La Vérité si je mens! 3 and On a Plank in a time of globalisation

by Fabien Lemercier

01/02/2012 - Even as Intouchables [trailer] (“Untouchables”) continues to reep box office success, holding third place daily in its 13th week with 18.68 million admissions, French exhibitors have huried to screen another comedy, La Vérité si je mens! 3 [trailer] (“Would I Lie to you? 3”) (photo) by Thomas Gilou, released today by Mars Distribution with an impressive 1,000 copies.

Hardly shown to the press, the film hopes to capitalise on the success of its two prequels, attracting audiences of 4,9 million in 1997 and 7,5 million in 2001, to counter a budget of €25m, of which €11m was invested by Mars. The film stars Richard Anconina, José Garcia, Bruno Solo, Vincent Elbaz, Gilbert Melki, Aure Atika, and Amira Casar.

The screenplay is written again by Gérard Bitton et Michel Munz, and features the same group of Jewish friends from Paris’ Sentier relaunching their business ventures on the outskirts of Paris and coming face-to-face with globalisation, notably in the form of sport trainers made in China.

La Vérité si je mens! 3 is produced by Vertigo Productions with the support of France 2 Cinéma and M6 Films among others, and is being sold internationally by Other Angle Pictures.

But a much more realistic side of globalisation is also hitting the screens with the harsher French-Moroccan co-production On a Plank (Sur la planche) [trailer] by Leïla Kilani, an award-winning director who was first discovered at the Cannes 2011 Directors’ Fortnight. The film tells the tale of four young Maroccan women slaving away in the shrimp and textile factories of Tangier before drifting into petty crime, and was produced by Aurora Films. It has already been met with enthusiastic reviews. Epicentre Films is in charge of its distribution with 25 copies.

Also in cinemas is French-German-Polish co-production Elles [trailer, film focus] by Malgozata Szumowska starring Juliette Binoche and Anaïs Demoustier in a journalistic investigation into student prostitution that has received mixed reviews from the press. The film is distributed by Haut et Court with 63 copies.

Finally, One Man Up (L’uomo in piu) [trailer], Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s first feature film, is showing for the first time in France, distributed by Bellissima Films with two copies.

(Translated from French)