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This interview has been edited by Linda Marric for length and clarity

In his latest film, When Autumn Falls (2024), prolific French filmmaker François Ozon continues his exploration of intricate human dynamics with electric storytelling and sharp satirical humour. Set in a picturesque Burgundy village, the narrative centres on Michelle (Helene Vincent), a retired grandmother who anticipates a visit from her daughter and grandson. An innocent mistake disrupts her plans, triggering a series of unintended events that intertwine the past and present, challenging familial bonds and personal convictions.

The film showcases Ozon’s signature storytelling style, once again blending elements of drama and dark humour to delve into the complexities of ageing, family, and the unforeseen consequences of seemingly trivial actions.

We were delighted to speak to the director of 8 Women (2002), Swimming Pool (2003), Potiche (2010), Frantz (2016) and countless other titles – he wrote and directed 24 films in as many years – about his...

Some people are just better off dead. That’s the ultimate conclusion of the prolific French filmmaker François Ozon’s new domestic drama When Fall Is Coming, receiving its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival this week, but delivered with such sly delicacy, such slippery grace — no, actually, such sweetness — that there is simply no arguing with it.

Those qualities — delicacy, grace and sweetness — are largely encapsulated within the tidy person of Michelle. Michelle is the heroine of her own small but satisfying life and quite a few other lives besides, a woman with the time and inclination to be kind. On the day we meet her, she is driving her best friend to the prison where her son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) is being held. Visiting a prison is draining. Michelle waits outside, ready to listen to Marie-Claude...

French composer, pianist and conductor Philippe Rombi will be the guest of honour at the 24th World Soundtrack Awards in Belgium on October 16, 2024.

Rombi is best known for his collaborations with François Ozon on films including Swimming Pool, Young And Beautiful, In The House, Potiche, Frantz and last year’s The Crime Is Mine.

The composer has been nominated for four Cesar awards and two Lumieres. His other credits include Oscar nominee Joyeux Noël from Christian Carion, Danny Boon’s Welcome To The Sticks and Christophe Barratier’s The Time Of Secrets.

Rombi will attend the awards at Film Fest Ghent in October,...

Kilian Riedhof’s “Stella. A Life.,” which has its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival, tells the tragic, fact-based story of Stella Goldschlag, a young Jewish woman in Berlin who, in order to survive, cooperates with the Gestapo to betray other Jews.

The film stars Paula Beer, who won the awards for best actress at the Berlin Film Festival and the European Film Awards for “Undine” in 2020, as well as the award for best young actor or actress at Venice in 2016 for “Frantz.”

Riedhof came across Goldschlag’s story around 20 years ago in a newspaper: “The photo of a blond, beautiful woman, very lively, on Kurfürstendamm in the middle of Berlin – for me it was a very modern woman.”

Headlined “The Blond Poison,” the article told the story of Goldschlag’s role as a Gestapo informant who betrayed hundreds of people, including friends and acquaintances.

“Though I was deeply shocked,...

“Stella. A Life.,” which stars Berlinale best actress award-winner Paula Beer, has been sold to France, Scandinavia and Australia. The film will have a market screening at Toronto Film Festival, and will have its world premiere with a Gala Screening at the Zurich Film Festival.

Kinovista has taken distribution rights in France, with a theatrical release set for Jan. 17, in a deal negotiated by sales agency Global Screen. Further deals were closed with Mis. Label for Scandinavia and Moving Story for Australia.

The film had previously been sold to Spain (Twelve Oaks Pictures), Portugal (Films 4 You), Latin America (Cdi), Japan (The Klockworx), South Korea (Mediasoft) and Taiwan (Eagle Intl.), as well as for worldwide inflight rights.

Set in Berlin during World War II and inspired by a true story, the film focuses on Stella Goldschlag, who dreams of a career as a jazz singer. When the Gestapo arrests her,...

Afire.Paula Beer has said that she wants to avoid any clear overlaps with her personal life as she’s preparing a character. To her credit, there’s something about her acting that eschews biographical readings: she invites us into the present as her characters are experiencing it. Beer, who was born in Mainz, Germany, has been acting since she was a child; she was 14 when she stepped onto the set of her first movie, Chris Kraus’s The Poll Diaries (2010). Just a few years later, she won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for her turn as a young widow in François Ozon’s World War I drama Frantz (2016)—a performance that showed how, even in the framework of a fairly traditional romantic drama, Beer could hint subtly at her character’s interiority beyond what was on the page.From there, it was a quick jump to the cycle of films...

Christian Petzold’s latest feature, “Afire,” takes a blacklight to the artistic ego and to the trope of the manic pixie dream girls who supposedly enshrine it.

The invigorated spin on what is typically that sort of character in a movie like “Afire” is realized in this deceptively light, Eric Rohmer-esque affair by Paula Beer. The German director Petzold discovered the 28-year-old German actress with her performance in French filmmaker Francois Ozon’s black-and-white World War I-era drama “Frantz,” for which Petzold supplied German translation services. They’ve since collaborated on postmodern World War II drama “Transit,” water nymph allegory “Undine,” and now this moving and bitterly hilarious film about an insecure, pretentious fiction writer named Leon (Thomas Schubert) and the alluring woman Nadja whom he’s sharing a summer vacation home with.

With Petzold and his former creative partner Nina Hoss on an indefinite and mysterious hiatus as...

Music Box Films has acquired the US distribution rights to “The Crime is Mine” (“Mon Crime”). François Ozon directs the comedy of errors starring newcomers Rebecca Marder and Nadia Terezkiewicz, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon, and André Dussolier.

Music Box is aiming for a theatrical release later this year with a home video release to follow.

The picture, based on George Berr and Louis Verneuil’s 1934 play, concerns a struggling actress (Terezkiewicz) and her roommate (Marder), an unemployed attorney in 1930’s Paris. Madeleine ends up on trial for the murder of a movie producer, while Pauline serves as both defense counsel and media circus ringmaster to both of their mutual benefit. Their post-acquittal life of fame, fortune and glory is eventually undercut by certain revelations.

“The Crime is Mine” marks Music Box Films’ fifth collaboration with director Ozon, following “Potiche,” “Frantz,” “By the Grace of God” and “Summer of 85.

Music Box Films has picked up the U.S. rights to The Crime Is Mine, the post #MeToo comedy from French director François Ozon and which stars Rebecca Marder, Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Isabelle Huppert.

A theatrical release is planned for later this year for the period film, with a home entertainment release to follow, the distributor said in an announcement timed for the start of the Cannes Film Festival.

Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon, and André Dussolier round out the ensemble cast for The Crime is Mine, which follows struggling actress Madeleine, played by Tereszkiewicz, and her best friend and roommate Pauline (Rebecca Marder), an unemployed lawyer in 1930s Paris.

Madeleine secures fame after standing trial for the murder of a lascivious movie producer, with Pauline serving as defense counsel and media circus ringmaster. The Crime is Mine is adapted from a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil.

Music Box...

Music Box Films has bought U.S. rights to “The Crime Is Mine” (“Mon Crime”), a period comedy by French helmer François Ozon.

“The Crime Is Mine” stars Rebecca Marder and Nadia Tereszkiewicz, who just won the Cesar Award for female newcomer, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon and André Dussolier. Music Box Films plans a theatrical release for later this year, followed by a home entertainment rollout.

Adapted from a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, “The Crime Is Mine” follows struggling actress Madeleine (Tereszkiewicz), and her best friend and roommate Pauline (Marder), an unemployed lawyer in 1930s Paris. Madeleine ascends to fame after standing trial for the murder of a movie producer, with Pauline serving as defense counsel and media circus ringmaster. Upon Madeleine’s acquittal, a new life of fame, wealth and tabloid celebrity awaits — until the truth comes out.

The acquisition marks Music Box Films’ fifth collaboration with Ozon,...

Exclusive: On the eve of his acting return at the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp has set a buzzy first round of cast for Modi, his first directorial effort in 25 years.

The biopic of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani will be led by Italian star Riccardo Scamarcio (John Wick Chapter 2), Cesar Award winner Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent) and screen icon Al Pacino (The Godfather).

Filming is due to get underway in Budapest this fall and the hot package is being sold at the Cannes market by The Veterans. Additional casting is underway.

Based on a play by Dennis McIntyre and adapted for the screen by Jerzy and Mary Kromolowski, the film will tell the story of the famous painter and sculptor Modigliani during his time in Paris in 1916.

The movie will chronicle the life of the Italian artist across a turbulent and eventful 48 hours which sees him on the...

John C. Reilly will preside over the Un Certain Regard Jury at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, running May 16-27.

He will be joined by French director and screenwriter Alice Winocour, German actress Paula Beer, French-Cambodian director and producer Davy Chou and Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne.

“I have had so many life changing moments at the Festival de Cannes, from my miraculous first trip with Paul Thomas Anderson to celebrating my 50th birthday from the Palais stage! So to be chosen as the President of Un Certain Regard Jury is truly such an incredible honor,” said Reilly.

“Many of the films I have been lucky to appear in have been selected by the Festival over these many years and nothing feels as special as being invited to this amazing annual gathering of the very best cinema has to offer the world. I look forward to helping launch another generation of...

Cohen Media Group has dropped the trailer for Francois Ozon’s drama “Everything Went Fine” ahead of its theatrical release in New York on April 14 and Los Angeles on April 21, followed by a national expansion.

“Everything Went Fine” is based on the autobiographical novel by author Emmanuèle Bernheim who previously collaborated on Ozon’s screenplays for “Under The Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “Ricky.”

The movie follows 85-year-old art collector André Bernheim (André Dussolier) who, after a debilitating stroke, demands that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau), help him end life on his own terms. Faced with a painful decision, Emmanuèle, with the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), begins sorting through the processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s final wish, as she is forced to reconcile her past with a complicated, stubborn, yet charismatic man.

Here’s the trailer:

“Everything Went Fine” also stars...

Bär worked on ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ and contributed to ‘Tar’.

German casting director Simone Bär has died aged 57 in Berlin. She died on January 16, with the cause of death yet to be revealed.

Bär’s latest projects included Edward Berger’s German Netflix feature All Quiet On The Western Front – nominated for nine Oscars and 14 Baftas. She also contributed to Todd Field’s six-time Oscar nominated and five-time Bafta nominated Tar, with a location casting credit.

On the international circuit, Bär worked on Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Steven Spielberg’s War Horse,...

You can never really predict what François Ozon might do next. As evidenced by his wide-ranging works, from the lush historical drama “Frantz” to the lazy summer romance “Summer of 85,” the prolific director can do just about anything with the stylistic prowess to boot. His latest, “Everything Went Fine,” comes as another surprise, not because it shocks in any way, but because it’s restrained to the point of lacking any emotion.

Continue reading ‘Everything Went Fine’: François Ozon’s Assisted Suicide Drama Is Too Restrained To Connect [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

After first gaining prominence in Germany as a teen actor, Paula Beer rose to international arthouse stardom with her leading role in Francois Ozon’s Frantz in 2016. Winning the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at that year’s Venice Film Festival, an accolade previously awarded to the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Gael García Bernal, put her in demand from Europe’s most renowned auteurs. In 2018, she starred in both Never Look Away, the German language comeback of The Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, and Transit, the final film in Christian Petzold’s self-proclaimed “Love in the Time of Oppressive Systems” trilogy.

Three years later, her second collaboration with Petzold and actor Franz Rogowski is finally getting released to American audiences. In Undine, Beer plays a modern interpretation of the famous mythological character. We’re introduced to her amidst a breakup with her lover, informing...

IFC Films has released the first official trailer for “Undine,” a new romantic drama from German auteur Christian Petzold.

“Undine” premiered in competition at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, where it took home the Firesci Prize as well as the Silver Bear for best actress for star Paula Beer. She stars alongside Franz Rogowski, reuniting the duo from Petzold’s lauded 2018 thriller “Transit.” Petzold takes a different approach in “Undine,” with the romantic drama marking a new direction for the filmmaker following a string of emotional dramas with historical themes related to German identity.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Set in Berlin, Undine (Beer) works as a historian lecturing on Berlin’s urban development. She knows all about the Humboldt Forum, and has a knack for dressing. She is nonchalantly beautiful, and the way she imparts her knowledge about the city that was built on a swamp is...

After a trio of films that saw François Ozon feeling out the far extremes of his interest and ability — 2016’s monochrome interwar melodrama “Frantz,” the winking De Palma-esque mindfuck “Double Lover,” and last year’s journalistic Catholic priest exposé “By the Grace of God” — the precocious and pétillant “Summer of 85” finds the prolific French auteur circling back to the kind of lurid, playful, and unapologetically queer psychodramas that first made him famous in the late ’90s. But it wouldn’t be right to characterize this stormy coming-of-age story as a return to form, as that would imply some kind of desperate scramble back to the safety of the shore.

In truth, Ozon was never off his game so much as he was simply testing the outer limits of the board. And his 19th feature isn’t a retreat back to the Patricia Highsmith-inflected likes of “See the Sea,...

Music Box Films has scooped U.S. rights to French auteur Francois Ozon’s “Summer of 85,” a highlight of Cannes 2020’s Official Selection which is set to play at Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals. The film is represented in international markets by the Paris-based company Playtime.

“Summer of 85” marks Ozon’s follow up to “By The Grace of God,” the winner of Berlin’s 2019 Silver Bear Award. “Summer of 85” reunites Ozon with Music Box, the U.S. distributor of “By The Grace of God,” “Potiche” and “Frantz.”

Music Box is planning to release the film theatrically next year, followed by a release on home entertainment.

Inspired by Aidan Chambers’ novel “Dance On My Grave,” “Summer of 85” is a poignant tale of first love. The film follows 16-year-old Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) and David (Benjamin Voisin), the mysterious and handsome 18-year-old who saves him when his boat...

A total of €395,000 awarded to projects from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.

Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has awarded a combined €395,000 ($455,000) to 14 projects in its latest funding round.

The recipients hail from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.

Selected directors that previously participated in Berlinale Talents include Amanda Nell EU (Tiger Stripes), Laura Citarella (Trenque Lauquen), Khavn de la Cruz (Love Is A Dog From Hell) and Katy Léna Ndiaye (Une Histoire Du Franc Cfa).

The latest funding round includes...

by Murtada

It might be surprising to know that François Ozon likes to learn what children think of his films. He says their responses are clever and innocent, especially if they believe the world on the screen. Though he realizes that he can’t always get their feedback since his movies often deal with adult themes, like the psychosexual thrillers Swimimg Pool (2003), Young and Beautiful (2013) and his latest Double Lover.

Ozon’s films cannot be easily categorized, he has also directed the campy musical 8 Women (2002) and the haunting WW1 romance Frantz (2016). He says...

Prolific and acclaimed French filmmaker Francois Ozon likes to shift gears between pictures. Following his black-and-white World War I drama “Frantz,” the director turned up the heat with the sensational “Double Lover.” An erotic thriller in the tradition of Brian De Palma, Paul Verhoeven, and Adrian Lyne, the story will set your pulse racing as its characters cross professional, ethical, personal, and sexual boundaries.

Continue reading ‘Double Lover’ Clip & Poster: A Secret Is Revealed [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

“The Square” was the big winner at the European Film Awards, taking nearly every top prize: Best Film, Director, Actor, Screenwriter, even Best Comedy for good measure. It continues a very good year for Ruben Östlund’s art-world satire, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is considered a likely nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film.

Also represented were “On Body and Soul,” which won the Golden Bear at Berlinale and earned Alexandra Borbely the Best Actress award, and “Communion,” which took the Documentary prize.

This year’s ceremony, the 30th, took place in Berlin. Avail yourself of the winner list below.

Read More:2017 European Film Awards Nominations: ‘The Square,’ ‘Bpm,’ ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer,’ and More Lead the Way Best European Film

“Bpm (Beats per Minute),” (Robin Campillo, France)

“Loveless,” (Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, Belgium, Germany, France)

“On Body and Soul,” (Ildiko Enyedi,...

The European Film Awards nominations have been released, with a number of festival favorites landing high-profile nods. Among them are “The Square” and “Bpm,” which were both nominated for Best European Film, and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” which missed out on the top category but was recognized in the Director, Actor, and Screenwriter fields.

Read More:‘The Square’ Director Ruben Östlund Wants to Push Cultural Boundaries, But Won’t Read Any Scripts With Killing

This year’s ceremony, the 30th, takes place in Berlin on December 9. Here are all the nominees:

Best European Film

“Bpm (Beats per Minute),” (Robin Campillo, France)

“Loveless,” (Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, Belgium, Germany, France)

“On Body and Soul,” (Ildiko Enyedi, Hungary)

“The Other Side of Hope,” (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland, Germany)

“The Square,” (Ruben Ostlund, Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark)

Best European Director

Ildiko Enyedi, (“On Body and Soul”)

Aki Kaurismaki, (“The Other Side of Hope”)

Yorgos Lanthimos,...

Ever since making his feature debut with the darkly comical Sitcom, French writer/director François Ozon has been making the world feeling horny and shocked with his films, often at the same time. With a body of work that also includes Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Under the Sand, In the House and the glorious one-two punch of 8 Women and Swimming Pool, you’d think the prolific provocateur might soon be running out of tricks.

Think again. His latest erotic thriller, L’amant double, which premiered in competition at Cannes this year, proved to be the film scandaleux of the festival. Starring Marine Vacth as Chloé, a young woman who one day discovers her psychiatrist partner Paul (Jérémie Renier) might have an evil twin brother and gradually loses herself in a web of deceit and kinks, it’s the kind of dangerously sexy farce at which Ozon excels.

We had...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Steve James)

Steve James’ filmography has long been about finding entry into larger conversations through intimate portraits. The director’s landmark debut, Hoop Dreams, and latter-day efforts like 2014’s monument to critic Roger Ebert, Life Itself, don’t have much in common on the surface, but they both use their central characters to tell larger stories about big picture topics like structural dysfunction and the purpose of film criticism.

Stars: Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber, Anton von Lucke | Written by François Ozon, Philippe Piazzo | Directed by François Ozon

A remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film Broken Lullaby, itself based on a stage play, Frantz is the latest character-based drama from prolific French director François Ozon. Deeply melancholy and very moving, it’s a proper old school tearjerker, and more accessible than its austere monochrome aesthetic might imply.

1919. Widowed Anna (Paula Beer) lives in Quedlinberg with the Hoffmeisters, the parents of her late husband, Frantz, who was killed in battle the previous year. One day Anna visits Frantz’s grave and finds fresh flowers. The flowers were laid by a visiting Frenchman named Adrien (Pierre Niney). He says he knew Frantz.

The Hoffmeisters tentatively welcome Adrien into their home. Mrs Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber) and Anna are keen to establish a posthumous emotional connection with Frantz via Adrien.

France’s Francois Ozon scored one of his most critically acclaimed ventures in years with 2016’s Frantz, which was the auteur’s third time competing in the Venice Film Festival, where it nabbed lead Paula Beer the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress.

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"The Furniture" is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail. Here's Daniel Walber on Frantz, newly available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Sometimes gimmicks work. François Ozon’s Frantz is built up from single stylistic convention, flipped on its head. It’s a black and white drama of Europe in the wake of World War One, but its flashbacks are in color. It’s quite striking, a remarkable collaboration between cinematographer Pascal Marti, production designer Michel Barthélemy and art director Susanne Abel. Even the soggy trenches are more vibrant than the sober landscape of the Armistice.

Frantz begins in 1919, in the small German town of Quedlinburg. Anna (Paula Beer) mourns her fiancé, Frantz, taken from her by the war. She lives with his parents, Hans (Ernst Stötzner) and Magda Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber). Their gloomy lives are shaken by the arrival of a Frenchman,...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash)

That there’s a fair chance you’ve never seen Daughters of the Dust — full disclosure: I am among these people — should be taken as a failure of distribution and exposure, not the film’s quality and impact. There’s also a fair chance that the closest you’ve really come to Julie Dash‘s 1991 film is Beyoncé’s Lemonade, which paid a direct visual tribute that,...

Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and/or own this week via various Digital HD providers such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical John Wick: Chapter 2 (action sequel; Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne; rated R) The Lego Batman Movie (animated; voices: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes; available now to coincide with Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD release; rated PG) 3 Generations (comedy-drama; Naomi Watts, Elle Fanning; rated PG-13) Frantz (drama; Paula Beer, Pierre Niney; rated PG-13) Bitter Harvest (action-drama; Terence Stamp, Barry Pepper; rated R) Tickling...

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A delicate orchestra of grief, Francois Ozon's Frantz is a somber affair, but also an affecting and piercing drama. Paula Beer stars as Anna, a young woman who lives in a small town in Germany some time after the conclusion of World War I. She still grieves for her fiancee Frantz, who was killed in the war, and this is compounded by her living arrangements, since she lives with Frantz's parents (Ernest Stotzner and Marie Gruber). All of them live under a poignant cloud of grief. One day a young Frenchman (Pierre Niney) shows up to visit Frantz, and that sets off a very unexpected chain of events, which promise to change all their lives. Our own Dustin Chang reviewed the film earlier this year,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

If you enjoyed Scott Drebit's recent It Came From the Tube column on Wes Craven's Summer of Fear, then you'll be pleased to know that Music Box Films' Doppelgänger Releasing has announced a Collector's Edition Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD release for the 1978 TV movie, with plans to unleash the movie's dark magic sometime this summer.

Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates on this home media release, including the cover art and release date, and check out the official press release for more details:

Press Release: Chicago, Il (June 1, 2017) – In the early Seventies, he convinced us that The Hills Have Eyes…In the Eighties, he plunged audiences into A Nightmare on Elm Street…In the Nineties, he made audiences Scream…

This summer, Master of Horror Wes Craven returns with his 1978 cult favorite Summer of Fear, also known as Stranger in Our House, starring Linda Blair, Lee Purcell,...

“What the hell am I looking at?” That’s the question most viewers will likely ask themselves during the opening moments of François Ozon’s (“Swimming Pool”) latest film. Following the opening credits sequence, in which a severe young woman’s face is revealed as her bangs are snipped away from over her face, Ozon cuts to an extreme close-up of something pink and fleshy and soft as gauze. Is it the soft tissue of a human brain? The camera begins to zoom out. The inside lining of an open mouth? The camera zooms out even further, until… the young woman’s clitoris comes into focus at the top of the frame, as do the gynecological devices that are prying her vagina open.

It’s a hilariously explicit way of starting a movie, even before Ozon punctuates the moment with a match-cut to the girl’s eyeball, cementing the relationship...

Exclusive: Acquisitions take UK distributor’s Competition haul to five for this year’s Cannes.

The UK’s Curzon Artificial Eye has acquired François Ozon’s erotic thriller Amant Double and Paris-set AIDS activist love story Bpm (Beats Per Minute).

The acquisitions take the UK distributor’s Cannes Competition haul to five competition titles alongside Happy End, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Square.

Marine Vacth co-stars in Ozon’s Amant Double as a fragile young woman who falls in love with a psychoanalyst with a secret double life played by Jérémie Renier.

Set against the backdrop of the French AIDs activism movement Act Up in 1990s Paris, Bpm revolves around Nathan, a newcomer to the protest group who has his world shaken-up by Sean, one of its most radical members.

“It is a pleasure to be working with Francois Ozon again, especially given the success of our recent partnership on Frantz. We’re not...

Cohen Media Group has acquired the North American rights to Francois Ozon’s erotic mystery “L’Amant Double” (“Double Lover”), which will screen in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Variety reports.

The film follows Chloé (Marine Vatch), a fragile young woman who falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Jérémie Renier). Chloé eventually moves in with Paul, but later discovers he is concealing a part of his identity. The film co-stars legendary French artist Jacqueline Bisset.

Read More:‘L’amant Double’ Teaser: François Ozon’s Latest Might Be This Year’s Sexiest Palme d’Or Contender — Watch

Cohen Media will release “L’Amant Double” in North America in early 2018. Ozon has been to Cannes several times before, including with 2013’s “Young & Beautiful,” (also starring Vatch) and 2003’s “Swimming Pool.” He has never won a major prize at the fest.

“Ozon belongs to a rare breed of French auteurs who...

Nicole Garcia on Marion Cotillard: "I find her very spontaneous and very unpredictable in this movie."

Tonight, Marion Cotillard is walking the Cannes Film Festival opening night red carpet for Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael’s Ghosts (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël), in which she stars with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mathieu Amalric (who stars in his own film Barbara with Jeanne Balibar and Lisa Ray-Jacobs in the Directors' Fortnight program).

In my conversation with From The Land Of The Moon (Mal De Pierres) director Nicole Garcia she reveals how Marion Cotillard works on her character, explains the choices from costume designer Catherine Leterrier (Danièle Thompson's Cézanne Et Moi and Benoît Jacquot's 3 Coeurs), and shares the advice from Frantz director François Ozon on choosing a foreign language film title.

Nicole Garcia on the novel by Milena Agus: "I talked to Marion Cotillard about the book years ago." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In...

The French film director on being haunted by Under the Skin, the music of La Femme, and the place where he had his first kiss

Born in 1967 in Paris, film-maker and screenwriter François Ozon studied at the film school La Fémis, and has cited directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Renoir as early influences. After the release of his debut feature Sitcom in France in 1998, he achieved international success with murder mystery 8 Women (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003), an erotic thriller starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. Since then, he has released a number of films including Potiche, In the House, Jeune & Jolie, and The New Girlfriend. His film Frantz, a drama set in a small German town after the first world war, is in cinemas now and L’amant double is in competition for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival.

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Paula Beer is charming as a German woman who discovers her late fiance was harbouring a surprising secret

The year is 1919. Anna (Paula Beer), a young German woman, visits the grave of her fiance who died in the war. There, she discovers fresh flowers have already been laid. A foreigner – a Frenchman, no less – is grieving for the man she lost to a French bullet in an anonymous trench. The opening gambit of François Ozon’s elegant interwar romance invites us to second-guess the story that links Parisian musician Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney) to Anna’s late love, Frantz. Colour flashbacks are infused with inviting warmth, which contrasts with the black and white of a reality in which everyone mourns at least one loved one. There’s a pleasing symmetry to this story – lie is matched by lie, journey by journey – and Beer’s silky self-possession is utterly beguiling.

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Author: Stefan Pape

There are few filmmakers working today quite as consistent as French auteur Francois Ozon and his latest, Frantz, is emblematic of this notion. Remaining faithful to his own sensibilities as a storyteller, each passing endeavour remains unique of its own accord, and where previous offerings such as In the House and The New Girlfriend thrived in their light and witty tendencies, Frantz represents a far more solemn, dramatic affair, highlighting the director’s noteworthy range.

Set during the aftermath of the First World War, we meet German widow Anna (Paula Beer), grieving the loss of her fiancé Frantz, living in the residency of his parents Hans (Ernst Stotzner) and Magda Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber). One morning when laying flowers on his deceased partner’s grave, she notices an elusive stranger doing the same, the Frenchman Adrien Rivoire (Pierre Niney). Intrigued as to what his connection could’ve been with Frantz,...

After his black-and-white period romance-drama Frantz recently got a release here in the United States, the prolific François Ozon (Swimming Pool, In the House) is returning once again to Cannes Film Festival, this time in competition, with his new thriller L’amant double.

Re-teaming with his Young & Beautiful star Marine Vacth, the film follows her as Chloe, a fragile young woman, who falls in love with her psychotherapist, Paul. A few months later, they settle down together, but she discovers that her lover, played by Jérémie Rénier, has hidden some of her identity.

A new trailer has now arrived and although it’s without English subtitles, one can glean the provocative intensity on display. Check out the trailer and poster below for the film also starring Jacqueline Bisset.

L’amant double premieres in competition at Cannes Film Festivals and opens in France on May 26.

The 22-year-old, who won best young actor at Venice, stars in François Ozon’s post-first world war drama – and says the societal problems of that time are returning

Old before her time, it is said of Paula Beer, which is meant as a compliment. She is the star of Frantz, from mercurial director François Ozon. It is set in the broken months after the first world war, and Beer plays a sheltered but slowly blooming young German widow. The movies always need new faces, yet more than one observer has remarked that something about Beer – a certain silent expressiveness – makes her look as if she belongs in black and white.

“It’s strange, I agree,” she says. “I don’t look in the mirror and see the 1900s, but on the screen, there is a sense I fit in that time – like history suits my face.”

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After being announced as part of the Official Competition at next month’s Cannes Film Festival, François Ozon’s “L’amant double” already has a brief, evocative teaser to go along with the news. Ozon has been to the Croisette several times before, including with “Swimming Pool” and “Young & Beautiful,” but has yet to win a major prize. Watch the new teaser below.

Read More: 2017 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup: Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, ‘Twin Peaks’ and More

There are no subtitles for the French dialogue, but the body language speaks volumes. A man and woman (Jérémie Renier and Marine Vacth), their faces just inches from one another, have what looks to be a charged conversation as the camera gets closer and closer. He puts his hand just under her mouth, they begin whispering and it’s over as soon as it’s begun.

Here’s a brief synopsis from uniFrance: “Chloé,...

The English writer Samuel Johnson mused, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” The same could be said of Atlanta—well, except for the traffic, which everyone is tired of. Even people who have lived here for 20 years are still always finding new things to do. There’s no reason for you to stay home this week and not find the artistic spark in all that is around you. 1. Go dragon slaying. Dad’s Garage prides itself on being “a gateway drug to the arts.” Home to award-winning Atlanta improv comedy, scripted events, and improv classes in the historic Old Fourth Ward part of town, the garage will host an evening of “Dungeons and Dragons”-themed improv on Friday, April 14. 2. French up your life. Spend an afternoon with at the Landmark Midtown Arts Cinema. This month’s screenings include new indie projects by François Ozon...

Pierre Niney as Adrien and Paula Beer as Anna, in Frantz. Photo by Jean-Claude Moireau – Foz © Courtesy of Music Box Films

The French drama Frantz is film about secrets, lies, mourning and the aftermath of World War I rather than the romantic period film is might at first glance appear to be. Set shortly after what was known then as the Great War, and also known as the war of the Lost Generation, for how it virtually wiped out a whole generation of young men and, ironically, as the War to End All Wars, this drama explores the personal costs of war.

As we mark the hundredth anniversary of World War I, the time is right for a film about the survivors of that devastating conflict. The first war fought with modern weapons, such as missiles, tanks and machine guns, and a war fought for years in trenches, its horrendous...

With the year's first quarter over, here's a listicle of noteworthy performances we'll eventually compare to what's to come. We've already listed fav male performances and favtechnical achievements thus far - from screenings and releases as of March 31st. Herewith the 17 best female performances from the year's first quarter, divvied up into three categories. Did these women speak to you?

Disclaimer: I missed The Last Word, United Kingdom, and Wilson  which all have prominent female roles for talented actors. If you've seen them give their MVPs a shout-out in the comments. 

6 Leading Actresses

Paula Beer as "Anna" in Frantz

16 more talented women after the jump...

Second edition of high-end drama showcase featured 12 upcoming shows.

Brazilian prison drama Jailers and Tom Tykwer’s ambitious detective tale Babylon Berlin, capturing the city in the Golden Twenties, clinched the grand jury awards in the full episode and work-in-progress categories at MIPDrama Screenings on Sunday.

Unfolding on the eve of Miptv, the second edition of the showcase put the spotlight on 12 upcoming drama shows, screening either full episodes or extracts as a work-in-progress.

“There is a lot of commercial pressure to do a certain type of drama series but what really struck me was the diversity and originality of all these shows… every one of them was very unique and defied simple expectations,” jury member Frank Spotnitz, creator of hit series such as The Man In The High Castle and Medici: Masters Of Florence, said.

Also on the jury were The Bridge producer Lars Blomgren, writer Virginie Brac (Cannabis, Spiral), director...

Second edition of high-end drama showcase featured 12 upcoming shows.

Brazilian prison drama Jailers and Tom Tykwer’s ambitious detective tale Babylon Berlin, capturing the city in the Golden Twenties, clinched the grand jury awards in the full episode and work-in-progress categories at MIPDrama Screenings on Sunday.

Unfolding on the eve of Miptv, the second edition of the showcase put the spotlight on 12 upcoming drama shows, screening either full episodes or extracts as a work-in-progress.

“There is a lot of commercial pressure to do a certain type of drama series but what really struck me was the diversity and originality of all these shows… every one of them was very unique and defied simple expectations,” jury member Frank Spotnitz, creator of hit series such as The Man In The High Castle and Medici: Masters Of Florence, said.

Also on the jury were The Bridge producer Lars Blomgren, writer Virginie Brac (Cannabis, Spiral), director...

It's April already! We're too impatient to wait for the "halfway" mark for year in review listicles. So why not do it each quarter to encourage more moviegoing? Unlike many critics orgs and the Oscars, The Film Experience believes that moviegoing is a 12 month long activity and each month can hold worthy efforts.  Here are 3 (or 4 if we're torn) highlights of what we've seen thus far this year per Oscar category in alpha order. How will they measure up to what's still to come? (We'll hit favorite performances on Sunday or Monday)

Key films I missed in the first quarter that I might try and catch up with later: Cure for Wellness, The Great Wall, Staying Vertical, T2 Trainspotting, United Kingdom, and Wilson

Picture / Director / Screenplay

Frantz (François Ozon, written by Philippe Piazzo & François Ozon)

Future Perfect (Nele Wohlatz, written by Pío Longo & Nele Wohlatz)

Get Out (Jordan Peele)

Personal Shopper...

Francois Ozon, over the span of his nearly 30 year career as a short and feature-length filmmaker, has become one of French cinema’s true giants, despite having not nearly the same name recognition as many of his counterparts. Surely films like Swimming Pool and 8 Women have been seen by a large number of cineastes, and yet he doesn’t have the Hollywood stamp of approval someone like Luc Besson does, nor does he have the cult of critical support filmmakers like Claire Denis or Arnaud Desplechin have surrounding their work.

However, that hasn’t changed the fact that Ozon is quietly one of the country’s great film artists and if one needs any proof, just take a gander at the filmmaker’s latest and arguably greatest work.

Entitled Frantz, Ozon takes to the world of Ernst Lubitsch, bringing back to life one of that giant’s lesser known efforts.