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An intriguing premise doesn’t quite pan out in Nathan Ambrosioni’s latest feature, but there’s no denying the potential in this impossibly young, prolific director. France’s answer — if the question was ever asked — to Montreal’s Xavier Dolan, the 25-year-old is a similarly sensitive and certainly gifted director of older women, and Out of Love shares more than a little bit of DNA with Dolan’s 2014 Cannes Jury Prize winner Mommy. Frustratingly, though, his film takes on way too many subjects, and the result is an oddly tame drama that plays out almost like a Pixar movie — hooray for chosen families! — when the poetic drift of the film is much darker and a lot more interesting.

The opening is a little bit of a misdirect, since we find single mother Suzanne (Juliette Armanet) on what appears to be a road trip with her two young children, nine-year-old...

Every woman dreams of being a mother. Or does she really?

In Karlovy Vary Film Festival contender “Out of Love,” two estranged sisters reunite when widowed Suzanne shows up on Jeanne’s doorstep with her two kids. Newly single and childless by choice, Jeanne is startled by the sudden visit. In the morning, Suzanne disappears, leaving behind nothing but a note.

“My previous film, ‘Toni,’ was about a mom of five kids. She was raising them all by herself. It was about this extraordinary motherhood. Now, I wanted to explore the opposite side of it,” French director Nathan Ambrosioni tells Variety.

“I knew I wanted a feminine perspective on this because I’m a young queer filmmaker. I just feel more at ease working with a queer person or a woman,” he says of his female-centered drama, which reunited him with Camille Cottin cast as Jeanne.

She’s joined by Juliette Armanet,...

We Believe You, debut feature by Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, assembles a family of witnesses into a haunting silent theatre of dread. Myriem Akheddiou anchors the frame as Alice, who drags her son Etienne (Ulysse Goffin) across a station platform into a custody hearing revived by fresh allegations of abuse.

Adèle Pinckaers grants Lila a stoic compassion, while Laurent Capelluto’s father hovers between denial and guilt. Natali Broods presides as the judge, her measured glances weighing each soul within a stark chamber. Their testimonies echo as whispered confessions.

Here, form collides with existential rupture. The camera shifts from restless handheld to rigid geometry, constructing a confine where testimony becomes ordeal. Every static shot poses a philosophical challenge: Can belief find footing in procedural stone? Alice’s fight for her children’s sanctuary becomes an exploration of faith and doubt.

Stakes distill to a single breath: maternal fervor against paternal claim,...

Paris-based company The Party Film Sales has closed a raft of sales on “We Believe You,” a gripping family custody drama directed by Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, following its premiere at the Berlinale.

The film, which is produced by Makintosh Films, bowed in the newly-launched Perspectives section where it won a Special Mention.

“We Believe You” tells the story of Alice, a mother fighting for her children’s safety in a harrowing custody battle, accusing their father of a crime. Standing before a judge, she must speak up to protect them from their father before it’s too late.

The film stars Myriem Akheddiou in the lead role, known for her work in the Dardenne brothers’ Young Ahmed, alongside Laurent Capelluto, Natali Broods (“Façades”), and rising young talents Ulysse Goffin and Adèle Pinckaers. “We Believe You” follows Dufeys’s short “Invincible Summer” which played at last year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The debut feature by Charlotte Deville and Arnaud Dufeys, We Believe You, walks the well-known path of courtroom dramas. However, it does so with originality and grace in reconciling formal rigour with heightened emotions, while clocking only 78 minutes.

At the beginning, it does not seem so, as the filmmaking duo opens their work with close-up shots of its protagonist and our point-of-view character, Alice (Myriem Akheddiou), from behind, the front and the side in shaky hand-held fashion. The presence of the actress who has had a number of episodic roles Dardenne brothers's films combined with such filmmaking style suggests a typical take on a typical topic of the struggle of an ordinary person with life itself. In this case, Alice has to calm her son Etienne (the newcomer Ulysse Goffin) down so they can proceed to the court to attend the custody hearing. The ten-year-old boy resists the very notion.

Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys’ “We Believe You” is a deeply harrowing film. The visuals may be muted, the design spare but its words carry a colossal weight of trauma, helplessness, and pain denied due to redressal. There’s just one site the film circles. It’s a custody battle Alice (Myriem Akheddiou) is in for her kids, Lila (Adèle Pinckaers) and Etienne (Ulysse Goffin).

Devillers and Dufeys create an intense, claustrophobic atmosphere, mirroring what the kids must feel like around their father (Laurent Capelluto). Two kinds of proceedings are folded together: youth protection and criminal allegations. She has slapped Cps proceedings against her ex-husband, indicting him of abuse. He has flagged the custodial alarm, stating he doesn’t get to be with his kids, and that he’s being wholly excluded from their lives.

The action confines itself to a room. Lengthy motions are put forth by both sides,...

The Party Film Sales has sold “We Believe You,” directed by Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, to Spain (Filmin and Karma Films) and Benelux (O’Brother Distribution). In France, the film’s release will be overseen by Tpfs’s sister company jour2fête.

Produced by Makintosh Films, “We Believe You” premieres in Berlinale’s Perspectives section, spotlighting debut features. It focuses on Alice, a mother fighting for her children’s safety in a custody battle, accusing their father of a horrifying crime.

“We meet victims of sexual assault, and some of them reveal incest to us. It’s something I know well from my work,” says Charlotte Devillers, who used her own experiences as a nurse in a sexual health clinic.

“That’s how I met Arnaud. I told him about my job and the situations I’d encountered. As a nurse, I’m always observing and listening. These are the tools...

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Hulu is one of the best places to find the best movies and TV shows you can watch on any streaming service. Every month, it adds hundreds of new titles to its content library, but with that, there are also some titles that have got to go. So, today, we are here to tell you about the best film you should watch before it leaves Hulu in February 2025.

The Beta Test (February 3) Credit – IFC Films

The Beta Test is a dark comedy thriller film co-written and co-directed by Jim Cummings and Pj McCabe. The 2021 film follows an engaged Hollywood agent, who has an intimate night with an anonymous woman but he soon becomes paranoid that his fiancée will find out about his infidelity. The Beta Test stars Jim Cummings, Pj McCabe, Virginia Newcomb, and Jessie Barr.

Spencer (February...

Sepideh Farsi’s “La Sirène” (“The Siren”) is opening the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand.

The program, which comprises 35 films from 30 countries, including 28 world premieres and 11 debuts, includes new films by Patric Chiha, İlker Çatak, Frauke Finsterwalder, Maite Alberdi, Milad Alami and Apolline Traoré. They feature a galaxy of well-known protagonists and actors such as Joan Baez, Jafar Panahi, Payman Maadi, George MacKay, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Fan Bingbing, Sandra Hüller and Susanne Wolff.

Panorama Selections

“After”

by Anthony Lapia | with Louise Chevillotte, Majd Mastoura, Natalia Wiszniewska

France

World premiere | Debut film

“All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White”

by Babatunde Apalowo | with Tope Tedela, Riyo David, Martha Ehinome Orhiere, Uchechika Elumelu, Floyd Anekwe

Nigeria

World premiere | Debut film

“And, Towards Happy Alleys”

by Sreemoyee Singh | with Jafar Panahi, Nasrin Soutodeh, Jinous Nazokkar, Farhad Kheradmand, Aida Mohammadkhani

India

World premiere | Debut film | Documentary

“La Bête dans la...

Titane Review — Titane (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Julia Ducournau and starring Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier, Lais Salameh, Mara Cisse, Marin Judas, Diong-Keba Tacu, Myriem Akheddiou, Bertrand Bonello, Celine Carrere, Adele Guigue, Thibault Cathalifaud, Dominique Frot, Lamine Cissokho, Florence Janas and Olivia Venner. Titane is a movie that pushes the [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Titane (2021): New French Film Pushes Cinematic Boundaries in Fascinating Ways...

Titane Trailer 2 — Neon has released the second movie trailer for Titane (2021). View here the first Titane trailer. Cast and crew Julia Ducournau‘s Titane stars Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh, Mara Cisse, Marin Judas, Diong-Kéba Tacu, Myriem Akheddiou, Bertrand Bonello, Céline Carrère, Adèle Guigue, Thibault Cathalifaud, and Dominique Frot. Julia [...]

Continue reading: Titane (2021) Movie Trailer 2: Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or Award Winner starring Agathe Rousselle...

Titane Trailer — Julia Ducournau‘s Titane (2021) movie trailer has been released by Neon. The Titane trailer stars Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh, Mara Cisse, Marin Judas, Diong-Kéba Tacu, Myriem Akheddiou, Bertrand Bonello, Céline Carrère, Adèle Guigue, Thibault Cathalifaud, and Dominique Frot. Crew Julia Ducournau wrote the screenplay for Titane. Séverin Favriau [...]

Continue reading: Titane (2021) Movie Trailer: A Father Reunites with His Son who has been Missing for 10 Years in Julia Ducournau’s Film...

Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Titane” is coming to the U.S. on October 1.

Neon, who nabbed stateside acquisition rights to the Julia Ducournau film back in 2019, made the announcement Friday on Twitter.

The film stars Agathe Rousselle and Vincent Lindon and revolves around a woman who has sex with cars after growing up with a metal plate in her head from a car accident. The body-bending horror also features Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh, Mara Cisse, Marin Judas, Diong-Kéba Tacu, Myriem Akheddiou, Bertrand Bonello and more.

Without a word of dialogue, the trailer for the movie flashes between harrowing scenes of a body transforming, fire spreading and people dancing.

Variety critic Peter Debruge called the film “lusty” and “dark,” writing that “Titane” is “a daringly queer and undoubtedly controversial ride, resulting in a most uncommon monster movie — a cross between David Cronenberg’s ‘Crash’ and the uterine horrors of Takashi Miike’s ‘Gozu,...

For all the ways Belgium’s Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are rightly hailed as masterful contemporary realists with an abiding compassion for society’s fringe strugglers — the poor, the undocumented, the criminal, the victimized — they’ve just as easily earned their place as some of the greatest suspense directors of all time.

Their street-level stories, frequent Cannes winners since 1999’s “Rosetta,” typically hinge on a central desperation tied to simple survival, but when played out with their trademark visual restlessness and character-driven purposefulness, they’re often as nail-biting as any genre exercise or melodrama.

Which makes “Young Ahmed,” the pair’s latest dispatch from the viewpoint of a troubled soul — in this case, a 13-year-old Belgian boy in the dangerous throes of religious fanaticism — both a typically unnerving entry in their canon, and a strangely distancing one, given the impenetrability of its lead’s self-destructiveness.

Also Read: In 'Young Ahmed,...

Jean-Pierre Dardenne on Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed): “We're always very concerned with avoiding imagery …” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

With Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), starring Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed, featuring Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck, Claire Bodson, Othmane Moumen, Olivier Bonnaud, and Cyra Lassman, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne enter a new realm of their oeuvre.

And yet their latest film, for which they won the top director prize at Cannes, is very much in line with what they do best. They illuminate seemingly impossible situations that are deeply grounded in social realities. Body language, quotidian objects, and a hesitant glance speak volumes.

Luc Dardenne on Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed: “We define the character not by his psychology, but by his accessories.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the second half of my conversation at Ian Schrager's Hudson Hotel with the master filmmakers, I started out...

Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Cannes Film Festival Best Director winners for Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne joined me for a conversation at Ian Schrager's Hudson Hotel the day after the North American Premiere of Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed) at the New York Film Festival. The film stars Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed with Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck, Claire Bodson, Othmane Moumen, Olivier Bonnaud, and Cyra Lassman.

Marion Cotillard's walk turned her into a reluctant Western hero in Two Days, One Night. Here, Young Ahmed (Idir Ben Addi), an adolescent boy, living in a small Belgian town, suddenly grows distant from his surroundings. His body is changing and out of control and so are his thoughts. The words of the local Imam (Othmane Moumen) and the video of a cousin who died a martyr's death inspire his radical thoughts.

Fitting their preoccupations with contemporary Europe’s working class, the latest from Belgian’s preeminent filmmaking duo, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, seeks to boldly tackle the radicalization of a Belgian-Arabic teen. Their approach in Young Ahmed is as compassionate and conscientious as one can expect from the brothers—they’re master storytellers operating at their most consistent and polished—yet it lacks the moral specificity of their best work or formal daring of their second-most-recent outing (The Unknown Girl), the end result being a derivative misstep.

At school, the erratic Ahmed (first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) displays intense animosity for his instructor, Madame Inès (Myriem Akheddiou), who seems to genuinely care for him and worries about his recent rash behavior. Ahmed rushes to leave class early, refusing to say goodbye and asserting that it’s unacceptable for a true Muslim to shake a woman’s hand. This opening uncannily mirrors...

There’s a darkness to “Young Ahmed” that audiences have never seen before in the work of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the gifted Belgian brothers whose profoundly humane, unapologetically realist dramas have twice earned them the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Like surrogate parents to troubled children, the sibling directors have taken on their share of difficult adolescents. In “Rosetta,” “The Son,” and “The Kid With a Bike” in particular, the characters’ circumstances may be harsh, but audiences can sense an underlying optimism behind those stories, whereas with Ahmed, a radicalized Muslim teenager who tries to kill his teacher, there’s a difference: He could be too far gone to save.

In a sense, that brings fresh urgency to the latest from a pair of master filmmakers whose style has become so familiar that audiences can almost predict how their intense slice-of-life scenarios might play out. But introduce a 13-year-old itching for jihad,...

Well, this is it, folks. Time to talk about one of the most important film events of the year — the Cannes Film Festival — and which buzzy titles are up for grabs this year.

There’s a hot package starring Chris Hemsworth and Tiffany Haddish titled “Down Under Cover.” Roland Emmerich directs a sci-fi project called “Moonfall.” Newly minted Oscar winner Olivia Colman stars with Anthony Hopkins in a drama called “The Father.” And Anthony Mackie reunites with “Avengers” co-star Samuel L. Jackson in “The Banker,” while the Russo Brothers reteam with Tom Holland for “Cherry.”

This year’s lineup features everything from space odysseys to WWII dramas to rom-coms to political dramas. Some directors are heading back to the Croisette for their sixth time to compete (“Oh Mercy!” director Arnaud Desplechin), while others, like Florian Zeller, are traveling to the French Riviera town for the first time.

Also Read: Chris...

Few directors are as synonymous with Cannes Film Festival as the Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. After their last film, The Unknown Girl, premiered in an early cut at the festival to a tepid response that was later reworked for an eventual theatrically release, hopefully things fare better for their next drama, Young Ahmed.

As the synopsis reads, “In Belgium, today, the destiny of young Ahmed, 13, caught between his imam’s ideals of purity and life’s temptations. How can love of life win out over his desire to put someone to death?” Ahead of the Cannes premiere, the first trailer has now arrived albeit without English subtitles for the story of a teenager wrestling with ideas of killing his teacher.

Sure to stir up some controversy on the Croisette, see the trailer below via Cinemaldito for the film starring Idir Ben Addi, Olivier Bonnaud, Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck,...