Pathé launch Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) on 489 screens
From Cahiers du Cinéma to Studio Magazine, Les Inrockuptibles to most national daily newspapers, Jean-Francois Richet’s Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and its impressive lead actor, Vincent Cassel, have been unanimously praised by critics. Launched in theatres today by Pathé on 489 screens, the first instalment of the diptych on the life of gangster Jacques Mesrine (known as "the man with 1,000 faces") successfully combines fast-paced action with the nuanced portrait of an anarchist criminal who is as attractive as he is violent.
The cast also includes Cécile de France, Gérard Depardieu, Michel Duchaussoy, Gilles Lellouche, Canadian actor Roy Dupuis, Spanish actress Elena Anaya, Myriam Boyer and Florence Thomassin. The film – written by Abdel Raouf Dafri (adapted from the gangster’s autobiography) – retraces the younger days of Mesrine, who was shot and killed by police in 1979.
From the trauma of the Algerian War in 1959 before Mesrine enters the world of gangsters and robberies, to his adventures in Canada (capture, escape…), the explosive story of Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) should resonate with audiences. The second instalment, Public Enemy Number One (Part 2), will be released on November 19.
Produced by Thomas Langmann for La Petite Reine on a budget of €21.66m, Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) received co-production backing from Canada (12%) and Italy (5%), €2m from M6 Films and pre-sales from Canal+ and TPS.
This week’s eight other new releases include Andrzej Jakimowski’s Tricks [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrzej Jakimowski
interview: Tomasz Gąssowski
film profile], which won the Europa Cinemas Label Award at the 2007 Venice Film Festival (KMBO on 24 screens); and Adhen [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the third feature by highly personal director Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, which was presented at the latest Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (Sophie Dulac Distribution - 37 screens).
Three other French films are also hitting screens: Philippe Muyl’s Magique! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Paramount Pictures France - 298 screens); Michelange Quay’s Eat, For This Is My Body (distribution Shellac [+see also:
trailer
film profile]); and the documentary Enfants de Don Quichotte, Acte 1 (“Children of Don Quixote, Act 1”) by Ronan Dénécé, Augustin and Jean-Baptiste Legrand, which was unveiled in Cannes Critics’ Week (Bodega Films - 18 screens).
(Translated from French)
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