07/03/2007

French films continue to lead the way this week. While last week’s top box office spots were held by local productions – Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (3.5m admissions), Gérard Krawczyk’s Taxi 4 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (3.7m) and Thomas Gilou’s Michou d’Auber (260,000 filmgoers in its first five days) – today six Gallic titles are stepping into the ring with two US films and Susanne Bier’s After the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sisse Graum Jørgensen
interview: Susanne Bier
film profile] (see Focus).

Starring Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the Danish feature – which was shortlisted for the 2007 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar – is being released by Equation on 50 screens.

André Téchiné’s Berlin competition title The Witnesses [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see article) – starring Emmanuelle Béart, Michel Blanc, Sami Bouajila and Johan Libéreau – is opening through UGC on 169 screens.

Meanwhile, StudioCanal is releasing Martial Fougeron’s My Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which won the Golden Shell at San Sebastian (see article [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), an award won by only two other French directors (Claude Chabrol in 1997 and François Dupeyron in 1999). This is an exceptional performance for the debut feature, from the slate of Moby Dick Films and Why Not Productions. The film stars Nathalie Baye (Best Actress at San Sebastian), Olivier Gourmet and Victor Sévaux.

The biggest release of the week (351 screens, Pathé Distribution) is Franck Mancuso’s crime drama Counter Investigation [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. The film is hoping to do well with a top-notch cast featuring Jean Dujardin (Brice de Nice [+see also:
trailer
film profile], OSS 117 [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), flanked by Laurent Lucas (see interview), Aurélien Recoing and Agnès Blanchot.

A €7.6m Pathé Renn production, co-produced by M6 Films (€2.2m funding, including €1.9m in pre-sales and €300,000 in co-production), the film is the first by a former member of the O.C.R.B. (French government office against organised crime). Mancuso also wrote 36 Quai des Orfèvres.

Other releases include Viviane Candas’ acclaimed Locarno title Suzanne [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Gémini Films, 21 screens); documentary Volem rien foutre al païs by Pierre Carles, Stéphane Goxe and Christophe Coello on anti-consumerism (Shellac, 25 prints); and Le 4ème morceau de la femme coupée en 3, by and starring Laure Marsac (Les Films du Paradoxe, 15 screens).

(Translated from French)