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The duo dazzle up front in screenwriter Florence Vignon’s first film – an Easy Tiger production set to be sold by Orange Studio – which begins filming tomorrow. The first clapperboard is set to slam tomorrow, Wednesday 31 March, on L’échappée belle, which will be the first film directed by screenwriter Florence Vignon (the winner of 2010’s Best Adapted Screenplay César for Mademoiselle Chambon and nominated for 2013’s Best Original Screenplay César via A Few Hours of Spring). Shining bright at the head of the cast is seasoned actor Jacques Gamblin and rising star Zita Hanrot (awarded 2016’s Best New Female Hope César for Fatima and...

The Party Film Sales has closed further deals on Filippo Meneghetti’s romance “Two of Us,” which represents France in the international feature film race at the Oscars and is part of 15 shortlisted films.

Headlined by Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa, the Golden Globe-nominated feature debut follows Nina and Madeleine, two pensioners who have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades and see their bond put to the test when they are suddenly unable to move in together.

“Two of Us” was picked up for Switzerland (First Hand), Portugal (Midas), Korea (Green Narae), Taiwan (Filmware) and Japon (Mimosa).

The film was acquired by Magnolia for North America following its world premiere at Toronto in the Discovery section. “Two of Us” is nominated for four Cesar Awards, including best actress nods for both Chevallier and Sukowa, who previously won France’s Lumieres Award.

The Party Film Sales has already...

Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa in Filippo Meneghetti’s viscerally charged Two Of Us (Deux)

The honours keep coming for Filippo Meneghetti’s debut feature (France’s Oscar submission). Two Of Us (Deux), co-written with Malysone Bovorasmy and Florence Vignon, stars Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier (of the Comédie Française) with Léa Drucker, Jérôme Varanfrain, Muriel Bénazéraf, and Augustin Reynes. Sukowa and Chevallier are co-winners of the 2021 Best Actress Lumière Award and just received César nominations, as did Deux for Best First Film (with producers Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin and Laurent Baujard) and Best Original Screenplay (Meneghetti and Bovorasmy).

Meneghetti’s enigmatic Two of Us (Lumière Award-winner for Best First Film) has also received a Golden Globe nomination (Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language) and the film has made the 93rd Academy Awards Oscar Best International Film shortlist.

Barbara Sukowa on Two Of Us (Deux): “It’s so much about secrecy and looking.

Two little girls playing hide-and-seek by the river fashion the unexplained mystery thread throughout Filippo Meneghetti’s enigmatic Two Of Us (Deux). There are horror and thriller elements accompanying the challenging performances by Martine Chevallier (of the Comédie Française) and Barbara Sukowa (co-winners of the 2021 Best Actress Lumière Award) to go with the terrific ensemble cast of Léa Drucker, Jérôme Varanfrain, Augustin Reynes, and Muriel Bénazéraf in the director’s compelling debut feature, co-written with Malysone Bovorasmy and Florence Vignon.

Nina (Sukowa) and Madeleine (Chevallier) go about their routines. They have two adjacent apartments and plan to move to Rome together. At night, our perspective resembles that of a spy who is watching from the other side of their shared bed. For Madeleine’s children Anne (Drucker) and Frédéric (Varanfrain), Nina...

Filippo Meneghetti on Barbara Sukowa, Martine Chevallier, and Léa Drucker: “It is such a gift that they are trusting me on my first feature with their talent and experience …”

Filippo Meneghetti’s enigmatic Two Of Us (Deux), co-written with Malysone Bovorasmy and Florence Vignon, stars Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier (co-winners of the 2021 Best Actress Lumière Award) with Léa Drucker, Jérôme Varanfrain, and Augustin Reynes. In Meneghetti’s debut feature there are horror and thriller elements accompanying the challenging performances.

Two little girls playing hide-and-seek by the river fashion the unexplained mystery thread throughout this film about open and closed doors. Nina (Sukowa) and Madeleine (Chevallier) go about their routines. They have two adjacent apartments and plan to move to Rome together. At night, our perspective resembles that of a spy who is watching them from the other side of their shared bed.

Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) with Nina (Barbara...

When Two of Us begins, we meet Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) a couple whose comfort with each other is palpable through their silences, a way of intimate communication only developed through years of relationship. As they discuss their plans to relocate from France to Rome while talking about children, we first assume they have always been together, and are finding a way to break the news to the kids. As Nina becomes a bit more impatient, reminding Madeleine she needs to take care of herself as well and that her children are adults, we wonder: is she their stepmom?

It’s not long before we find out, neither of those answers is correct. Nina and Mado, as she is called affectionately, have been having a decades-long passionate affair that remains a secret to everyone but each other. As neighbors living across the hall from each other, one...

Barbara Sukowa stars with Martine Chevallier in Filippo Meneghetti’s Two Of Us Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Filippo Meneghetti’s Two Of Us (Deux), (co-written with Malysone Bovorasmy and Florence Vignon), starring Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier with Léa Drucker (Mathieu Amalric’s The Blue Room), Jérôme Varanfrain, and Augustin Reynes (France’s Oscar submission); Anna Sofie Hartmann’s Giraffe (produced by Toni Erdmann director Maren Ade) with Lisa Loven Kongsli, Jakub Gierszal and Christoph Bach; Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s The Cloud In Her Room (Ta Fang Jian li De Yun) starring Jin Jing; Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent (El Agente Topo), starring Sergio Chamy (Chile’s Oscar submission), and (Fipresci Encounters winner at the Berlin Film Festival) The Metamorphosis Of Birds (A Metamorfose Dos Pássaros), directed by Catarina Vasconcelos are five highlights of the 49th edition of New Directors/New Films, presented...

Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Two of Us” will represent France in the race for the best international feature film award at the Oscars.

“Two of Us” was selected over Maiwenn’s “DNA,” François Ozon’s “Summer 85,” Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s “Gagarine” and Maïmouna Doucouré’s “Cuties” which were short-listed.

“Two of Us” was released in France on Feb. 12 and was represented in international markets by The Party Film Sales. Magnolia Pictures acquired North American rights to the film and is planning to release it on Feb. 5.

The films follows two older women, played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier, who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

The film held its world premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery program. Mark Keizer said in his review for Variety that the...

Two Of Us (Deux) Magnolia Pictures Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Filippo Meneghetti Screenwriter: Filippo Meneghetti, Malysone Bovorasmy, additional writing by Florence Vignon Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Martine Chevallier, Léa Drucker Muriel Benazeraf, Jérôme Varanfrain, Herve Sogne Screened at: Digital Arts, NYC, 2/19/20 Opens: July 10, 2020 A […]

The post The Two of Us Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Buyers circling Bad Education, The Platform, The Friend.

Two on-site deals have breathed life into a typically slow start on the acquisitions front at Tiff as Magnolia Pictures picked up North American rights to Tiff Discovery selection Two Of Us, while Bleecker Street acquired the Us for Military Wives.

Two Of Us premiered on Saturday and Magnolia closed the deal on Monday (9). France-based Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature directorial debut follows two older women played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to the romance-drama “Two of Us,” the feature directorial debut of France-based Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti.

Magnolia is planning a theatrical release early next year. The films follows two older women, played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier, who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

The film held its world premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery program. Variety’s Mark Keizer said in his review that the film is “an affirmation of our universal desire for emotional intimacy and how the right connection can overcome all social and physical limitations. The fact that the relationship is between two lesbians well into their retirement years only makes the film even more quietly groundbreaking.”

“Two of Us” was written by Meneghetti, Malysone Bovorasmy and Florence Vignon.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Two of Us, the relationship drama directed by first-time helmer Filippo Meneghetti that just had its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto Film Festival. A theatrical release in early 2020 is in the works.

The pic revolves around Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

Meneghetti, a France-based Italian filmmaker, also wrote the script with Malysone Bovorasmy and Florence Vignon. The film is from Paprika Films, Tarantula Luxembourg and Artémis Production. Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin and Laurent Baujard are producers.

The deal was negotiated by Magnolia’s Dori Begley and John Von Thaden with Daniela Elstner of Doc & Film International on behalf of the filmmaker and producers.

Earlier in the festival, Magnolia scooped up opening-night documentary Once Were Brothers about Robbie Robertson and The Band.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired the North American rights to “Two of Us,” a French Lgbt love story that made its premiere at Tiff over the weekend and is the directorial debut of France-based, Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti, the distributor announced Monday.

Magnolia is planning a theatrical release for “Two of Us” in early 2020, which follows two older women Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) who live across the hall from each other but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

The film made its world premiere Saturday as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery program.

Also Read: 'Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band' Documentary Acquired By Magnolia

“We’re thrilled to be bringing ‘Two of Us’ to North America,” Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. “Filippo Meneghetti has delivered an incredibly beautiful, profound directorial debut and Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier...

Buyers circling Bad Education, The Platform, The Friend.

Two on-site deals have breathed life into a typically slow start on the acquisitions front at Tiff as Magnolia Pictures picked up North American rights to Discovery selection Two Of Us, while Bleecker Street acquired the Us for Special Presentations entry Military Wives.

Two Of Us premiered on Saturday and Magnolia closed the deal on Monday (9). France-based Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature directorial debut follows two older women played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

Neither a hot-blooded tale of sexual discovery like 2013 Palme d’or winner “Blue Is the Warmest Color” nor a coolly alluring bauble like Todd Haynes’ “Carol,” Italian director Filippo Meneghetti’s debut feature “Two of Us” is an entirely unique and uniquely vital lesbian love story. The tale of two older women whose decades-long secret relationship is threatened after tragedy strikes covers emotional and thematic ground that transcends the sexual preferences of the two main characters.

This often-moving film, which premiered as part of the 2019 Toronto Film Festival’s Discovery program, is an affirmation of our universal desire for emotional intimacy and how the right connection can overcome all social and physical limitations. The fact that the relationship is between two lesbians well into their retirement years only makes the film even more quietly groundbreaking. This is big-city art-house cinema all the way, not only for the subject matter but...

Doc & Film International has boarded Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Deux” which is being produced by France’s Paprika Films, Luxembourg’s Tarantula and Belgium’s Artémis.

The movie started shooting Oct. 1 and stars German veteran actress Barbara Sukowa (“Lola,””Rosa Luxemburg”), Martine Chevallier (Pas son genre”) and Léa Drucker (“Custody”).

“Deux” follows two retired women, Nina et Madeleine, who are secretly in love with each other, and are believed to be simple neighbors as they live in the same building. One event causes them to separate abruptly while the daughter of Madeleine discovers her mother’s secret life. The two women will seek to reunite in spite of challenges.

Meneghetti wrote the script with Malysone Bovorasmy, in collaboration with Florence Vignon and Marion Vernoux. Meneghetti previously directed three shorts, “Undici,””l’Intruso” and “La Bête.”

Sophie Dulac Distribution will release “Deux” in France. Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin and Laurent Baujard...

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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [IMDb]

Frances McDormand stars in a black comedy about a woman seeking justice for her murdered daughter. (male writer and director)

Insidious: The Last Key [IMDb]

Lin Shaye returns as parapsychologist Elise Rainier, investigating hauntings past and present in the house she grew up in. (male writer and director)

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Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars [IMDb]

Lili Fini Zanuck directs this documentary about the rock star. (male writers)

A Woman’s Life [IMDb]

French film, cowritten by Florence Vignon, about a woman in 19th century France, played by Judith Chemla. (male director)

Tempestad [IMDb] pictured

Documentary written and directed by Tatiana Huezo about two women, Miriam Carbajal and Adela Alvarado, impacted by violence and corruption in Mexico.

Please let me know if I’ve missed any movies directed by, written by, or about women.

Please help me continue this work with your financial support. A recurring contribution or a one-time donation,...

The “literary costume drama” is one of cinema’s most tried and true genres in the broader film world. From seemingly the inception of the medium to today, the tactile world of grand costumes and baroque examinations of love in a bygone time have been the breeding ground for some of the most exciting and formally inventive films of all time. However, it’s also become an often stuffy and cliche-ridden genre that finds few ways to break new ground.

But then comes A Woman’s Life. The newest film from French director Stephane Brize, Life takes the stilted trappings of the literary costume drama, and grounds them in ways one rarely sees. An adaptation of the beloved Guy de Maupassant novel Une Vie, Brize’s picture introduces us to Jeanne, a young woman in rural, 19th-century Normandy who meets and marries a Viscount Julien de Lamare. However, almost instantaneously things begin to unravel,...

When a Potiche Ascends the Stairs: Brizé’s Winning, Textured de Maupassant Adaptation

Although cinematic adaptations of French writer Guy de Maupassant still occur with some regularity, few contemporary Gallic auteurs have successfully tackled the naturalist who was a protégé of Flaubert and a contemporary of Zola. Frequent adaptations of his famed short story “Boule de Suif” and Bel-Ami are resurrected regularly, and his stories have inspired auteurs like Robert Wise, Jean-Luc Godard, Marcel Ophüls, and Jean Renoir. However, de Maupassant’s seminal first novel, Une Vie (1883), has been adapted several times outside of France, while previously its most definitive mounting was the 1958 End of Desire headlined by Maria Schell.

For his seventh feature, Stephane Brizé persuasively reflects the subjugation of women’s agency with the fragmented A Woman’s Life, and is perhaps the most auspicious transformation of the author since the handsome productions of the 1950s with this astute period piece featuring an exquisite ensemble of character actors.

After returning from convent school, Jeanne (Judith Chemla) takes joy in assisting her father (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) in the garden and perambulating with her mother (Yolande Moreau), a woman who spends most of her free time scrolling through the contents of letters she received throughout her life. With only the young family maid Rosalie (Nina Meurisse) as a friend and confidante, Jeanne soon finds herself courted by the handsome Viscount Julien de Lamare (Swann Arlaud). Swept into what she’s made to believe is romance, the marriage soon sours when Rosalie is found to be with child after having been raped by Julien. Thus begins Jeanne’s initiation into a world more harrowing than she had anticipated as her ideals and dignity are slowly stripped away.

Judith Chemla, who has starred as a supporting player in a number of period productions for noted auteurs (Tavernier, Techine) comes to the fore as the passive, frustrated center of Brizé’s film. Oblivious to the tendencies and behaviors of those around her, A Woman’s Life gently ushers her from a frivolous young woman of privilege to an increasingly fraught wife forced to contend with a debauched husband.

Brizé’s film has all the potential of a tawdry soap opera, and yet is distilled into fragmented reflections of her escapist tendencies. As we rush through defining moments of her life, time slows as Jeanne disappears into the bright, sunshiny memories which brought her to such a brooding standstill. Chemla is tasked with revealing Jeanne’s persona through inscrutable moments, an object acted upon despite meager efforts to gain control of her life. When escape presents itself upon learning of her own pregnancy at the same time as her husband’s philandering with Rosalie, her own mother confirms her fate by forcing Jeanne to forgive rather than return home.

Yolande Moreau gives a subversively droll performance as a cold maternal figure who has several major secrets of her own. As her counterpart, Jean-Pierre Darroussin nearly disappears within the period garb as Jeanne’s mild mannered father, while a mousy Swann Arlaud is sufficiently unpalatable as her cheating husband. Clotilde Hesme surfaces in a brief subplot which yields shockingly violent results, while rising young actor Finnegan Oldfield (Nocturama; Les Cowboys) shows up in the third act as Jeanne’s selfish teenage son, the specter haunting her golden years and sending her into protracted anguish.

Much like Brizé’s last lauded feature, 2015’s The Measure of a Man, the narrative revolves around distilled, refracted moments informing its protagonist’s mind frame, a person once again trapped by economic necessity in an unfavorable role which whittles away at their resolve.

Collaborating once more with scribe Florence Vignon (who scripted his superb 2009 film Mademoiselle Chambon), they achieve a striking portrait of a woman of certain means as equally weighted down by her expectations and limited control. Brizé also taps Dp Antoine Heberle (who worked on Chambon and A Few Hours of Spring, as well as Ozon’s Under the Sand) who transforms the film into a constant visual juxtaposition of stark, contrasting palettes, ranging from the brooding grays of Jeanne’s present to the golden, sparkling vivaciousness of happy times she can never return to. With stunning finality, a drastic situation boils down to bittersweet reality— “Life is never as good or as bad as you think it is.”

★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆

The post A Woman’s Life | Review appeared first on Ioncinema.com.

A Woman’S Life (Une vie) Kino Lorber Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B+ Director: Stéphane Brizé Written by: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon Cast: Judith Chemla, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Yolande Moreau, Swann Arlaud, Nina Meuriss Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 4/25/17 Opens: May 5, 2017 Life is not as good or bad as you think. This […]

The post A Woman’s Life Movie Review: Life is not as good or bad as you think appeared first on Shockya.com.

Une Vie

Director: Stéphane Brizé

Writers: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon

Following his critically acclaimed The Measure of Man, which took home a Best Actor award for Vincent Lacoste at 2015, Stéphane Brizé has quickly moved onto his next project, an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant with Une Vie (One Life). Once again, Brizé re-teams with co-writer Vignon (Mademoiselle Chambon, A Few Hours of Spring) to adapt a tale centered on a hypersensitive woman unaccustomed the world’ cruelty. In essence, this sounds quite similar to Measure, but from a feminine perspective. Brizé often fleshes out characters and scenarios set within the confines of the working class, often to very eloquent effect. While Lacoste (who has starred in his last three features) is not returning this time, Brizé casts notables such as Yolande Moreau, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Jalil Lespert.

Cast: Yolande Moreau, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Jalil Lespert

Production Co./Producers:Ts Productions’ Milena Poylo and Gilles Sacuto,...

Col*Coa is winding down, but you can still catch a few stellar films and see the award winners for free Monday, April 22, 2013.

Award Screenings at 6:00 pm: The evening will start with the rerun of two awarded films in the Renoir and Truffaut Theaters at the DGA. Films will be announced on Sunday April 21 on the Col*Coa website, on Facebook, Twitter and on the Col•Coa info line (310) 289 5346. Free admission on a First comes First Served basis. No RSVP needed.

You can stay and also see the Closing Night Films at 8:30 pm at the DGA. Reservations needed. Those are both North American Premieres of two very anticipated French films. The thriller Moebus by Eric Rochant will show for free as will the comedy Like Brothers by Hugo Gélin.

Being among the French filmmakers (and I saw way too few of the films) gave me such a surprising sense of renewal - again because of this upcoming generation. After seeing City of Lights, the short by Pascal Tessaud which preceded the classic Jacques Demy film Bay of Angels starring a platinum blond gambling-addicted Jeanne Moreau in Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo in 1963, we spoke at length about what is called "The New Vibe". City of Lights stars a deeply quiet young man from "les banlieus", the notorious "suburbs" surrounding Paris where the international mix of young (and old) proletariat population is invisible to the rest of France except when the anger erupts into riots. This first generation has the French education but not the money or jobs and it hurts. They have picked up the cameras and with no money are creating films which express their lives in many ways like the new Latin American filmmakers or the new Eastern European filmmakers. Tessaud gave me an entire education in the hour we talked and I will share this in time. For now, aside from his wonderfuly trenchant film which played like a feature, which captured the Paris this young generation recognizes as The City of Lights - dancing, the kitchen of a very upscale restaurant, the dreary streets filled with construction, there is another example of The New Vibe, started by Rachid Djaïdani (a story in himself) the film Hold Back (Rengaine) leads the pack of the 20-some-odd new films of The New Vibe. It is produced by Anne-Dominque Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles) whose films are too numerous to name but include my favorite The Hedgehog which I wrote about at Col*Coa two years ago, Col*Coa's current Cycling with Moliere, 2002's Respiro and many many others. Hold Back took 9 years to make and most of the team was unpaid. The New Vibe makes films without the aid of the French system of funding; it is more guerilla-style, not New Wave, not Dogma but New Vibe. Hold Back took Cannes by storm when it showed last year in Directors Fortnight and went on to New Directors/ New Films in New York. The classic story of a Catholic and a Muslim who want to marry but whose family objects, this rendition the Juliet has a brother who marches throughout Paris to alert her 39 other brothers that she wants to marry outside her cultural and religious traditions. "This fresh debut mixes fable, plucky social commentary - particularly about France's Arab community - and inventive comic setpieces" (Col*Coa)

Hold Back (Rengaine) (Isa: Pathe) goes beyond the funny but "establishmant" film Intouchable which played here last year. It is the exact opposite of such films as Sister or even Aliyah (Isa: Rezo) which played here this year and also in Directors Fortnight last year. Aliyah is about a young French Jewish man who must make his last drug sale in order to escape his brother's destructive behavior. He escapes by immigrating to Israel. These films are made by filmmakers within the French establishment and describe a proletariat existence which exists in their bourgeois minds. They lack a certain "verite" which can only be captured by one who knows viscerally what such marginal existence is.

At the opposite end of the contemporary spectrum of films today, a real establishment film is You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Alain Renais (you have to be a Renais fan to love it who was so avant-garde in his day). Those old New Wave films one could see here stand out in beautiful contrast to today's New Vibe: Renais' Stavisky or the 1963 film The Fire Within (Le feu follet) by Louis Malle again starring the beautiful Jeanne Moreau. I missed them both to my regret. When I miss a film I always tell myself I can see it when it's released or on DVD or Mubi, but rarely do I get to see it. Instead I can only read about it as here written up by Beth Hanna on Indiewire blog ToH. The Fire Within was part of Wes Anderson's choices, one of the various showcases of Col*Coa. Says Hanna: "Anderson's taste is impeccable: He has selected Louis Malle's 1963 lyrical depression drama The Fire Within." It was made after the classic Elevator to the Gallows (1958) which Miles Davis scored and which also starred the young Jeanne Moreau. She also could be seen her in Col*Coa in the classic 1963 Jacques Demy-directed Bay of Angels.

Col*Coa really offered something for everyone this year. Another of my favorite film genres, the Jewish film, was represented by Aliyah and The Dandelions (Du Vent dans mes mollets) (Isa: Gaumont), Stavisky, and It Happened in St. Tropez (Isa: Pathe), a classic French comedy -- though a bit dark and yet still comedic, about romance, love and marriage switching between generations in a neurotic, comfortably wealthy Jewish family. The Dandelions was, according to my friend Debra Levine, a writer on culture including film and dance, (see her blog artsmeme), "darling, so touching, so well made, so creative ... i really liked it. Went into that rabbit hole of little girls together ... Barbie doll play. Crazy creative play. As looney as kids can be."

Ian Birnie's favorite film was Becoming Traviata. Greg Katchel's favorite originally was Rendez-vous à Kiruna by Anna Novion, but when I saw him later in the festival his favorite was Cycling with Moliere (Alceste a bicyclette) (Isa: Pathe), again produced by Anne-Dominque Toussaint and directed by Philippe Le Guay who directed one of my favorites, The Women on the 6th Floor. Greg also liked Three Worlds though it was a bit "schematic" in depicting the clash of different cultures which were also shown in Hold Back.

Of the few films I was able to see, the most interesting was Augustine by Alice Winokur. It is the French response to David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and the British film Hysteria. All three were about the turn of the century concern of psychologists or doctors with female hysteria. This one concerned Jean-Martin Charcot and the neurologist's belief that hysteria was a neurological disease and he used hypnosis to get at its roots, whild in A Dangerous Method it was seen by Freud and Jung as a mental disorder and in Hysteria by Tanya Wexler (Tiff 2011) in which Dr. Mortimer Granville devises the invention of the first vibrator in the name of medical science.

Take a look at Indiewire's own article here for more on Los Angeles's greatest French attraction, the second largest French film festival in the world.

Several American distributors will present their films at Col•Coa before their U.S. release: Kino Lorber – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, co-written and directed by Alain Resnais (Focus on a Filmmaker); Mpi Media – Thérèse, the last film of director/co-writer Claude Miller starring Audrey Tautou; Cohen Media Group – In the House, written and directed by François Ozon and The Attack, co-written and directed by Ziad Doueiri; Distrib Films for two documentaries: Becoming Traviata and The Invisibles; Film Movement for two thrillers: Aliyah and Three Worlds; The Weinstein Company - Populaire.

Below you can see the international sales agents for the current features showing.

11.6 / 11.6 (Isa: Wild Bunch)

Directed by: Philippe Godeau

Written by: Philippe Godeau, Agnès De Sacy

A Few Hours Of Spring / Quelques heures de printemps (Isa: Rezo)

Directed by: Stéphane Brizé ♀

Written by: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon

Cast: Vincent Lindon, Hélène Vincent, Emmanuelle Seigner, Olivier Perrier

Aliyah/Alyah ✡ (Isa: Rezo, U.S.: Film Movement

Directed by: Élie Wajeman

Written by: Élie Wajeman, Gaëlle Macé

Armed Hands / Mains armées (Isa: Films Distribution)

Directed by: Pierre Jolivet

Written by: Pierre Jolivet, Simon Michaël

Augustine / Augustine (Isa: Kinology, U.S.: Music Box)

Directed by: Alice Winocour ♀

Written by: Alice Winocour

Aya Of Yop City / Aya de Yopougon (Isa: TF1)

Directed by: Clément Oubrerie, Marguerite Abouet ♀

Written by: Marguerite Abouet

Bay Of Angels / La Baie des anges (U.S.: Criterion)

Directed by: Jacques Demy

Written by: Jacques Demy

Becoming Traviata /Traviata et nous (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S. Distrib Films and Cinema Guild)

Directed by: Philippe Béziat

Written by: Philippe Béziat

Cycling With MOLIÈRE / Alceste à bicyclette (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Philippe Le Guay

Written by: Philippe Le Guay, based on an original idea by Fabrice Luchini and Philippe Le Guay

Fly Me To The Moon / Un plan parfait (Isa: Kinology)

Directed By: Pascal Chaumeil

Written By: Laurent Zeitoun, Yoann Gromb, Philippe Mechelen

Haute Cuisine / Les Saveurs du palais (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: The Weinstein Company)

Directed by: Christian Vincent

Written by: Etienne Comar & Christian Vincent, based on the life of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch

Hidden Beauties / Mille-Feuille (Isa: Other Angle Pictures)

Directed by: Nouri Bouzid

Written by: Nouri Bouzid, Joumène Limam

Hold Back / Rengaine (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Rachid Djaïdani

Written by: Rachid Djaïdani

In The House / Dans la maison (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

Directed by: François Ozon

Written by: François Ozon

It Happened In Saint-tropez / Des Gens qui s’embrassent (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Danièle Thompson ♀

Written by: Danièle Thompson, Christopher Thompson

Jappeloup/ Jappeloup (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Christian Duguay

Written by: Guillaume Canet

Le Grand Soir / Le grand soir (Isa: Funny Balloons)

Directed by: Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern

Written by: Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern

Little Lion / Comme un Lion (Isa: Pyramide)

Directed by: Samuel Collardey

Written by: Catherine Paillé, Nadège Trebal, Samuel Collardey

Moon Man / Jean de la lune (Isa: Le Pacte)

Directed By: Stephan Schesch

Written By: Stephan Schesch, Ralph Martin. Based on the book by: Tomi Ungerer

Populaire / Populaire (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: TWC)

Directed By: Régis Roinsard

Written By: Régis Roinsard, Daniel Presley, Romain Compingt

Rendezvous In Kiruna / Rendez-vous à Kiruna (Isa: Pyramide)

Directed by: Anne Novion ♀

Written by: Olivier Massart, Anne Novion, Pierre Novion

Sons Of The Wind / Les Fils du vent (Isa: Wide)

Directed by: Bruno Le Jean

Written by: Bruno Le Jean

Stavisky / Stavisky (1974) (Isa: StudioCanal)

Directed by: Alain Resnais

Written by: Jorge Semprún

The Attack / L’Attentat

France, Belgium, Lebanon, Qatar, 2013

Directed by: Ziad Doueiri (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

The BRONTË Sisters / Les Soeurs Brontë (Isa: Gaumont, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

Directed by: André Téchiné

Written by: André Téchiné, Jean Gruault, Pascal Bonitzer

The Dandelions / Du Vent dans mes mollets ✡

Directed By: Carine Tardieu ♀

Written By: Carine Tardieu, Raphaële Moussafir, Olivier Beer

The Fire Within / Le Feu Follet (1963) (Isa: Pyramide, U.S.: Janus Films)

Directed by: Louis Malle

Written by: Louis Malle

The Invisibles / Les Invisibles (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Distrib Films))

Directed By: Sébastien Lifshitz

The Man Who Laughs/ L’Homme qui rit (Isa: EuropaCorps)

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Améris

Written by: Jean-Pierre Améris , Guillaume Laurant

THÉRÈSE / Thérèse Desqueyroux (Isa: TF1, U.S.: Mpi)

Directed by: Claude Miller

Written by: Claude Miller, Natalie Carter

Three Worlds / Trois mondes (Isa: Pyramide, U.S.: Film Movement)

Directed by: Catherine Corsini ♀

Written by: Catherine Corsini, Benoît Graffin

To Our Loves / À nos amours (1983) (U.S. Janus)

Directed By: Maurice Pialat

Written By: Arlette Langmann, Maurice Pialat

True Friends / Amitiés sincères (Isa: Snd Groupe 6)

Directed By: Stéphan Archinard, François Prévôt-Leygonie

Written By: Stéphan Archinard, François Prévôt-Leygonie, Marie-Pierre Huster

Welcome To Argentina / Mariage à Mendoza (Isa: Kinology)

Directed By: Édouard Deluc

Written By: Anaïs Carpita, Édouard Deluc, Thomas Lilti, Philippe Rebbot

What’S In A Name / Le prénom (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Under The Milky Way)

Directed by: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte

Written by: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte

You Ain’T Seen Nothin’ Yet / Vous n’avez encore rien vu (Isa: StudioCanal, U.S.: Kino Lorber)

Directed By: Alain Resnais

Written By: Alain Resnais, Laurent Herbiet...

Hollywood's annual French film festival, Col•Coa (City of Lights, City of Angels), has released the complete features lineup today as a follow-up to last week's reveal of the short films. The festival runs from April 15-22 and will include 38 features and 19 new shorts. The festival will open with "It Happened in Saint-Tropez", the new comedy directed by Danièle Thompson which was co-written by Thompson and Christopher Thompson. The film is centered on a family who have to host a funeral and marriage on the same day, brewing up domestic conflicts while opening the door for forgiveness and love. The film stars Kad Merad, Monica Bellucci, Lou de Laâge and Eric Elmosnino. Read below for the full feature lineup in alphabetical order: 11.6 / 11.6 Directed by: Philippe Godeau Written by: Philippe Godeau, Agnès De Sacy A Few Hours Of Spring / Quelques heures de printemps Directed by: Stéphane Brizé Written by: Stéphane Brizé,...

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...

Mademoiselle Chambon

Directed by Stéphane Brizé

Screenplay by Florence Vignon & Stéphane Brizé

2011, France

Movie femmes fatales are ten a penny, but never underestimate the danger posed by a woman toting a violin case. Like Daniel Auteuil in Un Coeur en Hiver, the hero of Stéphane Brizé’s Mademoiselle Chambon finds the twin attractions of beautiful music and a lovely face just too hard to resist.

For a film in which music plays a such central role, Mademoiselle Chambon begins in deliberately unharmonious fashion as builder Jean (Vincent Lindon) gets busy with his power tools. He’s a middle-aged family man with an attractive wife, a young son and an elderly father (played by Jean-Marc Thibault) who’s in failing health. Jean, we sense, is a man who’s much more at home operating a drill than expressing his feelings. But when he’s invited to give a talk at the...

Best Documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" It's hard to know whether street artist Banksy's feature documentary is what it claims to be—a doc about an obsessive man who falls in love with the world of street art (where artists place their work in public, risking arrest for vandalism), fashioning himself as the most financially successful street artist in history—or is Banksy's best prank to date. The film follows the life of buffoonish French expatriate Thierry Guetta, a happy-go-lucky proprietor of an overpriced hipster-wear store in West Hollywood with the curious habit of videotaping everything that happens to him. Guetta persuades his cousin, a street artist known as Space Invader, to become the subject of a "documentary," which leads Guetta to other street artists like Obama icon-maker Shepard Fairey and ultimately to the white whale of street artists: the ultra-secretive Banksy (interviewed in silhouette, of course...

Reviewer: James Van Maanen

Rating (out of 5): ****

The exquisite French film Mademoiselle Chambon has been co-adapted (with Florence Vignon, from the novel by Eric Holder) and directed by Stéphane Brizé, who a few years ago, gave us the quietly entrancing Not Here to Be Loved [sadly not yet on DVD in the Us]. Brizé now offers an ever better, though just as quietly entrancing, film -- this time using two of France's best actors at the very top of their form: Vincent Lindon (Friday Night) and Sandrine Kiberlain (Apres Vous). A film with minimal dialog, but never obviously so, it relies on the in-the-moment response of the two actors, who are simply marvelous at expressing their inner selves while appearing to camouflage their feelings.

Affairs have been the subject of many dramatic films thru the years. Now Voyager and Brief Encounter concern men and women sharing a short doomed romance. Add France.s Mademoiselle Chambon directed by Stephane Brize to this long list, As opposed to other explorations of this theme, this film tries to show how this affair would occur between members of the French working class.

The film opens with a man wielding a jackhammer at a home renovation project. This is Jean played by Vincent Lindon( he reminds me of Ben Stiller crossed with  the hangdog expressions of Brad Garret). We then see Jean on a picnic with his adoring wife Anne-Marie(Aure Atika) and sweet young son Jeremy(Arthur Le Houerou). Both Jean and Anne-Marie are attentive parents who try and help Jeremy with his lessons after the meal. Anne-Marie is soon back at her print shop job while Jean tends to his aged,...

"A Prophet" has come home victorious at the 35th Annual Cesar Awards. Being nominated in thirteen categories, the film managed to land nine kudos, two of which were presented to its star Tahar Rahim. The 18-year-old won best actor and breakthrough performance for his role as a 19-year-old small-time hood who becomes a Mafia kingpin behind bars.

His co-star Niels Arestrup, in the meantime, was named best supporting actor. Additionally, the film has aided its helmer Jacques Audiard to receive best director award. This drama movie got the other gongs from original screenplay, cinematography, sound, editing as well as set design categories.

In the foreign film category, Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" beat James Cameron's "Avatar" and Cannes Palme d'Or winner "The White Ribbon". The event, which was held on Saturday, February 27 in Paris, also handed out an honorary Cesar to Harrison Ford.

Full Winners List of the 35th...

Paris -- Jacques Audiard's prison drama "A Prophet" (Un Prophete) won nine awards, including French film of the year and best director, during the 35th annual Cesar Awards ceremony.

"Prophet" star Tahar Rahim won the best actor and most promising actor prizes Saturday at the Chatelet Theatre for his role as a young Arab man sent to French prison who eventually gains power among the reigning Corsican mafia. "Long live French cinema," Rahim proclaimed as he accepted his second prize.

French actress-singer Vanessa Paradis presented the director prize to Audiard, who thanked the Academy before launching into a politically charged talk about France's immigrant population.

Niels Arestrup, no stranger to Audiard's films, was named best supporting actor for his performance in "Prophet."

Nominated in 13 categories, "Prophet" -- which Sony Pictures Classics opened Friday in the U.S., where it has been nominated for the foreign-language film Oscar -- also won Cesars for original screenplay,...

Paris – French Academy members got serious on Friday with two politically charged dramas heading the major categories for the 35th annual Cesar Awards that will see Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" go head to head with Philippe Lioret's "Welcome." The nominees were announced Friday at a press conference in Paris.

While no one can foresee the winners, "A Prophet" looks bound to triumph with Jacques Audiard's prison drama nominated for 13 awards including best film, best director and a best actor and most promising male newcomer nod for the film's breakout star Tahar Rahim.

Academy voters also gave a hearty reception to Phillipe Lioret's "Welcome" with 10 nods and Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" with 11 nominations.

Radu Mihaileanu's "The Concert" was also music to voters' ears with the tragicomedy about a washed-up former conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who travels to Paris to make his career comeback scoring six nominations.