Cohen Media Group presents a double feature of two mid-period films from French auteur Alain Resnais, both significant titles overlooked on a resume of important and notable works. The first is 1983’s Love is a Bed of Roses, featuring revolving cast members who would frequent other titles from the director throughout the remainder of that decade, and also represents his first collaboration with actress/wife Sabine Azema, who would appear in nearly every one of his remaining film productions. The second is the superb 1984 film Love Unto Death, an existential portrait of love and death as fluid states of mind.
The playful Life is a Bed of Roses premiered at the Venice Film Festival and nabbed Cesar nominations for Azema as Best Supporting Actress and for production designer Jacques Saulnier. Penned by Jean Gruault (who wrote Resnais’ previous feature, 1980’s superior Mon Oncle D’Amerique), it’s a non-linear film divided into three distinct parts,...
The playful Life is a Bed of Roses premiered at the Venice Film Festival and nabbed Cesar nominations for Azema as Best Supporting Actress and for production designer Jacques Saulnier. Penned by Jean Gruault (who wrote Resnais’ previous feature, 1980’s superior Mon Oncle D’Amerique), it’s a non-linear film divided into three distinct parts,...
- 8/4/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
French actress and long-time Alain Resnais collaborator to preside over jury to select the best first film presented at the 68th Cannes Film Festival.
Sabine Azema has been named president of the Caméra d’or Jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24).
The jury selects the best directorial debut presented in Official Selection (In Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard), Critics’ Week or Directors’ Fortnight, which this year represents 26 films.
French actress Azema, who won her first César in 1985 for Bertrand Tavernier’s Cannes Competition title A Sunday in the Country, follows in the footsteps of Bong Joon-Ho, Gael García Bernal, Carlos Diegues and Nicole Garcia.
Azema is known for her nearly three-decade collaboration with director Alain Resnais for whom she has performed as the tragic heroine in Love Unto Death (1984), then in Mélo (1986) for which she was awarded her second César.
Other Resnais films in which she has performed include Smoking...
Sabine Azema has been named president of the Caméra d’or Jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24).
The jury selects the best directorial debut presented in Official Selection (In Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard), Critics’ Week or Directors’ Fortnight, which this year represents 26 films.
French actress Azema, who won her first César in 1985 for Bertrand Tavernier’s Cannes Competition title A Sunday in the Country, follows in the footsteps of Bong Joon-Ho, Gael García Bernal, Carlos Diegues and Nicole Garcia.
Azema is known for her nearly three-decade collaboration with director Alain Resnais for whom she has performed as the tragic heroine in Love Unto Death (1984), then in Mélo (1986) for which she was awarded her second César.
Other Resnais films in which she has performed include Smoking...
- 5/5/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Time to Leave: Alain Resnais’ Elegant Swan Song
Alain Resnais, that reluctant member of the French New Wave, passed away in March of 2014, not quite two months after the premiere of his last film, Life of Riley, at the Berlin Film Festival. Reaching its theatrical release, the film marks a graceful cap to an extraordinary filmography from a director that specialized in fragmented narratives that play with memory, time, perception, and the complicated nature of human interactions. His final film, while certainly more linear than many of his most famous works, is no exception to his exploration of time and the limited amount of it. Returning with several of his favorite key players, it’s the third Resnais adaptation of an Alan Ayckbourn play (originally titled Aimer, boire et chanter, which translates to Love, Drink and Sing), as charming as ever, presented with its stylized stage artifice.
Three couples...
Alain Resnais, that reluctant member of the French New Wave, passed away in March of 2014, not quite two months after the premiere of his last film, Life of Riley, at the Berlin Film Festival. Reaching its theatrical release, the film marks a graceful cap to an extraordinary filmography from a director that specialized in fragmented narratives that play with memory, time, perception, and the complicated nature of human interactions. His final film, while certainly more linear than many of his most famous works, is no exception to his exploration of time and the limited amount of it. Returning with several of his favorite key players, it’s the third Resnais adaptation of an Alan Ayckbourn play (originally titled Aimer, boire et chanter, which translates to Love, Drink and Sing), as charming as ever, presented with its stylized stage artifice.
Three couples...
- 10/23/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
It all begins with a freeze frame of a dirt road somewhere in Yorkshire county, lined with trees whose lush foliage converges above in an arch. What could it be if not a portal? The movie itself, meanwhile, has not even started as we watch the opening credits, encased in large old-fashioned frames, slowly fade away—a device consistently favored by Alain Resnais who opened each of his 19 features likewise, holding off the films themselves until the screen no longer contained any visual surplus. The freeze frame comes to life as the camera pans farther down the road; then we find ourselves in a theatrical set.
We have been here before, of course. Resnais' Smoking/No Smoking, also based on a play by British playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn, is set in Yorkshire as well. Life of Riley (Aimer, boire et chanter) borrows from the five-hour diptych its theatrical setting, one...
We have been here before, of course. Resnais' Smoking/No Smoking, also based on a play by British playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn, is set in Yorkshire as well. Life of Riley (Aimer, boire et chanter) borrows from the five-hour diptych its theatrical setting, one...
- 6/17/2014
- by Boris Nelepo
- MUBI
Three weeks before Alain Resnais died this past March, he had premiered his newest film, Life of Riley, at the Berlin Film Festival, which he completed at the age of 91. Resnais enjoyed a uniquely prolific streak of filmmaking in his later years that laughed at the prospect of retirement or death. For a moment it seemed possible that Resnais himself would continue to exist as ceaselessly as the memories that preoccupy his characters; thankfully, with his incredible body of work, Resnais is etched into eternity. Resnais continued to experiment with the limits of cinematic form over fifty years after his career-defining work on Night and Fog, Hiroshima mon amour, and Last Year in Marienbad. The past decade of his career proved that age is no excuse for artistic resignation or repetition – while not nearly as well-known, more recent works including Private Fears in Public Places, Wild Grass, and You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet! challenged...
- 6/4/2014
- by Landon Palmer
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Complex and avant-garde French film director best known for Night and Fog and Last Year in Marienbad
Alain Resnais, who has died aged 91, was a director of elegance and distinction who, despite generally working from the screenplays of other writers, established an auteurist reputation. His films were singular, instantly recognisable by their style as well as through recurring themes and preoccupations. Primary concerns were war, sexual relationships and the more abstract notions of memory and time. His characters were invariably adult (children were excluded as having no detailed past) middle-class professionals. His style was complex, notably in the editing and often – though not always – dominated by tracking shots and multilayered sound.
He surrounded himself with actors, musicians and writers of enormous talent and the result was a somewhat elitist body of work with little concern for realism or the socially or intellectually deprived. Even overtly political works, Night and Fog,...
Alain Resnais, who has died aged 91, was a director of elegance and distinction who, despite generally working from the screenplays of other writers, established an auteurist reputation. His films were singular, instantly recognisable by their style as well as through recurring themes and preoccupations. Primary concerns were war, sexual relationships and the more abstract notions of memory and time. His characters were invariably adult (children were excluded as having no detailed past) middle-class professionals. His style was complex, notably in the editing and often – though not always – dominated by tracking shots and multilayered sound.
He surrounded himself with actors, musicians and writers of enormous talent and the result was a somewhat elitist body of work with little concern for realism or the socially or intellectually deprived. Even overtly political works, Night and Fog,...
- 3/3/2014
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Alain Resnais arrives for the photocall of You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet! (Vous n'avez encore rien vu!) presented in competition at the 65th Cannes film festival in 2012. Photo: Vous n'avez encore rien vu © Fif/Lf (Courtesy Cannes Film Festival) French director Alain Resnais has died at aged 91.
The Last Year In Marienbad director - whose latest film The Life Of Riley won an award for innovation and the Fipresci prize at last month's Berlin Film Festival - passed away on Saturday, surrounded by his family, his producer Jean-Louis Livi told the French press agency Afp.
Born in 1922, the filmmaker enjoyed a career that spanned more than some six decades and more than 45 films, including Private Fears In Public Places, Night And Fog, Wild Grass and the BAFTA winning Hiroshima Mon Amour.
In 2009, he was given a special award from the Cannes Film Festival for his body of work.
Read our full obituary.
The Last Year In Marienbad director - whose latest film The Life Of Riley won an award for innovation and the Fipresci prize at last month's Berlin Film Festival - passed away on Saturday, surrounded by his family, his producer Jean-Louis Livi told the French press agency Afp.
Born in 1922, the filmmaker enjoyed a career that spanned more than some six decades and more than 45 films, including Private Fears In Public Places, Night And Fog, Wild Grass and the BAFTA winning Hiroshima Mon Amour.
In 2009, he was given a special award from the Cannes Film Festival for his body of work.
Read our full obituary.
- 3/2/2014
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Life of Riley
Director: Alain Resnais
Writers: Alain Resnais, Jean-Marie Bessett, Laurent Herbiet, Caroline Silhol
Producer: Jean-Louis Livi
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Sandrine Kilberlain, Sabine Azema, Andre Dussollier, Hippolyte Girardot
Another great auteur that’s had a considerable increase in output over the past several years has been Alain Resnais. He follows up his experimental 2012 film You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet with this film, which sees him returning with some regular cast members like Azema (we’d be shocked not to see her in the lineup since she’s married to the director), Dussollier and Girardot. While this sounds a bit like a wizened version of some recent Gallic films like Little White Lies, we’re sure this will be customary offbeat Resnais, and penned by writer/director Ayckbourn who penned the 2006 Resnais film, Private Fears in Public Places.
Gist: The story begins with a group...
Director: Alain Resnais
Writers: Alain Resnais, Jean-Marie Bessett, Laurent Herbiet, Caroline Silhol
Producer: Jean-Louis Livi
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Sandrine Kilberlain, Sabine Azema, Andre Dussollier, Hippolyte Girardot
Another great auteur that’s had a considerable increase in output over the past several years has been Alain Resnais. He follows up his experimental 2012 film You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet with this film, which sees him returning with some regular cast members like Azema (we’d be shocked not to see her in the lineup since she’s married to the director), Dussollier and Girardot. While this sounds a bit like a wizened version of some recent Gallic films like Little White Lies, we’re sure this will be customary offbeat Resnais, and penned by writer/director Ayckbourn who penned the 2006 Resnais film, Private Fears in Public Places.
Gist: The story begins with a group...
- 2/13/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
With his recent features "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!" and "Wild Grass," French New Wave legend Alain Resnais showed a continuing flair for cinematic ingenuity. Unfortunately, with "Life of Riley," the filmmaker vanishes into the static nature of the stage play that provides the movie with its source material. Resnais' third treatment of a work by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn (following 1993's "Smoking/No Smoking" and 2006' "Private Fears In Public Places") is his least distinctive project in years. While the French-language, York-set comedy achieves some mild entertainment value from the play's appeal and its engaging cast, "Life of Reilly" is largely a superfluous footnote to the lofty career of its nonagenarian director. By remaining faithful to the material, "Life of Riley" displays a certain oddball charm in its mixture of neurotic characters and one notable absence -- namely, the figure of George Riley, who remains an abstraction and never.
- 2/10/2014
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Chicago – For the first time, a foreign film festival in Chicago will focus solely on the latest and greatest works from France. On July 22nd, the Music Box Theatre will kick off its three-day inaugural festival of French cinema, featuring eight pictures that have recently garnered praise from audiences and festival goers around the globe. It may prove to be just the ticket for movie buffs bored with summer blockbusters and outdated superheroes.
Bookending this year’s festival are appearances by two major figures in the French film industry. Director/co-writer Jean-Pierre Améris will be present for the opening night screening of his neurotic comedy, “Romantics Anonymous,” starring Benoît Poelvoorde (“Man Bites Dog”) and Isabelle Carré (“Private Fears in Public Places”). The picture was a surprise hit in France, thus rekindling interest in Améris’s acclaimed body of work (his 2004 drama “Lightweight” was screened at Cannes).
One of the country’s most respected veteran actresses,...
Bookending this year’s festival are appearances by two major figures in the French film industry. Director/co-writer Jean-Pierre Améris will be present for the opening night screening of his neurotic comedy, “Romantics Anonymous,” starring Benoît Poelvoorde (“Man Bites Dog”) and Isabelle Carré (“Private Fears in Public Places”). The picture was a surprise hit in France, thus rekindling interest in Améris’s acclaimed body of work (his 2004 drama “Lightweight” was screened at Cannes).
One of the country’s most respected veteran actresses,...
- 7/20/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
We are proud to announce that Tribeca Film has acquired the rights to the French hit Romantics Anonymous! Next in what is sure to be a long line of post-Festival pickups, Tribeca Film has just announced their acquisition of all Us distribution rights for the French box office smash Romantics Anonymous. A story about two very shy people whose love of chocolate brings them together, Romantics Anonymous has already brought in over $9 million in French box office. with a strong push by StudioCanal. The deal, which began on the streets of New York City and concluded at the Cannes Film Festival, will push the film to multiple platforms sometime in the near future. This delectable film, directed by Jean-Pierre Ameris, tells the story of Angelique Delange (Isabelle Carre, Private Fears in Public Places), an unemployed but gifted chocolate-maker with a lifelong case of uncontrollable shyness that prevents her from ...
- 5/20/2011
- TribecaFilm.com
A recent surprise hit in France, the delectable comedy "Romantics Anonymous" tells the story of Angélique Delange (Isabelle Carré, "Private Fears in Public Places"), an unemployed but gifted chocolate-maker with a lifelong case of uncontrollable shyness that prevents her from properly sharing her confectionary talents. Jean-René Van Den Hugde (Benoît Poelvoorde, "Coco Before Chanel") suffers from a similar case of terminal abashment and runs a fledgling chocolate company in desperate ...
- 4/18/2011
- indieWIRE - People
A recent surprise hit in France, the delectable comedy "Romantics Anonymous" tells the story of Angélique Delange (Isabelle Carré, "Private Fears in Public Places"), an unemployed but gifted chocolate-maker with a lifelong case of uncontrollable shyness that prevents her from properly sharing her confectionary talents. Jean-René Van Den Hugde (Benoît Poelvoorde, "Coco Before Chanel") suffers from a similar case of terminal abashment and runs a fledgling chocolate company in desperate ...
- 4/18/2011
- Indiewire
A recent surprise hit in France, the delectable comedy Romantics Anonymous tells the story of Angélique Delange (Isabelle Carré, Private Fears in Public Places), an unemployed but gifted chocolate-maker with a lifelong case of uncontrollable shyness that prevents her from properly sharing her confectionary talents. Jean-René Van Den Hugde (Benoît Poelvoorde, Coco Before Chanel) suffers from a similar case of terminal abashment and runs a fledgling chocolate company in desperate ...
- 4/18/2011
- indieWIRE - People
Note: this is not some casting news headline from a couple of years back. Wild Grass featured ensemble of André Dussollier, Sabine Azéma, Mathieu Amalric and Anne Consigny are joining Alain Resnais' next feature, which will begin lensing in January of next year. Also joining the cast of Vous N'avez Encore Rien Vu, we have Jean-Pierre Bacri, Isabelle Nanty and trio Pierre Arditi, Lambert Wilson and Claude Rich who all appeared in Resnais' 2006 film Private Fears in Public Places. Filming begins in January and will last for. Gist: Co-written by Resnais and Laurent Herbiet, this is adapted from Jean Anouilh’s stage play Eurydice, where a violinist Orphée and touring actress Eurydice leave everything behind to fulfill their love. But jealousy takes hold of Orphée. Worth Noting: For a French filmmaker who has made very little amount of films, he sure if cranking them out in the late stages of his career.
- 11/23/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Chicago – There’s a very good reason why casual moviegoers are weary of films purporting themselves to be avant-garde. Such a term seems to suggest that a level of effort is required from the audience to fully digest and enjoy a particular work of cinematic art. They are the opposite of disposable entertainments devoured by mainstream viewers like escapist munchies.
In fact, the word “munchies” functions prominently in the jaw-dropping, hotly debated final moment of “Wild Grass,” the latest film from 88-year-old master of cinema, Alain Resnais. The last thing on this filmmaker’s mind is box office results. His greatest wish is merely to inspire audience debate. His most well-known and influential efforts (1959’s “Hiroshima mon amour” and 1961’s “Last Year at Marienbad”) have proven that cinema has the potential to be as complex, as rich, and as widely open to interpretation as literature. He doesn’t care if...
In fact, the word “munchies” functions prominently in the jaw-dropping, hotly debated final moment of “Wild Grass,” the latest film from 88-year-old master of cinema, Alain Resnais. The last thing on this filmmaker’s mind is box office results. His greatest wish is merely to inspire audience debate. His most well-known and influential efforts (1959’s “Hiroshima mon amour” and 1961’s “Last Year at Marienbad”) have proven that cinema has the potential to be as complex, as rich, and as widely open to interpretation as literature. He doesn’t care if...
- 11/4/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
He used to tackle big issues: Hiroshima, the Algerian war. But Alain Resnais's latest film is about the theft of a wallet. The director tells Gilbert Adair why
Old age is always faintly unnerving. Although, at 88, Alain Resnais isn't by any means the most venerable of active film-makers, it's still hard to credit that the film I've come to Paris to talk to him about – Wild Grass, an authentic surrealist romance, as far from being geriatric in style as it's possible to imagine – was made by this elegant, eloquent gentleman sitting opposite me at the Hôtel Claridge, near the Champs Elysées.
I last met Resnais a couple of decades ago, and he has remained much as I remembered: the superb mane of snow-white hair, flaming red shirt, tightly knotted black tie and trademark white trainers. All that's missing is a viewfinder dangling on his pullover, as nonchalantly as a monocle.
Old age is always faintly unnerving. Although, at 88, Alain Resnais isn't by any means the most venerable of active film-makers, it's still hard to credit that the film I've come to Paris to talk to him about – Wild Grass, an authentic surrealist romance, as far from being geriatric in style as it's possible to imagine – was made by this elegant, eloquent gentleman sitting opposite me at the Hôtel Claridge, near the Champs Elysées.
I last met Resnais a couple of decades ago, and he has remained much as I remembered: the superb mane of snow-white hair, flaming red shirt, tightly knotted black tie and trademark white trainers. All that's missing is a viewfinder dangling on his pullover, as nonchalantly as a monocle.
- 6/22/2010
- by Gilbert Adair
- The Guardian - Film News
Having made the essential Holocaust film Night and Fog and brought the nouveaux romans of Hiroshima mon amour and L'année dernière à Marienbad to the screen, Alain Resnais's place in film legend is assured and justified. Although his recent autumnal romance, an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's Private Fears in Public Places, had winsome charm, his latest, Les herbes folles (Wild Grass) is, I'm afraid, a tiresome whimsy. André Dussollier finds a red wallet and begins a flirtatious affair with its owner, a batty aviatrix played by flame-haired Sabine Azema. In accordance with a little-known French film law, Mathieu Amalric also makes an appearance.
World cinemaJason Solomons
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
World cinemaJason Solomons
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 6/19/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
One month, 280 films and 70,000 words later, my guide to the films of 2010 is now complete. I hope you've enjoyed reading it all - it's been utterly exhausting but an ultimately rewarding venture I've been single-handedly pulling together since early December. If you have liked it, my only request is that you help spread the word about it now that it's all done.
If you're a fellow blogger or site owner, please give it a plug on your site. If you're a reader, give it a mention on Facebook, Twitter or other online places you might venture. A lot of effort went into this, the greatest reward so far has been seeing it talked about and hearing your reactions. I'm glad many of you have gotten a lot of use out of the previous pages, so I hope you enjoy this final part:
Vincere
Opens: 2010
Cast: Filippo Timi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Corrado Invernizzi,...
If you're a fellow blogger or site owner, please give it a plug on your site. If you're a reader, give it a mention on Facebook, Twitter or other online places you might venture. A lot of effort went into this, the greatest reward so far has been seeing it talked about and hearing your reactions. I'm glad many of you have gotten a lot of use out of the previous pages, so I hope you enjoy this final part:
Vincere
Opens: 2010
Cast: Filippo Timi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Corrado Invernizzi,...
- 1/13/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
The 47th New York Film Festival gets underway tonight with Alain Resnais' playful ode to romantic impulses late in life, Wild Grass. The general consensus among my peers is that it's the 87-year-old French master's richest and most accessibly experimental film in quite some time, but that's the wonderful thing about critics: we can simply agree to disagree. Outside the Walter Reade Theater, where the Nyff press screenings have been held, I was joined by Slant Magazine's Nick Schager and my Benten Films partner Andrew Grant, who hashed over their contradicting views on the film. In the first of a series of GreenCine Daily podcasts from this year's festival, we also review the programming lineup with, again, our differing tastes. What are we most eagerly anticipating? What have we already seen? What should people not miss? Here we go, folks... To listen to the podcast, click here. (16:52) Podcast Music
Intro: Mark Snow,...
Intro: Mark Snow,...
- 9/25/2009
- GreenCine Daily
Burbank, CA’s horror store Dark Delicacies has announced a strong lineup of genre signings for January. It kicks off this Saturday, Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. with director Tony Randel, scripter Peter Atkins and composer Christopher Young autographing Anchor Bay’s 20th Anniversary Edition of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (see our review here).
The same day and time, Splatterpunk author John Skipp and new writing partner Cody Goodfellow put their pens to copies of their novel Jake’S Wake. Then at 3 p.m. on the 10th, comics faves Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson sign their graphic novel, Dead, She Said.
Friday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. will see a special After Dark Films event, with Autopsy writer/director Adam Gierasch and writer Jace Anderson signing Autopsy posters and more guests from the other movies to be announced. Another one-sheet event, for My Bloody Valentine 3D, follows on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 2 p.m.
The same day and time, Splatterpunk author John Skipp and new writing partner Cody Goodfellow put their pens to copies of their novel Jake’S Wake. Then at 3 p.m. on the 10th, comics faves Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson sign their graphic novel, Dead, She Said.
Friday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. will see a special After Dark Films event, with Autopsy writer/director Adam Gierasch and writer Jace Anderson signing Autopsy posters and more guests from the other movies to be announced. Another one-sheet event, for My Bloody Valentine 3D, follows on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 2 p.m.
- 1/6/2009
- Fangoria
COLOGNE, Germany -- Private Fears in Public Places, the romantic comedy by Alain Resnais about singles looking for love in Paris, has won the European Film Academy's 2007 critics award, the international federation of film critics (FIPRESCI) said Tuesday.
Private Fears, already has been showered with critical praise, winning the Silver Lion for best director in Venice last year and the French critics' top prize for best film, among other honors.
Explaining its decision, FIPRESCI said that Resnais "treats the characters the way an affectionate puppeteer would treat his creatures. He contemplates their comings and goings with the benevolence of one who knows that agitation is vain, but who prefers that people find it out for themselves."
Resnais will receive the prize at the 20th annual European Film Awards on Saturday in Berlin.
Private Fears, already has been showered with critical praise, winning the Silver Lion for best director in Venice last year and the French critics' top prize for best film, among other honors.
Explaining its decision, FIPRESCI said that Resnais "treats the characters the way an affectionate puppeteer would treat his creatures. He contemplates their comings and goings with the benevolence of one who knows that agitation is vain, but who prefers that people find it out for themselves."
Resnais will receive the prize at the 20th annual European Film Awards on Saturday in Berlin.
- 11/28/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- IFC First Take has done a double take, acquiring domestic rights to two French-language comedies: Alain Resnais' Private Fears in Public Places and Christophe Honore's Dans Paris.
Public Places an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's U.K. play, won the Silver Lion best director award for Resnais (Hiroshima mon amour) at last year's Venice Film Festival. It follows six interconnected characters in their melancholy and darkly comic search for love. Resnais adapted Ayckbourn's play "Smoking/No Smoking" in 2003.
Paris also follows the romances of intertwined, melancholy characters, including those whose lives have been affected by depression. The film premiered last year at the Festival de Cannes and played at Unifrance USA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's recent Rendez-Vous With French Cinema fest.
The IFC Entertainment-owned day-and-date distributor plans to release Places on April 13 in theaters and simultaneously via VOD. The distributor plans a similar rollout for Paris late in the summer.
IFC's Liz Nastro and Ryan Werner negotiated the deals for the distributor.
Public Places an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's U.K. play, won the Silver Lion best director award for Resnais (Hiroshima mon amour) at last year's Venice Film Festival. It follows six interconnected characters in their melancholy and darkly comic search for love. Resnais adapted Ayckbourn's play "Smoking/No Smoking" in 2003.
Paris also follows the romances of intertwined, melancholy characters, including those whose lives have been affected by depression. The film premiered last year at the Festival de Cannes and played at Unifrance USA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's recent Rendez-Vous With French Cinema fest.
The IFC Entertainment-owned day-and-date distributor plans to release Places on April 13 in theaters and simultaneously via VOD. The distributor plans a similar rollout for Paris late in the summer.
IFC's Liz Nastro and Ryan Werner negotiated the deals for the distributor.
- 3/21/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- Rachid Bouchareb's Days of Glory, Pascale Ferran's Lady Chatterley and Guillaume Canet's Tell No One dominate the nominations for this year's Cesar Awards, France's top film honors, with each film vying for nine awards, organizers said Friday.
Alain Resnais' Coeurs and Xavier Giannoli's When I Was a Singer trail with eight and seven nominations, respectively.
Days of Glory, a harrowing portrayal of North Africans who fought to liberate France during World War II, followed up its foreign-language Oscar nomination with nine Cesar noms including best film, director and original script.
Tell No One, Guillaume Canet's adaptation of Harlan Coben's thriller, also bagged nine nominations, including best film, director and actor (Francois Cluzet).
Lady Chatterley, a critics' favorite that picked up the Louis Delluc prize in December, rounded out the trio with nominations in the best film, director and actress (Marina Hands) categories.
Philippe Lioret's adolescent drama Don't Worry, I'm Fine, also will compete in the best film category, nabbing a total of five nominations including best director and female newcomer (Melanie Laurent).
Cecile de France, who took last year's supporting actress Cesar, will compete against herself in the best actress category for her roles in When I Was a Singer and Avenue Montaigne. Catherine Frot (The Page Turner), Charlotte Gainsbourg (I Do) and Marina Hands (Lady Chatterley) also will vie for the prize.
Nominees in the best actor category include Michel Blanc, who plays a farmer in French boxoffice hit You're So Beautiful; Alain Chabat, for his hilarious portrayal of a reluctant lover in I Do; Gerard Depardieu, for his role as a worn-out ballroom singer in When I Was a Singer; Jean Dujardin, who plays the French reincarnation of James Bond in OSS 117; and Francois Cluzet, a man searching for his missing wife in Tell No One.
Singer, Glory and Beautiful will vie for best original screenplay alongside Avenue Montaigne and Jean-Philippe while No One, Chatterley, OSS 117 and Don't Worry will compete with Alain Resnais' ensemble hit Private Fears in Public Places in the best adaptation category.
Christine Citti (Singer), Mylene Demongeot (French California) and Bernadette Lafont (I Do) will compete for the best supporting actress prize with French singer Dani (Avenue Montaigne) and this year's Cesars ceremony host, Valerie Lemercier (Montaigne).
The nominees for best supporting actor are Danny Boon (The Valet), Francois Cluzet (Four Stars), Andre Dussollier (No One), Guy Marchand (Inside Paris) and Kad Merad (Don't Worry).
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Stephen Frears' The Queen and Pedro Almodovar's Volver will compete for best foreign-language film.
Alain Resnais' Coeurs and Xavier Giannoli's When I Was a Singer trail with eight and seven nominations, respectively.
Days of Glory, a harrowing portrayal of North Africans who fought to liberate France during World War II, followed up its foreign-language Oscar nomination with nine Cesar noms including best film, director and original script.
Tell No One, Guillaume Canet's adaptation of Harlan Coben's thriller, also bagged nine nominations, including best film, director and actor (Francois Cluzet).
Lady Chatterley, a critics' favorite that picked up the Louis Delluc prize in December, rounded out the trio with nominations in the best film, director and actress (Marina Hands) categories.
Philippe Lioret's adolescent drama Don't Worry, I'm Fine, also will compete in the best film category, nabbing a total of five nominations including best director and female newcomer (Melanie Laurent).
Cecile de France, who took last year's supporting actress Cesar, will compete against herself in the best actress category for her roles in When I Was a Singer and Avenue Montaigne. Catherine Frot (The Page Turner), Charlotte Gainsbourg (I Do) and Marina Hands (Lady Chatterley) also will vie for the prize.
Nominees in the best actor category include Michel Blanc, who plays a farmer in French boxoffice hit You're So Beautiful; Alain Chabat, for his hilarious portrayal of a reluctant lover in I Do; Gerard Depardieu, for his role as a worn-out ballroom singer in When I Was a Singer; Jean Dujardin, who plays the French reincarnation of James Bond in OSS 117; and Francois Cluzet, a man searching for his missing wife in Tell No One.
Singer, Glory and Beautiful will vie for best original screenplay alongside Avenue Montaigne and Jean-Philippe while No One, Chatterley, OSS 117 and Don't Worry will compete with Alain Resnais' ensemble hit Private Fears in Public Places in the best adaptation category.
Christine Citti (Singer), Mylene Demongeot (French California) and Bernadette Lafont (I Do) will compete for the best supporting actress prize with French singer Dani (Avenue Montaigne) and this year's Cesars ceremony host, Valerie Lemercier (Montaigne).
The nominees for best supporting actor are Danny Boon (The Valet), Francois Cluzet (Four Stars), Andre Dussollier (No One), Guy Marchand (Inside Paris) and Kad Merad (Don't Worry).
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Stephen Frears' The Queen and Pedro Almodovar's Volver will compete for best foreign-language film.
- 1/26/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- Pascale Ferran's Lady Chatterley walked away with the prize for French film of the year at a ceremony for the Prix Louis-Delluc 2006 on Monday.
Le Pressentiment, directed by actor-turned-director Jean-Pierre Darroussin, was declared best first film. The coveted honor, named for one of France's original filmmakers/critics and nicknamed the Goncourt du cinema, was awarded to Ferran and to Darroussin by the jury and its president Gilles Jacob at famed Paris restaurant Fouquet's.
The Prix Louis-Delluc, given since 1937, is typically an early forecast of accolades to come as the French awards season kicks off.
Lady Chatterley, based on the second version of D.H. Lawrence's controversial novel, is distributed by Ad Vitam and stars Marina Hands as Lady Constance Chatterley.
The film is being sold internationally by Films Distribution, which also boasts last year's Prix Louis-Delluc winner, Philippe's Garrel's Regular Lovers, among its library titles.
Competition for this year's prize included: Bled Number One by Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, who won the award for best first film in 2002 for his "Wesh Wesh, Qu'est-ce qui se passe?"; Coeurs by Alain Resnais, who has previously taken home the award in 1966 for La Guerre est Finie, in 1993 for Smoking-No Smoking and in 1997 for On Connait la Chanson; Flandres by Bruno Dumont; Jardins en Automne by Otar Iosseliani, winner of the prize in 1999 for Adieu, Plancher des Vaches; and Quand J'etais Chanteur by Xavier Giannoli.
Le Pressentiment, directed by actor-turned-director Jean-Pierre Darroussin, was declared best first film. The coveted honor, named for one of France's original filmmakers/critics and nicknamed the Goncourt du cinema, was awarded to Ferran and to Darroussin by the jury and its president Gilles Jacob at famed Paris restaurant Fouquet's.
The Prix Louis-Delluc, given since 1937, is typically an early forecast of accolades to come as the French awards season kicks off.
Lady Chatterley, based on the second version of D.H. Lawrence's controversial novel, is distributed by Ad Vitam and stars Marina Hands as Lady Constance Chatterley.
The film is being sold internationally by Films Distribution, which also boasts last year's Prix Louis-Delluc winner, Philippe's Garrel's Regular Lovers, among its library titles.
Competition for this year's prize included: Bled Number One by Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, who won the award for best first film in 2002 for his "Wesh Wesh, Qu'est-ce qui se passe?"; Coeurs by Alain Resnais, who has previously taken home the award in 1966 for La Guerre est Finie, in 1993 for Smoking-No Smoking and in 1997 for On Connait la Chanson; Flandres by Bruno Dumont; Jardins en Automne by Otar Iosseliani, winner of the prize in 1999 for Adieu, Plancher des Vaches; and Quand J'etais Chanteur by Xavier Giannoli.
- 12/18/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- In Coeurs or Private Fears in Public Places, which is the English title of the Alan Ayckbourne play on which Alain Resnais bases this film, the director presents a melancholy comedy of manners about six characters in a forlorn search for love. This is a minor film from a master, which is disappointing, but nevertheless it has its charms, most notably in the acting by a cast of stage and screen veterans.
Certainly the film will play the festival circuit, but any domestic distributor will come up against its highly limited commercial appeal.
Private Fears still feels like a play as its characters are all connected to each other, often without their knowledge, as they move in and around a handful of interior locations. French playwright, director and author Jean-Michel Ribes has turned Ayckbourne's dialogue into French and reasonably transformed the English story into a Parisian setting.
Nicole (Italian star Laura Morante) is searching for a new apartment for her and her longtime fiance Dan Lambert Wilson), an alcoholic and recently cashiered career soldier. She employs harried real estate agent Thierry (Andre Dussollier), who would love to find a way to romantically connect with co-worker Charlotte (Sabine Azema), a religious woman with a secret erotic passion.
Charlotte takes a job as a night nurse for the dying yet unbearably cranky father of Lionel (Pierre Arditi), so he can tend the hotel bar where Dan does most of his drinking. When Dan and Nicole decide to separate, his first blind date at that bar, via a newspaper ad, is with Gaelle (Isabelle Carre), who is Thierry's lonely sister.
The latter casting makes little sense given the age differences between the two actors. The siblings' papa must have had the children by women far apart in years. Carre is also too beautiful to be credible as a socially inept wallflower no man notices in bars or cafes.
That illogic aside, the story's characters are all too much the same. They mope through days and nights, their romantic aspirations dashed at every turn. The actors give each a subtlety and emotional depth that allows individual scenes to work well. Yet collectively those scenes add up to very little. Indeed no one is any better off at the end and arguably a few are worse.
The sets look cool and artificial in the usually soft light. Scenes are ended by falling snow as winter envelops these characters in its icy embrace. This is the winter of desire, Resnais seems to say, as he observes people acting out private hopes and anguish in very public places.
PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES
Soudaine Compagnie
Credits:
Director: Alain Resnais
Writer: Jean-Michel Ribes
Based on the play by: Alan Ayckbourn
Producer: Bruno Pesery
Executive producer: Julie Salvador
Director of photography: Eric Gautier
Production designer: Jacques Saulnier
Music: Mark Snow
Editor: Herve de Luze.
Cast:
Nicole: Laura Morante
Dan: Lambert Wilson
Lionel: Pierre Arditi
Gaelle: Isabelle Carre
Thierry: Andre Dussollier
Charlotte: Sabine Azema
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 125 minutes...
Certainly the film will play the festival circuit, but any domestic distributor will come up against its highly limited commercial appeal.
Private Fears still feels like a play as its characters are all connected to each other, often without their knowledge, as they move in and around a handful of interior locations. French playwright, director and author Jean-Michel Ribes has turned Ayckbourne's dialogue into French and reasonably transformed the English story into a Parisian setting.
Nicole (Italian star Laura Morante) is searching for a new apartment for her and her longtime fiance Dan Lambert Wilson), an alcoholic and recently cashiered career soldier. She employs harried real estate agent Thierry (Andre Dussollier), who would love to find a way to romantically connect with co-worker Charlotte (Sabine Azema), a religious woman with a secret erotic passion.
Charlotte takes a job as a night nurse for the dying yet unbearably cranky father of Lionel (Pierre Arditi), so he can tend the hotel bar where Dan does most of his drinking. When Dan and Nicole decide to separate, his first blind date at that bar, via a newspaper ad, is with Gaelle (Isabelle Carre), who is Thierry's lonely sister.
The latter casting makes little sense given the age differences between the two actors. The siblings' papa must have had the children by women far apart in years. Carre is also too beautiful to be credible as a socially inept wallflower no man notices in bars or cafes.
That illogic aside, the story's characters are all too much the same. They mope through days and nights, their romantic aspirations dashed at every turn. The actors give each a subtlety and emotional depth that allows individual scenes to work well. Yet collectively those scenes add up to very little. Indeed no one is any better off at the end and arguably a few are worse.
The sets look cool and artificial in the usually soft light. Scenes are ended by falling snow as winter envelops these characters in its icy embrace. This is the winter of desire, Resnais seems to say, as he observes people acting out private hopes and anguish in very public places.
PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES
Soudaine Compagnie
Credits:
Director: Alain Resnais
Writer: Jean-Michel Ribes
Based on the play by: Alan Ayckbourn
Producer: Bruno Pesery
Executive producer: Julie Salvador
Director of photography: Eric Gautier
Production designer: Jacques Saulnier
Music: Mark Snow
Editor: Herve de Luze.
Cast:
Nicole: Laura Morante
Dan: Lambert Wilson
Lionel: Pierre Arditi
Gaelle: Isabelle Carre
Thierry: Andre Dussollier
Charlotte: Sabine Azema
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 125 minutes...
- 9/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dame Helen Mirren and Ben Affleck have taken the acting honors at this year's Venice Film Festival in Italy. Mirren was named Best Actress for her performance as British monarch Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, while Affleck was a surprise win as Best Actor for his part as 1950s TV Superman actor George Reeves in Hollywoodland. On collecting her award, Mirren said, "It's an incredible honor to have a film take its first steps here in Venice. (Director) Stephen Frears is the mother of the film. I'm just a bit of the DNA of this film." Chinese movie Still Life (Sanxia Haoren) won the festival's top award, the Golden Lion, beating out competition from favorites The Queen, Bobby and Golden Door. Actress Catherine Deneuve, who headed the jury, praised Still Life as "a very special film. We were very touched and we were very moved." French filmmaker Alain Resnais, 84, won Best Director for Private Fears In Public Places, while Best Screenplay went to Peter Morgan for The Queen. Chad movie Daratt won the Special Jury Prize.
- 9/11/2006
- WENN
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