19/09/2007

The six 100% French titles opening on Gallic screens today, which range from crowd-pleasing comedies to three feature debuts, illustrate the rich diversity of domestic production. However, Laurent Bouhnik’s L'invité [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“The Guest”) steals the show this week, opening on an impressive 460 screens through its producer EuropaCorp.

Starring Daniel Auteuil, Valérie Lemercier and Thierry Lhermitte, the fifth feature by the director behind Zonzon and 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman centres on a 50 year-old executive who has been unemployed for three years. When he and his wife invite a potential employer to dinner the event ends up revolutionising the couple’s life, which gets a complete makeover in just 24 hours.

Produced on a €12.46m budget, the comedy received €2m in backing from TF1 Films Production (€1.6m in pre-sales and €400,000 in co-production) and pre-sales from Canal +.

Meanwhile, experienced young directors are busy exploring eroticism. With Mathieu Amalric heading the bill, Damien Odoul’s L'histoire de Richard O. [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a Venice Horizons sidebar entry (see article) is being released by Bac Films on 32 screens, while MK2 is opening its production A Lost Man [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Lebanese director Danielle Arbid. Melvil Poupaud and Alexander Siddig star.

The title received €400,000 in Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) advances on receipts and was selected in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May (see article).

CTV International is distributing 39 prints of David Oelhoffen’s In Your Wake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a title enthusiastically received at Cannes Critics’ Week (see article).

Featuring Nicolas Giraud and a fantastic performance by Jacques Gamblin, the title is a €1.67m production from the slate of Kaléo Films. Meanwhile, Bodega Films is opening Nuage [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Cloud”), directed by Sébastien Betbeder and starring Adrien Michaux and Nathalie Boutefeu.

The film, much acclaimed by critics, was produced by Sylvie Pialat (Producer On The Move 2007, see interview) for Les Films du Worso on a €1.32m budget, which included CNC advances on receipts.

Wild Bunch Distribution is releasing La face cachée [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“The Hidden Face”), directed by actor Bernard Campan, who stars alongside Karin Viard in a story about a couple in crisis (a €3.6m Pan-Européenne production).

Europe is also in the spotlight this Wednesday with two major releases of genre films. Quinta Communications is releasing 261 prints of Doug Lefler’s The Last Legion – starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley – a hefty €46.3m co-production between the UK (35%), Italy (20%), Slovakia (17%), France (15%) and Tunisia (13%), while Twentieth Century Fox is distributing UK/US co-production 28 Weeks Later [+see also:
trailer
film profile], directed by Spain’s Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and starring Robert Carlyle, on 248 screens.

These two titles will be accompanied in theatres by Quanan Wang's 2007 Berlinale Golden Bear winner Tuya's Marriage and three US productions, including Cannes 2007 out-of-competition title A Mighty Heart [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a UK co-production by British director Michael Winterbottom.

(Translated from French)