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Corinne Masiero as Capitaine Marleau. Photo Credit : Josée Dayan. Courtesy of MHzChoice

MHzChoice has already imported almost four full seasons of the light-hearted French crime series, “Captain Marleau.” This upcoming release “Captain Marleau: Wind and Tides (Entre Vents et Marees)” is the two-part, three-hour pilot that hadn’t been part of the previous packages. For newbies, Marleau (Corinne Masiero) is a Columbo-esque itinerant police detective who goes from village to village to solve their latest murder(s). She drives in looking almost homeless, and plays the fool to mask her considerable skills. She also dissembles with irreverent wisecracks, annoying the witnesses and suspects while delighting viewers, and learning more than she would with straightforward questioning. Each episode is a new crime in a new locale with a mostly different cast, so the way she flusters the local cops just meeting her provides a reliable source of humor.

For series devotees,...

Exclusive: French detective Inspector Adamsberg has returned for another case, and France TV Distribution is opening his latest murder file at MIPTV.

Yvan Attal plays the detective, known in Fred Vargas’ novels as Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, in the two-part special Beyond the Grave: A New Adamsberg’s Case. France Télévisions’ sales arm is launching the title in Cannes.

Adapted by Emmanuel Carrère and based on Vargas’ novel Sur la Dalle, the series also stars Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Sylvie Testud, Virginie Ledoyen, Olivier De Benoist, Micha Lescot and Eric Caravaca. The book was the second best-selling new novel in France last year.

France 2 is the broadcaster, Passion Films the producer and Josée Dayan is the director. Delivery is expected in Q3 of this year.

In the series, Inspector Adamsberg investigates a murder in a village in Brittany. The main suspect is a local figure, a descendant of the famous writer Chateaubriand.

Adjani has denied she evaded paying tax on a €2m gift and of pretending to live in Portugal for two years.

Acclaimed French actress Isabelle Adjani has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence and fined €250,000 after being found guilty of aggravated tax fraud and money laundering by a Paris court on Thursday (December 14).

Adjani’s lawyer Olivier Pardo confirmed to Screen late Thursday that her defence team had officially filed an appeal that is now making its way through the Paris courts.

Adjani has consistently maintained her innocence in the face of charges that include evading taxes on a...

Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre was broadcast on France 2

An investigative documentary featuring footage of Gerard Depardieu engaging in lewd, sexist behaviour has sent shockwaves through the world of French cinema.

The documentary, Gerard Depardieu: La Chute De l’Ogre (Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre), was broadcast on December 7, part of France 2’s investigative series Complément d’Enquete.

It includes testimony from actress Helene Darras who said she officially pressed charges against Depardieu after claiming he sexually assaulted her on the set of Fabien Onteniente’s 2008 local comedy Disco. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, an...

France TV Distribution has scored a raft of deals across its slate of flagship shows, notably Noé Debré’s political satire “Parliament,” whose second season was picked up by Topic in the U.S.

“Parliament,” produced by Paris-based Cinétévé, was created by Debré, whose screenwriting include Jacques Audiard’s Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan.” The series is set at the European parliament in Strasbourg and follows a young assistant working for a newly elected member, juggling his ethics, job and love life. The 10-episode series features a young cast from across Europe, including Xavier Lacaille, Liz Kingsman and Philippe Duquesne. The daring show shot partly on location in both French and English languages.

Sky Italia, meanwhile, has acquired “The King’s Favorite” starring Isabelle Adjani, as well as season 1 and 2 of the detective series “Criminal Games.”

“The King’s Favorite” is a prestige period series starring Adjani as Diane de Poitiers, King Henri II’s favorite.

Actress Isabelle Adjani, the star of the new France-produced 4-part miniseries "The King's Favorite", directed by Josée Dayan, poses for the latest issue of "Madame Figaro" magazine:

"...enigmatic 16th-century noblewoman and courtier 'Diane de Poitiers' (Adjani) is 'The King's Favorite'...

"...enjoying a complicated relationship with young French king, 'Henry II' (Hugo Becker)...

"...that lasted more than twenty years..."

Cast also includes Samuel Labarthe, Virginie Ledoyen and Gérard Depardieu.

Click the images to enlarge...

France tv distribution has boarded “Sweetheart” (“Chouchou”), an eight-part drama series produced by well-known Quebec-based company Passez Go.

Written by Simon Boulerice, the drama show revolves around Chanelle, a 38-year-old teacher who is happily married with two children. Her life unravels after she meets Sandrick, a 17-year-old teenager who has just been transferred to her class, and falls under his charm. Chanelle tries to help Sandrick as he struggles at home with his dysfunctional mother, but their relationship turns into an illicit and passionate affair that leaves no one unscathed. The series is directed by Félix Tétreault and Marie-Claude Blouin (“Le Chalet”).

Produced by Evelyne Brochu and Lévi Doré at Passez Go, “Sweetheart” will be launched internationally by France tv distribution at Mipcom which kicks off Oct. 17. The eight-part series stars Evelyne Brochu, Lévi Doré, Sophie Cadieux and Steve Laplante. “Sweetheart” has already been ordered by Canadian Broadcaster Noovo.

France tv Distribution...

Isabelle Adjani is re-teaming with “The King’s Favorite” director Josée Dayan on the six-part mystery thriller “Belphégor.”

The acclaimed actress stars as the enigmatic 16th-century noblewoman and courtier Diane de Poitiers in “The King’s Favorite,” which premiered at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous on Monday.

The €7.6 million (7.5 million), four-part series, produced by Dayan’s Passion Films and sold internationally by France TV Distribution, examines de Poitiers’ complicated relationship with the young French king, Henry II (played by Hugo Becker), that lasted more than two decades. The large ensemble cast also includes Samuel Labarthe, Virginie Ledoyen and Gérard Depardieu.

Adjani next stars in an action-comedy helmed by Mélanie Laurent, which is set to go into production next week, Adjani told Variety.

Adjani is also set to star in a TV thriller alongside Benjamin Biolay likewise to be directed by Dayan later this year and described as in the style of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Diabolique.

The French TV industry’s Rendez-Vous market is again taking place in the picturesque seaside town of Biarritz, bowing Sept. 4 with a showcase of this year’s top TV content after being forced online the past two years due to the pandemic.

This year also marks the event’s relaunch under the Unifrance banner following the merger last year of the film and TV promotional organization and TV France International, the Rendez-Vous’ previous organizer.

With more and more directors and actors moving increasingly from film to television, Unifrance’s new role is a natural evolution that reflects that development, said Unifrance vice president Hervé Michel.

This is evident in the Rendez-Vous’ new gala night event with a special screening of France Televisions’ “The King’s Favorite,” starring Isabelle Adjani. Producer-director Josée Dayan’s historical drama examines the life of 16th-century noblewoman and courtier Diane de Poitiers and her relationship with the French king,...

Emmanuelle Devos as Marie Claire journalist Michèle Manceaux interviewing Yann Andréa (Swann Arlaud) on his relationship with Marguerite Duras in Claire Simon’s beautifully staged I Want To Talk About Duras

Swann Arlaud as Yann Andréa and Emmanuelle Devos as Michèle Manceaux give tremendous performances that circle around discoveries of deep personal truths in Claire Simon’s beautifully staged I Want To Talk About Duras (a highlight of the 59th New York Film Festival in the Currents programme). When they meet for the two audiotaped sessions one day apart, Marguerite Duras, as an invisible presence, can be felt through the floorboards below, and, because she interrupts with instinctively strategically placed phone calls, offering coffee and impatience.

Claire Simon with Anne-Katrin Titze on Marguerite Duras and Yann Andréa: “When she died he wrote a book which was adapted for the movies by Josée Dayan [Cet amour-là].”

In early December 1982, Yann Andréa, longtime lover of Marguerite Duras,...