‘Langue Étrangère’ Review: Two Foreign Exchange Students Fall for One Another in Volatile Teen Drama
At age 17, there are only so many ways a high school student can flee a suffocating life. Bullied by her fellow students, Fanny (Lilith Grasmug) tried to commit suicide — or so she says — but fortunately, that didn’t work. Now, this shy, self-questioning and clearly troubled teen is counting on a foreign exchange program to make a fresh start, escaping to Leipzig, Germany, to get away from the mean girls back home in Strasbourg, France.
“Party Girl” co-director Claire Burger’s third feature, “Langue Étrangère,” splits its time between the two cities. The first half takes place in Leipzig, where Fanny forms an intense intellectual and erotic connection with her German pen pal, Lena (Josefa Heinsius). Fanny’s host is practically hostile when this uninvited foreigner first shows up, but that’s before a disarmingly candid (and frequently dishonest) Fanny starts to share stories invented to earn sympathy. By the second half,...
“Party Girl” co-director Claire Burger’s third feature, “Langue Étrangère,” splits its time between the two cities. The first half takes place in Leipzig, where Fanny forms an intense intellectual and erotic connection with her German pen pal, Lena (Josefa Heinsius). Fanny’s host is practically hostile when this uninvited foreigner first shows up, but that’s before a disarmingly candid (and frequently dishonest) Fanny starts to share stories invented to earn sympathy. By the second half,...
- 2/19/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The London and Paris locations are pretty, the likable cast all look stylish in their voluminous coats and slouchy pants and distressed knits, and the countless teary-eyed close-ups are designed to touch our hearts. But Netflix’s Good Grief, despite its characters’ extensive soul-dredging, is all surface, perfectly watchable but a little dull. Working both behind and in front of the camera after having cut his teeth directing episodes of Schitt’s Creek, Daniel Levy has made a first feature that’s a glossy drama of love and loss and the restorative power of friendship. But it’s more earnest than affecting.
The opening scene makes this, if not a Christmas movie, then a Christmas-adjacent one. Levy plays Marc, a London artist who has put aside his own creative work to serve as illustrator on the best-selling series of fantasy novels written by his adored husband, Oliver (Luke Evans), about telepathic truth-seeker Victoria Valentine,...
The opening scene makes this, if not a Christmas movie, then a Christmas-adjacent one. Levy plays Marc, a London artist who has put aside his own creative work to serve as illustrator on the best-selling series of fantasy novels written by his adored husband, Oliver (Luke Evans), about telepathic truth-seeker Victoria Valentine,...
- 12/29/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was Céline Sciamma’s big breakout moment, but the French director was clearly a major talent in the making from the very start of her career.
In 2007, the then 29-year-old filmmaker premiered her first feature at Cannes Film Festival, after writing the movie’s script during her final year at the prestigious film school La Fémis. The story of three teen girls awakening to their sexualities during a single summer, “Water Lillies” featured Sciamma’s future romantic partner and collaborator Adèle Haenel, and established the type of female-focused and queer stories she would spend her entire career bringing to the screen.
Following the positive reception of “Water Lillies,” Sciamma chased it with 2011’s “Tomboy,” a sharply observed coming-of-age about a 10-year-old exploring their gender identity. 2014’s “Girlhood,” about four Black teen girls living in Paris, brought Sciamma further attention, thanks to a much talked...
In 2007, the then 29-year-old filmmaker premiered her first feature at Cannes Film Festival, after writing the movie’s script during her final year at the prestigious film school La Fémis. The story of three teen girls awakening to their sexualities during a single summer, “Water Lillies” featured Sciamma’s future romantic partner and collaborator Adèle Haenel, and established the type of female-focused and queer stories she would spend her entire career bringing to the screen.
Following the positive reception of “Water Lillies,” Sciamma chased it with 2011’s “Tomboy,” a sharply observed coming-of-age about a 10-year-old exploring their gender identity. 2014’s “Girlhood,” about four Black teen girls living in Paris, brought Sciamma further attention, thanks to a much talked...
- 9/12/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
French actress Adèle Haenel, the star of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, has announced her retirement from the movie business, saying the complacency and indifference of the French industry to the #MeToo movement is behind her decision.
In a letter published on media news site Télérama on Tuesday, Haenel she wanted to use the public declaration of her retirement from the film business as a way to call out the “general complacency” within the French industry “vis-à-vis sexual aggressors.”
Despite several high-profile examples of sexual abuse and misconduct within the French film industry, many of which came to light in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Haenel says the powers that be have chosen to ignore and ostracize women who have come forward to sound the alarm. “They join hands [to protect] the [Gerard] Depardieus, the [Roman] Polanskis, the [Dominique] Boutonnats,” she writes in her Télérama letter, referencing three of the most prominent French film figures accused of abuse.
In a letter published on media news site Télérama on Tuesday, Haenel she wanted to use the public declaration of her retirement from the film business as a way to call out the “general complacency” within the French industry “vis-à-vis sexual aggressors.”
Despite several high-profile examples of sexual abuse and misconduct within the French film industry, many of which came to light in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Haenel says the powers that be have chosen to ignore and ostracize women who have come forward to sound the alarm. “They join hands [to protect] the [Gerard] Depardieus, the [Roman] Polanskis, the [Dominique] Boutonnats,” she writes in her Télérama letter, referencing three of the most prominent French film figures accused of abuse.
- 5/9/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Céline Sciamma makes small films that contain multitudes, tender and vivid portraits of sisterhood and self-becoming.
Imagining spaces out of places where women can discover themselves and each other freely, the French filmmaker first earned acclaim for a trio of social-realist coming-of-age dramas: 2007’s “Water Lilies,” 2011’s “Tomboy,” and 2014’s “Girlhood.” Though connected in their study of adolescence, gender, and sexuality, as well as their close and empathetic attention to outsiders navigating rites of passage, these films — especially “Girlhood” — also revealed Sciamma’s burgeoning interest in modes of female-gaze storytelling beyond the naturalistic.
Read More: ‘Petite Maman’:Céline Sciamma Delivers An Intimate Tale Of Grief And Parenthood [Berlin Review]
And so it felt like a creative breakthrough as much as a commercial one when 2019’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which won the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay at Cannes, catapulted the screenwriter-director to international recognition.
Continue reading Céline Sciamma On ‘Petite Maman,...
Imagining spaces out of places where women can discover themselves and each other freely, the French filmmaker first earned acclaim for a trio of social-realist coming-of-age dramas: 2007’s “Water Lilies,” 2011’s “Tomboy,” and 2014’s “Girlhood.” Though connected in their study of adolescence, gender, and sexuality, as well as their close and empathetic attention to outsiders navigating rites of passage, these films — especially “Girlhood” — also revealed Sciamma’s burgeoning interest in modes of female-gaze storytelling beyond the naturalistic.
Read More: ‘Petite Maman’:Céline Sciamma Delivers An Intimate Tale Of Grief And Parenthood [Berlin Review]
And so it felt like a creative breakthrough as much as a commercial one when 2019’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which won the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay at Cannes, catapulted the screenwriter-director to international recognition.
Continue reading Céline Sciamma On ‘Petite Maman,...
- 4/21/2022
- by Isaac Feldberg
- The Playlist
“Petite Maman” may run a mere 72 minutes, but its artistry is immense. For her first film since the luminous period romance “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” — which only ran two hours but felt both visually and emotionally epic — the inimitable French filmmaker Céline Sciamma crafted something a little more, well, petite. A slightly magical fable about mothers and children, the themes in “Petite Maman” will be familiar to longtime admirers of Sciamma’s work, which began with the César Award-nominated “Water Lilies” (2007) and includes the best queer childhood film ever made, “Tomboy” (2011).
The film’s concept, which imagines if a young girl could befriend her mother when she was her age, is the first time Sciamma has dabbled in anything verging on magical realism. Her work is always marked by a balance of simplicity and complexity; emotionally ripe scenarios are elegantly distilled and planted firmly in one or two characters’ perspectives.
The film’s concept, which imagines if a young girl could befriend her mother when she was her age, is the first time Sciamma has dabbled in anything verging on magical realism. Her work is always marked by a balance of simplicity and complexity; emotionally ripe scenarios are elegantly distilled and planted firmly in one or two characters’ perspectives.
- 4/20/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Drummer Joey Waronker and percussionist Mauro Refosco have formed the group Jomoro, dropping the lead single “Delicate Butterfly.”
Lucius provides shimmering vocals to the track, backed by subtle instrumentation that stretches to nearly four minutes. The track follows “Mirror,” released last month.
The group also announced the album Blue Marble Sky, out June 4th. The duo wrote and produced the record, trading files during the pandemic. Sharon Van Etten, Brandon Markell Holmes, and Brazilian singer Karina Buhr appear on the album, which contains vocal and instrumental tracks. Bassist Gabe Noel,...
Lucius provides shimmering vocals to the track, backed by subtle instrumentation that stretches to nearly four minutes. The track follows “Mirror,” released last month.
The group also announced the album Blue Marble Sky, out June 4th. The duo wrote and produced the record, trading files during the pandemic. Sharon Van Etten, Brandon Markell Holmes, and Brazilian singer Karina Buhr appear on the album, which contains vocal and instrumental tracks. Bassist Gabe Noel,...
- 4/16/2021
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
Neon has scooped up North American rights to Céline Sciamma’s sixth feature directorial Petite Maman, bringing the Oscar-winning film studio back in business with the French filmmaker behind 2019’s award-winning pic Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Already there is great word of mouth brewing from critics on Sciamma’s new title out of its world premiere at the Berlinale.
The drama stars sisters Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal. In Pete Maman, 8-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.
The drama stars sisters Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal. In Pete Maman, 8-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.
- 3/3/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Neon has acquired North American rights to Céline Sciamma’s latest feature, “Petite Maman,” following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
The sale reunites Sciamma with Neon, the New York-based independent studio that released her acclaimed drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”
Written and directed by Sciamma, “Petite Maman” follows 8-year-old Nelly, who loses her beloved grandmother and goes to help her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and build the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day, her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.
It stars sisters Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz, as well as Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal.
Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised the film,...
The sale reunites Sciamma with Neon, the New York-based independent studio that released her acclaimed drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”
Written and directed by Sciamma, “Petite Maman” follows 8-year-old Nelly, who loses her beloved grandmother and goes to help her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and build the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day, her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.
It stars sisters Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz, as well as Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal.
Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised the film,...
- 3/3/2021
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
“Give me a child until he is 7, and I will show you the man,” proposed Aristotle, to which fiercely feminist French director Céline Sciamma might add, “Give me a woman, and I will show you the free, unbroken spirit she still was at age 8.”
Sciamma, who went from being a queer cult favorite (for such bracingly free indies as “Tomboy” and “Water Lilies”) to an internationally respected auteur with 2019’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” follows up that barrier-breaking achievement with the slight but hardly insignificant “Petite Maman.” Made during fall 2020 while the pandemic still severely limited film production, this 72-minute sketch looks at the connection between an 8-year-old girl, Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), and her mother, Marion (Nina Meurisse), through a simple leap of imagination — one that necessitates a basic spoiler to meaningfully discuss, so be warned if you’d rather save that surprise for the screen.
Nelly is...
Sciamma, who went from being a queer cult favorite (for such bracingly free indies as “Tomboy” and “Water Lilies”) to an internationally respected auteur with 2019’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” follows up that barrier-breaking achievement with the slight but hardly insignificant “Petite Maman.” Made during fall 2020 while the pandemic still severely limited film production, this 72-minute sketch looks at the connection between an 8-year-old girl, Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), and her mother, Marion (Nina Meurisse), through a simple leap of imagination — one that necessitates a basic spoiler to meaningfully discuss, so be warned if you’d rather save that surprise for the screen.
Nelly is...
- 3/3/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
One of the best surprises of the Berlinale 2021 lineup is that the newest film from Céline Sciamma––marking her fifth feature and first since her widely acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire––is completed after shooting only a few months ago. Details have been sparse when it came to Petite Maman, but now the festival has unveiled a full synopsis, while also revealing a runtime of only 72 minutes.
Starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, and Margot Abascal, the film will find Sciamma returning to themes of adolescence, which she explored in different facets in Water Lillies, Tomboy, and Girlhood. Check out the synopsis below via Berlinale’s official site.
Eight-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mum, Marion, used to play and where...
Starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, and Margot Abascal, the film will find Sciamma returning to themes of adolescence, which she explored in different facets in Water Lillies, Tomboy, and Girlhood. Check out the synopsis below via Berlinale’s official site.
Eight-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mum, Marion, used to play and where...
- 2/18/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
New to the lineup are Petite maman by Céline Sciamma, Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl, Silver Star by Ruben Amar and The Good Boss by Fernando León de Aranoa. In action at the American Film Market (online from 9 to 13 November), the international sales team of mk2 Films, lead by Fionnuala Jamison, has added four new titles to its lineup. On display stands out Petite maman by Céline Sciamma, shooting in the Paris region until 4 December. This 5th feature from the director after Water Lilies (Un Certain Regard in Cannes 2007), Tomboy (Panorama of the 2011 Berlinale), Girlhood (Directors’ Fortnight 2014) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (best screenplay award at Cannes 2019), its main characters are two 8 year old children (in a plot still kept secret) and can count on Claire Mathon as its director of photography. Produced by Bénédicte Couvreur for Lilies Films,...
- 11/12/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Recommended New Books on Filmmaking: Parasite Storyboards, David Lynch’s Dune, Céline Sciamma & More
While the country is beginning the first steps of emerging from quarantine––for now, at least––the summer season should still mean lots of reading time. Some selections in our latest roundup of books related to film and pop culture can be called escapist fare, while a few tread into darker realms. Let’s start with a trip to Arrakis––David Lynch’s Arrakis, not Denis Villeneuve’s.
Dune: The David Lynch Files Volume 2 by Kenneth George Godwin (BearManor Media)
Any opportunity to read a behind-the-scenes account of the making of a film by David Lynch is welcome. That is especially true when it comes to Dune, his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, which the filmmaker has repeatedly expressed his frustrations with. Lynch, of course, did not have final cut and has famously disowned the film, but it remains a strange, fascinating curio. For all of these reasons,...
Dune: The David Lynch Files Volume 2 by Kenneth George Godwin (BearManor Media)
Any opportunity to read a behind-the-scenes account of the making of a film by David Lynch is welcome. That is especially true when it comes to Dune, his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, which the filmmaker has repeatedly expressed his frustrations with. Lynch, of course, did not have final cut and has famously disowned the film, but it remains a strange, fascinating curio. For all of these reasons,...
- 6/10/2020
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
Mubi also reveals ’Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’ has become its most-viewed film in the UK to date.
Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Whistlers topped UK streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema’s (Chc) most-watched films over the weekend, after bypassing a theatrical release due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The Romanian crime thriller, which debuted in competition at Cannes last year, was originally due to receive a UK day-and-date release on June 26 via Curzon. But ongoing cinema closures meant the film launched exclusively on Chc on May 8, seven weeks early, and performed strongly as audiences look to streaming platforms for new titles during lockdown.
Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Whistlers topped UK streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema’s (Chc) most-watched films over the weekend, after bypassing a theatrical release due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The Romanian crime thriller, which debuted in competition at Cannes last year, was originally due to receive a UK day-and-date release on June 26 via Curzon. But ongoing cinema closures meant the film launched exclusively on Chc on May 8, seven weeks early, and performed strongly as audiences look to streaming platforms for new titles during lockdown.
- 5/13/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Stream of the Day: Celine Sciamma’s Trio of Cannes Films Reinvented the Paradigm for Women Directors
With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.
To fill the void left by the absence of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, for the next two weeks, this column will be dedicated to films that premiered at the festival over the course of seven decades.
The Cannes Film Festival has always had a bit of a woman problem. Over the course of its 73-year history, the lauded annual event has only awarded its top honor, the Palme d’Or, to a single female filmmaker: Jane Campion, for her 1993 gem “The Piano.” While each festival comes with a brand-new jury tasked with picking the best films from its stacked competition section (some of them even led by women), the very structure of the festival’s selection has long kept women at a distance.
To fill the void left by the absence of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, for the next two weeks, this column will be dedicated to films that premiered at the festival over the course of seven decades.
The Cannes Film Festival has always had a bit of a woman problem. Over the course of its 73-year history, the lauded annual event has only awarded its top honor, the Palme d’Or, to a single female filmmaker: Jane Campion, for her 1993 gem “The Piano.” While each festival comes with a brand-new jury tasked with picking the best films from its stacked competition section (some of them even led by women), the very structure of the festival’s selection has long kept women at a distance.
- 5/11/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Harvey Weinstein-inspired drama received an early digital release in the UK due to cinema closures.
UK streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) has recorded its biggest weekend to date following the early digital release of Harvey Weinstein-inspired drama The Assistant.
The film, starring Julia Garner (Ozark), helped the platform generate a 7.4% revenue boost on its previous best weekend and was 340% up on Chc’s equivalent weekend in 2019.
It marks an ongoing success story for the streaming platform, which has seen a consistent rise in figures following the closure of all cinemas in mid-March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
UK streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) has recorded its biggest weekend to date following the early digital release of Harvey Weinstein-inspired drama The Assistant.
The film, starring Julia Garner (Ozark), helped the platform generate a 7.4% revenue boost on its previous best weekend and was 340% up on Chc’s equivalent weekend in 2019.
It marks an ongoing success story for the streaming platform, which has seen a consistent rise in figures following the closure of all cinemas in mid-March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- 5/6/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Writer-director Céline Sciamma’s entrancing historical romance about a young painter and her subject is a perceptive, erotic exploration of power
What a thrillingly versatile film-maker Céline Sciamma has proved to be. Having made an arthouse splash with the Euro-hits Water Lilies and Tomboy, she wrote and directed Girlhood (Bande de filles), a breathtaking portrait of modern “banlieue life” that completed her “accidental trilogy of youth”. Her impressive screenplay credits include Claude Barras’s My Life as a Courgette, a tenderly empathetic, French-Swiss stop-motion masterpiece that earned an Oscar nomination for its vividly resilient depiction of children in care. In each of these very different projects, Sciamma has struck an accessible chord by focusing tightly on specifics, finding the key to universal appeal in the unique, tiny details of each story and character.
For her fourth feature as writer-director, Sciamma ventures to a new world of the late 18th century.
What a thrillingly versatile film-maker Céline Sciamma has proved to be. Having made an arthouse splash with the Euro-hits Water Lilies and Tomboy, she wrote and directed Girlhood (Bande de filles), a breathtaking portrait of modern “banlieue life” that completed her “accidental trilogy of youth”. Her impressive screenplay credits include Claude Barras’s My Life as a Courgette, a tenderly empathetic, French-Swiss stop-motion masterpiece that earned an Oscar nomination for its vividly resilient depiction of children in care. In each of these very different projects, Sciamma has struck an accessible chord by focusing tightly on specifics, finding the key to universal appeal in the unique, tiny details of each story and character.
For her fourth feature as writer-director, Sciamma ventures to a new world of the late 18th century.
- 3/1/2020
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Before we get to our weekly streaming picks, check out our annual feature: Where to Stream the Best Films of 2019.
Cold Case Hammarskjöld (Mads Brügger)
In 1961, Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Africa under mysterious circumstances. Beginning as an investigation into his still-unsolved death, the trail that Mads Brügger follows in Cold Case Hammarskjöld is one that expands to implicate some of the world’s most powerful governments in unfathomably heinous crimes. Without revealing the specifics of the jaw-dropping revelations in this thoroughly engrossing documentary, if there’s any justice, what is brought to light will cause global...
Before we get to our weekly streaming picks, check out our annual feature: Where to Stream the Best Films of 2019.
Cold Case Hammarskjöld (Mads Brügger)
In 1961, Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in Africa under mysterious circumstances. Beginning as an investigation into his still-unsolved death, the trail that Mads Brügger follows in Cold Case Hammarskjöld is one that expands to implicate some of the world’s most powerful governments in unfathomably heinous crimes. Without revealing the specifics of the jaw-dropping revelations in this thoroughly engrossing documentary, if there’s any justice, what is brought to light will cause global...
- 12/20/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Halfway through Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Adèle Haenel turns to Noémie Merlant: “Do you think all lovers feel they’re inventing something?” Haenel’s Héloïse and Merlant’s Marianne have just become lovers: the question comes moments after their lips first met in a secluded stretch of the windswept 18th century French coast they’re stranded in. Heloise is a bride-to-be, waiting to be palmed off by her blue-blooded mother (Valeria Golino) to some affluent suitor in Milan. And Marianne is the painter hired to finish her portrait, which will be used to seal the deal. Merlant does not answer Haenel, but Sciamma lets the question carom off Héloïse’s scarcely furbished mansion, and resurface in a final heart to heart, with the young women now in bed, whispering in the dead of night. It’s the last they’ll ever share. They both know it.
- 12/19/2019
- MUBI
The first image that came to filmmaker Céline Sciamma when she began envisioning what would become her fourth feature, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” was not a happy one. While the majority of the action in the French filmmaker’s lush period romance takes place on an isolated island sometime in the 18th century, a handful of later scenes abandon the evocative location, picking up years later in a bustling city. The divide between settings (and tones) is stark, but it’s also necessary to the wild spirit of the film, one that is built around a love story that refuses convention at every turn. That’s where Sciamma started.
“The last scene came really, really early, disconnected from even the idea of a woman painter,” Sciamma said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “I wanted to write a love story and I thought, ‘What do I want to tell?...
“The last scene came really, really early, disconnected from even the idea of a woman painter,” Sciamma said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “I wanted to write a love story and I thought, ‘What do I want to tell?...
- 12/5/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is one of the most beautiful and transporting films you will ever see. The titular subject is Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), a reluctant bride-to-be who refuses to sit for a wedding portrait commissioned by her French Countess mother (Valeria Golino) in 1770. Subterfuge is the order of day as mom instructs the artist, Marianna (Noémie Merlant), to study her daughter by posing as her companion on her daily cliffside walks, then painting her from memory in secret. The artist falls under the spell of her subject,...
- 12/5/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) today announced that Pedro Almódovar (Pain and Glory) and Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse) will feature in their 10th annual Screenwriters’ Lecture Series alongside Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) and Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).
Taking place at Curzon cinemas in Mayfair and Soho from 30 November to 12 December, the Screenwriters’ Lecture Series exists to celebrate screenwriters’ authorial contribution to film and gives esteemed writers a platform to share highlights and insights from their careers with an audience of film-lovers and their peers.
The 10th annual series begins on Saturday 30 November with a lecture from Pedro Almódovar, five-time BAFTA-winning screenwriter, director and producer. Almodóvar’s works include All About My Mother (1999), which won two BAFTA Awards and an Oscar, Volver (2006), and his latest release Pain and Glory (2019).
Also in news – Rik Mayall Comedy Genius – Take a delve...
Taking place at Curzon cinemas in Mayfair and Soho from 30 November to 12 December, the Screenwriters’ Lecture Series exists to celebrate screenwriters’ authorial contribution to film and gives esteemed writers a platform to share highlights and insights from their careers with an audience of film-lovers and their peers.
The 10th annual series begins on Saturday 30 November with a lecture from Pedro Almódovar, five-time BAFTA-winning screenwriter, director and producer. Almodóvar’s works include All About My Mother (1999), which won two BAFTA Awards and an Oscar, Volver (2006), and his latest release Pain and Glory (2019).
Also in news – Rik Mayall Comedy Genius – Take a delve...
- 11/13/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Less than a day after being accused of having sexually harassed actress Adele Haenel starting when she was 12, filmmaker Christophe Ruggia was expelled from the French directors’ guild.
The removal of Ruggia from the Societé des Realisateurs de Films (Srf) follows the publication of an investigative report in the French website Mediapart in which Haenel alleges that Ruggia, who directed her in her first film, the 2002 drama “The Devils” (“Les diables”), exerted control over her and repeatedly made sexual advances when she was between the ages of 12 and 15.
The directors’ guild said: “The Srf is giving its full support, its admiration and recognition to Adele Haenel, who had the bravery to express herself after all these years of silence. We wish to tell her that we trust her and are taking note of [her account] immediately, without sparing our own responsibility and without avoiding to question ourselves collectively.”
The organization said the...
The removal of Ruggia from the Societé des Realisateurs de Films (Srf) follows the publication of an investigative report in the French website Mediapart in which Haenel alleges that Ruggia, who directed her in her first film, the 2002 drama “The Devils” (“Les diables”), exerted control over her and repeatedly made sexual advances when she was between the ages of 12 and 15.
The directors’ guild said: “The Srf is giving its full support, its admiration and recognition to Adele Haenel, who had the bravery to express herself after all these years of silence. We wish to tell her that we trust her and are taking note of [her account] immediately, without sparing our own responsibility and without avoiding to question ourselves collectively.”
The organization said the...
- 11/5/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Adèle Haenel is one of the best actresses in the world, hands down. And she’s honed her talent over the last two decades, appearing in dozens of films, including her breakout role in 2006’s “Water Lilies.” Unfortunately, much like many other young actresses, during those early years, she allegedly found herself in a variety of terrible, sexual misconduct incidents with a much older person.
The actress recently spoke up to the French outlet Mediapart (via Deadline) about a series of sexual harassment and misconduct incidents that occurred during the time of 2002 and 2004 between herself and director Christophe Ruggia, when the actress was between the ages of 12 and 14.
Continue reading Adèle Haenel Accuses Director Christophe Ruggia Of Sexual Misconduct Dating Back To When She Was 12 at The Playlist.
The actress recently spoke up to the French outlet Mediapart (via Deadline) about a series of sexual harassment and misconduct incidents that occurred during the time of 2002 and 2004 between herself and director Christophe Ruggia, when the actress was between the ages of 12 and 14.
Continue reading Adèle Haenel Accuses Director Christophe Ruggia Of Sexual Misconduct Dating Back To When She Was 12 at The Playlist.
- 11/4/2019
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Christophe Ruggia “categorically” denied the accusations through his lawyer.
French actress Adèle Haenel has reignited the #MeToo debate in France with bombshell allegations director Christophe Ruggia molested her as a young teenager, according to an in-depth interview with French investigative news site Mediapart which was published on Sunday (November 3).
Within the report, Ruggia, who is a respected figure within the French film industry “categorically” denied the accusations through his lawyer.
Haenel, who stars in Celine Sciamma’s period drama Portrait Of Lady On Fire, was cast by Ruggia in the lead role of his 2002 drama The Devils. It was her breakout role.
French actress Adèle Haenel has reignited the #MeToo debate in France with bombshell allegations director Christophe Ruggia molested her as a young teenager, according to an in-depth interview with French investigative news site Mediapart which was published on Sunday (November 3).
Within the report, Ruggia, who is a respected figure within the French film industry “categorically” denied the accusations through his lawyer.
Haenel, who stars in Celine Sciamma’s period drama Portrait Of Lady On Fire, was cast by Ruggia in the lead role of his 2002 drama The Devils. It was her breakout role.
- 11/4/2019
- by 1100380¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Adele Haenel, the star of Cannes prize-winning film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and French Oscar submission “Bpm,” has alleged that director Christophe Ruggia sexually harassed her for years, starting when she was just 12 years old.
Haenel told French investigative website Mediapart that Ruggia, who directed her in the 2002 drama “The Devils” (“Les diables”), repeatedly made advances toward her, including unwanted touching and kisses, until she was 15. Haenel said she told people several years ago about the incidents, well before the rise of the #MeToo movement, but felt moved to speak out publicly now because of the documentary on Michael Jackson, “Leaving Neverland,” and news that Ruggia was prepping a new film with two protagonists with the same names as her and her co-star’s characters in “The Devils.”
Ruggia has vigorously denied the allegations, calling them defamatory. In a statement to Mediapart, he said that he and Haenel...
Haenel told French investigative website Mediapart that Ruggia, who directed her in the 2002 drama “The Devils” (“Les diables”), repeatedly made advances toward her, including unwanted touching and kisses, until she was 15. Haenel said she told people several years ago about the incidents, well before the rise of the #MeToo movement, but felt moved to speak out publicly now because of the documentary on Michael Jackson, “Leaving Neverland,” and news that Ruggia was prepping a new film with two protagonists with the same names as her and her co-star’s characters in “The Devils.”
Ruggia has vigorously denied the allegations, calling them defamatory. In a statement to Mediapart, he said that he and Haenel...
- 11/4/2019
- by Henry Chu and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
"She thinks you're a companion for walks." Neon has released a new official Us trailer for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year and just played at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend. Written & directed by Céline Sciamma, the film won Best Screenplay and the Queer Palme at Cannes and is picking up even more rave reviews after premiering at Tiff. Set on an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a rebellious young woman. The two soon fall madly in love with each other. Noémie Merlant co-stars with Adèle Haenel, and a cast including Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino, Christel Baras, Armande Boulanger, Guy Delamarche, and Clément Bouyssou. It's one of the very best films of the year, beloved by all those who have had a chance...
- 9/9/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"I came here to paint you." Madman Films in Australia has unveiled the first official trailer (with English subtitles) for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the award-winning, acclaimed romantic drama from Cannes Film Festival this year. Written & directed by Céline Sciamma, the film went on to win Best Screenplay and the Queer Palme at Cannes, even though it deserved more - for the acting, the direction, and everything else. Set on an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman. The two soon fall madly in love with each other. Noémie Merlant co-stars with Adèle Haenel, and a small cast including Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino, Christel Baras, Armande Boulanger, Guy Delamarche, and Clément Bouyssou. This is a wonderful film, one of the very best of the year, and it comes highly recommended...
- 8/13/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Hot Cannes titles 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire', 'Sibyl', 'The Whistlers' score key deals (exclusive)
Celine Sciamma’s all-female, period drama Portrait of A Lady On Fire won best screenplay.
Paris-based mk2 films has unveiled a fresh round of sales on three of the five Palme d’Or contenders on its Cannes 2019 slate; Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Sibyl and The Whistlers.
Celine Sciamma’s all-female period drama Portrait of A Lady On Fire won best screenplay and tied in second place on Screen’s Cannes 2019 Jury Grid.
It has sold to more than 20 territories worldwide after being subject to a fierce bidding war for North American rights, won by Neon and Hulu.
In Europe,...
Paris-based mk2 films has unveiled a fresh round of sales on three of the five Palme d’Or contenders on its Cannes 2019 slate; Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Sibyl and The Whistlers.
Celine Sciamma’s all-female period drama Portrait of A Lady On Fire won best screenplay and tied in second place on Screen’s Cannes 2019 Jury Grid.
It has sold to more than 20 territories worldwide after being subject to a fierce bidding war for North American rights, won by Neon and Hulu.
In Europe,...
- 5/29/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The 2019 Cannes Film Festival wrapped its 72nd edition on Sunday by awarding director Bong Joon-ho with the Palme d’Or for “Parasite,” his dark comedy about a lower-class family that schemes to overtake a wealthy household. It was the first time that the Palme d’Or went to a Korean director, and many critics felt that it was the right decision: “Parasite” topped IndieWire’s annual critics survey of the best films at Cannes, with 50 critics participating from around the world.
The outcome marked the second year in a row that a Korean film topped the survey, following the first-place finish for Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning” in 2018.
“Parasite” also topped the category for best screenplay. For best director, however, another Cannes favorite ranked highly. French director Celine Sciamma topped that category with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which stars Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant as covert lovers in the 18th century.
The outcome marked the second year in a row that a Korean film topped the survey, following the first-place finish for Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning” in 2018.
“Parasite” also topped the category for best screenplay. For best director, however, another Cannes favorite ranked highly. French director Celine Sciamma topped that category with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which stars Adèle Haenel and Noémie Merlant as covert lovers in the 18th century.
- 5/28/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Héloïse bursts into the frame with her shoulders to the camera. She wears a long dress; it billows gently as she walks outside her house in 18th century Brittany and then flaps furiously as the walk turns into a run, her gracious figure thrust toward the cliffs and the ocean rumbling below–until the run stops, and in the time that lasts a hairsbreadth she turns her head back to the camera, smiles. It is the first time the luminous face of Adéle Haenel graces the screen in Céline Sciamma’s devastatingly beautiful Portrait of a Lady on Fire. And in a movie in which turning your head to look back acquires accrues a deeper, tragic meaning, it is a character-defining scene that thrums with the same spell-binding beauty of Denis Lavant’s last dance in Claire Denis’ Beau Travail.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a film of incandescent scenes and staggering wonder.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a film of incandescent scenes and staggering wonder.
- 5/28/2019
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
Hot off a widely well-received premiere this weekend — with IndieWire’s own David Ehrlich hailing it as “a painterly masterpiece” — Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” has locked down North American distribution, care of Neon and Hulu as part of their exclusive film and content output licensing agreement.
Neon will release the film this year, boasting a “traditional theatrical release” for the sumptuous period romance, and will also pursue an awards campaign in all categories. The boutique distributor reportedly beat out a number of other bidders, including both Sony Pictures Classics and Netflix.
In an official press release, Neon and Hulu brass shared, “From the moment we saw this beautiful and captivating love story, we knew we had to release this film. From Celine’s writing and directing, to the absolutely absorbing performances, we couldn’t be more excited for audiences to experience this sensationally moving piece...
Neon will release the film this year, boasting a “traditional theatrical release” for the sumptuous period romance, and will also pursue an awards campaign in all categories. The boutique distributor reportedly beat out a number of other bidders, including both Sony Pictures Classics and Netflix.
In an official press release, Neon and Hulu brass shared, “From the moment we saw this beautiful and captivating love story, we knew we had to release this film. From Celine’s writing and directing, to the absolutely absorbing performances, we couldn’t be more excited for audiences to experience this sensationally moving piece...
- 5/22/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
God, I love Céline Sciamma. The woman is a phenomenon. Tomboy dealt with the burgeoning sexuality of a ten-year-old who experiments with the notion of her gender. Girlhood (2014) screened in the Cannes Un Certain Regard section and focused on race, gender and class. In between those films and her latest feature, she wrote the screenplay for the utterly lovely animation My Life as a Zucchini. And now here she is in competition with the practically perfect Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Sciamma has moved far from the contemporary settings of her previous films, heading back in time to France in 1770. A female artist has been commissioned to paint the portrait of a young woman at her remote coastal home. Arriving by boat, the artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) loses her canvases in the sea. As the uncooperative, ineffectual men look on, she leaps into the water to retrieve her precious cargo.
Sciamma has moved far from the contemporary settings of her previous films, heading back in time to France in 1770. A female artist has been commissioned to paint the portrait of a young woman at her remote coastal home. Arriving by boat, the artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) loses her canvases in the sea. As the uncooperative, ineffectual men look on, she leaps into the water to retrieve her precious cargo.
- 5/20/2019
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Cannes whiz kid Xavier Dolan may be readying to premiere his latest film, “Matthias & Maxime,” at the French festival that helped put him on the map, but the Québécois creator appears to have already picked a winner for this year’s Palme d’Or. In a moving and effusive Instagram post, the “Laurence Anyways” and “Mommy” filmmaker hailed Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” as “magnificent” and a “powerful piece of cinema.” The film debuted to rave reviews this weekend, with IndieWire’s own David Ehrlich hailing it as “a painterly masterpiece.”
After completing a self-described trilogy of coming-of-age films — “Water Lilies,” “Tomboy,” and “Girlhood” — Cannes regular Sciamma has shifted her interests in the female experience to her first-ever period piece. Set on an isolated island during the latter half of the eighteenth century, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” features “Heaven Will Wait” star Noémie Merlant...
After completing a self-described trilogy of coming-of-age films — “Water Lilies,” “Tomboy,” and “Girlhood” — Cannes regular Sciamma has shifted her interests in the female experience to her first-ever period piece. Set on an isolated island during the latter half of the eighteenth century, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” features “Heaven Will Wait” star Noémie Merlant...
- 5/20/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The title of Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” implies that her subversively seductive film will focus on the subject of its titular painting — an 18th-century woman who refuses to pose, in defiance of the arranged marriage into which she’s being forced — when it’s just as much a portrait of the artist responsible. How fitting, when one considers that Sciamma, the writer-director of “Water Lilies,” has adoringly crafted this project for that film’s star, Adèle Haenel, who beguiles audiences here with all that’s hidden behind her Mona Lisa smile.
One of four female-made features to premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Portrait” dares to engage directly with the questions of representation and gender that seem to have flummoxed the film industry of late, broadening its focus to the subject of womanhood itself at a time documented almost exclusively by men.
One of four female-made features to premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Portrait” dares to engage directly with the questions of representation and gender that seem to have flummoxed the film industry of late, broadening its focus to the subject of womanhood itself at a time documented almost exclusively by men.
- 5/20/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Halfway through Céline Sciamma’s razor-sharp and shatteringly romantic “Portrait of a Lady Fire” — as perfect a film as any to have premiered this year — the three main characters sit around a candlelit dinner table and argue the meaning of what happened between Orpheus and Eurydice. More specifically, the point of contention hinges on what motivated Orpheus to ignore the instructions he was given and turn around to look at his love, even though he knew it would cause her to vanish from the world forever.
Sophie (Luàna Bajrami), a naïve young house servant, opts for the most literal interpretation of the ancient tale: She insists that Orpheus was an idiot. But Héloïse (a brilliant Adèle Haenel), the older, booksmart, but similarly inexperienced daughter of the absent widow who owns the place, awakens to a different understanding. To her mind, Orpheus was completely in control of his wits, he just...
Sophie (Luàna Bajrami), a naïve young house servant, opts for the most literal interpretation of the ancient tale: She insists that Orpheus was an idiot. But Héloïse (a brilliant Adèle Haenel), the older, booksmart, but similarly inexperienced daughter of the absent widow who owns the place, awakens to a different understanding. To her mind, Orpheus was completely in control of his wits, he just...
- 5/19/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Céline Sciamma made her name in 2007 with the coming of age/sexual awakening drama, “Water Lilies” which played in Cannes‘ Un Certain Regard section. It also launched the career of French actress Adèle Haenel who was nominated for France’s César Award for Most Promising Actress.
Read More: 2019 Cannes Film Festival: The 21 Most Anticipated Movies
The pair have also been in a romantic relationship for several years as well, but it’s taken 13 years for a proper cinematic reunion** which is ” Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” an intimate and deeply moving period drama that is set for a in-competition premiere at Cannes—one of only four films in competition that are directed by women.
Continue reading ‘Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’: Watch 3 Clips From Céline Sciamma’s Cannes Competition Film Stars Adèle Haenel at The Playlist.
Read More: 2019 Cannes Film Festival: The 21 Most Anticipated Movies
The pair have also been in a romantic relationship for several years as well, but it’s taken 13 years for a proper cinematic reunion** which is ” Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” an intimate and deeply moving period drama that is set for a in-competition premiere at Cannes—one of only four films in competition that are directed by women.
Continue reading ‘Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’: Watch 3 Clips From Céline Sciamma’s Cannes Competition Film Stars Adèle Haenel at The Playlist.
- 5/15/2019
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
Critic’s Week will be unveiling eleven feature films for the 2019 edition with 7 comp titles, and opener and a closer and a pair of Special Screenings. Adèle Haenel (her debut was in Céline Sciamma’s Water Lilies) will pretty much be a mainstay on the Croisette like Nicole Kidman was a year back. Haenel will be at the Directors’ Fortnight section with Deerskin and landed a spot in the main comp with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, but she’ll also be at the other end of the Croisette toplining the debut film by Aude Léa Rapin (Les héros ne meurent jamais).…...
- 4/22/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
One year after 82 of the film industry’s biggest names stood in protest on the red carpet, and the Cannes Film Festival signed a pledge designed to increase gender equality, its programmers made a small step forward: Four female filmmakers have been programmed in an Official Competition so far comprised of 19 titles. It’s a new high for a festival that has hosted 1,645 competition titles from men over its storied history and just 82 from women. The festival plans to add more films in the days ahead, but for now, the change remains incremental.
With today’s announcement of the Competition lineup, this year’s slate boasts the highest percentage of female filmmakers (21 percent) over the last 19 years, besting the former frontrunner of 2011, when four out of 20 competing films were made by women (20 percent). That year came only after a series of notable inequities: In 2010 and 2005, there were no women in the competition lineup.
With today’s announcement of the Competition lineup, this year’s slate boasts the highest percentage of female filmmakers (21 percent) over the last 19 years, besting the former frontrunner of 2011, when four out of 20 competing films were made by women (20 percent). That year came only after a series of notable inequities: In 2010 and 2005, there were no women in the competition lineup.
- 4/18/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
mk2 films has scored major sales across its slate, including on Céline Sciamma’s female-driven period drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” an 18th century-set drama that is expected to premiere in Cannes. Other sales standouts on mK2’s slate include “Arab Blues,” “Varda by Agnes” and “The Whistlers.”
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” marks Sciamma’s fourth feature after the critically acclaimed “Girlhood,” “Tomboy” and “Water Lilies.” mk2 unveiled first footage from the new movie in Berlin at the European Film Market, and sealed deals for the U.K. (Curzon Artificial Eye), Spain (Karma Films), Benelux (Cinéart), and Sweden (Folkets Bio).
Produced by Lilies Films, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” stars Adèle Haenel (“Bpm”) as Heloise, a reluctant bride-to-be who has just left the convent, and follows her relationship with Marianne (Noémie Merlant), a painter who has been commissioned to do her wedding portrait. Intimacy and...
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” marks Sciamma’s fourth feature after the critically acclaimed “Girlhood,” “Tomboy” and “Water Lilies.” mk2 unveiled first footage from the new movie in Berlin at the European Film Market, and sealed deals for the U.K. (Curzon Artificial Eye), Spain (Karma Films), Benelux (Cinéart), and Sweden (Folkets Bio).
Produced by Lilies Films, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” stars Adèle Haenel (“Bpm”) as Heloise, a reluctant bride-to-be who has just left the convent, and follows her relationship with Marianne (Noémie Merlant), a painter who has been commissioned to do her wedding portrait. Intimacy and...
- 2/11/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Portrait of the Girl on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
French director Céline Sciamma ends her five year hiatus from directing with her fourth project, Portrait of the Girl on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu), which will reunite her with Adele Haenel, who starred in Sciamma’s 2007 debut Water Lilies. The project will be Sciamma’s first period piece after delivering a trilogy of films which dealt primarily with explorations of how gender and sexuality defined parameters for adolescents. The project will also feature celebrated Italian actress Valeria Golino. Veronique Cayla (Nymphomaniac: Vol.…...
French director Céline Sciamma ends her five year hiatus from directing with her fourth project, Portrait of the Girl on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu), which will reunite her with Adele Haenel, who starred in Sciamma’s 2007 debut Water Lilies. The project will be Sciamma’s first period piece after delivering a trilogy of films which dealt primarily with explorations of how gender and sexuality defined parameters for adolescents. The project will also feature celebrated Italian actress Valeria Golino. Veronique Cayla (Nymphomaniac: Vol.…...
- 1/7/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Sciamma’s previous films are Girlhood, Tomboy and Water Lilies.
Paris-based mk2 films has boarded international sales on Céline Sciamma’s upcoming period drama Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Passenger as it revs up for the autumn festival and market circuit.
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, which is currently in pre-production for a late autumn shoot, will be French director and writer Sciamma’s fourth feature after awarding winning productions Girlhood, Tomboy and Water Lilies.
Set in the 18th century, the new film revolves around the relationship between Héloïse, a reluctant bride to...
Paris-based mk2 films has boarded international sales on Céline Sciamma’s upcoming period drama Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Passenger as it revs up for the autumn festival and market circuit.
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, which is currently in pre-production for a late autumn shoot, will be French director and writer Sciamma’s fourth feature after awarding winning productions Girlhood, Tomboy and Water Lilies.
Set in the 18th century, the new film revolves around the relationship between Héloïse, a reluctant bride to...
- 8/28/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Susanna Nicchiarelli on Trine Dyrholm, the star of Thomas Vinterberg's Festen and The Commune: "I wanted to work with her because she's one of my favourite actresses." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second half of my conversation with Nico, 1988 director/screenwriter Susanna Nicchiarelli at The Roxy Hotel, we discuss how Trine Dyrholm worked on the character, going into the studio to record Nico's songs, the look from costume designers Francesca Vecchi and Roberta Vecchi, and Nico's sense of irony.
Trine Dyrholm will be on this year's Venice International Film Festival jury, headed by Guillermo del Toro along with Nicole Garcia, Taika Waititi, Naomi Watts, Sylvia Chang, Christoph Waltz, Paolo Genovese, and Malgorzata Szumowska.
Susanna Nicchiarelli on Trine Dyrholm the singer: "We took Nico's songs and went in the studio, she sang them and the character came out of there with the body language." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Dyrholm as...
In the second half of my conversation with Nico, 1988 director/screenwriter Susanna Nicchiarelli at The Roxy Hotel, we discuss how Trine Dyrholm worked on the character, going into the studio to record Nico's songs, the look from costume designers Francesca Vecchi and Roberta Vecchi, and Nico's sense of irony.
Trine Dyrholm will be on this year's Venice International Film Festival jury, headed by Guillermo del Toro along with Nicole Garcia, Taika Waititi, Naomi Watts, Sylvia Chang, Christoph Waltz, Paolo Genovese, and Malgorzata Szumowska.
Susanna Nicchiarelli on Trine Dyrholm the singer: "We took Nico's songs and went in the studio, she sang them and the character came out of there with the body language." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Dyrholm as...
- 8/2/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
“Please don’t confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them,” sings German model-actress-musician Nico on 1967’s Jackson Browne-penned “These Days,” one of her signature post-Velvet Underground songs. It opens Susanna Nicchiarelli’s third feature, “Nico, 1988,” an exploration of the cult star’s final two years before her death at age 49, and the song’s mournful rumination on regret is tailor-made for the story.
Nico hates being called by that stage name, even though by 1986 when the film begins, it’s her last remaining meal ticket. Born Christa Päffgen in 1930s Germany, she has never been famous in the traditional sense. A teenage model who became one of Andy Warhol’s “superstars,” appearing in a handful of his experimental films, she sang three songs on an album, “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” that few people knew about at the time of its initial release, but grew in stature and influence years later.
Nico hates being called by that stage name, even though by 1986 when the film begins, it’s her last remaining meal ticket. Born Christa Päffgen in 1930s Germany, she has never been famous in the traditional sense. A teenage model who became one of Andy Warhol’s “superstars,” appearing in a handful of his experimental films, she sang three songs on an album, “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” that few people knew about at the time of its initial release, but grew in stature and influence years later.
- 8/1/2018
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
Susanna Nicchiarelli on Nico's relationship with Alain Delon: "I don't mention him because I don't mention any of the men she was with except Jim Morrison. I think people's lives are much more complex than what movies usually tell us, especially biopics." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Nico, 1988, a highlight of the Tribeca Film Festival and the Best Film Horizons Award winner at the Venice Film Festival, stars Trine Dyrholm as Christa Päffgen. "This is Berlin, my darling, it's burning," says a mother to her daughter. The child is to become Andy Warhol and Velvet Underground icon Nico.
Susanna Nicchiarelli's extraordinary film, shot by Crystel Fournier is not about those most famous years (which flash onto the screen in snippets of archival footage), nor, with the exception of a few flashbacks, about her war time and postwar German childhood. In Nico, 1988 the focus is on 1986 and the following years when she...
Nico, 1988, a highlight of the Tribeca Film Festival and the Best Film Horizons Award winner at the Venice Film Festival, stars Trine Dyrholm as Christa Päffgen. "This is Berlin, my darling, it's burning," says a mother to her daughter. The child is to become Andy Warhol and Velvet Underground icon Nico.
Susanna Nicchiarelli's extraordinary film, shot by Crystel Fournier is not about those most famous years (which flash onto the screen in snippets of archival footage), nor, with the exception of a few flashbacks, about her war time and postwar German childhood. In Nico, 1988 the focus is on 1986 and the following years when she...
- 5/3/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Tom Tykwer's "Three"
The complete line-up of films for this year’s Berlinale has just been announced. This time next week, I’ll be reporting for The Moving Arts Journal direct from Berlin. In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of some of the films I’m most excited about: the latest work of excellent directors.
Three by Tom Tykwer
Among Germany’s best-known contemporary directors, Tykwer gained international attention in 1998 with Run Lola Run. He continued to build a solid reputation with The Princess and the Warrior (2000), Heaven (2002), and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006). His films are marked by their visual innovation, offering the audience a thrillingly unexpected point of view on the action. Two years ago, the Berlin Film Festival opened with Tykwer’s The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. According to the Berlinale programme Tykwer’s latest film, Three, focuses on our...
The complete line-up of films for this year’s Berlinale has just been announced. This time next week, I’ll be reporting for The Moving Arts Journal direct from Berlin. In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of some of the films I’m most excited about: the latest work of excellent directors.
Three by Tom Tykwer
Among Germany’s best-known contemporary directors, Tykwer gained international attention in 1998 with Run Lola Run. He continued to build a solid reputation with The Princess and the Warrior (2000), Heaven (2002), and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006). His films are marked by their visual innovation, offering the audience a thrillingly unexpected point of view on the action. Two years ago, the Berlin Film Festival opened with Tykwer’s The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. According to the Berlinale programme Tykwer’s latest film, Three, focuses on our...
- 2/4/2011
- by Alison Frank
- The Moving Arts Journal
Koch Lorber Films
NEW YORK -- This French feature takes a dispassionate look at teenage lesbianism and female rites-of-passage issues. The clinical approach, while short on emotional displays, successfully illustrates the anxiety, worry and cruelty experienced on the road to adulthood.
Water Lilies, by debuting French director Celine Sciamma, should receive good notices at festivals but is probably too introspective and rootless to do much business in theaters stateside. Koch Lorber will release it in the U.S. after its American premiere at New York's New Directors, New Films Festival. The film also will play in the City of Lights, City of Angels festival in April in Los Angeles.
The story by Sciamma revolves around a group of suburban French teenage girls who belong to a synchronized swimming group. Marie (Pauline Acquart) is on the cusp of discovering her sexuality and hangs around the changing rooms hoping to convince the slightly older Floriane (Adele Haenel) to let her join the exhibition team. Floriane has problems of her own: The boy she's dating thinks that she's sexually experienced, but she's really a virgin. Floriane asks Marie to deflower her to disguise this fact, and, in a scene of carefully rendered awkwardness, she does. Soon the relationships between these characters change.
Sciamma delivers a precise piece of cinema. The script is pared down, shots and editing are neat and nothing is extraneous to character or story. She includes few adult characters in the film, and this successfully reflects the often closed world of adolescent relationships. Acquart, Haenel and Louise Blachere -- who plays Marie's tough but devoted best friend -- handle some very difficult sexual subject matter with commitment. Although a little too open-ended to be wholly satisfying, Water Lilies is still an excellent directorial debut.
NEW YORK -- This French feature takes a dispassionate look at teenage lesbianism and female rites-of-passage issues. The clinical approach, while short on emotional displays, successfully illustrates the anxiety, worry and cruelty experienced on the road to adulthood.
Water Lilies, by debuting French director Celine Sciamma, should receive good notices at festivals but is probably too introspective and rootless to do much business in theaters stateside. Koch Lorber will release it in the U.S. after its American premiere at New York's New Directors, New Films Festival. The film also will play in the City of Lights, City of Angels festival in April in Los Angeles.
The story by Sciamma revolves around a group of suburban French teenage girls who belong to a synchronized swimming group. Marie (Pauline Acquart) is on the cusp of discovering her sexuality and hangs around the changing rooms hoping to convince the slightly older Floriane (Adele Haenel) to let her join the exhibition team. Floriane has problems of her own: The boy she's dating thinks that she's sexually experienced, but she's really a virgin. Floriane asks Marie to deflower her to disguise this fact, and, in a scene of carefully rendered awkwardness, she does. Soon the relationships between these characters change.
Sciamma delivers a precise piece of cinema. The script is pared down, shots and editing are neat and nothing is extraneous to character or story. She includes few adult characters in the film, and this successfully reflects the often closed world of adolescent relationships. Acquart, Haenel and Louise Blachere -- who plays Marie's tough but devoted best friend -- handle some very difficult sexual subject matter with commitment. Although a little too open-ended to be wholly satisfying, Water Lilies is still an excellent directorial debut.
- 3/19/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- One among the many film that I didn’t get the op to see at this year’s Cannes, and now thanks to Koch Lorber Films and Red Envelope Entertainment, I’ll get my second chance. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the pair will distribute the film - Koch Lorber plans to screen the film in several U.S. fests before an early 2008 New York release, followed by a national theatrical rollout. Red Envelope parent company Netflix will offer a day-and-date video release with Koch Lorber DVD later next year.Waterlilies (Naissance des Pieuvres) is writer-director Céline Sciamma's first film –it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section. This coming-of-age drama is set during the summer in a new suburb outside Paris. Nothing to do but look at the ceiling. Marie, Anne and Floriane are 15. Their paths cross in the corridors at the local swimming pool, where love and desire make a sudden,
- 6/27/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
NEW YORK -- Koch Lorber Films and Red Envelope Entertainment have acquired all North American rights to the French coming-of-age drama Water Lilies (La Naissance des pieuvres).
Writer-director Celine Sciamma's first film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Festival de Cannes this May. It follows the romantic trials and tribulations of three teen girls on a synchronized swimming team near Paris. Lilies stars Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachere and Adele Haenel, and was produced by Jerome Dopffer and Benedicte Couvreur.
Koch Lorber plans to screen the film in several U.S. fests before an early 2008 New York release, followed by a national theatrical rollout. Red Envelope parent company Netflix will offer a day-and-date video release with Koch Lorber DVD later next year.
Koch Lorber head Rochard Lorber and Red Envelope head of acquisitions and distribution Liesl Copland negotiated the deal for theatrical, home entertainment, television and digital rights with Film Distribution's Nicolas Brigaud-Robert and Didar Domehri.
Writer-director Celine Sciamma's first film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Festival de Cannes this May. It follows the romantic trials and tribulations of three teen girls on a synchronized swimming team near Paris. Lilies stars Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachere and Adele Haenel, and was produced by Jerome Dopffer and Benedicte Couvreur.
Koch Lorber plans to screen the film in several U.S. fests before an early 2008 New York release, followed by a national theatrical rollout. Red Envelope parent company Netflix will offer a day-and-date video release with Koch Lorber DVD later next year.
Koch Lorber head Rochard Lorber and Red Envelope head of acquisitions and distribution Liesl Copland negotiated the deal for theatrical, home entertainment, television and digital rights with Film Distribution's Nicolas Brigaud-Robert and Didar Domehri.
- 6/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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