Pauline at the Beach: Fitoussi’s Breezy Caper Good for a Laugh
Director Marc Fitoussi seems inclined toward breezy-haired, bauble headed gamines that get jostled around like seaweed in unpredictable waters. While his 2010 film Copacabana was a notable comedy starring Isabelle Huppert as the comic foil (rather than the ‘straight man’ for once), his latest reunites him with Sandrine Kiberlain, who starred in his 2007 debut, La Vie D’Artist. It’s quite easy to see why he’s attracted such talents as he seems to have a knack for an offbeat drollery with actresses that seem unconventional leads in a comedic vehicle. Inconsequential? Perhaps. But there’s an undeniable delight in watching his funny ladies as they cross in and out of slight frippery. While his features are hard to get a hold of in the Us, possibly because of their very slightness, his latest, like his others, is certainly...
Director Marc Fitoussi seems inclined toward breezy-haired, bauble headed gamines that get jostled around like seaweed in unpredictable waters. While his 2010 film Copacabana was a notable comedy starring Isabelle Huppert as the comic foil (rather than the ‘straight man’ for once), his latest reunites him with Sandrine Kiberlain, who starred in his 2007 debut, La Vie D’Artist. It’s quite easy to see why he’s attracted such talents as he seems to have a knack for an offbeat drollery with actresses that seem unconventional leads in a comedic vehicle. Inconsequential? Perhaps. But there’s an undeniable delight in watching his funny ladies as they cross in and out of slight frippery. While his features are hard to get a hold of in the Us, possibly because of their very slightness, his latest, like his others, is certainly...
- 1/8/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
TV5MONDE rings in 2011 avec Brigitte Bardot in .Cette Sacree Gamine" (Naughty Girl). All films include English subtitles, and TV5MONDE is available in your area via your local cable provider and Dish Network. L'Heure Zeró (Towards Zero)January 9, 8:30pm Et/5:30pm Pt At the family get-together at Aunt Camilla.s, Guillame (Mevil Poupard) is hoping to ease the tension between his current wife Aude (Chiara Mastroiani) and his ex-wife, Caroline (Laura Smet). When old Aunt Camilla (Danielle Derrieux) is found dead in her bedroom, Inspector Bataille (François Morel) is called in to solve the mystery. The inspector begins to uncover dark family secrets, and a suspicion that a family member may be the murderer. Cette Sacree Gamine (Naughty Girl)Tuesday,...
- 12/29/2010
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
For the fifth year running, we tally up the Other Year's Best -- the films that made it to DVD (or onto U.S. home video in any format) but not to theatrical, which generally meant they posed too much of a marketing challenge. As in, the films were either too odd, too original, too archival, too subtle, too something. DVDs still stand as our go-to B-movie-distribution stream of choice, although as I've barked every year, video debuts are still not eligible for any year-end toasts or trophies. Except ours.
10. "Parking" (Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan) At first blush a Taiwanese riff on "After Hours," this measured little odyssey is more realistic, evoking those all-night odysseys we've all had, when time evaporates and tiny logistical dilemmas drive us insane and eventually it's morning and something about our lives is different. Chung doesn't spring for laughs when you think he will -- he holds back,...
10. "Parking" (Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan) At first blush a Taiwanese riff on "After Hours," this measured little odyssey is more realistic, evoking those all-night odysseys we've all had, when time evaporates and tiny logistical dilemmas drive us insane and eventually it's morning and something about our lives is different. Chung doesn't spring for laughs when you think he will -- he holds back,...
- 12/9/2010
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Chicago – The third week of the 12th Annual EU Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center is nearly upon us and we’re back to give you an idea of what to expect in the second half of arguably the best fest in the Windy City. We feature great new films from Ireland, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
The first half of EU 2009 (which you can read about here and here) produced some excellent films including Ireland’s “Kisses,” Denmark’s “Worlds Apart,” and France’s “Shall We Kiss?” There’s nothing that we’ve seen that’s quite as notable as “Kisses” or “Worlds Apart,” the two best of the fest through week three, but there is a quartet of films well worth seeing this weekend. Get your calendar out and take notes.
You’re going to be busy on Saturday with a dark trio of quality films - Denmarks “Fear Me Not,...
The first half of EU 2009 (which you can read about here and here) produced some excellent films including Ireland’s “Kisses,” Denmark’s “Worlds Apart,” and France’s “Shall We Kiss?” There’s nothing that we’ve seen that’s quite as notable as “Kisses” or “Worlds Apart,” the two best of the fest through week three, but there is a quartet of films well worth seeing this weekend. Get your calendar out and take notes.
You’re going to be busy on Saturday with a dark trio of quality films - Denmarks “Fear Me Not,...
- 3/18/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A new instalment of Agatha Christie's Marple triumphed in the ratings last night (Sunday), according to early figures. 'Towards Zero', which featured guest appearances from Eileen Atkins and Paul Nicholls, averaged 5.49m (23.9%) for ITV1 between 8pm and 10pm. BBC One's biographical drama Miss Potter, starring Renée Zellweger as Beatrix Potter, drew a still-respectable 5.08m (22.2%) from 8pm to 9.30pm. The top show of the day was ITV1's Heartbeat, which drew 5.95m (30%) in the 7pm hour. On BBC One at the same time, 3.89m (19.6%) watched the tribute show Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army and on BBC Two, a repeat of Dragons' Den interested 1.65m (8.3%). A Top Gear repeat had 2.96m (13.2%) for BBC Two at 8pm, easily outdoing Channel 4's BodyShock repeat (more)...
- 8/4/2008
- by By Neil Wilkes
- Digital Spy
Stars including Richard E. Grant, Alan Davies and Amanda Burton are to appear in the final two Miss Marple dramas with Geraldine McEwan. ITV has released details of Nemesis and Towards Zero, the last instalments filmed with McEwan before her retirement. Nemesis, which will air in August, sees Miss Marple sent on a coach tour in a message from a recently deceased man named (more)...
- 7/7/2008
- by By Dave West
- Digital Spy
PARIS -- Two years after bringing to the screen By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Pascal Thomas adapts another story by Agatha Christie, Towards Zero ("L'heure zero").
Among fans of the British crime novelist, Zero is considered one of her greatest achievements. The impressive cast of the film -- composed of a French classic actress (Danielle Darrieux), a renowned comedian (Francois Morel) and several young talents usually dedicated to auteur films (Laura Smet, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud), among others -- added to a widespread taste for crime stories, should attract interested audiences in Europe and could open world sales to this witty and enjoyable movie.
The young Guillaume Neuville (Poupaud) has the strange idea to invite both his wife, the hot-blooded Caroline (Smet), and his ex-wife, the delicate and shy Aude (Mastroianni), to spend a summer in the seaside house of his aunt Camilla (Darrieux). Tension arises until the fatal moment of a terrible calculated murder.
Although Thomas and his co-writers moved the action from 1944 England to contemporary Brittany, France, the key idea to the story remains the same, as expressed by an old judge in the opening sequence: Crime stories are usually disappointing because they explain a murder that takes place at the beginning of the story (or even in some cases beforehand). The crime in Zerowill be committed at the end, "zero" being the exact moment of the crime toward which all the characters are converging. This unique approach confers the film a melancholic tone that Thomas cleverly balances with humorous touches.
Darrieux, whose career has resumed after her 2002 comeback in Francois Ozon's 8 Women, is as imperial as ever as the old aunt who favors one of his nephew's wives and despises the other. Poupaud has a lot of fun in playing a typical seducer, half delightful and half arrogant. Mastroianni is perfectly cast, with her diaphanous skin and her ethereal look, as the pure wife who was unfairly abandoned.
Morel, who had a huge success on French television and stage in the '90s, has a subtle approach to the character of the detective solving the multiple enigmas of the story. Finally, Laura Smet gives her finest performance to date. She literally bursts on the screen every time she appears. As the eccentric and extraverted second wife, she talks, shouts, screams, dances and moves with an enchanting touch of madness.
Charming, intriguing and witty, Towards Zero is also a dark portrait of the human soul.
TOWARDS ZERO
Les Films Francais/France 2 Cinema/StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Pascal Thomas
Screenwriters: Clemence de Bieville, Francois Caviglioli, Roland Duval, Nathalie Lafaurie
Based on the novel by: Agatha Christie
Producers: Nathalie Lafaurie, Hubert Watrinet, Bernadette Zinck
Director of photography: Renan Polles
Production designer: Katia Wyszkop
Costume designer: Catherine Bouchard
Editors: Catherine Dubeau, Marie De La Selle, Elena Mano
Music: Reinhardt Wagner
Cast:
Commissaire Martin Bataille: Francois Morel
Camilla Tressilian: Danielle Darrieux
Guillaume Neuville: Melvil Poupaud
Caroline Neuville: Laura Smet
Aude Neuville: Chiara Mastroianni
Marie Adeline: Alessandra Martines
Thomas Rondeau: Clement Thomas
Running time -- 107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Among fans of the British crime novelist, Zero is considered one of her greatest achievements. The impressive cast of the film -- composed of a French classic actress (Danielle Darrieux), a renowned comedian (Francois Morel) and several young talents usually dedicated to auteur films (Laura Smet, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud), among others -- added to a widespread taste for crime stories, should attract interested audiences in Europe and could open world sales to this witty and enjoyable movie.
The young Guillaume Neuville (Poupaud) has the strange idea to invite both his wife, the hot-blooded Caroline (Smet), and his ex-wife, the delicate and shy Aude (Mastroianni), to spend a summer in the seaside house of his aunt Camilla (Darrieux). Tension arises until the fatal moment of a terrible calculated murder.
Although Thomas and his co-writers moved the action from 1944 England to contemporary Brittany, France, the key idea to the story remains the same, as expressed by an old judge in the opening sequence: Crime stories are usually disappointing because they explain a murder that takes place at the beginning of the story (or even in some cases beforehand). The crime in Zerowill be committed at the end, "zero" being the exact moment of the crime toward which all the characters are converging. This unique approach confers the film a melancholic tone that Thomas cleverly balances with humorous touches.
Darrieux, whose career has resumed after her 2002 comeback in Francois Ozon's 8 Women, is as imperial as ever as the old aunt who favors one of his nephew's wives and despises the other. Poupaud has a lot of fun in playing a typical seducer, half delightful and half arrogant. Mastroianni is perfectly cast, with her diaphanous skin and her ethereal look, as the pure wife who was unfairly abandoned.
Morel, who had a huge success on French television and stage in the '90s, has a subtle approach to the character of the detective solving the multiple enigmas of the story. Finally, Laura Smet gives her finest performance to date. She literally bursts on the screen every time she appears. As the eccentric and extraverted second wife, she talks, shouts, screams, dances and moves with an enchanting touch of madness.
Charming, intriguing and witty, Towards Zero is also a dark portrait of the human soul.
TOWARDS ZERO
Les Films Francais/France 2 Cinema/StudioCanal
Credits:
Director: Pascal Thomas
Screenwriters: Clemence de Bieville, Francois Caviglioli, Roland Duval, Nathalie Lafaurie
Based on the novel by: Agatha Christie
Producers: Nathalie Lafaurie, Hubert Watrinet, Bernadette Zinck
Director of photography: Renan Polles
Production designer: Katia Wyszkop
Costume designer: Catherine Bouchard
Editors: Catherine Dubeau, Marie De La Selle, Elena Mano
Music: Reinhardt Wagner
Cast:
Commissaire Martin Bataille: Francois Morel
Camilla Tressilian: Danielle Darrieux
Guillaume Neuville: Melvil Poupaud
Caroline Neuville: Laura Smet
Aude Neuville: Chiara Mastroianni
Marie Adeline: Alessandra Martines
Thomas Rondeau: Clement Thomas
Running time -- 107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 11/2/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe took the top prize at the 18th Dinard Festival of British Cinema, which wrapped Sunday in the Brittany resort town.
A jury led by French actress Josiane Balasko and including actresses Linh Dan Pham, Sylvie Testud and Cecile Cassel bestowed the Hitchcock d'Or Grand Prize upon Mackenzie's coming-of-age comedy, which stars Jamie Bell as a 17 year-old misfit mourning his mother's sudden death who spies on the world from his treehouse.
The jury gave an honorable mention to John Carney's musical comedy Once, which took the audience award this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
"Foe" also went home with the Hitchcock Blanc, Kodak Limited prize for best photo direction.
Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane won the Grand Marnier Lapostolle award for best screenplay and the Hitchcock d'Argent audience award.
Lenny Abrahamson's Garage was awarded the Hitchcock de Bronze prize, which provides distribution to the winner in 40 movie theaters in the west of France.
The British Council gave it's 1,500 ($2,123) "Entente Cordiale" award for the best short film made by a graduate of French film school to Marcal Fores' Friends Forever.
The four-day festival kicked off Thursday with Ken Loach's It's a Free World and closed Sunday with Pascal Thomas' Gallic title L'heure zero.
A jury led by French actress Josiane Balasko and including actresses Linh Dan Pham, Sylvie Testud and Cecile Cassel bestowed the Hitchcock d'Or Grand Prize upon Mackenzie's coming-of-age comedy, which stars Jamie Bell as a 17 year-old misfit mourning his mother's sudden death who spies on the world from his treehouse.
The jury gave an honorable mention to John Carney's musical comedy Once, which took the audience award this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
"Foe" also went home with the Hitchcock Blanc, Kodak Limited prize for best photo direction.
Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane won the Grand Marnier Lapostolle award for best screenplay and the Hitchcock d'Argent audience award.
Lenny Abrahamson's Garage was awarded the Hitchcock de Bronze prize, which provides distribution to the winner in 40 movie theaters in the west of France.
The British Council gave it's 1,500 ($2,123) "Entente Cordiale" award for the best short film made by a graduate of French film school to Marcal Fores' Friends Forever.
The four-day festival kicked off Thursday with Ken Loach's It's a Free World and closed Sunday with Pascal Thomas' Gallic title L'heure zero.
- 10/9/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 18th Dinard Festival of British Film, which unspools in the Brittany resort Oct. 4-7, will open with Ken Loach's It's a Free World, organizers said Wednesday.
The four-day event will see six U.K. movies vie for the fest's top prize. Competition titles this year include David McEnzie's Hallam Foe, Julian Jarrold's Jane, Asif Kapadia's Far North, Mark Jenkin's The Midnight Drive, Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane and John Carney's Once.
Gallic actress and director Josiane Balasko will lead a jury composed of fellow French female thesps Cecile Cassel, Linh Dan Pham, Claire Nebout and Sylvie Testud, actor Robin Renucci, comedian Laurent Gerra, British actress Imelda Staunton and documentary filmmaker Michael Grigsby.
Loach's Free World will open the fest and Pascal Thomas' Gallic title L'Heure Zero will close it.
Dinard-bound cinephiles will also be treated to 20 French premieres including such titles as Anthony Byrne's How About You, Kevin Macdonald's documentary Mon Meilleur Ennemi and Lenny Abrahamson's Garage. The public will vote on a short film prize awarded by the British Council.
Shane Meadows and his producer Marc Herbert will be in the spotlight with films This is England, Dead Man's Shoes, A Room for Romeo Brass, Twenty 4 Seven" and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands."...
The four-day event will see six U.K. movies vie for the fest's top prize. Competition titles this year include David McEnzie's Hallam Foe, Julian Jarrold's Jane, Asif Kapadia's Far North, Mark Jenkin's The Midnight Drive, Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane and John Carney's Once.
Gallic actress and director Josiane Balasko will lead a jury composed of fellow French female thesps Cecile Cassel, Linh Dan Pham, Claire Nebout and Sylvie Testud, actor Robin Renucci, comedian Laurent Gerra, British actress Imelda Staunton and documentary filmmaker Michael Grigsby.
Loach's Free World will open the fest and Pascal Thomas' Gallic title L'Heure Zero will close it.
Dinard-bound cinephiles will also be treated to 20 French premieres including such titles as Anthony Byrne's How About You, Kevin Macdonald's documentary Mon Meilleur Ennemi and Lenny Abrahamson's Garage. The public will vote on a short film prize awarded by the British Council.
Shane Meadows and his producer Marc Herbert will be in the spotlight with films This is England, Dead Man's Shoes, A Room for Romeo Brass, Twenty 4 Seven" and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands."...
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