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Isabelle Huppert sure likes to work. Why else would the person most likely to raise a regal hand were you to page “our greatest living actress,” in between the roles that might earn her that title, take on projects like Thierry Klifa’s perfectly middling “The Richest Woman in the World”? Then again, perhaps it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: This follies-of-the-megawealthy downfall drama, loosely based on the 2010 Bettencourt Affair involving the heiress to the L’Oreal empire, feels simultaneously beneath Huppert and entirely built around her. What pleasures it yields stem exclusively from watching the actress swan around without breaking a sweat in a role tailored to her specifications as precisely as costume designers Jürgen Doering and Laure Villemer’s expensively chic outfits.

Marianne Farrère (Huppert) is roused from her bed by the police raiding her mansion. Confronting the interlopers a few moments later, looking amazing she is powerless to stop them seizing her assets,...

The Richest Woman in the World ushers audiences into the rarefied air of Parisian high society, a realm ostensibly governed by decorum and the quiet accumulation of cosmetic empire fortunes. At the helm of the Windler dynasty stands Marianne Farrere, a matriarch whose vast wealth seems to have purchased an equally expansive boredom. The narrative opens with a familiar gambit: the public image problem.

An interview is arranged, a strategic move designed to sculpt a more palatable, humanized version of this formidable figure for public consumption. From these initial scenes, the film carefully lays the groundwork for a story predicated on the fissures that appear when an external force meets an internally stagnant world, promising a disruption to the meticulously managed facade. The question isn’t if the gilded cage will be rattled, but how.

An Agent of Chaos in Hermès Ties

The narrative engine truly sputters to life with the entrance of Pierre-Alain,...

The black market for Cannes parties and screenings is alive and well, according to a list seen by Screendaily.

One of the most expensive offerings is a pair of tickets to Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor The GreatUn Certain Regard premiere and after-party on May 20, which are being touted for $5,495 per person. A photo with Johansson is on offer for an extra $1,995.

The film’s distributor Sony Pictures Classics was unavailable for comment. However a festival spokesperson responded robustly.

“Tickets issued by the Festival de Cannes are free of charge and strictly prohibited from being sold. Any attempt to sell or...

The black market for Cannes parties and screenings is alive and well, according to a list seen by Screendaily.

One of the most expensive offerings is a pair of tickets to Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor The GreatUn Certain Regard premiere and after-party on May 20, which are being touted for $5,495 per person. A photo with Johansson is on offer for an extra $1,995.

The film’s distributor Sony Pictures Classics was unavailable for comment. However a festival spokesperson responded robustly.

“Tickets issued by the Festival de Cannes are free of charge and strictly prohibited from being sold. Any attempt to sell or...

With the Cannes Film Festival just around the corner, the festival has now unveiled its Classics lineup, featuring new restorations, films about filmmaking, and much more. Highlights include Stéphane Ghez’s David Lynch, une énigme à Hollywood (Welcome to Lynchland), a new documentary about the late director, Quentin Tarantino in-person to present two features by George Sherman, plus films by Edward Yang, John Woo, Stanley Kubrick, Charlie Chaplin, Mikio Naruse, Marcel Pagnol, and more.

Check out the lineup below and learn more here.

The Gold Rush: 100th Year Anniversary!

After La Maman et la putain, L’Amour fou and Napoléon par Abel Gance, the Festival de Cannes will premiere as a worldwide pre-opening film on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 3Pm in Debussy Theater, Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush.

The Gold Rush by Charlie Chaplin

(La Ruée vers l’or)

A presentation by Roy Export Sas with the support of mk2.

A documentary on Shia Labeouf’s acting school, conversation with Quentin Tarantino about George Sherman, tribute to the late David Lynch and Mariska Hargitay’s feature directorial debut are among the highlights of this year’s Cannes Classics lineup, revealed on Wednesday.

“Slauson Rec,” a documentary from Leo Lewis O’Neil about Labeouf’s controversial free acting school he launched in L.A. in 2018, will screen in the presence of both O’Neil and Labeouf. The film has already caused a stir, with O’Neil’s recent interview with Vanity Fair about the project revealing that scenes are included of Labeouf’s alleged physical violence toward members of the experimental theater collective. As O’Neil told Vanity Fair, he sent a trailer for the project to Labeouf seeking his sign-off on it, and the actor gave his full blessing.

In a statement to Vanity Fair, Labeouf said: “I gave Leo this...

Oscar-winning British actor Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah) has joined the jury for this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar, headed up by Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen (The Beasts).

Completing the five-person jury are Moroccan journalist Jihane Bougrine, French-Canadian cinematographer Josée Deshaies (Passages, The Beast), and Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara (Tiger Stripes, Autobiography).

Together, they will judge the competition titles for the 64th Critics’ Week, Cannes’ sidebar section for first and second features. The Critics’ Week runs May 14–22.

“[Cannes Critics’ Week] unequivocally demonstrates its commitment to supporting and believing in young filmmakers,” Sorogoyen said in a statement, emphasizing the importance of the section’s focus on new voices.

Sorogoyen made his feature debut in 2013 with Stockholm, co-written with Isabel Peña, kicking off a productive collaboration that has included May God Save Us (2016), The Candidate (2018), and Mother (2019), as well as The Beasts in 2022. The slow-burn thriller starring Marina Foïs and Denis Ménochet,...

Playtime has boarded French filmmaker Diane Kurys’ C’est Si Bon! about the love story between real life French celebrity couple Yves Montand and Simone Signoret and is launching international sales at EFM.

Roschy Zem and Marina Fois star as the couple who married in 1951 and remained together until her death in 1985, but whose relationship was haunted by Montand’s affair with Marilyn Monroe.

The fiction film about love, passion and betrayal is set against the backdrop of the city’s smoky cafés and bohemian nights.

Pan Européene produced the €7.5m film with Alexandre Films and shot in Paris. It...

Isabel Peña y Sorogoyen firman el guion de esta original de Movistar Plus+. © Movistar Plus+

Ya está en marcha el rodaje de El ser querido, una película dirigida por Rodrigo Sorogoyen con guion del propio Sorogoyen e Isabel Peña. Esta producción original de Movistar Plus+ se rodará a lo largo de diez semanas en localizaciones de Fuerteventura y Madrid, para luego estrenarse en cines de la mano de A Contracorriente Films, antes de aterrizar en la plataforma.

En El ser querido un prestigioso director de cine y su hija, una actriz sin éxito, ruedan juntos una película tras años de distanciamiento y un pasado difícil del que ninguno de los dos ha querido hablar.

La película está encabezada por Javier Bardem (Dune: Parte dos) y Victoria Luengo (Reina roja). Completan el reparto Raúl Arévalo (El caso asunta), Marina Foïs (As Bestas), Mourad Ouani (Nos vemos en otra vida), Raúl Prieto...

Exclusive: Goodfellas has unveiled one of its biggest European Film Market slates ever featuring upcoming films by Cristian Mungiu, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Saeed Roustaee, Claire Denis, Mario Martone and Raoul Peck.

The company is also handling a trio of Berlin Film Festival titles: Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Golden Bear contender The Ice Tower with Marion Cotillard; Burhan Qurbani’s No Beast. So Fierce. in Berlinale Special; and a fresh acquisition, Bálint Dániel Sós’ Growing Down.

The latter film, which premieres in the new competitive Perspectives section aimed at first films, revolves around a widowed father of two who is tested by fate when he becomes the only witness of a serious accident involving his stepdaughter caused by his youngest son.

Goodfellas will begin pre-sales on Romanian director Mungiu’s first English-language picture Fjord, with Oscar nominee Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) and Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World...

During a Movistar+ presentation at the historic Telefónica Building on Madrid’s Gran Via this afternoon, renowned writer-director-producer duo Los Javis – Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – shared early details about their next project, “La bola negra,” a multi-timelined feature about what it is and has meant to be a gay man in Spain throughout the last century.

A day after their series “La Mesías” won the Rose d’Or Award for best mini or limited series at Content Americas, Ambrossi and Calvo – known locally as Los Javis – revealed that they’re in the final stages of putting the project together and will begin shooting later this year. Abrossi and Calvo are writing, directing, and co-producing the feature through their label Suma Content, which is teaming with Movistar+, its production and distribution partner, on “La Mesías.”

“La bola negra” is a “queer revisitation of a part of the history of our country,...

Dozens of celebs, including Zendaya and Alicia Vikander, stepped out for Louis Vuitton‘s show during Paris Fashion Week!

Creative director Nicolas Ghesquière presented his Women’s Spring-Summer 2025 collection during the show on Tuesday afternoon (October 1) in Paris, France.

Cate Blanchett, Ana de Armas, Jennifer Connelly, Cynthia Erivo, and Lisa were among the other celebs who attended the fashion show. We have photos from the red carpet and inside the event to share!

Head inside to see all of the celebs who stepped out for the fashion show…

Keep scrolling to see all of the celebs who attended the fashion show…

Cate Blanchett

Zendaya

Lisa

Ana de Armas

Hoyeon

Jennifer Connelly

Alicia Vikander

Cynthia Erivo

Chloe Moretz

Shay Mitchell

Jaden Smith

Jurnee Smollett

Haim

Stacy Martin

Justine Triet

Da’Vine Joy Randolph

Ava DuVernay

Sandra Huller

Urassaya Sperbund

Doona Bae

John Glacier

Ryan Destiny

Jasmine Jobson

Koki

Elaine Zhong

Liu Yifei...

Isabelle Huppert has started filming in France as a fictionalised version of billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the heir to the L’Oreal fortune, on La Femme la Plus Riche du Monde which Playtime has boarded for sales.

Directed by Thierry Klifa, the film is loosely inspired by nonagenarian Bettencourt, who became the subject of a social, financial and political scandal when she gave hundreds of millions of Euros to a young artist which led her daughter to launch an investigation that uncovered political corruption allegations extending to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

The film is being produced by Mathias Rubin’s Recifilms...

A satirical slasher that follows two butchers as they hunt down vegans to sell as meat in their store sounds like it shouldn't work at all. However, the French horror comedy Some Like It Rare absolutely nails the absurdist comedic tone and manages to infuse it with sharp social commentary. Directed by Fabrice Eboue, who also stars in one of the lead roles alongside Marina Fois, the movie focuses on how a failing business affects the marriage of the couple who run it. However, after the store is trashed by vegan activists, the couple turns to pursuing vegans and this reinvigorates their livelihood and relationship. Some Like It Rare is neither advocating for veganism nor discouraging it. Instead, it uses its bizarre premise to shed light on the absurdity of extreme measures. Its unique approach may not be for everyone, but it truly stands out in the cannibalism subgenre of horror.

Cyprien Vial’s Guadalope-set volcano drama Magma, and Sophie Deraspe’s Bergers, about a man and women who trades in their lives as an ad exec and a civil servant to become shepherds in rural France, head Pyramide International’s busy Cannes Market slate.

Marina Fois, Theo Christine and Mathieu Demy star in Magma, which is produced by Isabelle Madelaine’s Dharamsala and Emilie Tisné’s Darius Films. Fois plays a woman running the Guadeloupe Volcano Observatory who dreams of managing a major eruption and comes face to face with the unpredictable La Soufrière volcano. Shot in Guadeloupe, the film...

Producer Patrick Sobelman and Ariane Toscan du Plantier, director of Cinema Distribution France and International at film and TV company Gaumont, have been voted in as president and vice-president of France’s César Academy.

Their mandate begins on July 16 for two years. Sobelman was previously vice-president of the César Academy alongside outgoing president Véronique Cayla.

The president and vice-president, the members of the executive Academy Office, who assist them in their work, as well as the heads of the 22 professionals chapters were voted on by the 176 members of the general assembly of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema, the umbrella body overseeing Cesar Academy. The general assembly members are in turn voted in by the some 4,700 members of the academy.

Since 2020, the Apc has stipulated gender parity across the César Academy’s Presidency, Academy Office and different chapter representatives, following accusations of lack of gender equality within its ranks...

"Help with the ball and I'll get you out of here." Madman Films from Australia has just revealed the main international trailer for a French dramatic thriller titled Party of Fools, which is the updated English title for this film originally known as Captives in French. It premiered last year and already opened in France in January, but has no US date yet - expected sometime later in the year. Based on a true story taking place in Paris in 1894, at the Salpêtrière Hospital, one year after the death of Prof. Jean-Martin Charcot. A young woman named Fanni voluntarily allowed herself to be locked up in the Salpêtrière hospital in order to look for her mother. A ball is being prepared there... Searching among the multitude of so-called "madwomen", she discovers a community of modern heroines who defy all of her expectations, along with the unexpected friendship of fellow patients.

Premiering on March 1st, 2024, Furies is a Netflix Original action series that explores the criminal underworld in Paris. The story concerns Lyna Guerrab, a French woman out to avenge her father's death who becomes entangled in a web of intrigue when she encounters The Fury, a peacekeeping organization overseeing the city's safety. Created by Jean-Yves Arnaud and Yoann Legave, the gritty crime series boasts a stellar international ensemble of actors who bring their characters to life.

In what begins as an intriguing story of assassination and revenge, Furies evolves as a character-driven depiction of France's sordid criminality, where a secret subculture looms below the glitz and glamour of The City of Light. As Lyna attempts to avenge her father, The Fury tries to keep the peace among the six crime families that vie for control of Paris. For those interested in watching Furies, it's time to meet the main cast...

If we learned anything from Tony Soprano, it’s that even the world’s worst criminals need a mediator. And in Furies, a high-octane French action series, there are six mafia families in need of some major — and majorly violent — intervention. While hunting down her father’s murderer, a young woman is recruited by the peacekeeper of the Paris mafia who’s looking for a successor to thwart an impending war among the city’s criminal underbelly. Starring Lina El Arabi, Marina Foïs, and Mathieu Kassovitz, the series is from Kepler(s) creators Jean-Yves Arnaud and Yoann Legave.

Stream it now.

Check it out at the top of this page.

College student Lyna (El Arabi) is excited for her birthday — her favorite day of the year. And this’ll be one she’ll never forget… but for all the wrong reasons. As she sits down to celebrate with her parents,...

Furies on Netflix centers on Lyna's quest for revenge but unravels a hidden criminal underworld's secrets. The show dives into the complex Parisian crime network, with a cast of intricate characters and plot twists. Lyna faces dangerous foes and unexpected allies as she navigates the treacherous criminal society to find truth.

Netflix's French-language action-drama Furies tells a complex story of assassination, the criminal underworld, and deception – relying on an extensive cast to bring to life the show's lore and plot twists. Created by Jean-Yves Arnaud and Yoann Legave, the main Furies story centers around the mysterious Lyna and her mission to track down her father's killer. However, as the show develops, it becomes clear that Furies is more than a simple revenge arc, incorporating a hidden criminal subculture with its own rules and players.

The eight-part show takes place in Paris, touching on many aspects of the criminal underground that thrives within the city.

Furias es una nueva serie creada por Jean-Yves Arnaud y Yoann Legave, protagonizada por Lina El Arabi, Marina Foïs y Mathieu Kassovitz.

Si buscáis una serie de acción, entretenida, con giros de guion , thriller, un relato interesante y muchas secuencias trepidantes, “Furias” es perfecta para este fin de semana. Una serie que, por una vez, da exactamente lo que propone y no decepciona: una serie de acción pura y dura que, sin concesiones a sentimentalismos, sabe dar al espectador exactamente lo que busca.

Argumento

En París también hay mafias y cuando las mafias tienen problemas, recurren a una figura legendaria llamada “la furia”, que se encarga de poner paz… a base de asesinatos.

Lo que sucede es que, esta vez, ha matado al padre de la chica equivocada.

Sobre la serie

Nos encantan las comedias francesas de alta sociedad, pero también el cine francés tiene una larga tradición en esto...

Furies is a new series created by Jean-Yves Arnaud and Yoann Legave, starring Lina El Arabi, Marina Foïs and Mathieu Kassovitz.

If you’re looking for an action-packed, entertaining series with plot twists, a thrilling story, and plenty of intense sequences, then “Furies ” is perfect for this weekend. For once, a series that delivers exactly what it promises without disappointing – a pure and hard-hitting action series that knows how to give the audience exactly what they want, without any sentimentalism.

Plot

Even in Paris, there are mafias, and when they have problems, they turn to a legendary figure called “the fury,” who takes care of things…through murder. However, this time, he killed the wrong girl’s father.

About the series

We love French comedies about high society, but French cinema also has a long tradition in the action thriller genre (with Luc Besson as a great representative). They do it very well and,...

Alanté Kavaité’s third film The Islanders, about a woman taking care of a group of elderly people on a remote island off the coast of France, has been acquired by Elle Driver, which will start selling the film at the EFM.

The Islanders is now in post. It stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz with Dali Bensallah, Daphné Pataki and veteran talents Miou-Miou and Patrick Chesnais. Tereszkiewicz won the Cesar breakout award in 2023 for roles in Forever Young and The Red Island. Bensallah’s credits include Athena.

Kavaité’s credits include the coming-of-age story The Summer Of Sangaile, for which she won...

The film is directed by five rising female directors.

Six rising female directors from around the world have joined forces for the animation anthology Animal Tales Of Christmas Magic which is being launched by The Bureau Sales at this week’s Rendez -Vous With French Cinema in Paris this week.

Caroline Attia, Ceylan Beyoglu, Olesya Shchukina, Haruna Kishi, Camille Almeras and Natalia Chernysheva have used uses poetry and humour to tell five Christmas stories that take place across the globe from Japan to the Far North and the Northern Lights.

The stories are all told in 2D digital animation, and...

French actor-director Samuel Theis, best known for starring in Justine Triet’s awards season favorite Anatomy of a Fall, has been accused of rape by a crew member on Je te jure (I Swear), Theis’ latest directorial feature.

The French newspaper Libération broke the story and reported that the alleged assault took place last year at a party held in an apartment rented by the production where the crew member said they were too inebriated to consent to a sexual encounter with Theis.

Theis responded to Libération’s report, telling the newspaper that the encounter was consensual. His lawyer added in response that his client has not been charged or contacted by authorities. The newspaper reported that the crew member quit the production immediately after the alleged assault.

Je te jure is currently in post-production. According to Libération, Theis was ordered to complete his work on the title remotely by...

Samuel Theis, a French actor-director known for starring in this year’s “Anatomy of a Fall” as the husband to Sandra Hüller’s character, has been accused of sexual assault by a crew member on his new film, a French production called “Je le jure” (“I Swear”).

According to a report in Libération from January 5 (via Screen Daily), the crew member accused Theis of raping him at a party last summer when the alleged victim was too drunk to consent. The alleged incident took place in Metz, France at an apartment rented for the production.

Theis told the publication the encounter was consensual, and his lawyer told Libération he has not been charged with any crime to date. The crew member quit the production immediately after the alleged assault.

Post-production is continuing on “I Swear,” but according to Libération, the production company Avenue B has forced Theis to complete the project remotely away from crew,...

Samuel Theis, who played the husband of Sandra Hüller’s character in Justine Triet’s Golden Globe-winning film “Anatomy of a Fall,” was ousted from the shoot of his third directorial outing, “Je te jure,” after being accused of rape by a crew member, Variety has confirmed. For the remainder of production, Theis remained on location but directed the film remotely.

The alleged sexual assault took place halfway through the shoot, in the aftermath of a party held at an apartment with the cast and crew on July 1, according to the French newspaper Liberation. The crew member spent the night in the flat where the party was held due to his state of inebriation and alleged he was raped by Theis in the early morning hours. The filmmaker, meanwhile, has argued that it was consensual, according to Liberation.

Shortly after, the crew member decided to leave the shoot. “Je te...

The alleged rape took place during production of Theis’ Je Le Jure last summer.

Samuel Theis, the French co-star of Justine Triet’s awards season hopeful Anatomy Of A Fall has been accused of rape by a crew member on his upcoming directorial feature Je Le Jure and has been forced to continue directing from a remote location, according to a report in France’s Liberation newspaper on January 5.

The alleged rape occurred last summer at a party where the crew member said they were too inebriated to consent to a sexual encounter with Theis in an apartment rented by the production in Metz,...

The alleged rape took place during production of Theis’ Je Le Jure last summer.

Samuel Theis, the French co-star of Justine Triet’s awards season hopeful Anatomy Of A Fall has been accused of rape by a crew member on his upcoming directorial feature Je Le Jure and has been forced to continue directing from a remote location, according to a report in France’s Liberation newspaper on January 5.

The alleged rape occurred last summer at a party where the crew member said they were too inebriated to consent to a sexual encounter with Theis in an apartment rented by the production in Metz,...

Paris-based company 2425 Films, recently acquired by Mediawan, is working with a pool of rising filmmakers on timely movies, including Charly Delwart’s “1,5 degré,” Ilan Duran Cohen’s “Le coup d’apres” and Thomas Kruithof’s “Les Braises.”

2425 Films, founded by Thibault Gast and Matthias Weber, has been thriving with smart, high-concept commercial movies, such as Yann Gozlan’s “La boite noire” and “An Ideal Man,” as well as the thriller “Burn Out.” The company also presented Gozlan’s latest film, “Visions,” a thriller starring Diane Kruger (co-produced by Eagle Team Entetainment) at this year’s Angouleme Film Festival.

Duran Cohen’s “Le coup d’apres” is a film set in the world of French politics, with a duo of French stars, Marina Fois and Laurent Laffite, who previously co-starred in “Papa ou Maman,” a French hit comedy franchise. Laffite, who also stars in Netflix’s limited series “Tapie,” plays...

Fighting with your neighbors is awful because, well, they can literally hit you where you live. Antoine and Olga, a middle-class French couple trying to get by on their remote Galician farm, learn that the hard way in The Beasts, the fifth feature from Rodrigo Sorogoyen. At a yawning 137 minutes this is no thriller, but it is an engaging, timeless examination of human tribalism, the nature of nature, and cinema itself.

The film opens on a slow, powerful sequence in which two young men wrestle a horse to the ground, then snaps to a game of dominoes at the local watering hole. Xan (Luis Zahera) is holding court over the games table, brashly shit-talking a fellow villager and browbeating his companions into agreement. One man, who Xan calls “Frenchy,” leaves to return to his farm. The Beasts then follows this man, who is actually named Antoine (Denis Ménochet), as he and his wife,...

Fifty-something French couple Antoine and his wife, Olga, move to Galicia looking for a fresh start. Instead, they find only hostility and hardship in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” a deeply uncomfortable portrait of everyday evil that’s all the more terrifying for being true — not the two main characters, who are fictional, but the conflict that comes to define their new life in that wild corner of northwest Spain.

Antoine buys a modest plot on a primeval slope, fixing up the crumbling stone cottage into something cozy enough to call home. He and Olga, are fully prepared to face the challenges of raising crops on such unforgiving soil.

What they’re not prepared for is the open resentment of their xenophobic neighbors, 52-year-old Xan (Luis Zahera) and his brother, Loren (Diego Anido), who was kicked in the head by a horse at some point and has the jagged scar...

It’s hard to think of a less suspenseful set-up than the one writer-director Rodrigo Sorogoyen took on for his nail-biting new feature, The Beasts (As Bestas), which swept last year’s Goya awards in Spain.

In a tiny village lost in the hills of Galicia, a French couple has decided to restart their lives as organic farmers, selling produce at the town market while fixing up abandoned old houses in their downtime. The wife, Olga (Marina Foïs), and husband, Antoine (Denis Ménochet), are a gentle and thoughtful middle-aged pair, concerned by environmental issues and adept enough in Spanish to do business with the locals.

And yet, from its very first minute, this searing drama of rural strife, xenophobia and cultural hostility is filled with almost unbearable tension — a tension that boils over as Olga and Antoine clash with a pair of native-born brothers, Xan (Luis Zahera) and Lorenzo (Diego Anido...

As a female union rep in the oppressively male-dominated French nuclear industry, Maureen Kearney — the real-life heroine of Jean-Paul Salomé’s “La Syndicaliste” (“The Sitting Duck” in the U.K.) — is accustomed to keeping a cool head in a crisis. That doesn’t stop her male superiors from accusing her of the opposite, with then-President Nicolas Sarkozy allegedly branding her a “hysteric in a skirt”: In this men’s club, a woman’s mere presence is deemed her weakness. Yet when Kearney is raped and mutilated by unknown assailants, seemingly as a professional warning, it’s her lack of hysteria under the circumstances that is declared suspicious by men in power. As she’s first disbelieved, then charged without outright fabrication, Salomé’s film pivots from itchy whistleblower thriller to irate courtroom drama, with institutional misogyny as its binding thread.

A rape survivor criticized for her composure: sounds like an assignment for Isabelle Huppert,...

After a mesmerizing slow-motion sequence of men struggling to pin down a wild horse, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts dives into the bad blood between its characters, already on the verge of boiling over. The first scene with characters and dialogue takes place in a bar serving as the social heart of the unnamed Galician mountain village where the story is set. Men drink and play dominos around a table, but the mood is anything but relaxed, due in part to the film’s natural lighting, so thin it looks almost fragile. One of the men, Xan Anta (Luis Zahera), propped up at every turn by his younger brother, Lorenzo (Diago Anido), dominates the conversation with venomous gossip. We sense that this is a daily ritual.

From the outset, it’s clear that The Beasts is no cozy small-town drama, but something more akin to a rural noir, peopled with petty,...

"Do you think I'm here on a whim?" Greenwich Ent. has revealed an official US trailer for an indie thriller from France + Spain called The Beasts, originally known as As Bestas (which translates to The Beasts) in its original title. This one first premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year, also stopping by the Chicago, Philadelphia, and Palm Springs Film Festivals. It opens in art house theaters in the US starting this July. An expatriate French couple (played by Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs) decide to operate an organic farm in the Spanish countryside. However, their earnest enthusiasm reeks of patronizing privilege to the handful of "hill people" families who have toiled on the land for generations. Tensions between locals and foreigners boil over in this edge-of-your-seat thriller set right in the Spanish countryside. Lots of critics have been flipping for this. It looks incredibly tense and unsettling, with...

The Paris sales outfit is also handling Pablo Berger’s ‘Robot Dreams’ in Official Selection.

Paris-based sales powerhouse Elle Driver has added Greek director Alexandros Avranas’ Apathy, now in pre-production, to its line-up heading into Cannes.

Apathy is a drama exploring the real-life phenomenon of ‘resignation syndrome’, a catatonic state that has affected around 700 refugee children in Sweden, sparking a wave of concern among doctors and politicians. Told from the perspective of a family, Apathy follows the parents as they struggle in their daily lives and gives a voice to the children. The multi-territory co-production is produced by France’s...

The Paris sales outfit is also handling Pablo Berger’s ‘Robot Dreams’ in Official Selection.

Paris-based sales powerhouse Elle Driver has added Greek director Alexandros Avranas’ Apathy, now in pre-production, to its line-up heading into Cannes.

Apathy is a drama exploring the real-life phenomenon of ‘resignation syndrome’, a catatonic state that has affected around 700 refugee children in Sweden, sparking a wave of concern among doctors and politicians. Told from the perspective of a family, Apathy follows the parents as they struggle in their daily lives and gives a voice to the children. The multi-territory co-production is produced by France’s...

Modern Films has shared an exclusive look at the trailer for the political thriller ‘La Syndicaliste.’

Based on the true story of Maureen Kearney, a trade union organiser in the French nuclear industry who became both a victim and suspect in a shocking scandal. Starring Isabelle Huppert in an electrifying performance as Kearney.

Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert) was the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs. Her life was turned upside down when she was

violently assaulted in her own home. The investigation was carried out under pressure: the subject was sensitive. Suddenly, new elements created doubt in the minds of the investigators, and at first a victim, Maureen became a suspect.

Stars: Denis Ménochet, Marina Foïs, Luis Zahera, Diego Anido, Marie Colomb, Luisa Merelas, José Manuel Fernández y Blanco, Federico Pérez Rey, Javier Varela, David Menéndez, Xavier Estévez, Gonzalo García, Pepo Suevos, Machi Salgado, Emile Duthu | Written by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Isabel Pena | Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Denis Menochet stars in this terrific Spanish thriller from director Rodrigo Sorogoyen that plays like an arthouse version of Straw Dogs. Shot through with tension in every frame, it exerts an intense, powerful grip and the result is one of the very best films of the year.

Co-written by Sorogoyen and Isabel Pena and loosely based on a true story from 2014, The Beasts stars Denis Menochet and Marina Fois as Antoine and Olga, an educated French couple who moved to a small Spanish village in Galicia in order to grow and sell organic vegetables. When the story begins, Antoine and Olga have already been in...

Middle-class incomers to a remote village in Spain’s ‘wild west’ expose fear, resentment and nationalism in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s disturbing true-crime drama

Here is a fierce, bitter tale with a flinty sharpness: partly a social-realist drama of class and xenophobia, and partly a rural noir horror, a Euro-arthouse twist on Straw Dogs or Deliverance. It’s inspired by the true story from 2010 of a middle-class hippy idealist Dutch couple who attempted to settle in the Spanish village of Santoalla in Galicia’s remote “wild west” and fell out badly with their neighbours over their gentrification plans: a row that escalated into a nightmare. It has in fact already been the subject of a documentary, Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer’s Santoalla, and has now been fictionalised by film-maker Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Denis Ménochet and Marina Foïs play Antoine and Olga, an educated French couple who have moved into the area...

Screen’s team looks at which titles are lining up for a potential slot in either Official Selection or one of the parallel sections.

Speculation is mounting about which titles could make the line-up for the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 16-27 this year.

The submission process for Official Selection officially closes on March 21, ahead of the traditional Paris press conference in mid-April (the date is currently to be confirmed).

As filmmakers, producers and sales agents scramble to submit final titles, Screen’s team assesses which films from around the world are lining up for...

“These things happen between neighbours,” say the police after Antoine (Denis Ménochet) finds that somebody has urinated on the chairs outside his house. They make it pretty clear that they don’t want to get involved. The problem is that disputes between neighbours can escalate, and under enough pressure, with no outside intervention, petty acts of vandalism can give way to much worse things. Rodrigo Sorogoyen, whose short film Mother was nominated for an Oscar in 2016, ratchets up the tension even when individual incidents are minor. It’s in the latter part of the film, however, after he has changed direction, that things get really interesting.

Antoine was never really going to be welcome in this village. He and his wife Olga (Marina Foïs) are immigrants, as he is constantly reminded when their neighbours refer to him as ‘Frenchy’, drawing on resentment which goes right back to the Napoleonic invasion of.

The Beasts Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Rodrigo Sorogoyen's The Beasts tore through the competition at the Goya awards - Spain's equivalent of the Oscars - last night.

The western-style tale about a middle-aged French couple who come into conflict with locals after moving to a Galician village, stars Denis Ménochet - who was named best actor - and Marina Foïs. It took home nine awards in total, including best film and best director.

The evening was overshadowed by the death of Cría Cuervos veteran writer/director Carlos Saura, who passed away on Friday before he could receive this year's Goya of Honour.

Actor Eulalia Ramón, Carlos Saura’s widow, read out a note dictated by Saura days before his death. It read: “I would be happy if I’ve served as some inspiration for the directors of today. I see myself as a shooting star in the immensity of the cosmos.

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s take on a western wins nine prizes, but none for Carla Simon’s Berlinale winner

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts scored big at the 37th edition of the Spanish Film Academy Goya awards held on Saturday in Seville, scooping major prizes including best film and best director.

The ceremony celebrated a year hailed as one of the strongest for Spanish cinema in recent memory. However, one of Spain’s most high-profile films on the international stage, Carla Simon’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras, left the Goyas empty-handed despite 11 nominations.

The Beasts, which debuted in Cannes in the Premieres section,...

Sorogoyen’s take on a western wins nine prizes, but none for Carla Simon’s Berlinale winner

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts scored big at the 37th edition of the Spanish Film Academy Goya awards held on Saturday in Seville, scooping major prizes including best film and best director.

The ceremony celebrated a year hailed as one of the strongest for Spanish cinema in recent memory. However, one of Spain’s most high-profile films on the international stage, Carla Simon’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras, left the Goyas empty-handed despite 11 nominations.

The Beasts, which debuted in Cannes in the Premieres section,...

This weekend, Netflix is adding a TV series set in the 1990s, a French historical drama TV series, and a French comedy TV series to add some balance. Last weekend, the streaming giant didn’t see much licensed content added to its catalog, with the limited series Scattered Barriers, the Indian movie Thai Massage, and the Nollywood movie The Wait, but it brought the true-crime documentary The Hatcher Wielding Hitchhiker, season 2 of Vikings: Valhalla, and the drama movie Dog Gone, starring Rob Lowe.

This weekend, Netflix will add a variety of licensed content, with the first seasons of the Japanese TV series Miu404 and Quartet, the thriller movie The Devil To Play, the documentary The Pez Outlaw, season 1 of the Korean TV series Awaken, the Turkish documentary Sweetie, season 28 of The Real World, and season 2 of the anime series Demon Slayer. As for original content, Netflix will bring one of its most anticipated TV shows,...

Represent (En Place) is a series created by François Uzan and Jean-Pascal Zadi starring Jean-Pascal Zadi, Eric Judor, Benoît Poelvoorde and Fadily Camara. You can watch it on Netflix from January 20.

Represent is the new comedy that brings us to the most comical side of politics in this series which, at the very least, will make you laugh because it views politicians at their most ridiculous.

En Place is a parody with a well created script, characters and well paced, with that “French” touch that at times is so great and knows how to find that exact point of irony and elegance and at the same time, social critique.

This is a very entertaining comedy that is on Netflix and is like a very sharp dart that, under the guise of a comedy, goes straight to the heart of the “problem”, which is dealt with in an intelligent way and...

Pacifiction star Benoit Magimel wins best actor award for third time.

Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th (La Nuit Du 12) was named best film and also won the best screenplay prize at the 28th edition of France’s Lumiere Awards at a ceremony at Paris’ Forum des Images on Monday evening.

The film shared the spotlight with Albert Serra’s tropical thriller Pacifiction which earned Serra the best director award and a best actor prize for the film’s star Benoit Magimel.

It was a record win for Magimel who becomes the third actor in Lumière...

Voyages en Italie

For her fifth feature film, Sophie Letourneur returns in front of the camera and behind for the Arte France Cinéma and Cnc supported Voyages en Italie. The compact, Rotterdam-selected title finds a French couple (with Philippe Katerine) looking for a relationship hack. The programming team are calling this a zany rom-com. This was shot in early 2022. Her last film in 2019’s Enormous with Marina Foïs (also a Rotterdam selection) won the prestigious Prix Jean-Vigo award.

Gist: Sophie decides to head off with Jean-Philippe, just the two of them, in order to save their relationship, which has been engulfed by family life.…...