Tribeca Film Director: Stéphane Robelin Screenwriter: Stéphane Robelin Cast: Jane Fonda, Pierre Richard, Claude Rich, Geraldine Chaplin, Guy Bedos, Daniel Brühl, Gwendoline Hamon, Bernard Malaka Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 10/4/14 Opens: October 19, 2012 How do people want to live when they get on in years, particularly if they are not able to care for themselves? Some will insist on remaining in their own homes despite the dangers they may face if nobody is around during moments of crisis. Others will move in with their children, not the favored solution in America but more likely in Europe. Some  [ Read More ]

The post All Together Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

If you love Downton Abbey but loathe the hiatus, IFC might have you covered. According to Variety, the independent distributor have snatched up Donald Rice‘s Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, a film about rich people acting British and romantic in a period setting.

It’s good, though. I saw the film at Tribeca this past April, finding it to be a well-tuned mixture of comedy and aching longing that you don’t get quite enough of in theaters nowadays. (Our review reflects my own thoughts pretty well.) The cast is pretty impressive one, by the way, with Felicity Jones and Luke Treadaway (Attack the Block) proving capable as two former lovers who, perhaps, against all reason, want to get back together. (The likes of Elizabeth McGovern and Mackenzie Crook add to the background.) It’s very mannered and detailed, the sort of thing you’d expect from this kind of story.

It was announced today that Stéphane Robelin's 2012 comedy "All Together," featuring Jane Fonda, Pierre Richard and Geraldine Chaplin, was jointly acquired by Kino Lorber Inc and Tribeca Film. This marks Fonda's first French-language film since 1972's "Tout Va Bien." The film is planning for an October 19 theatrical release in New York. It will also be made available on VOD. An official synopsis of the film follows: Stéphane Robelin's delectable film focuses on five aging friends who opt out of retiring at a senior home to try a youthful experiment of moving in together into a spacious house, owned by their friends Annie (Geraldine Chaplin) and Jean (Guy Bedos). Joining them is the borderline womanizer Claude (Claude Rich) as well as the bon vivant Albert (Pierre Richard) and his wife Jeanne (Jane Fonda), a philosophy professor. Although life-long friends, Claude, Annie, Jean, Albert and Jeanne quickly...

New York, NY – August 20, 2012 – Kino Lorber, Inc. and Tribeca Film are proud to announce the acquisition of all Us rights to Stéphane Robelin’s crowd-pleasing comedy All Together (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?), starring Jane Fonda (in her first French-language film since Godard’s 1972′s Tout Va Bien), Geraldine Chaplin, Daniel Brühl, Pierre Richard, Guy Bedos, and Claude Rich. A theatrical and VOD day and date release is planned for All Together beginning in New York on October 19 and on-demand platforms, where it will be available in 40+ million homes through a variety of video-on-demand offerings, as well as iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly and Vudu. Stéphane Robelin’s delectable film focuses on five aging friends who opt out of retiring at a senior home to try a youthful experiment of moving in together into a spacious house, owned by their friends Annie (Geraldine Chaplin) and Jean (Guy Bedos). Joining them...

Kino Lorber, Inc. and Tribeca Film are proud to announce the acquisition of the U.S. rights to Stephane Robelin's crowd-pleasing comedy, All Together (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?). The film received the honor of premiering on the closing night of the 2011 Locarno International Film Festival, and both companies look forward to making the film available to audiences across the country. Starring Jane Fonda, Geraldine Chaplin, Daniel Brühl, and Pierre Richard, Stephane Robelin's delectable film focuses on five aging friends who opt out of retiring at a senior home to try a youthful experiment of moving in together into a spacious house, owned by Annie (Chaplin) and Jean (Guy Bedos). Joining them is the borderline womanizer Claude (Claude Rich), as well as the bon vivant Albert (Richard) and his wife Jeanne (Fonda). These life-long friends quickly learn the challenges of communal living and decide to hire the easy-going Dirk...

Idiosyncratic French film director and Cannes prizewinner

At the Cannes film festival in 1958, the jury prize was awarded to Goha, the first Tunisian film (albeit a co-production with France) to be nominated for the Palme d'Or. There were other important firsts connected with the film. Goha was the first feature directed by Jacques Baratier, who has died aged 91. It featured the 20-year-old Tunisian-born beauty Claudia Cardinale in her screen debut and starred a handsome 25-year-old Egyptian actor billed as Omar Chérif (later Sharif), in the role that launched his international career and eventually caught the attention of the producers of Lawrence of Arabia. The film's screenplay was the only one written by the celebrated Egyptian-born playwright and poet Georges Schehadé, and it featured the first screen score by the Moroccan-born composer Maurice Ohana.

Goha, based on an Arab folktale, told of a clever young man (Sharif) who, under the guise of stupidity,...