Three French in the hunt for the Lion

30/08/2005

Since Louis Malle won in 1987 with Au revoir les enfants, no French filmmaker has triumphed at Venice, even if French production won the Golden Lion in 1993 with Bleu from the Pole Krzystof Kieslowski. Years of draught which they will attempt to end on the Lido at 62nd Mostra with three French films in official competition . Made by a trio of filmmakers composed of Patrice Chéreau, Laurent Cantet and Philippe Garrel, these features have ambitions to renew the French tradition of Golden Lions and to join the long line begun by Julien Duvivier in 1937 followed by Jean Renoir (1946), Henry-Georges Clouzot (1949), René Clément (1952), André Cayatte (double winner in 1950 and 1960), Alain Resnais (1961 - L’année dernière à Marienbad), Jean–Luc Godard (1983 - Prénom Carmen), Agnès Varda (1985 - Sans toit ni loi) and Eric Rohmer (1987 - Le Rayon vert).

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Jury prize-winner at Cannes in 1994 (La Reine Margot) and honoured twice at Berlin (Golden Bear in 2001 for Intimité and Silver in 2003 for Son Frère), Patrice Chéreau appears in official competition in Venice for the first time. In competition with Gabrielle [+see also:
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For his part, Laurent Cantet appears to be the strong outsider with his third feature, Vers le Sud [+see also:
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As for Philippe Garrel, he is back on familiar territory with Les Amants réguliers [+see also:
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