02/07/2008

Marc Levy – the best-selling French author who has sold over 13m copies of his seven novels internationally – sees a third adaptation of one of his books hit screens today. Following Just Like Heaven (produced by Dreamworks in 2005, directed by Mark Walters) and Where Are You? (which was made into a mini TV series last year), the romantic comedy My Friends, My Loves – published in 2006 – has now been adapted for the big screen under the international title, London Mon Amour [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

This time, it’s a joint family effort as the film is directed by the writer‘s sister, Lorraine Lévy, who makes her second feature after The First Time I Turned Twenty (2004).

Launched in France on 349 screens by Pathé (who are also releasing the film in the UK on Friday), London Mon Amour stars Vincent Lindon, Pascal Elbé, Virginie Ledoyen and Florence Foresti.

Co-written by the director, her brother and Philippe Guez, the film centres on two divorced fathers who have custody of their children and decide to share a house in London’s French quarter. Their disorderly and happy life is threatened by the sudden arrival of a love interest in the form of a journalist.

Produced by FEW, the €9.91m film received €2m in co-production and pre-sales financing from TF1, as well as pre-sales from Canal + and TPS.

This Wednesday’s seven new releases include another French feature set in Europe: Stéphane Giusti’s Made in Italy [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Launched by Pyramide on 102 screens, the film stars Gilbert Melki, Amira Casar, Caterina Murino, Françoise Fabian, Vittoria Scognamiglio, Elli Medeiros and Barbora Bobulova.

The title was produced by Elzévir on a budget of €4.29m. This included co-production support from France 3 Cinéma and Rhône-Alpes Cinéma.

Also hitting screens today is Frédéric Andrei’s Par suite d'un arrêt de travail [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Due To A Strike”), which is being released by Wild Bunch Distribution on 210 screens.

The film – which stars Charles Berling, Patrick Timsit, Dominique Blanc and Sophie Quinton – explores the strained encounter between two very different characters (an ambitious executive who is an advocate of economic liberalism and an altruist who lives hand-to-mouth and defends the right to strike) during a transport strike. Produced by Alicéleo for €7.54m, the title was co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and Rhône-Alpes Cinéma.

Further releases include Israeli/French co-production Les Sept jours (“The Seven Days”) by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz (Les Films du Losange - 53 screens), which was unveiled in Cannes Critics’ Week.

Also hitting screens are three documentaries: Sylvestre Chatenay’s Yvette, bon dieu ! (ADR Distribution - 10 screens); Christophe Chevalier’s Génération Electro (distributed by Acacia Films Productions); and Finnish director Mika Kaurismäki’s Sonic Mirror, a Swiss/German co-production about the drummer Billy Cobham (Les Films du Paradoxe - 10 screens).

(Translated from French)