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by Cláudio Alves

Juliette Binoche's jury made history when they gave Jafar Panahi the Palme d'Or.

One month ago, Jafar Panahi took the Palme d'Or at Cannes for It Was Just an Accident and thus became the fourth director to win top honors from the Croisette, the Berlinale, and the Venice Film Festival. The Iranian master joins the ranks of Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Robert Altman. However. If you exclude ties and those cineastes who won two prizes for the same film, then Panahi and Antonioni are in an exclusive club of two. Inspired by Eric Blume's musings on the Triple Crown of Acting – Oscar, Tony, and Emmy – I started to ask myself what other filmmakers are close to achieving the same Palm, Golden Lion, and Bear combo. Who's next? The answers might surprise you…...

With the death of director William Friedkin sending shockwaves through the film world, as everyone pays tribute to his classics The French Connection and The Exorcist, now is a good time to look back at one of his most underrated movies, the 1977 classic action thriller Sorcerer!

The 1970s were probably the last decade when the film industry had many honest-to-goodness auteurs. Directors who made movies on their own terms without compromises; not just the ones making little indie art films, but the guys in charge of sizable projects with the backing of major studios. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Brian De Palma came of age during this era, and were responsible for movies that would resonate for decades. Another name you can add to that list is William Friedkin, who during that period made two instant classics and one misunderstood masterpiece.

The classics...

“Bardot" is a 6-episode, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez as the iconic film actress, now streaming on Netflix:

"..the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'......

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

Illustration by Franz Lang.No official competition title unveiled in Cannes this year spoke to our troubled times with the same full-throated urgency as Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or–winning It Was Just an Accident (all titles 2025 unless otherwise noted). It was a historic award for a groundbreaking film. Panahi, who had already received the Golden Lion in Venice for The Circle (2000) and the Golden Bear in Berlin for Taxi (2015), joins Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Robert Altman as one of the four directors to have won top honors at all three festivals. And he completed the trifecta with a film that serves as an explicit, fearless response to the censorship and humiliations he has long suffered at the hands of the regime in his native Iran. In July 2022, the filmmaker was arrested by Iranian authorities for signing a petition against police violence, and subsequently spent several months in jail.

The 2025 Cannes Film Festival winners were unveiled on Saturday, with all of the major prizes going to international films, putting many potential 2026 Oscar contenders on the map and setting the stage for what will be an exciting awards derby.

Recently, as a result of the Academy’s expansion of voting members, there have been more international features in the top categories at the Oscars. The past two years have seen double the tally in Best Picture. With Cannes being the biggest kingmaker for films on the road to the Oscars, as seen with Best Picture winners Parasite and Anora and Best Picture nominee Anatomy of a Fall, below are the biggest international competitors to keep an eye on.

Palme d'Or: It Was Just An Accident, Jafar Panahi

Categories to watch: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature Film

Jafar Panahi becomes the fourth director to win the Palme d'Or,...

Juliette Binoche’s Cannes jury has unveiled their winners for this year’s edition, awarding the Palme d’Or to Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, marking Neon’s sixth win in a row. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value picked up the Grand Prize while Oliver Laxe’s Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s The Sound of Falling tied for the Jury Prize. The Secret Agent also picked up a rare two wins: Best Director for Kleber Mendonça Filho and Best Actor for Wagner Moura.

As Ryan Swen notes, “Jafar Panahi is only the fourth director—after Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Robert Altman—to win the big three film festival prizes: the Cannes Palme d’or, the Berlin Golden Bear, and the Venice Golden Lion, and the first Camera d’or winner to win the Palme.”

Leonardo Goi said in his review of It Was Just an Accident,...

Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi has won the Palme d’Or for best film for It Was Just an Accident at the 78th Cannes international film festival.

Panahi, who just a few years ago was imprisoned in Tehran and under a 20-year travel and work ban, returned triumphantly to Cannes, accepting his award from jury president (and vocal Panahi fan) Juliette Binoche.

Panahi’s film, his first since being released from prison in 2023, is a direct assault on Iran’s authoritarian regime. The thriller follows a former political prisoner who kidnaps a man he believes to be his torturer and then debates with other dissidents whether to kill or forgive him.

The win marks the sixth time in a row a film acquired by Neon for North America has won the Palme d’Or. Tom Quinn’s indie outfit kept its Cannes streak going by picking up It Was Just an Accident earlier this week.

Alfred Hitchcock’s legacy is being reexamined by the best modern critics. IndieWire can exclusively share the list of esteemed journalists, including IndieWire’s own Kate Erbland, who will be moderating one of the highly-anticipated “Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer” screening series panels.

As IndieWire previously announced, Netflix is hosting a theatrical re-release of Hitchcock’s most beloved features at the Paris Theater in New York City. Fittingly, the screening series is co-presented with the New York Film Critics Circle; members of the leading national critics group will be on hand to discuss the curated collection of Hitchcock films.

“Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer” will be a six-week screening series that coincides with the iconic auteur’s features being available to stream on Netflix starting June 1. “Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer” will run from May 16 through June 29, and is set to include more than 60 films, 36 of which are directed by...

Since it had a major redesign in 1984, when it took inspiration from the Academy Awards in Hollywood, the Cannes Film Festival has been synonymous with its famous red carpet, a 60-meter stretch of fabric that covers the 24 steps leading up to the Palais. Originally changed three times a day and nowadays just the more eco-friendly once, the carpet actually is two slightly different shades of red: Rosso in the center and Teatro at the sides. Fiercely patroled by French security guards, the red carpet is a micro-state within a city, complete with its own set of rules and regulations.

Photography

Cannes Do: Put your phone away.

Cannes Don’t: Take a selfie on the steps.

Festival director Thierry Frémaux first waged war on the selfie in 2015, before instituting an outright ban in 2018, referring to the practice as “touristy,” “ridiculous” and “vulgar.” He specifically cited the logjam effect that it created...

These days, it’s rare to hear something cool about programming on the Netflix streaming service that involves older films rather than the next batch of “Netflix Original Films” they have in the works – but here’s something very cool: Netflix has announced that they’re teaming up with the New York Film Critics Circle to launch a screening series called Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer at the Paris Theater, which is the longest-running arthouse cinema in New York City and is also Manhattan’s only remaining single-screen cinema, as well as the borough’s largest movie theater, with 535 seats. If you can’t make it to the Paris Theater for the screenings, you’ll be glad to hear that a collection of classic Hitchcock films will also be available to stream on Netflix as of June 1st.

Here’s the information that was provided by Netflix: Keep the lights...

Netflix is expanding its U.S. streaming library in June with a collection of films by Alfred Hitchcock, including The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, Family Plot, Frenzy, and The Man Who Knew Too Much. The lineup joins Psycho, which is already available on the service.

The platform will also present a six-week film series titled “Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer” at the Paris Theater in New York City. The retrospective, running from May 16 through June 29, will include more than 50 films, 36 of which were directed by Hitchcock. Thirty-five of those titles will be screened in 35mm prints. The program is co-presented by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Screenings will include Rear Window, Vertigo, and North by Northwest, along with films that draw on Hitchcock’s style, such as François Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Diabolique. Also featured is Hitchcock, the 2012 biopic directed by Sacha Gervasi.

Netflix will add seven Alfred Hitchcock classics to its U.S. streaming library beginning June 1. The catalog includes iconic suspense films such as Vertigo, Rear Window, and The Birds.

The Hitchcock catalog's streaming debut coincides with a major theatrical retrospective titled Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer at New York's Paris Theater, co-presented with the New York Film Critics Circle. The film revival will span six weeks, from May 16 to June 29 at the historic single-screen cinema adjacent to Central Park. Netflix acquired the revered theater in 2019 and turned it into a flagship theatrical venue in New York.

The Hitchcock and Netflix team-up has plenty for cinephiles to enjoy. The Paris Theater program complements the legendary director's works, presenting restored classics and 35mm screenings of films inspired by Hitchcock's techniques alongside his filmography. Movies getting the showcase include The Bride Wore Black by François Truffaut and Diabolique by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Even contemporary...

Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed making his audiences suffer, and now that uneasy feeling is coming to Netflix in large doses. The streamer said today that it will add several of the horror-suspense master’s best loved films, including The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, his final film Family Plot and more.

They join the filmmaker’s beloved and dreaded masterpiece Psycho, which is streaming now on Netflix.

Also headed to the service are Frenzy, The Man Who Knew Too Much and others, along with Hitchcock, a narrative feature about the legend directed by Sacha Gervasi. The new online collection also features films inspired by Hitchcock’s mastery such as Us and Barbarian.

Also on the horizon is “Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer,” a six-week screening series at the 90-year-old Paris Theatre in Manhattan featuring more than 50 films including three dozen by Hitchcock. Many will be shown in 35mm, including Hitchcock’s Rear Window,...

Get ready to scream: Netflix is bringing a collection of Alfred Hitchcock films to the streaming service this June — and, despite chief Ted Sarandos’ belief that the movie-theater biz is “outdated,” the company will showcase the legendary filmmaker’s work at its Paris Theater in New York City in a six-week series.

Starting June 1, a collection of classic Hitchcock films will be available to stream in the U.S. Those will include “Vertigo,” “Rear Window,” “Frenzy,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Family Plot” and “The Birds.” Currently, U.S. customers can stream Hitchcock’s genre-defining masterpiece “Psycho,” now available on Netflix in the country.

In addition, Netflix’s Hitchcock collection will include films inspired by the British-born director, such as Jordan Peele’s “Us” and Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian,” as well as narrative feature “Hitchcock” directed by Sacha Gervasi.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s Paris Theater will present “Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer,...

Good evening. We welcome you to Netflix and Chill with one of the all-time greats.

A collection of Alfred Hitchcock movies will be available for streaming on Netflix starting June 1, and Netflix is also staging a massive, six-week screening series at its Paris Theater in New York City that will cover many of the master of suspense’s classics.

Available for streaming on Netflix in the U.S. beginning on June 1 will be “Vertigo,” “Rear Window,” “Frenzy,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Family Plot,” “The Birds,” and more. “Psycho” is already available on the streamer, as is the biopic “Hitchcock” as directed by Sacha Gervasi. All the films will be presented in a row of titles on Netflix, and they’ll also be accompanied by some other films that were inspired by Hitchcock, such as “Us” and “Barbarian,” which Netflix has also licensed.

Netflix in association with the New...

One of the most salient shortcomings of Netflix as a streaming service is that its film library at any given moment is frustratingly devoid of movies made before 1980. In the streamer's defense, their focus since 2013 (when they hit binge-viewing paydirt with "House of Cards") has been on generating a raft of original programming in order to cut back their need to license classic television shows and films they do not own. Additionally, the success of streaming services like The Criterion Channel and Tubi, which cater to cinephiles with an array of pre-1980 movies, suggests that this market has already voted with its dollars. This is somewhat understandable, but it also does a huge disservice to young film fans who, for example, might fall so hard for Mike Flannagan's "The Haunting of Hill House" that they desperately need to see Robert Wise's much-lauded 1963 take on Shirley Jackson's horror novel.

Netflix, the streaming service famous for not streaming older movies and not bringing movies to the big screen, is – in a surprise twist – bringing a bunch of old movies to the big screen!

The Hollywood Reporter has announced this afternoon that the Netflix-owned Paris Theater in New York will be celebrating Alfred Hitchcock with screenings of 36 of his movies.

“The series — Hitch! The Original Cinema Influencer — will run May 16 to June 29 at the Paris Theater, which Netflix purchased in 2019,” THR details. “The films range from Hitchcock’s early works such as Blackmail to enduring hits such as Psycho and The Birds.”

In addition to the big screen series, a collection of classic Alfred Hitchcock films will be available to stream on Netflix in the US featuring some of his most iconic works starting June 1.

Here’s everything you need to know, straight from the Paris Theater…

The Paris Theater is proud to present Hitch!

Awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival amid much mouth-frothing from the American press over its alleged communist credentials, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 classic The Wages of Fear now seems much less like a potboiler spin on Salt of the Earth and a lot more like the spiritual godfather to every testosterone-fueled thrill ride since. Time has inevitably eradicated the contemporary circumstance that fed its political reception and modern audiences will surely recognize that the howls of anti-Americanism said more about the accuser than the accused. If anything, The Wages of Fear now registers as the callous post-World War II flipside to Casablanca, in which people have been scattered not only into pockets of nobility, but also outposts of pusillanimity.

If Diabolique was Clouzot’s bid to out-Hitchcock Hitchcock, then The Wages of Fear is a little bit like a Howard Hawks thriller, only without the mitigating presence of women.

People love horror movies. As much as they fail to accept it when a discussion about cinema’s horrific impact comes up, one can’t think about movies without the horror genre involved in some way. If cinema is like a stimulus, horror movies must be the greatest catalyst to get a reaction out of a viewer. Are you looking for a good old-fashioned scare-fest while sitting on your couch? HBO Max can be your next big destination for horror movies.

The streaming service has a stacked-up catalog of horror movies from all possible eras. The following list mostly looks at those Horror Movies on HBO Max that, in some way, defined the genre. But even beyond the scope of this list and the flavors explored here, lie many contemporary faces of horror on the streamer. From the slow-burning existential tension of I Saw the TV Glow and The Lighthouse...

The history of any important film festival is the history of the films and filmmakers they’ve showcased and championed: what’s their tally of breakthrough filmmakers and esteemed auteurs who have defined the past century of cinema?

This is why Berlin, Cannes and Venice, after nearly a century of annual unspoolings (as Variety likes to call them) retain their reputations and the vitality of their programming and festival operations.

There is a parallel history as well, one that charts the important fests’ cultural and economic impacts upon the communities and countries where they’re held.

The French film industry is a primary European powerhouse of collaborative private and public financing and film promotion, and it has coordinated beautifully for decades with the Cannes Film Festival. To the good fortunes of both.

Itay’s official cinematic and cultural organizations and departments have partnered effectively with the Venice Festival, even if...

After the success of “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist,” William Friedkin became one of the most in-demand filmmakers in Hollywood. Having the option to choose his own projects, he opted to adapt Georges Arnaud’s 1950 novel “The Wages of Fear.” This was the second adaptation of the novel after Henri-Georges Clouzot’s critical darling of the same name, released in 1953, which won both the Golden Bear and the Palme d’Or. While Friedkin admired Clouzot’s work and even dedicated his film “Sorcerer” to Clouzot, the tone and treatment of his film were completely different from the earlier adaptation. In this article, I will discuss the two films and explore how despite being based on the same source material they became two distinct cinematic works.

Clouzot’s film starts in a small town somewhere in Latin America, filled with impoverished foreigners. The most prominent among them are Mario, a...

Cinema is a profound language of emotion and storytelling; few understand this as deeply as Denis Villeneuve. His curated selections for the Criterion Collection reveal a director’s intimate connection with transformative filmmaking. These choices span decades and continents, showcasing films that challenge narrative conventions, explore human complexity, and push artistic boundaries. Villeneuve’s picks are not mere recommendations but a masterclass in cinematic appreciation—each film is a testament to storytelling’s power to illuminate the human experience.

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Kieślowski’s masterpiece represents cinematic poetry in motion. Denis Villeneuve is captivated by its meticulous artistic synthesis—the delicate interplay between visual composition, emotional narrative, and musical score. The film explores grief through a devastatingly intimate lens, tracking a woman’s journey of loss and eventual emotional reconstruction. Its visual language transcends traditional storytelling, creating a symphonic experience that moves viewers at a profound, almost cellular level.

One of our favorite times of the month is when the Criterion Collection drops their releases for the months ahead and the batch its announced for March certainly doesn’t disappoint. Ranging from dark rom-coms to monster movies, Criterion is adding some proper deep cuts, as well as 4K restorations of two films that are already part of the collection.

The first film given the Criterion treatment is Alan Rudolph’s “Choose Me,” starring Keith Carradine and Lesley Ann Warren. Set in Los Angeles during the 1980s, the film follows a number of lovers violently weaving in and out of each other’s live, mostly crossing paths at a dive bar. A protégé of Robert Altman, Rudolph’s films, such as “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” and “Breakfast of Champions,” often carry a balance of absurdity and bite. Next up is the 1989 addition to the Godzilla cannon, “Godzilla vs. Biollante” from Kazuki Omori.

Family gatherings can be murder. Even worse if you are not a member of the immediate family. As we head into this year’s holiday season, I have no doubt that many reading this will feel that even more acutely than in the past. Sure, there will be the usual gathering around the table (or in front of the TV with paper plates if you’re anything like my family), food will be served, drink will be had, and conversation will abound, but the latter especially could lead to more than a little family tension. Which is why William Castle’s classic 1959 film House on Haunted Hill feels especially appropriate for this edition of Gods and Monsters as we approach Christmas 2024. You may well feel like a stranger among strangers this year, as the guests of eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) and his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart) no doubt do.

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear remains a standard-bearer 71 years after the fact. Its 4K restoration from Hiventy thus comes as no surprise, and––just on the basis of how good a compressed YouTube upload looks––is only too welcome. Ahead of said restoration’s Film Forum debut on November 27, Janus Films have debuted a new trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: “In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their explosive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot.”

Find preview and poster below:

The post The Wages of Fear Returns In Explosive...

Here's one for the real film fans and Letterboxd lovers: there's a new 4K restoration of The Wages Of Fear, the 1953 classic from French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot. Janus Films will screen the movie, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, in New York at Film Forum from...

“What a thrill to be here in the Criterion … cupboard,” said Jude Law as he cheekily hinted at his British sensibilities within what is actually — quite famously — known as the Criterion Closet. Though America has many faults, this is not one of them and we will forgive Law this grievous correction.

Taking a stop in the closet amidst promoting his period cop thriller “The Order” and the upcoming Disney+ series “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” Law took home six films that reflect his broad appreciation for cinema and all it can offer. After pulling off Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” and discussing its “stillness” alongside another one of the filmmaker’s epic works, “Andrei Rubelev,” the actor selected a classic French film with connections to one of his earliest roles.

“So this holds a very special place in my heart. ‘Purple Noon’ or ‘Plein Soleil,’ which was the first realization of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley...

For many cinephiles, November becomes Noirvember, a month dedicated to noir movies.

Noir is often characterized by its fatalistic outlook, highly stylized imagery, down-on-their-luck and morally ambiguous protagonists, urban settings, shadows, corruption, narration, and of course, the femme fatale. All of these elements marry well with our favorite genre: horror.

This week’s streaming picks blend noir and horror together, kicking off your #Noirvember with horror movies that bear the earmarks of a classic noir film.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Angel Heart– Hoopla, Kanopy

The perfect marriage of psychological horror and noir, Angel Heart follows Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke), a private investigator that Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) hires to track down missing musician Johnny Favorite. Harry’s search leads him to New Orleans, where he finds voodoo, murder, love, and a deal with the devil.

Nothing is more terrifying than sitting in anticipation in the dark waiting for that unexpected jump scare mastered over the decades by directors who have defined the horror genre since the 1920s with spooky monsters, ghoulish demons and scream queens.

Directors like Hitchcock, Craven, and Carpenter have set the standard for the genre as rising horror directors today including Ari Aster and Jordan Peele make their mark on film with their own style of scare tactics.

Related: 25 Classic Film Mockumentaries Gallery: From ‘Spinal Tap’, ‘Best In Show’, ‘District 9’ To ‘Punishment Park’ & More

Some horror films are even considered to be the most iconic movies in cinematic history such as Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 arthouse thriller Diabolique, Charles Laughton’s psychological terror The Night of the Hunter, Brian De Palmas’ 1976 Carrie and Tobe Hooper’s slasher classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

We’ve chronicled our picks for Deadlines’ top 50 classic Halloween...

Stephen King knows a thing or two about movies. Most of his books have been adapted into films, and he frequently offers up his opinions on other people's films and TV shows, especially on Twitter. For the most part, King tends to sing the praises of horror movies, and that makes sense: horror is his bread and butter, and he's spent decades scaring people with his tales of terror. With that in mind, you might think King's all-time favorite movie is a horror movie. But you'd be wrong!

Speaking with BFI, King rattled off a list of some of his favorite films, and the title at the top of the list isn't horror at all — although it does come from William Friedkin, who helmed one of the best horror movies of all time, "The Exorcist." But Friedkin's "The Exorcist" doesn't make King's list. Instead, King named Friedkin's 1977 box office flop...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled its streaming lineup for August 2024, which features an eclectic mix of independent films showcasing the work of auteurs from around the world.

The boutique service will become the exclusive streaming home of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 comedy “Licorice Pizza,” and will celebrate the occasion by adding four more of his films to the channel: “The Master,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” and “Magnolia.” Anderson’s frequent collaborator Philip Seymour Hoffman will additionally be celebrated on the streaming service as part of a larger retrospective. Many of the late actor’s most iconic roles, including “Capote” and “Synecdoche, New York,” will be included, along with his sole directorial outing “Jack Goes Boating.”

The channel will also highlight several other prominent filmmakers including Preston Sturges, who helped pioneer the modern rom-com through films like “The Lady Eve” and “The Palm Beach Story,” and prolific Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine.

The Criterion Channel’s August lineup pays tribute to auteurs of all kinds: directors, actors, and photographers, fictional or otherwise. In a notable act of preservation and advocacy, they’ll stream 20 titles by the Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, here introduced by the great Richard Peña. More known (but fun all the same) is a five-title Paul Thomas Anderson series including the exclusive stream of Licorice Pizza, as well as a Philip Seymour Hoffman series that overlaps with Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love (a Criterion Edition this month), and The Master, plus 25th Hour, Love Liza, and his own directing effort Jack Goes Boating. Preston Sturges gets five movies, with Sullivan’s Travels arriving in October.

Theme-wise, a photographer series includes Rear Window, Peeping Tom, Blow-up, Close-Up, and Clouzot’s La prisonnière; “Vacation Noir” features The Lady from Shanghai, Brighton Rock, Kansas City Confidential, Purple Noon, and La piscine. Alongside the aforementioned PTA and Antonioni pictures,...

Bertrand Bonello with Anne-Katrin Titze on Romy Schneider’s face in Coma, the camera test by Henri-Georges Clouzot for his unfinished film L’enfer (Inferno): “I was trying to find an image that you could dream of when you’re a young girl.”

Bertrand Bonello’s prophetic Coma (with a haunting score by the director/screenwriter), starring Louise Labèque (of Zombi Child) as the adolescent and Julia Faure as the title character Patricia Coma, was filmed in France during the Covid pandemic lockdown. We hear the voices of Gaspard Ulliel (Yves Saint Laurent in Bonello’s Saint Laurent), Anaïs Demoustier, Laetitia Casta, Louis Garrel, and Vincent Lacoste as the dollhouse figures. We see Romy Schneider’s face in a camera test for Henri-Georges Clouzot’s unfinished Inferno (L’Enfer) and meet a woman in the forest portrayed by Bonnie Banane.

Young girl (Louise Labèque) with Sharon doll in Coma

Theorists Gilles Deleuze,...

Cannes mayor David Lisnard has published a blistering critique of media coverage of #MeToo in France, suggesting that investigations into cinema figures accused of sexual harassment were not dissimilar to those of East Germany’s secret police into political dissidents.

Lisnard made the comments in an article published in French newspaper L’Opinion over the weekend, written in response to recent speculation in the local media and film industry that a bombshell #MeToo exposé was poised to drop during the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off this Tuesday.

The rumor mill went into overdrive last week following a report in Le Figaro newspaper that the festival had hired a crisis management PR firm to help it navigate the potential impending storm.

“Just a few days ago, a rumor surfaced promising shattering revelations about ten well-known actors, producers and directors accused of sexual assault. That was all that was needed to...

Edge-of-your-seat action & drama in "The Wages of Fear" - refugees grappling with perilous missions and intense betrayals. Explosive sequences and complex character dynamics keep viewers guessing until the very end - a thrilling ride. A tense, suspenseful story full of twists and turns - a modern day remake that lives up to the hype.

Having directed other French Netflix exclusives like 2021’s Ganglands and 2020’s Earth and Blood, director Julien Leclercq has once again arrived on the streaming platform with a feature that is sure to satisfy those in the action genre. Titled The Wages of Fear (or Le salaire de la peur), this is actually a modern-day remake of a 1953 thriller of the same name which sold over six million tickets in France. The original also won numerous awards, like the Best Film at the 8th British Academy Film Awards and the Golden Bear (an accolade of the highest...

Streaming in Europe on Netflix, “Bardot" is a 6-episode, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez as the iconic film actress:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'......

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

Released in the midst of the Star Wars boom in mid-1977, Sorcerer acted as William Friedkin’s gritty and loose reimagining of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s foundational action thriller The Wages of Fear. Following an unlikely team of four men attempting to transport a dangerous load of active nitroglycerin while living on the lam in South America, Sorcerer literalizes the collective and individual traumas of the Vietnam Era through the men’s brazen and often annihilative tendencies, exhibiting the layers of Ptsd through a Hitchcockian thriller narrative. Although Apocalypse Now would transpose Heart of Darkness to Vietnam in an attempt to literalize the internal conflict of the era two years later, Sorcerer boldly retains its South American location to craft a more universal yet mysterious treatise on psychological deterioration, allowing space for elements of greed and self-sabotage to stand in for Watergate and other collective controversies from the decade. Even after...

In a desert filled with lethal threats, a crew of Parisians must secure two truckloads of explosives to save hundreds of lives — in just 24 hours. Based on Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Palme d’Or–winning thriller of the same name, The Wages of Fear is directed by Julien Leclercq and co-written by Leclercq and Hamid Hlioua (Ganglands). The high-intensity remake stars Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, and Ana Girardot.

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Mercenary Fred (Gastambide) is desperate to get out of the war-torn country he lives in and back home to Paris. But he needs money. So when oil company security director Anne (Whettnall) offers Fred $1 million to take on a risky mission, he’s quick to agree.

Except… the gig she’s offering him is a bit complicated. Fred is tasked with putting out the constantly burning fire at the oil well...

Warning: Major spoilers for The Wages of Fear (2024) below!

The Wages of Fear 2024 stars Franck Gastambide, not Vin Diesel, even if the resemblance between the stars is uncanny! Netflix's remake feels like a bland mix of Fast and Furious and Call of Duty. The 2024 remake of the classic original could have used Vin Diesel's star power.

Netflix's remake of The Wages of Fear sure looks like it stars Vin Diesel, so where is the confusion coming from? The original Wages of Fear is a nerve-shredding black-and-white thriller from 1953. This Henri-Georges Clouzot-helmed adventure sees a group of men hired to drive trucks filled with unstable nitroglycerine over dangerous terrority to extinguish a blazing oil fire. The movie is considered a classic now, with Christopher Nolan citing The Wages of Fear's focus on "pure suspense" as an inspiration for his 2017 war epic Dunkirk (via Premiere).

The film has been...

What the movie-streaming public wants depends on which top 10 chart you prefer. This week offered little consistency and some outright contradictions.

One thing is clear: Jake Gyllenhaal’s straight-to-streaming “Road House” remake is a massive hit. Amazon Prime reported over 50 million worldwide viewers through its second streaming weekend and gateway app Reelgood reported it as the week’s #1 movie for March 21-27 in the U.S.

“The Accountant,” a 2016 Warner Bros. drama starring Ben Affleck, is currently #1 at Netflix. On Easter weekend “The Passion of the Christ” led VOD at iTunes, while the just-released $19.99 “Imaginary” (Lionsgate) topped Fandango’s revenue-calculated list. (It was #20 at iTunes.) For a second week, Google Play did not update its list.

“Ordinary Angels” (also Lionsgate) is #2 at Fandango, but #14 at iTunes. Since Fandango calculates by revenue, that list favors PVODs — but this week, six of its top 10 rented for $5.99 or less; “The Passion of the Christ,...

One thing should be made clear right out of the gate: the original The Wages of Fear is one of the greatest thrillers ever made. Yes, this stellar 1953 film directed and co-written by Henri-Georges Clouzot has endured because of its impeccable craft, patient pacing, solid performances, often breathtaking visuals, and final emotional punch. Following a group of desperate men who attempt to drive two vehicles full of explosives across a vast expanse of dangerous roads, it's something you can and should watch on Max right now. You really ought to do that instead of seeing whatever this new Netflix remake is trying to be.

From Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang to Brian De Palma and David Fincher, select filmmakers across generations have displayed a knack for delivering nerve-wracking, edge-of-your-seat thrills. Capitalizing on cinematic techniques, tropes, and expectations, these masters of suspense play audiences like a fiddle, exploiting our shared fears, anxieties, and imaginations in the name of entertainment. Much like the rush one gets while watching a horror film, an effective thriller is a roller-coaster of adrenaline, and French director, producer, and screenwriter Henri-Georges Clouzot was no stranger to expertly crafting films of such a taut nature. Two years before the release of his iconic Les Diaboliques, which features one of cinema's most shocking finales, Clouzot took moviegoers on a notoriously tightly wound ride in delivering what's arguably one of the most tense films of all time: The Wages of Fear.

The Wages of Fear is a French film directed by Julien Leclercq starring Franck Gastambide and Ana Girardot.

“The Wages of Fear” is a film based on Georges Arnaud’s novel, which, as you may already know, had a previous adaptation in 1953, directed by H.G. Clouzot. This has become a classic of French cinema and one of the best thrillers in film history.

In these current times, Julien Leclercq dares to create a new version of this story, modernizing it entirely and trying to maintain the character tension in this updated plot, although we’re not fully sure if it’s for the better.

It’s always a risk to compare yourself to a classic, but Julien Leclercq has the courage to try it.

Plot

To save a village during an oil extraction, four people must escort a convoy loaded with nitroglycerin in a desolate place, surrounded by armed gangs.

Cannes is getting into the remake business.

The Cannes film market, the Marché du Film, is launching a one-day event focused entirely on remakes and local-language adaptations of existing titles.

Together with the Cnc, the French national film board, and with support from Spain’s Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts (Icaa), Italy’s Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Italian Ministry of Culture (Dgca-MiC) and Rome-based studio Cinecittà, the Cannes market will host Cannes Remakes, a one-day event on May 20 highlighting handpicked European IP ready for new film adaptations.

The inaugural program will include a pitching session presenting a curated selection of IP titles from France, Spain and Italy judged to have the most potential for film adaptation. This pitching will be followed by a series of pre-arranged one-on-one meetings between IP holders and producers capped by an invite-only networking cocktail on the Cnc Beach.

The remake market is undeniably booming,...

Another remake of classic – make that two classics – is headed to Netflix, as the streaming giant has just released the teaser for The Wages of Fear, first made in 1953 and later most notably remade by William Friedkin with 1977’s Sorcerer.

In the trailer, we see an explosion and the chaos of the aftermath, with a voice saying, “There is a gas pocket feeding the flames. To put it out, we need to blow it up.” This sets up the plot of The Wages of Fear, which finds a team driving to the location in trucks filled with nitro…and they’re on a timeline of just 24 hours.

Helmed by action director Julien Leclercq, The Wages of Fear looks to bring a lot more of his trademark action to the screen than its predecessors. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s original The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la peur) is, as far as I’m concerned,...

In 1950, French author Georges Arnaud wrote a novel with the translated title of "The Wages of Fear," and three years later, director Henri-Georges Clouzot adapted it into one of the most tense films ever made. When a gargantuan fire breaks out at an isolated oil derrick in the middle of nowhere, the only way to stop the problem is to literally blow up the entire site. The problem is, it will take a hell of a lot of nitroglycerin to do that. Naturally, that compound is highly combustible and incredibly sensitive. If you jostle it around, it explodes. It turns out the only way to transport it is to pack it into the back of trucks, physically drive it across incredibly rough terrain, and hope for the best. The drivers, broke and trapped in a dead-end town with no prospects, are offered astronomical sums of money to make the trek,...

Netflix fights fire with fire in its upcoming remake of a suspense classic. Here’s a trailer for The Wages Of Fear.

The Wages Of Fear, the 1953 classic suspense thriller directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, has already had one remake: William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, released in 1977. Both are intense, immersive films with grime on their skin and dirt under their fingernails, which makes it all the more odd that Netflix’s upcoming remake – also called The Wages Of Fear – has that pristine, flatly-lit look of an Expendables sequel.

The plot remains the same; it’s about a quartet of misfits who – in exchange for a big chunk of cash – agree to ferry trucks of high explosives across a rugged landscape. Their mission: to set off a huge detonation in the hopes of extinguishing an oil well fire.

This latest version is directed by Julien Leclercq, whose previous work includes the action thrillers Braquers,...

Henri-Georges Clouzot, active between the 1940s and '60s, was a director primarily of noir films and thrillers. His defining projects are Diabolique and The Wages of Fear, two of the best movies of the 1950s, while his groundbreaking documentary The Mystery of Picasso is also considered a classic. Clouzot's talent for suspense and penchant for dark, violent stories earned him the nickname "the French Hitchcock".

Stephen King, known for horror, surprisingly picks the 1977 thriller Sorcerer as his favorite movie by the late William Friedkin. While Friedkin's horror masterpiece The Exorcist is widely acclaimed, King considers Sorcerer as the real classic. King pays tribute to the late filmmaker, recognizing Friedkin's talent and expressing his sadness over his passing. Where to Watch Powered by

Stephen King recommends his favorite movie by the late William Friedkin - and surprisingly, it's not the director's horror masterpiece The Exorcist. The entertainment world is in mourning over the passing of Friedkin, who died Monday at the age of 87. Tributes have poured in from all over Hollywood and beyond since the news hit, as the world pays tribute to the director responsible for acclaimed blockbusters like The French Connection and The Exorcist. Though those Friedkin hits are rightfully being praised, another more over-looked Friedkin film is also getting plenty of love upon his passing.

William Friedkin was, simply put, a legend.

His technical prowess, mastery of tone and commitment to storytelling were unparalleled. And so was his willingness to push the boundaries of what was acceptable. It wasn’t that he was merely challenging good taste; it was that he wanted to go beyond what had come before. And sometimes that made people very uncomfortable. Friedkin’s career is largely defined by this kind of artful provocation, and it makes his passing — especially in the current age of pre-packaged, vacuum-sealed mass entertainment — all the more devastating. We didn’t just lose one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation; we lost an outspoken advocate for the kind of movies they just don’t make anymore.

Thankfully, Friedkin left behind a bounty of modern classics – movies that become richer, more rewarding, and, yes, more provocative, the more times you watch them. Here are seven of his most essential,...