PARIS -- Veteran French actors Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno are heading back to the big screen for two new projects set to make their market debut in Cannes next week, the films' world sales agent, TF1 International, said.
Depardieu will star as a police captain in Claude Chabrol's psychological thriller Bellamy alongside Clovis Cornillac, Jacques Gamblin, Marie Bunel and Vahina Giocante. Bellamy is being produced by Patrick Godeau's Aliceleo Cinema and will be released in France by TFM Distribution.
Reno will play the father of young co-star Gaspard Ulliel in Laurent Tuel's Inside Ring, about a young man trying to break free from his father's gang. The film, produced by Thelma Films' Christine Gozlan and Alter Films' Alain Terzian, also co-stars Giocante and 2008 Cesar award-winner Sami Bouajila.
Depardieu will star as a police captain in Claude Chabrol's psychological thriller Bellamy alongside Clovis Cornillac, Jacques Gamblin, Marie Bunel and Vahina Giocante. Bellamy is being produced by Patrick Godeau's Aliceleo Cinema and will be released in France by TFM Distribution.
Reno will play the father of young co-star Gaspard Ulliel in Laurent Tuel's Inside Ring, about a young man trying to break free from his father's gang. The film, produced by Thelma Films' Christine Gozlan and Alter Films' Alain Terzian, also co-stars Giocante and 2008 Cesar award-winner Sami Bouajila.
Coline Serreau, best known in these parts as the writer-director of the original French version of "3 Men and a Baby", goes for a more complex tone in "Chaos", an ambitious social satire featuring a remarkable performance by exotic newcomer Rachida Brakni.
While the French-language film's unusual blend of drama and comedy doesn't always make for smooth transitions, the absorbing story has its share of pleasant, empowering surprises.
Closing out this year's City of Lights, City of Angels festival of fresh French films, the picture deserves some extended art house exposure beyond the festival circuit.
Serreau wastes little time in setting up the frantic lives of married Parisian couple Helene (Catherine Frot) and Paul (Vincent Lindon), who seem to be in a constant state of hurrying out the door.
But at least one of them is forced to take stock of their empty situation when they witness the brutal beating of a young prostitute (Brakni) right in front of their car. While his wife wants to call the police, Paul refuses to get involved to the extent of proceeding to an automatic car wash to get the woman's blood off his windshield.
Although Paul is content to get on with his so-called life, Helene remains traumatized by the incident and tracks the woman down in a hospital where she's lying in a coma. She'll remain at her side until she recovers while keeping an eye out for the pimps who put her there.
Ultimately the woman, who's known as both Noemie and Malika, regains full consciousness and, finally, her voice. Through an extended series of flashbacks, she tells her truly wild story, proving you can't always judge a hooker by her cover.
Serreau has much on her mind here, including things like the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie and the lot of young Arab women trapped in rigid patriarchal societies. While she often tempers those observations with humor, occasionally they still go a little heavy on the speechifying.
Usually you're too swept away by the performances of the two female leads to notice. Brakni, who won a Cesar Award for best female newcomer, conveys volumes, much of the time just with her expressive dark eyes; while veteran Frot goes through an intriguing metamorphosis, gradually shedding her world-weary coat of armor as she begins to find some true meaning in her life.
The males -- in the case of Lindon as the exasperated, self-absorbed hubby, and Aurelien Wiik as their womanizing son who demonstrates that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree -- are used mainly for comic relief rather than for advancing the plot. Again, those tricky shifts in tone aren't always seamless.
Thanks to Serreau's use of digital resources, and the reality-edged work of cinematographer Jean-Francois Robin, there's an immediacy to the story, especially in its first half, that conventional film might not have as effectively provided.
CHAOS
Bac Films
An FR2, StudioCanal Plus, Les Films Alain Sarde, Eniloc production
Credits: Director-screenwriter: Coline Serreau
Producers: Christine Gozlan, Alain Sarde
Director of photography: Jean-Francois Robin
Production designer: Michele Abbe-Vannier
Editor: Catherine Renault
Costume designer: Karen Muller Serreau
Music: Aaron Grain, Ludovic Navarre
Cast:
Helene Vidal: Catherine Frot
Paul Vidal: Vincent Lindon
Noemie/Malika: Rachida Brakni
Mamie: Line Renaud
Fabrice Vidal: Aurelien Wiik
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
While the French-language film's unusual blend of drama and comedy doesn't always make for smooth transitions, the absorbing story has its share of pleasant, empowering surprises.
Closing out this year's City of Lights, City of Angels festival of fresh French films, the picture deserves some extended art house exposure beyond the festival circuit.
Serreau wastes little time in setting up the frantic lives of married Parisian couple Helene (Catherine Frot) and Paul (Vincent Lindon), who seem to be in a constant state of hurrying out the door.
But at least one of them is forced to take stock of their empty situation when they witness the brutal beating of a young prostitute (Brakni) right in front of their car. While his wife wants to call the police, Paul refuses to get involved to the extent of proceeding to an automatic car wash to get the woman's blood off his windshield.
Although Paul is content to get on with his so-called life, Helene remains traumatized by the incident and tracks the woman down in a hospital where she's lying in a coma. She'll remain at her side until she recovers while keeping an eye out for the pimps who put her there.
Ultimately the woman, who's known as both Noemie and Malika, regains full consciousness and, finally, her voice. Through an extended series of flashbacks, she tells her truly wild story, proving you can't always judge a hooker by her cover.
Serreau has much on her mind here, including things like the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie and the lot of young Arab women trapped in rigid patriarchal societies. While she often tempers those observations with humor, occasionally they still go a little heavy on the speechifying.
Usually you're too swept away by the performances of the two female leads to notice. Brakni, who won a Cesar Award for best female newcomer, conveys volumes, much of the time just with her expressive dark eyes; while veteran Frot goes through an intriguing metamorphosis, gradually shedding her world-weary coat of armor as she begins to find some true meaning in her life.
The males -- in the case of Lindon as the exasperated, self-absorbed hubby, and Aurelien Wiik as their womanizing son who demonstrates that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree -- are used mainly for comic relief rather than for advancing the plot. Again, those tricky shifts in tone aren't always seamless.
Thanks to Serreau's use of digital resources, and the reality-edged work of cinematographer Jean-Francois Robin, there's an immediacy to the story, especially in its first half, that conventional film might not have as effectively provided.
CHAOS
Bac Films
An FR2, StudioCanal Plus, Les Films Alain Sarde, Eniloc production
Credits: Director-screenwriter: Coline Serreau
Producers: Christine Gozlan, Alain Sarde
Director of photography: Jean-Francois Robin
Production designer: Michele Abbe-Vannier
Editor: Catherine Renault
Costume designer: Karen Muller Serreau
Music: Aaron Grain, Ludovic Navarre
Cast:
Helene Vidal: Catherine Frot
Paul Vidal: Vincent Lindon
Noemie/Malika: Rachida Brakni
Mamie: Line Renaud
Fabrice Vidal: Aurelien Wiik
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/16/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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