04/03/2005 - Two french films released today in the UK have a whiff of scandal: Tropical Malady by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and the sulphurous Ma Mère by Christophe Honoré

Going to the cinema today and on Mother’s day weekend could be a ‘hot’ –and perhaps disturbing- experience for UK audiences as two sexually charged and controversial-art-house titles co-produced by France are being released today in the UK: Tropical Malady (Sud Pralad) by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Ma Mère [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Christophe Honoré. They will have to compete against two other "sexual" films in the English language part of the eight new film releases: the Australian debut feature Sommersault and Kinsey, the US biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey which screened out of competition at the last Berlinale.

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Tropical Malady which won the Jury Prize in Cannes 2004, has a platform release at the ICA Cinema in London as part of a general retrospective of the Thai director’s films until 24 March. The film is supported by very positive reviews in the UK press.
Ma Mère, the adaptation of the erotic novel by Georges Bataille, had a premiere last Tuesday at the French Institute in London which was followed by a Q&A with the director Christopher Honoré and one of the members of the cast Emma de Caunes. The film will be released on 16 screens by the new UK distribution company Revolver Entertainment. This is only the second theatrical release for the DVD specialist distributor who launched in 1997. Revolver chose a symbolic date: mother’s day weekend to release the film about a mother (Isabelle Huppert) introducing her son to a life of debauchery and perversion… enough in itself to bring controversy and hopefully film pundits into UK cinemas to see the movie.

Among the European co-productions holding well at the UK box office are Pathé’s children film The Magic Roundabout which has passed the £5m mark in three weeks from 423 screens, and the multi-awarded UK film Vera Drake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] released by Momentum Pictures, close to £2m after an 8 weeks run.
Also worth noticing: the successful directorial debut of Christopher Smith whose horror film Creep [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has grossed over £1.8m in 5 weeks. The UK/German co-production supported by the UK Film Council’s Premiere Fund is the second most successful film of the week for Pathé Distribution who is getting ready for next week’s big release of Les Choristes (The Chorus).