Stars: Anne Parillaud, Tchéky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Patrick Fontana, Alain Lathière, Laura Chéron, Stéphane Fey | Written and Directed by Luc Besson

Nikita, aka La Femme Nikita, directed by Luc Besson, is a gripping and stylish blend of action, thriller, and emotional depth. The film tells the story of Nikita, a young, rebellious woman (played by Anne Parillaud) who is given a second chance at life after being sentenced to death for killing a police officer. Instead of facing her fate, she is recruited by a covert government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin.

The narrative revolves around Nikita’s transformation from a streetwise criminal into a sleek, efficient killer, under the watchful eye of her ruthless handler Bob (Tchéky Karyo). What sets Nikita apart from typical action films is its focus on identity, morality, and the cost of violence. Nikita’s evolution is not just physical but psychological,...

Before Buffy, there was Nikita. French filmmaker Luc Besson’s fifth film caused an international stir as he provided the world with a female protagonist with a dark edge reflecting the times. His 1990 film, La Femme Nikita, proved such a smash that it was remade in America as Point of No Return and spawned a Canadian television series (1997-2001) and Nakita, the CW series (2010-2013).

Anne Parillaud’s depiction of a woman given a second chance was mesmerizing and unforgettable, giving the movie an enduring appeal. As part of Sony Home Entertainment’s 100th-anniversary celebration, the original film is now available in an upgraded 4k Uhd steel book edition.

We watch the transformation of a juvenile delinquent, guilty of killing a police officer during a robbery, taken by a secret government organization that faked her death. For three years, she is weaned off her drug addiction and trained and transformed into Nikita,...

Prime Video has announced the full cast for action comedy show “Costiera” set on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast being directed by Emmy-winner Adam Bernstein and featuring Jesse Williams (“Take Me Out”) as the lead.

The ensemble cast for the English-language series being co-produced by Amazon Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide comprises British actor Jordan Alexandra; Spain’s Alejandra Onieva (“Alta Mar”); Italy’s Maria Chiara Giannetta (“Blanca”); Antonio Gerardi; Tommaso Ragno (“Nostalgia”); Amanda Campana; Pierpaolo Spollon; Britain’s Sam Haygarth (“Jojo Rabbit”); and France’s Jean-Hugues Anglade (“Sink or Swim”).

In “Costiera” – which started shooting in Italy in late February and is expected to wrap at the end of May – Williams is playing an Italian-American former Marine named Daniel De Luca, who is a problem solver in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world in the picturesque Amalfi Coast town of Positano. He is a...

Synopsis

From director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) comes the must-see thriller about a vicious street punk turned sexy, sophisticated, and lethally dangerous assassin. Starring Anne Parillaud, Jeanne Moreau, and Jean Reno, La Femme Nikita is “slick, stylish, and tremendously entertaining” (The New York Times)! Rescued from death row by a top-secret agency, Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is slowly transformed from a cop-killing junkie into a cold-blooded bombshell with a license to kill. But when she begins the deadliest mission of her career, only to fall for a man who knows nothing of her true identity, Nikita discovers that in the dark and ruthless world of espionage, the greatest casualty of all…is true love.

Disc Details And Bonus Materials

4K Ultra HD Disc

• Restored from the original camera negative and presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision

• French & English 5.1 + French 2-Channel Surround

This 4K Uhd release does not include a...

Stars: Samuel LeBihan, Amir El Kacem, Jean-Hughes Anglade, Thomas Solivérès, Diego Martín, Marc Riso, Bruno Sanches | Written and Directed by Mathieu Turi

It’s 1856, and in the historic coal mines of Northern France, a group of miners find themselves trapped in the subterranean depths after a cave-in. But they soon realise they are not alone… Decades later, veteran miner Roland is forced by management to accompany Professor Berthier underground to take samples and measurements. A sudden landslide prevents them from surfacing, and they, too, must face the ancient mutant that constantly craves blood.

Miners in 50s France come face to face with a monstrous disciple of The Old One, which has recently been a major trope in horror cinema – it seems whilst the work of Lovecraft is unfilmable, homaging it is not. We’ve had films like The Deep Ones, The Old Ones, The Lighthouse et al and now this...

FrightFest, the UK’s No.1 horror fantasy event, returns to the renowned Glasgow Film Festival for its 19th year, from Thursday 7th March to Saturday 9th March 2024. This year’s diverse and creative line-up, once again housed at the iconic Glasgow Film Theatre, showcases the latest new releases from the horror, chiller and fantastic realms by auteurs from all over the globe who are not only transforming the genre in exciting ways but also celebrating its consistent appeal at the box office. This year we will be presenting twelve films from eight countries, spanning three continents, including two world and eight UK premieres.

FrightFest kicks off in thrilling style on Thurs 7 March with a special UK premiere screening of twisted terror tale You’LL Never Find Me, a bold directorial debut from Australian filmmaking duo Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell and featuring outstanding central performances from Jordan Cowan & Brendan Rock.

FrightFest’s...

Exclusive: Screamfest Horror Film Festival has unveiled the first-wave lineup for its 23rd edition, taking place at the Tcl Chinese Theatre from October 10-19, announcing that it will kick off with a screening of Eddie Alcazar’s much-discussed Sundance 2023 mind-bender Divinity.

Tickets to the fest go on sale soon.

Set in an otherworldly human existence, Divinity follows scientist Sterling Pierce (Scott Bakula), who has dedicated his life to the quest for immortality, as he slowly creates the building blocks of a groundbreaking serum named Divinity. Jaxxon Pierce (Stephen Dorff), his son, then comes to control and manufacture his father’s once-benevolent dream. When two mysterious brothers (Moises Arias and Jason Genao) arrive with a plan to abduct the mogul, with the help of a seductive woman named Nikita (Karrueche Tran), they will be set on a path hurtling toward true immortality. Also starring Bella Thorne, Michael O’Hearn and Emily Willis,...

Few fears are more universal than claustrophobia. Many of us have probably experienced that twinge of anxiety when elevator doors close behind us, but few of us have likely ever been down in the depths of a coal mine, where the elements at play have a potentially fatal outcome. This fear is what writer/director Mathieu Turi tries to tap into in The Deep Dark, to moderately successful results.

Following an 1856-set prologue in which a group of miners encounters a mysterious creature before an explosion traps them all underground, we are propelled forward 100 years to 1956, where Amir (Amir El Kacem) leaves his home country of Morocco out of financial necessity. He is sent to Pas-de-Calais to work in the worst mine in France, known as the Devil’s Island. Shortly after his orientation, he’s assigned to a group led by Roland, Brotherhood of the Wolf) that has been...

Up next from French filmmaker Mathieu Turi is The Deep Dark, which looks to be headed to theaters in France beginning on November 29, 2023.

We don’t yet have any idea when the film will be released here in the United States, but a French trailer for The Deep Dark has surfaced this week. You can check it out below.

The Deep Dark is said to have “Lovecraft vibes,” and the end of the trailer teases some kind of skeletal creature. My Bloody Valentine meets Lovecraftian creature feature? We like it.

The film is set in 1956, in the north of France…

“A band of underground miners is forced to lead a professor to take samples a thousand meters underground. After a landslide prevents them from going back up, they discover a crypt from another time, and unknowingly wake up something that should have remained asleep.”

Samuel Le Bihan, Amir El Kacem,...

French director Jean-Jacques Beineix, who made waves with stylish works of 1980s cinema including “Diva” and “Betty Blue,” died Thursday at 75.

He died at home in Paris after a long illness, his brother told Le Monde.

Beineix started out as an assistant director to filmmakers including Claude Berri, Rene Clement and Jerry Lewis. After making a short film, he made his feature debut in 1981 with “Diva,” which won the Cesar for best first feature and three more Cesar awards. The story revolves around a young postman infatuated with an American opera singer who gets caught up in an international intrigue when he tries to make a bootleg recording of her performance.

The thriller was one of the most successful French films to play internationally in the 1980s. It ushered in a new style of filmmaking that melded auteur and genre elements, and Luc Besson and Leos Carax also made films...

TF1 Studio has unveiled a raft of major pre-sales on “Superwho,” an action-packed comedy directed by Philippe Lacheau, in the run up to the Pre-Cannes Screenings, where the film will have its virtual world premiere on June 23.

Lacheau, who stars in his movie, is behind some of France’s biggest comedy hits in recent history, including the “Babysitting” franchise, “Alibi.com,” “City Hunter,” “All Gone South,” as well as Amazon’s French adaptation of “Lol.”

Tfi Studio has closed about 100 territories since introducing the project to buyers at the EFM, including Germany (Splendid), Japan (New Select), Latin America (Bf Distribution), South Korea (Activers), Benelux (Alternative Films), Switzerland (Pathé), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Cei (Exponenta), Portugal (Lusomundo), Poland (Monolith), Southeast Europe (Prorom), Middle East & North Africa (Nstars) and Vietnam (Viettel Media Company).

Lacheau headlines the film along with his regular co-stars, Tarek Boudali, the actor-director of “30 Days Max,” Julien Arruti and Elodie Fontan. Chantal Ladesou...

Joan Verra

Director Laurent Larivière assembles a stellar cast for sophomore feature Joan Verra, headlined by Isabelle Huppert in the title role. A French-German-Irish co-production (with Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Rigault on hand from Paris based 2.4.7. Films), Huppert is joined by Lars Eidinger, Swann Arlaud, Freya Mavor, Florence Loiret-Caille and Dimitri Dore. Lariviere re-teams with scribe Francois Decodts and the project is lensed by Celine Bozon. Larivière’s debut feature I Am a Soldier, which starred Louise Bourgoin and Jean-Hugues Anglade, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard.…...

Betty Blue (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray Contest — FilmBook is running a Claudine (The Criterion Collection) contest for one copy of the Oscar-nominated film. Betty Blue, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, stars Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon, Consuelo de Haviland, Clémentine Célarié, Jacques Mathou, Vincent Lindon, Jean-Pierre Bisson, Dominique Pinon, Claude [...]

Continue reading: Contest: Betty Blue (1986) Blu-ray (The Criterion Collection): The Jean-Hugues Anglade & Béatrice Dalle Romance Film...

Filming got underway this week in Paris on Alors, On Danse, the French remake of 2017 UK feature Finding Your Feet.

The French update is being directed by veteran French actress, director and comedian Michèle Laroque (Ma Vie En Rose) who will also star alongside well-known French faces Thierry Lhermitte (La Dîner De Cons), Isabelle Nanty (Amelie) and Jean-Hugues Anglade (Betty Blue) as well as Jeanne Balibar (Les Misérables) and Patrick Timsit (Le Cousin).

The film is being produced by Maxime Delauney and Romain Rousseau of Nolita Cinema and is among the first films to start shooting in the capital since the country came out of lockdown. The film’s original producers Meg Leonard, Nick Moorcroft, James Spring, Andrew Berg, John Sachs and Charlotte Walls all serve as executive producers on the film.

The French remake deal was brokered by Fred Films’ James Spring who told us that there are additional...

“Sex, Eyes, & Mental Illness”

By Raymond Benson

What made the 1986 French picture, Betty Blue so striking were three things—the explicit sex on display, the mesmerizing eyes of lead actress Béatrice Dalle, and the film’s frank depiction of mental illness and its devastating effect on a relationship.

Director Jean-Jacques Beineix had burst onto the scene with the superb, quirky, and new New Wave crime picture, Diva (1981) that embraced not only the French New Wave of the early 1960s, but the early 1980s pop New Wave of music and visuals that were exploding in all mediums at that time. Diva was a critical and commercial hit with Western audiences, although Beineix’s follow-up, Moon in the Gutter (1983), was not. The filmmaker bounced back, though, with Betty Blue, which received a deserved Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film.

Based on a popular French novel by Philippe Djian, the story concerns a...

Domestic violence drama earns four prizes in Paris.

Xavier Legrand’s domestic violence drama Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde) was named best film at the 44th Cesar Awards in Paris on Friday (23).

Legrand’s feature directorial debut and Venice 2017 Silver Lion winner began the night on a field-leading 10 nominations alongside Gilles Lellouche’s comedy Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain), and also won awards for Legrand’s original screenplay, best actress Lea Drucker, and editor Yorgos Lamprinos.

Jacques Audiard was named best director for The Sisters Brothers at the ceremony in the Salle Pleyel, presided over by Kristin Scott Thomas.

French actor-turned-director Gilles Lellouche’s “Sink or Swim” and Xavier Legrand’s feature debut “Custody” lead the race for this year’s Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, with 10 nominations each, including best picture and best director.

“Sink or Swim” (“Le Grand Bain” in France), a star-driven dramedy about a men’s synchronized swimming team, world-premiered at Cannes out of competition and was released by Studiocanal. The ensemble film, which was one of the highest-grossing French films in 2018, picked up multiple nominations in the best supporting actor and actress categories, for Jean-Hugues Anglade, Philippe Katerine, Leila Bekhti and Virginie Efira.

“Custody” follows a boy named Julien (Thomas Gioria), who is forced by a court ruling to split his time between his mother (Léa Drucker) and estranged father (Denis Ménochet), whom he regards as a violent monster, amid his parents’ bitter divorce. “Custody” world-premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival,...

Gilles Lellouche-directed comedy Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain) has become Studiocanal’s biggest theatrical performer in France, drawing a mighty 4.1M admissions (good for more than $31M). The Vivendi-owned company’s previous box office record was held by Eric Lartigau’s 2006 rom-com I Do.

Mathieu Amalric, Guillaume Canet, Benoit Poelvoorde, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Virginie Efira and Leila Bekhti star in the uplifting comedy about a group of disenchanted men who find fresh self-esteem in a synchronized swimming team. Producers are Tresor Films and Chi-Fou-Mi Productions.

It has been plain-sailing in France for the star-studded comedy since it launched at Cannes. The film sold 250,000 tickets on opening day in late October and 1.5M in its first week. Six weeks in, the film is still screening in 500 theaters. This is a positive story for France’s film biz at a time when the theatrical sector is under some pressure from the growing power of streamers.

The swimming is synchronized in “Sink or Swim,” and so is the scripting: Gilles Lellouche’s feelgood buddy comedy so painstakingly mimics the rhythms and motions of assorted men-in-quirky-crisis farces from across the Channel that it may as well have been titled “The Pool Monty.” Gathering an A-team of French thesps to play a decidedly less well-qualified squad of million-dollar mermen, this story of disenfranchised middle-aged schmoes who decide — for reasons barely clear to them, much less the viewer — to find renewed purpose in water ballet is as harmless as it is silly, but dampened by idle gags, empty characterization and an inordinate two-hour runtime. The reliably charismatic work of its players, notably ringleader Mathieu Amalric, keeps this somewhat soggy macaron diverting, but it’s hard to see audiences showing much interest outside France, where it should do, well, swimmingly.

A chirpily commercial enterprise through and through, “Sink or Swim...

When it comes to my taste in television, I think my reviews give away my liking for Nordic Noir and European shows that look to the darker side of society. One that I’ve always managed to miss has been Braquo, but now I’ve managed to change this. Is Braquo: The Complete Season Four release a good place to start? The answer is yes.

While Braquo starts off season 4 at the end of what looks to have been a war against Turkish gang lords, don’t expect things to quieten down. With Eddy Caplan (Jean-Hugues Anglade) under suspicion by Internal Affairs, his violent and ‘unorthodox’ methods of getting things done are now under scrutiny. The first episode starts off at such a frenetic pace that it can be hard for a new audience to keep up. Thankfully though the main group of cops the show now focuses on are easy to like,...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Queen Margot (1994)

Director: Patrice Chereau. Cinematography: Phillipe Rousselot. 

Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Vincent Perez, Jean-Hugues Anglade, and Virna Lisi 

Awards: 2 Cannes jury prizes, 5 César Awards, 1 Oscar nomination.

They say that death always takes your lovers..."

When I was young and extremely sexually naive, let's say hypothetically in High School French class, I was startled to discover that the French phrase "La petite mort," which translates literally to 'the little death' referred to a sexual orgasm. I had no idea why these two towers of Human Obsession, Sex and Death, would be linked up like twins. But the movies, ever the personal tutor for young cinephiles, kept forcing the connections.

Which brings us to the decadent, opulent, erotic, violent and visceral 16th century French epic Queen Margot, this week's Best Shot subject. (The shot choices are after the jump due to the graphic nature of the film.

I Am a Soldier

Directed by Laurent Larivière

France, 2015

Philadelphia Film Festival

Laurent Larivière’s brilliant debut I Am a Soldier is genuine and suspenseful. It’s the rare film that feels personal and sprawling at once, and is buoyed by a fantastic performance from Louise Bourgoin.

Sandrine (Bourgoin) loses her apartment and is unable to find a job, so she moves temporarily to her mother’s house. Her sister (Nina Meurisse) and brother-in-law (Nathanael Maini) have also moved home amidst similar financial tension. Sandrine takes a job with her Uncle Henri (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and enters the world of illegal dog trafficking.

There was a time when cute dogs and a female protagonist equaled a very certain kind of schmaltzy, romantic film, and I Am a Soldier is anything but. Sandrine isn’t a cold anti-hero, and like any good protagonist her weaknesses are on full display, but she’s...

Benoît Jacquot's Farewell, My Queen (Les Adieux à la Reine) starring his leading ladies Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger and Virginie Ledoyen

CinéSalon's Benoît Jacquot: Leading Ladies (March 3 - 24), curated by Delphine Selles-Alvarez at the French Institute Alliance Française in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York included screenings of The Disenchanted (La Désenchantée) starring Judith Godrèche, Marcel Bozonnet and Ivan Desny, introduced by Jacquot; A Single Girl (La Fille Seule) - Virginie Ledoyen, Benoît Magimel, Dominique Valadié introduced by choreographer Blanca Li, who has worked with Pedro Almodovar and Michel Gondry; Villa Amalia - Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Xavier Beauvois and À Tout De Suite - Isild Le Besco, Ouassini Embarek, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Laurence Cordier.

Léa Seydoux is lovely and tough as the reader and our heroine in Farewell, My Queen Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

On Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30pm, Eye For...

It's always a bummer when a technical glitch happens. This week, we lost an entire question and answer to some sort of strange microphone flutter. Someone wrote in to ask about the year 1994, asking if there were films that were overshadowed by "Pulp Fiction" that year that deserved some praise, and I took the opportunity to sing the praises of Roger Avary's "Killing Zoe" for a bit. I love that movie, and I think it's got a great dark evil energy about it. The work by Eric Stoltz and Julie Delpy is outstanding, and Jean-Hugues Anglade is like some mad hallucination in it. Anyway, we had to lose the whole thing, so it's a quicker-than-normal episode of "Ask Drew!" this week. We had a longer-than-expected hiatus between episodes, and we'll be turning that around and getting back on the every-other-week schedule now. It was my schedule that complicated everything.

Welcome back to This Week In Discs! If you see something you like, click on the title to buy it from Amazon. Back in Crime Richard Kemp (Jean-Hugues Anglade) is a burnt out detective investigating a murder that seems strangely familiar when he’s knocked into a river and left for dead. Instead of dying though he resurfaces to discover he’s traveled back in time by two decades to the beginning of a series of unsolved killings. He attempts to work the case with his future knowledge even as his unaware younger self stumbles along, but he inadvertently makes himself a suspect. This French film’s actual (and preferable) title is The Other Life of Richard Kemp, and that’s the key to the its strength. The murder mystery is just a part of the story as the true focus is Kemp’s opportunity to craft a better, other life for himself with the benefit of...

As a special surprise for this year's 18th edition the Colcoa Festival (City of Lights, City of Angels) "A Week of French Film Premieres in Hollywood" has added an unprecedented seven classic films to its popular roster. The festival runs from April 21-28 at the Directors Guild of America. For the first time, a daily matinee showing of a classic will complement the new films shown in competition.

Focus on a filmmaker : Cédric Klapisch

Colcoa will honor writer-director Cédric Klapisch on Thursday, April 24 with a special presentation of L'Auberge Espagnole (2002) as well as the Premiere of his new film Chinese Puzzle that will be released in May in the U.S. by Cohen Media Group. Chinese Puzzle completes a trilogy Klapisich began in 2002 with L'Auberge Espagnole,followed by Russian Dolls in 2005. The cast includes Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou and Cécile de France. Klapisch joins previously honored writer-directors Bertrand Blier, Costa Gavras, Florent Siri, Julie Delpy and Alain Resnais whose key body of work has been shown in past events.  This will be the third film by the writer-director to be presented at the festival, following Paris and My Piece of the Pie.  Cédric Klapisch will meet the audience for a Happy Hour Talk panel dedicated to his work. (Colcoa Classics + Panel +Premiere of Chinese Puzzle)

Homage to Patrice Chéreau

The late writer-director Patrice Chéreau (1944-2013), who attended Colcoa in 2003 for the world Premiere of Son frère (His Brother) will be remembered in the Colcoa Classics program, which includes a special presentation of digitally restored director's cut of Queen Margot (1994), based on a novel of Alexandre Dumas, co-written by Danièle Thompson & Patrice Chéreau, and directed by Chéreau. The cast includes Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Daniel Auteuil. The film (celebrating its 20th anniversary) is presented in association with Cohen Media Group. The film will have will be released theatrically, as well as in digital format in the U.S.

Premiere of the Restored Version Beauty and the Beast Colcoa will present the digitally restored print of the remarkable Beauty and the Beast (1946), a romantic drama written and directed by Jean Cocteau and starring Josette Day and Jean Marais in partnership with the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), Snd/M6, Janus Films and La Cinémathèque Française.

Premiere of the Restored Version Favorites of the Moon

A special 30th anniversary screening of Favourites of the Moon (1984), winner of the Special Jury Prize that year at the Venice International Film Festival, a comedy co-written by Gérard Brach and Otar Iosseliani and directed by Otar Iosseliani, starring Mathieu Amalric, Alix de Montaigu, Pascal Aubier, Jean-Pierre Beauviala, will be presented in association with the Cohen Media Group before its digital release in the U.S.

Premiere of the Restored Version Purple Noon

The film is also a special presentation of Purple Noon , a drama based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, co-written by Paul Gégauff and René Clément , directed by René Clément and starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt and presented in association with the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), StudioCanal, Janus Films and La Cinémathèque Française.

Premier of the Restored Version of L'assassin habite... au 21 New digitally restored version of L'assassin habite... au 21, (1942) a drama co-written by Stanislas-André Steeman and Henri-Georges Clouzot , directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay, Suzy Delair, Jean Tissier. The film is presented in association with Titra Tvs and Gaumont.

FRANÇOIS Truffaut: A Tribute

Citing the 30th anniversary of the passing of universally renowned François Truffaut in 1984, Colcoa will pay tribute to the writer-director with a special program.(To be announced soon)

From April 21 to April 28, 2014, filmgoers will celebrate the 18th edition of Colcoa  "A Week Of French Film Premieres In Hollywood" at the Directors Guild of America. The 18th line-up of films in competition for the Colcoa Awards will be announced April 1, 2014.

About ColcoaColcoa was created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, and France's Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem). Colcoa is also supported by France's Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (L'arp), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles, the Cnc and Unifrance.

 ...

City of Lights, City of Angels (Colcoa), a week of French film premieres in Hollywood, has rolled out a terrific lineup of seven classic films for the 18th edition of the festival, running April 21-28 at the DGA. Screenings will supplement new films in the competition lineup, which will be announced April 1. Colcoa will honor writer honor writer-director Cedric Klapisch on Thursday, April 24 with a special presentation of "L'Auberge Espagnole" (2002) as well as the Premiere of his new film "Chinese Puzzle" that will be released in May in the U.S. by Cohen Media Group. The fest will also screen late writer/director Patrice Chereau's 1994 director's cut of "Queen Margot," based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas and starring Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Daniel Auteuil. Digitally restored prints of Jean Cocteau's 1946 classic "Beauty and the Beast" starring Josette Day and Jean Marais, and a new print of...

★★★★★One of the most iconic French offerings of the eighties, Jean Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue (1986) not only filled cinemas and earned itself BAFTA and Oscar attention, but its César Award-winning poster found itself adorning the bedroom walls of those mesmerised by the astounding central performance of Béatrice Dalle. Reissued on Blu-ray in a deluxe box set, this stunning transfer will delight revisiting fans as well as a whole new league of admirers. Betty (Dalle) and Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) have been dating for a week and they live in a shack on the beach, with the latter working as a handyman to pay the bills.

Patrice Chéreau dead at 68: French director best known for ‘Queen Margot,’ gay-related dramas (photo: Patrice Chéreau; Isabelle Adjani in ‘Queen Margot’) Screenwriter, sometime actor, and stage, opera, and film director Patrice Chéreau, whose clinically cool — some might say sterile — films were arthouse favorites in some quarters, has died of lung cancer in Paris. Chéreau was 68. Born on November 2, 1944, in Lézigné, in France’s Maine-et-Loire department, and raised in Paris, Patrice Chéreau began directing plays in his late teens. In the mid-’60s, he became the director of a theater in Sartrouville, northwest of Paris, where he staged plays with a strong left-wing bent. Later on he moved to Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, and in the ’80s became the director of the Théâtre des Amandiers in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre. His 1976 staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth was considered revolutionary. Patrice Chéreau...

Amitiés sincères

Written by Stéphan Archinard, Marie-Pierre Huster and François Prévôt-Leygonie

Directed by Stéphan Archinard and François Prévôt-Leygonie

France, 2013

The motives for telling a lie are rarely the same from one episode to the next. Fear of shame, fear of persecution, selfishness, desire to reach an objective that otherwise would fall out of one’s grasp, there are more than a few very human and imperfect reasons why one would deliberately omit the truth. There is such a thing as a white lie however, by which the truth is kept hidden in preference of fabrication in order to not harm another’s feelings. What happens when white lies are told to someone whose personal pet peeve is the practice of lying itself? Directors Stéphan Archinard and François Prévôt-Leygonie use that very idea as the inspiration for their drama-comedy, Amitiés sincères.

Walter Orsini (Gérard Lanvin) is a middle aged man living...

The Amazing Race Australia has been awarded an Emmy in the category of non-scripted entertainment.

The 40th International Emmy Awards, held at the New York Hilton last night, saw 38 nominees from 15 different countries competing across a field of nine categories.

The Amazing Race Australia triumphed over other nominated shows The Challenger Muaythai of Singapore, El Hormiguero (The Anthill) of Spain and Brazil.s Planeta Extremo (Extreme Planet).

It is the second consecutive year El Hormiguero has been nominated but failed to.bag the big prize.

.The host of The Amazing Race Australia, Grant Bowler, and Active TV President Michael McKay, accepted the award..

Despite a string of nominations at various international awards, The Slap missed out on the Emmy for best drama series.

Instead, the award went to French crime series Braquo, which stars Jean-Hugues Anglade.

Australian producer Justin Davis.was also unsuccessful with.popular choice.Absolutely Fabulous...The prize...

After a mere two months of waiting (for Sky-less fans, at least) to see what fate has befallen their favourite bunch of anti-heroes with badges, Series 2 of Braquo arrives on DVD and Blu-ray.

This second series of the tough-as-nails French cop drama see’s Captain Eddy Caplan (played once again with dishevelled intensity by Jean-Hugues Anglade) and his team in dire circumstances, following their law-breaking escapades from the first season. Having failed to spring gangster Serge Lemoine from prison, things are looking horrendously bleak for the gang.

Thrust in front of a disciplinary board, Caplan is imprisoned on remand and although colleagues Roxanne and Walter escape being booted off the force, their demotions to that of a glorified receptionist and car maintenance man, respectively, hardly makes for a cheery outcome. Live wired coke fiend Theo evades both fates, but he’s discharged from the force like Caplan and begins a downwards spiral,...

The recent spate of powerful euro-centric police procedurals to crop up on both terrestrial TV and Sky have managed to gain the approval of critics and audiences alike. One of these celebrated shows proudly wears its Us influences on its sleeve while managing to retain that dark and sobering tone found in neighbouring programmes such as The Killing.

Braquo (season two is current being screened on FX) has been billed as a France’s answer to The Wire, but in reality it has much more in common with another cop drama from across the pond, The Shield. Not only does one of the Parisian police crew share more than a passing physical resemblance to Shield star Michael Chiklis, but Braquo is also cut from a similarly pulpy (and at times, preposterous) cloth as that series, which was set in the fictitious Los Angeles area of Farmington.

Much like The Shield,...

Braquo, Gang Story

French writer-director Olivier Marchal is something of a one-man crime wave. All legit, of course; he draws on a previous career in law enforcement to deliver some of the toughest and sharpest crime movies and TV shows around.

Interestingly, Marchal's tense bad-cops-gone-even-badder TV show Braquo gets an 18 certificate and Blu-ray release, while his criminal epic movie, Gang Story, is a mere 15-certificate DVD. As the name suggests, the police hardly feature in Gang Story, telling instead the true story of the notorious Gang Lyonnais who carried out some of France's biggest robberies. Flitting around several decades, it explores the regrettably unbreakable bond between gang members.

With eight episodes in which to breathe, however, Braquo is even more hard-hitting. Often hailed as a Gallic version of The Shield, Marchal's police history makes all seem credible no matter how far out the proceedings.

Jean-Hugues Anglade heads a five-man police team who overstep their bounds,...

A struggling writer embars on a passionate love affair with a beautiful woman who is gradually losing her mind.

The bastard child of the French new wave and Eighties post-punk sensibilities, Betty Blue is a love story whose narrative is almost incidental as it appeals directly to the senses. It's the story of handyman and would-be author Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and his tempestuous relationship with Betty (Béatrice Dalle), a woman who experiences the world with an immediacy and passion that gradually spills over into madness. As Betty's violent outbursts grow more frequent and her...

Did you see last night's Glee "Original Song"? I always feel so melancholy at Regionals episodes because I know that means no Glee for awhile. For a show I often actively dislike on account of lazy writing, wasted opportunities and ridiculously unnecessary pandering (People loved the show before it started pandering to them! Why bend over backwards to worry about what people might like now?), sometimes the show makes it really hard for me to pretend that I don't just love it, warts and all. So many highlights in this one, from Brittany's always dependable split second deadpan "favorite song: my headband" to a rare Mercedes showcase "Hell to the No" to a gay kiss played emphatically and without apology, to the return of undergirding themes (Rachel's future completely obvious stardom versus small town limitations) to that killer joyous finale "Loser Like Me" in which the kids learn the age...

In Their Sleep is an intriguing psycho-thriller bordering on the horror genre. Starring Anne Parillaud (La Femme Nikita, Innocent Blood) this short, sharp drama is directed by brother and sister team Caroline and Eric Du Potet.

Living in the idyllic French countryside and renovating a house with her husband (a rather knowing cameo from Jean-Hugues Anglade) turns to tragedy when Sarah’s teenage son kills himself. Traumatised and separated from her husband Sarah is travelling home late one night from her nursing job at the local hospital when new events take a terrifying turn.

In the dead of night, driving on an isolated road, she almost runs down a young teenager who claims he’s been attacked by a burglar. Given the age of the boy, her maternal instincts kick in and she helps him out. Big mistake.

Is the burglar really a burglar or a psycho killer? Is Arthur all he seems?...

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La Femme Nikita (1990, directed by Luc Besson) is a neon action thriller; a very silly, very enjoyable movie concerning an ex-junkie put to work as a French government sleeper assassin. Backed by an industrial electro pop score, sound and visuals converge alongside the protagonist’s cool couture – specifically a little black dress that re-defines the use of such a garment on film.

As of its time as Laserdiscs and virtual reality, La Femme Nikita is about transformation by fashion – similar in subtext to Pretty Woman, that enduringly fluffy romantic fairytale also released the same year. Where as Julia Roberts’ heroine Vivian abandons the world of prostitution to become, we presume, a lawyer’s wife, Nikita (Anne Parillaud) leaves homicidal drug addiction to become arguably something worse: a paid for,...

What can I say. I love women, I love women in horror and I love women in power! Hey it's a turn on! So what we have here is nothing short of a powerful December 5th heading our way so check out the Press Release and read all about it, the women involved and their films in this great Film Fest called Bleedfest.

Monthly Genre celebration Bleedfest Film Festival announces schedule for its Thriller installment December 5th, 2010 

The schedule for the highly anticipated second BleedFest Film Festival has been announced. It includes a dozen female filmmakers' short films and concludes with international genre superstar's Caroline Du Potet's thriller feature In Their Sleep, her follow up to the sensational and disturbing Inside.

Special guests sitting in their own VIP section include World Famous Scream Queens/producers Michelle Tomlinson and Tara Cardinal, prominent journalist/filmmaker Heidi Martinuzzi, Emmy winning filmmaker Barbara Stepansky,...

Start: 12/03/2010 Start: 12/03/2010

Caroline and Eric du Potet co-directed the brand new French horror film In Their Sleep (Dans ton sommeil) starring amazing actress Anne Parillaud (La Femme Nikita), Arthur Dupont, Thierry Frémont, and Jean-Hugues Anglade (The Professional, Nikita), and it's out on VOD on Dec 3rd!

Previously released in France in March 2010, it is now going to be available worldwide.

One year after her teenage son's death, Sarah's life is in pieces. Then late one night, her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy, who suddenly emerges out of the forest and onto the road. Wounded and frightened, he is running from a mysterious assailant, hunting him down after Arthur caught him red handed in the act of burglary.

Sarah sympathizes with him, taking him in, only to be tracked down by the burglar whose murderous rage towards Arthur forces her to take action.

In Their Sleep is a French language film, which will be shown in North America through IFC Film's video-on-demand platform. The release date is set for December 10th and the story involves a cat-and-mouse game between a robber, his victim, and an innocent female bystander. Not every one in the film is going to make it to the happy ending, as the bloody trailer suggests. Have a look at the clip below for this film from Br Films, which also brought Frontier(s) and L'Interieur (Inside) to theatres (Uhm).

The synopsis for In Their Sleep is here:

"After the brutal death of her 18 year-old son, Sarah's life is in pieces. Late one night, her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy, who suddenly emerges out of the forest and onto the road. Wounded and frightened, he is running from a mysterious assailant, hunting him...

It was way back in May when IFC Midnight acquired writer/director Antoine Blossier's debut feature Proie (Prey), and finally, come December we'll be able to watch it either On Demand (starting on the 1st) or in selected theatres (as of the 3rd).

The film, co-written by Blossier and Erich Vogel, stars Grégoire Colin, Bérénice Bejo, François Levantal, Joseph Malerba, Fred Ulysse, and Isabelle Renauld. It was produced by Polaris Film Finance & Production and Quasar Pictures.

Synopsis:

One night several deer hurl themselves unexpectedly against the electric fence of a farm. Seeing deep signs of biting on the animals’ bodies, the farm owners realize that a predator is roaming about the neighboring woods. Having determined to hunt it down, the farmer and his family penetrate deep into the surrounding forest. They look with bewilderment at the dying environment ravaged by a mysterious evil force. As the sun slowly sinks away,...

Get Him To The Greek (15)

(Nicholas Stoller, 2010, Us) Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Sean Combs, Rose Byrne, Elisabeth Moss. 109 mins.

Who knew that if you put together every Brit rock star cliche in the book, you got Russell Brand? Record-label nerd Hill is charged with keeping the wayward Brand on the comeback trail here, but no one's taking the story that seriously; instead there's a tireless stream of one-liners, bit parts and surreal sidetracks to keep us (just about) amused. Brand is fine, but Diddy's manic music exec steals the show.

Good Hair (12A)

(Jeff Stilson, 2009, Us) 96 mins.

Chris Rock is an amiable guide on this documentary journey into African-American hair obsession, bantering in salons, quizzing black celebrities (Maya Angelou, Eve, Ice-t, Salt-n-Pepa), and tracing the cultural and chemical origins of relaxants, weaves and wigs without ever getting too serious.

Tetro (15)

(Francis Ford Coppola, 2009, Us/Ita/Spa/Arg) Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich,...

This is a Pure Movies review of Villa Amalia, starring Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Xavier Beauvois, Maya Sansa, Clara Bindi and Viviana Aliberti, directed by Benoît Jacquot. Villa Amalia is a film about the destruction and rebuilding of one life, that of a middle-aged French woman who decides to leave her husband. When Ann Hidden (Isabelle Huppert) sees hers husband kissing another woman, she absorbs this information silently and decides to write it off to the past, along with the marriage as a whole. From that moment on, Ann systematically leaves every external facet of her identity behind her – her career as a composer, her flat, her Steinways, her location in the world – and begins again, alone. Momentous events are portrayed as exactly what they are – mere moments and nothing more.

Some new art for the latest film from the duo who brought us the ultra-psycho home invasion film Inside, entitled In Their Sleep (or Dans ton sommeil), just came our way; and it's looking like Caroline du Potet and Eric du Potet are readying themselves to terrorize audiences all over again.

Look for more on this film starring Anne Parillaud, Arthur Dupont, Thierry Fremont and Jean-Hugues Anglade soon. In the interim check out the trailer, the art, and the plot crunch below.

Synopsis

"One year after her teenage son's death, Sarah's life is in pieces. Then late one night her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy, who suddenly emerges out of the forest and onto the road. Wounded and frightened, he is running from a mysterious assailant, hunting him down after Arthur caught him red-handed in the act of burglary. Sarah sympathizes with him,...

"A Prophet" from director Jacques Audiard won nine awards at the 35th annual Cesar Awards. The Oscar nominated film for best foreign language took home best French film of the year, director, screenplay, editing, cinematography, production design, best actor, and most promising actor (best male newcomer) for Tahar Rahim. Niels Arestrup won best supporting actor also for "A Prophet."

Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" was named best foreign film of the year, beating out last year's Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" and this year's blue contender, "Avatar."

Meanwhile, "Avatar's" Sigourney Weaver presented Harrison Ford with a Cesar of Honor award. Aw...

Here's the list of nominees and winners of the 35th annual Cesar Awards (winners are highlighted):

Best Film

A l.Origine, Xavier Giannoli

Le Concert, Radu Mihaileanu

Les Herbes Folles, Alain Resnais

La Journee de la Jupe, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld

Rapt, Lucas Belvaux

Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard

Welcome, Philippe Lioret...

It's been a few years since I've seen any of French filmmaker Patrice Chéreau new films though I was quite taken with his early 90’s offering Queen Margot, a film which isn't exactly historically accurate but well worth a look. Chéreau has continued to work but none of his films have caught my attention until now with the trailer for his newest offering, a relationship drama titled Persecution (Persécution).

The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, who already delivered an excellent performance this year in Lars von Trier's Antichrist (review), as Sonia and Romain Duris as Daniel, a couple sharing a love/hate relationship. When a mysterious man (played by the great Jean-Hugues Anglade) turns up in Daniel's apartment, he assumes it's a one time event organized by Sonia but when Sonia breaks up with him and the mysterious man is still harassing Daniel, a whole new set of questions arise...

We have new images as well as trailers from two Regent Releasing films. First up, "Eichmann" is helmed by Robert Young from the screenplay by Snoo Wilson. The film stars Thomas Kretschmann, Troy Garity, Franka Potente and Stephen Fry. "Shake Hands with the Devil" stars Roy Dupuis, Deborah Unger, James Gallanders, Odile Katesi Gakire, Owen Lebakeng Sejake, Michel Mongeau and Jean-Hugues Anglade. The Robert Spottiswoode-helmed film is adapted by Michael Donovan based on the book by Roméo Dallair...

Tina Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," an independent American production, won the Gold Hugo as the best film in the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, and added Gold Plaques for best supporting actress (Jossie Thacker) and best screenplay (Mabry). It tells the harrowing story of three black children growing up in rural Mississippi in circumstances of violence and addiction. The film's trailer and an interview with Mabry are linked at the bottom.

Kylee Russell in "Mississippi Damned"

The win came over a crowed field of competitors from all over the world, many of them with much larger budgets. The other big winner at the Pump Room of the Ambassador East awards ceremony Saturday evening was by veteran master Marco Bellocchio of Italy, who won the Silver Hugo as best director for "Vincere," the story of Mussolini's younger brother. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi won Silver Hugos as best actress and actor,...

Persecution may very well be Patrice Chéreau's most abrasive film. That's saying a lot. After the Cannes-ready provocations of Queen Margot, Chéreau directed Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, the film that introduced the stance he's held for the last decade: an abrasive humanism that abandons all pretensions of style or taste to unbendingly identify with unlikeable people. If we saint the Dardennes for their devotion to victims, we should saint Chéreau for his devotion to victimizers. Though his 2005 feature Gabrielle remains his masterpiece (if we apply that term to Chéreau, a director who makes "mastery" seem worthless), there's much to be said about Pesecution's story of an ordinary asshole (Romain Duris) who realizes he feels more comfortable around his pathetic stalker (Jean-Hugues Anglade) than his independent girlfriend (Charlotte Gainsbourg).

Besides directing, Chéreau has an enviable resume as an actor, having worked with Youssef Chahine, Andrzej Wajda,...