The awards ceremony for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival kicks off Saturday night, where this year’s jury, headed by 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong’o, will hand out the coveted Gold and Silver Bears.
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...
- 2/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.
With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.
She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.
New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...
With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.
She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.
New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...
- 2/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Claire Burger has used the troubled lives of the non-bourgeois to measure the pulse of culture since at least her 2009 César-winning short film It’s Free for Girls, which she co-directed with Marie Amachoukeli (Àma Gloria). That film addressed revenge porn before the phenomenon became such a common one, through the story of a working-class girl whose dream of getting her hairdressing diploma is derailed by a filmed sexual act.
In Burger’s tender and surprisingly funny third feature, Langue Étrangère, the issue du jour is the multiplicity of simultaneous crises that young people in Europe and beyond have to contend with today: from fascism to climate change, from structural racism to police brutality. Most significantly, and one of the reasons why this is such a necessary film, Burger links contemporary Europe’s political chaos to its psychic disarray. Might young people’s urge to protest collectively not also function...
In Burger’s tender and surprisingly funny third feature, Langue Étrangère, the issue du jour is the multiplicity of simultaneous crises that young people in Europe and beyond have to contend with today: from fascism to climate change, from structural racism to police brutality. Most significantly, and one of the reasons why this is such a necessary film, Burger links contemporary Europe’s political chaos to its psychic disarray. Might young people’s urge to protest collectively not also function...
- 2/20/2024
- by Diego Semerene
- Slant Magazine
Crossing several borders at once, the coming-of-age romance Langue Étrangère leaps over state lines, overcomes language barriers and defies heteronormative boundaries to tell the story of two 17-year-old pen pals who fall for one another while visiting their mutual homes to brush up on their German and French.
Directed by Claire Burger — herself a native of the Franco-German frontier city of Forbach — this tender and at times tense drama is carried by superb young leads Lilith Grasmug and Josefa Heinsius, the latter making her screen debut. They play a pair of teenage girls whose cross-cultural exchange induces sexual and political awakenings they can’t always control, bringing them together but also tearing them away from their families. Premiering in Berlin’s main competition, Burger’s touching third feature is a small film with a big heart that could cross outside of Europe’s borders as well.
What’s fascinating about...
Directed by Claire Burger — herself a native of the Franco-German frontier city of Forbach — this tender and at times tense drama is carried by superb young leads Lilith Grasmug and Josefa Heinsius, the latter making her screen debut. They play a pair of teenage girls whose cross-cultural exchange induces sexual and political awakenings they can’t always control, bringing them together but also tearing them away from their families. Premiering in Berlin’s main competition, Burger’s touching third feature is a small film with a big heart that could cross outside of Europe’s borders as well.
What’s fascinating about...
- 2/20/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Langue Étrangère’ Review: Two Foreign Exchange Students Fall for One Another in Volatile Teen Drama
At age 17, there are only so many ways a high school student can flee a suffocating life. Bullied by her fellow students, Fanny (Lilith Grasmug) tried to commit suicide — or so she says — but fortunately, that didn’t work. Now, this shy, self-questioning and clearly troubled teen is counting on a foreign exchange program to make a fresh start, escaping to Leipzig, Germany, to get away from the mean girls back home in Strasbourg, France.
“Party Girl” co-director Claire Burger’s third feature, “Langue Étrangère,” splits its time between the two cities. The first half takes place in Leipzig, where Fanny forms an intense intellectual and erotic connection with her German pen pal, Lena (Josefa Heinsius). Fanny’s host is practically hostile when this uninvited foreigner first shows up, but that’s before a disarmingly candid (and frequently dishonest) Fanny starts to share stories invented to earn sympathy. By the second half,...
“Party Girl” co-director Claire Burger’s third feature, “Langue Étrangère,” splits its time between the two cities. The first half takes place in Leipzig, where Fanny forms an intense intellectual and erotic connection with her German pen pal, Lena (Josefa Heinsius). Fanny’s host is practically hostile when this uninvited foreigner first shows up, but that’s before a disarmingly candid (and frequently dishonest) Fanny starts to share stories invented to earn sympathy. By the second half,...
- 2/19/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition and its sidebar Encounters competitive section.
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
- 1/22/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Swiss writer-director Carmen Jaquier’s Swiss-language debut feature Thunder, is about adolescent sexual awakening set at the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s the story of Elisabeth (Lilith Grasmug), a teenage novitiate who, as she’s about to take her vows, is told of her elder sister Innocente’s sudden death.
She climbs every mountain on the long walk to her parent’s farm, located in a remote village in the Alps.
Marine Atlan’s extraordinary cinematography captures the mountain landscapes and luscious valleys but also the darkness lurking behind the Alpine shutters of Elisabeth’s hometown where it’s forbidden to discuss what happened to her sister.
Underpinning all of this is the town’s suppression of female adolescent sexuality because, they claim, young women who engage in sexual activity must be doing the work of the devil.
Related: Deadline’s Contenders International – Full Coverage
Jaquier...
She climbs every mountain on the long walk to her parent’s farm, located in a remote village in the Alps.
Marine Atlan’s extraordinary cinematography captures the mountain landscapes and luscious valleys but also the darkness lurking behind the Alpine shutters of Elisabeth’s hometown where it’s forbidden to discuss what happened to her sister.
Underpinning all of this is the town’s suppression of female adolescent sexuality because, they claim, young women who engage in sexual activity must be doing the work of the devil.
Related: Deadline’s Contenders International – Full Coverage
Jaquier...
- 12/9/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Vanessa Kirby and Lauren Dark have come aboard as exec producers for Swiss Oscar entry Thunder from writer-director Carmen Jacquier. Kirby & Dark’s Aluna Entertainment will back the awards push for the film in the race for Best International Feature.
Set in 1900, Thunder stars Lilith Grasmug as 17-year-old Elisabeth, who is summoned home to her mountain village following the sudden death of her older sister. After five years in a convent, Elisabeth returns to help her family’s farm, but finds herself stifled by the suffocating rules of the village and the silence around her sister’s death – prompting her to fight for her right to experience life and love in rebellion against the community’s strict expectations.
“From the moment we saw Thunder at the Marrakech Film Festival we were blown away by Carmen’s astonishing debut, which marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in cinema,...
Set in 1900, Thunder stars Lilith Grasmug as 17-year-old Elisabeth, who is summoned home to her mountain village following the sudden death of her older sister. After five years in a convent, Elisabeth returns to help her family’s farm, but finds herself stifled by the suffocating rules of the village and the silence around her sister’s death – prompting her to fight for her right to experience life and love in rebellion against the community’s strict expectations.
“From the moment we saw Thunder at the Marrakech Film Festival we were blown away by Carmen’s astonishing debut, which marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in cinema,...
- 11/2/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Gkids has released the new English language trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.” Both the original Japanese and English language versions premiere in nationwide theaters on Dec. 8, following special preview engagements in New York and Los Angeles beginning on Nov. 22.
The trailer features a first look at vocal performances from Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh. The English-language dub was made in alignment with the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.
The animated feature from Studio Ghibli was written and directed by Miyazaki, produced by Toshio Suzuki and features a musical score from Joe Hisaishi, a longtime collaborator of Miyazaki. Kenshi Yonezu wrote and performed the film’s theme song “Spinning Globe.” Miyazaki and Suzuki were co-founders of Studio Ghibli.
“The Boy and the Heron” first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7.
See the full trailer below.
The trailer features a first look at vocal performances from Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh. The English-language dub was made in alignment with the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.
The animated feature from Studio Ghibli was written and directed by Miyazaki, produced by Toshio Suzuki and features a musical score from Joe Hisaishi, a longtime collaborator of Miyazaki. Kenshi Yonezu wrote and performed the film’s theme song “Spinning Globe.” Miyazaki and Suzuki were co-founders of Studio Ghibli.
“The Boy and the Heron” first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7.
See the full trailer below.
- 10/30/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay, Caroline Brew and Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
Thunder – the feature debut of a Swiss writer and director Carmen Jaquier, who previously directed shorts and was a part of an omnibus film Wonderland in 2015 - premiered last year at Toronto International Film Festival and has recently become the official Switzerland’s bid to the 2023 Oscars. Despite the fact that the action here takes place at the edge of the 19th and 20th centuries, Jaquier’s film is incredibly relevant (not to mention – a stunning piece of cinematography), offering a powerful meditation on the paths of self-discovery in a hostile world. In the summer of 1900, a young novitiate Elisabeth on the verge of taking her vows, is delivered the news of her sister Innocente’s sudden death....
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/25/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Switzerland does not have a large film output, but it does have one significant advantage in the international context: at least outside the city, it is difficult to make a film there which does not look stunning. Its submission for the 2024 Oscars is no exception. Its power, however, comes from the way in which it uses the landscape as metaphor whilst reflecting on the ways in which such surroundings shape the people who live there. It’s a bold film and, for that reason, it’s hard to see it winning the big awards, but more importantly it’s a film with something to say.
Elisabeth (Lilith Grasmug) has not lived in her home village since she was 12. She was sent away, then, to live in a convent and spend her life in prayer in order to protect the rest of her family. As she makes an unexpected journey back across the.
Elisabeth (Lilith Grasmug) has not lived in her home village since she was 12. She was sent away, then, to live in a convent and spend her life in prayer in order to protect the rest of her family. As she makes an unexpected journey back across the.
- 10/24/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Carmen Jaquier and Mohamed Kordofani, a pair of fast-rising international filmmakers whose respective films Thunder and Goodbye Julia have both recently been submitted for International Feature Oscar consideration, have signed with Jewerl Ross at Silent R Management.
Representing Switzerland is Jaquier, whose first solo feature world premiered at TIFF last year. Pic is set in 1900 and stars Lilith Grasmug as Elisabeth, a 17-year-old girl on the cusp of taking vows to become a nun, whose life is set on another course following the sudden death of her older sister. She returns to her family after five years in the convent to help on their farm in a mountain village. The mysteries surrounding her sister’s death prompt her to fight for her right to self-determination and to rebel against the strict expectations of the village community.
Thunder scored a sustained standing ovation at its European premiere in San Sebastian...
Representing Switzerland is Jaquier, whose first solo feature world premiered at TIFF last year. Pic is set in 1900 and stars Lilith Grasmug as Elisabeth, a 17-year-old girl on the cusp of taking vows to become a nun, whose life is set on another course following the sudden death of her older sister. She returns to her family after five years in the convent to help on their farm in a mountain village. The mysteries surrounding her sister’s death prompt her to fight for her right to self-determination and to rebel against the strict expectations of the village community.
Thunder scored a sustained standing ovation at its European premiere in San Sebastian...
- 9/28/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Switzerland has selected Camille Jaquier’s coming-of-age period drama Thunder (Foudre) as its entry for the Best International Film category at the 2024 Oscars.
Set in 1900, the film stars Lilith Grasmug as a 17-year-old girl on the cusp of taking vows to become a nun, whose life is set on another course following the sudden death of her older sister.
She returns to her family after five years in the convent to help on their farm in a mountain village. The mysteries surrounding her sister’s death prompt her to fight for her right to self-determination and to rebel against the strict expectations of the village community.
The drama originally world premiered in Toronto’s Platform line-up in 2022 and then played at a host of other festivals including San Sebastian, Zurich, Busan and Sydney.
“Set in an archaic mountain scenery, liberation and sisterhood are at the center of this timely feminist period film.
Set in 1900, the film stars Lilith Grasmug as a 17-year-old girl on the cusp of taking vows to become a nun, whose life is set on another course following the sudden death of her older sister.
She returns to her family after five years in the convent to help on their farm in a mountain village. The mysteries surrounding her sister’s death prompt her to fight for her right to self-determination and to rebel against the strict expectations of the village community.
The drama originally world premiered in Toronto’s Platform line-up in 2022 and then played at a host of other festivals including San Sebastian, Zurich, Busan and Sydney.
“Set in an archaic mountain scenery, liberation and sisterhood are at the center of this timely feminist period film.
- 8/7/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
"Remember you are dust, and will return to dust." Films Boutique has revealed a trailer for a Giallo thriller from France titled Bitten, originally called La Morsure in French. Yet another dark, grainy, gothic vampire thriller? This is premiering at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland underway now, just in time for its world premiere. A Catholic schoolgirl is convinced tonight is her last night on Earth and decides to attend a costume party with her best friend. Set in 1967 during Mardi Gras. Françoise is a 17-year-old boarder who sneaks out with her friend Delphine to attend a party and live the night as if it was her last... The director explains that he references are "films like Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson), Carrie (Brian De Palma), or Phenomena (Dario Argento) for their striking and intense visions of adolescence, distorted by a prism of fantasy. With this film...
- 8/6/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Switzerland has picked Thunder, the feature film debut of director Carmen Jaquier, as its official contender for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category.
Thunder premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year and had a successful festival run, screening at the San Sebastian, Busan, Zurich and Locarno film festivals, among others. Set in a small Swiss village in 1900, the period drama follow 17-year-old Elisabeth, played by French actress Lilith Grasmug, who returns home from her convent after learning of her sister’s mysterious death. Reconnecting with three of her childhood friends, she begins to see how her religious faith and her growing sense of sexuality are intertwined.
“Set in an archaic mountain scenery, liberation and sisterhood are at the center of this timely feminist period film,” the Swiss selection committee said in a statement explaining their choice. “Carmen Jaquier’s uniquely sensual first feature skillfully explores sexuality and...
Thunder premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year and had a successful festival run, screening at the San Sebastian, Busan, Zurich and Locarno film festivals, among others. Set in a small Swiss village in 1900, the period drama follow 17-year-old Elisabeth, played by French actress Lilith Grasmug, who returns home from her convent after learning of her sister’s mysterious death. Reconnecting with three of her childhood friends, she begins to see how her religious faith and her growing sense of sexuality are intertwined.
“Set in an archaic mountain scenery, liberation and sisterhood are at the center of this timely feminist period film,” the Swiss selection committee said in a statement explaining their choice. “Carmen Jaquier’s uniquely sensual first feature skillfully explores sexuality and...
- 8/6/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 2024 Oscars race has officially begun, with “Thunder” marking the official entry for Switzerland in the International Feature Film category.
Directed by Carmen Jaquier, “Thunder” is a coming-of-age story focused on a teenage girl (Lilith Grasmug) who is forced to leave a nunnery after her elder sister dies in mysterious circumstances. Set in 1900, the film marks Jaquier’s first feature. “Thunder” premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win Swiss Film Awards, an Emerging Swiss Talent Award at Zurich, a Special Jury Prize in Rome, and a best director prize in Marrakech. Its Oscars recognition was announced during this year’s Locarno Film Festival on August 4.
In a statement about its decision, the selection jury said, “Set in an archaic mountain scenery, liberation and sisterhood are at the center of this timely feminist period film. Carmen Jaquier’s uniquely sensual first feature skillfully explores sexuality and...
Directed by Carmen Jaquier, “Thunder” is a coming-of-age story focused on a teenage girl (Lilith Grasmug) who is forced to leave a nunnery after her elder sister dies in mysterious circumstances. Set in 1900, the film marks Jaquier’s first feature. “Thunder” premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win Swiss Film Awards, an Emerging Swiss Talent Award at Zurich, a Special Jury Prize in Rome, and a best director prize in Marrakech. Its Oscars recognition was announced during this year’s Locarno Film Festival on August 4.
In a statement about its decision, the selection jury said, “Set in an archaic mountain scenery, liberation and sisterhood are at the center of this timely feminist period film. Carmen Jaquier’s uniquely sensual first feature skillfully explores sexuality and...
- 8/4/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Films Boutique will handle international sales on Filipino master Lav Díaz’s “Essential Truths of The Lake,” one of the highest-profile titles in the just announced main International Competition at this year’s Locarno Festival.
The Berlin and Lyon-based production-sales company’s fifth collaboration with Diaz following, among others, Venice Golden Bear Winner “The Woman Who Left” and Berlin Silver Bear Winner “Lullaby To A Sorrowful Mystery,” “Essential Truths of The Lake” marks a prequel to Diaz’s ‘When The Waves Are Gone’ that premiered out of competition at Venice last year.
It reprises the character of the ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators of the Philippines. When asked what drives a man to search for the truth, Papauran says dejectedly that maybe he just wants to keep inflicting pain on himself.
Faced with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, he...
The Berlin and Lyon-based production-sales company’s fifth collaboration with Diaz following, among others, Venice Golden Bear Winner “The Woman Who Left” and Berlin Silver Bear Winner “Lullaby To A Sorrowful Mystery,” “Essential Truths of The Lake” marks a prequel to Diaz’s ‘When The Waves Are Gone’ that premiered out of competition at Venice last year.
It reprises the character of the ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators of the Philippines. When asked what drives a man to search for the truth, Papauran says dejectedly that maybe he just wants to keep inflicting pain on himself.
Faced with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, he...
- 7/5/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
La Morsure
Another feature debut on our list that we’re highly curious about is this item that received some coin backing from Gan Film Foundation and moved into production exactly one year ago. French filmmaker Romain de Saint-Blanquat appears to be working with a 60’s spirit and early horror works template in La Morsure — the project, filmed in the South of France (mainly Normandy), sees Léonie Dahan-Lamort and Lilith Grasmug (Bloody Oranges) topline with Cyril Metzger (Happening), Maxime Rohart and Fred Blin completing the main cast. This was produced by Easy Tiger’s Marc-Benoit Créancier (Magnetic Beats).…...
Another feature debut on our list that we’re highly curious about is this item that received some coin backing from Gan Film Foundation and moved into production exactly one year ago. French filmmaker Romain de Saint-Blanquat appears to be working with a 60’s spirit and early horror works template in La Morsure — the project, filmed in the South of France (mainly Normandy), sees Léonie Dahan-Lamort and Lilith Grasmug (Bloody Oranges) topline with Cyril Metzger (Happening), Maxime Rohart and Fred Blin completing the main cast. This was produced by Easy Tiger’s Marc-Benoit Créancier (Magnetic Beats).…...
- 1/10/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
If your thirst for movies about the sexual awakening of French-speaking nuns wasn’t quenched by Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, take a look at Thunder, a gorgeously filmed albeit very different drama set in the Swiss alps where nudity, sex and religious fervor are in no short supply. But while Benedetta subscribes to Verhoeven’s penchant for provocative schlock, this marks a more thoughtful but no less esoteric and sensually thrilling debut from writer/director Carmen Jaquier.
In a remarkably brave performance, Lilith Grasmug plays a young nun in 1900 Switzerland named Elisabeth, whose seclusion in the confines of a convert are interrupted by her sister Innocente’s death, an event that prompts her parents to order her out to help them on the family farm. But her sister’s demise is shrouded in mystery, with an oppressive silence hanging over the details of her death. Her parents refuse to hear her name in their house,...
In a remarkably brave performance, Lilith Grasmug plays a young nun in 1900 Switzerland named Elisabeth, whose seclusion in the confines of a convert are interrupted by her sister Innocente’s death, an event that prompts her parents to order her out to help them on the family farm. But her sister’s demise is shrouded in mystery, with an oppressive silence hanging over the details of her death. Her parents refuse to hear her name in their house,...
- 9/24/2022
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
A corrupt minister and a delusional pair of dance contestants are just two of the monsters of mediocrity who haunt Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s strange film
Macron’s France gets tied to a chair in a basement and abused in this scabrous and gruesome state-of-the-nation black comedy from Jean-Christophe Meurisse. Olivier (Olivier Saladin) and Laurence (Lorella Cravotta) are a conceited retired couple in deep denial about how much debt they’re in, but hoping to win big money by competing in a dance contest. They figure they are entitled to extra points for being older, and the ferocious opening scene shows the judges debating precisely this kind of liberal identity-politics issue.
The couple’s grown-up son, Alexandre (Alexandre Steiger), is a lawyer who, along with a bleary spin doctor (Denis Podalydès), is advising a creepy and reactionary government minister (Christophe Paou) who is keen to cut welfare while engaging in personal...
Macron’s France gets tied to a chair in a basement and abused in this scabrous and gruesome state-of-the-nation black comedy from Jean-Christophe Meurisse. Olivier (Olivier Saladin) and Laurence (Lorella Cravotta) are a conceited retired couple in deep denial about how much debt they’re in, but hoping to win big money by competing in a dance contest. They figure they are entitled to extra points for being older, and the ferocious opening scene shows the judges debating precisely this kind of liberal identity-politics issue.
The couple’s grown-up son, Alexandre (Alexandre Steiger), is a lawyer who, along with a bleary spin doctor (Denis Podalydès), is advising a creepy and reactionary government minister (Christophe Paou) who is keen to cut welfare while engaging in personal...
- 9/12/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Following its run on the festival circuit, which included a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and screenings at Fantastic Fest, Jean-Christophe Meurisse's Bloody Oranges will be releasing on VOD on April 19th from Dark Star Pictures, but you can get a tease of what to expect right now by checking out this exclusive clip just for Daily Dead readers!
"A retired couple enter a dance contest, a corrupt politician, a girl eager to lose her virginity, and a young lawyer obsessed with social status - a seemingly benign look into these daily lives goes haywire in this shocking black comedy."
Bloody Oranges stars Alexandre Steiger, Christophe, Paou, Lilith Grasmug, and Olivier Saladin. Check out the dance competition clip below and be on the lookout for Heather Wixson's interview with Jean-Christophe Meurisse later this week!
The post Indie Horror Month 2022: Watch an Exclusive Clip from French...
"A retired couple enter a dance contest, a corrupt politician, a girl eager to lose her virginity, and a young lawyer obsessed with social status - a seemingly benign look into these daily lives goes haywire in this shocking black comedy."
Bloody Oranges stars Alexandre Steiger, Christophe, Paou, Lilith Grasmug, and Olivier Saladin. Check out the dance competition clip below and be on the lookout for Heather Wixson's interview with Jean-Christophe Meurisse later this week!
The post Indie Horror Month 2022: Watch an Exclusive Clip from French...
- 4/18/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Pondering Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s Bloody Oranges kindled a somewhat unexpected association in my mind. The opening minutes, and the following deviation from the tone they set, made me think of Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods. A strange comparison indeed, but not entirely unfounded. Both introductory sequences defy the expectations about the respective features - that of a disturbing dark comedy and a run-of-the-mill slasher. In both cases, prolonged and talky openings act as preludes to mayhem. You would certainly be reading a more elaborate analogy were Bloody Oranges as subversive and effortlessly witty as Goddard’s debut.
Meurisse's film assumes a fragmented format, following, among others, a pair of seniors (Lorella Cravotta and Olivier Saladin) hoping to counter their debts by winning a dancing contest, an insecure lawyer who happens to be their son (Alexandre Steiger), a teenager readying herself to lose her virginity (Lilith Grasmug), a corrupt finance secretary (Christophe.
Meurisse's film assumes a fragmented format, following, among others, a pair of seniors (Lorella Cravotta and Olivier Saladin) hoping to counter their debts by winning a dancing contest, an insecure lawyer who happens to be their son (Alexandre Steiger), a teenager readying herself to lose her virginity (Lilith Grasmug), a corrupt finance secretary (Christophe.
- 4/11/2022
- by Antoni Konieczny
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
"Brimming with comedy and shocking content." Dark Star Pictures has revealed an official US trailer for an indie very, very dark comedy film titled Bloody Oranges, originally known as Oranges Sanguines in French. This first premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival last year in the Midnight section, and it also played at Fantastic Fest and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The film is about a retired couple who enter a dance contest, a corrupt politician caught evading paying his taxes, a girl eager to lose her virginity, and a young lawyer obsessed with social status - a seemingly benign look into these daily lives goes haywire in this shocking black comedy. The director reveals that, "the film speaks of actual events which I read about in the newspapers." But with a twist! The film stars Alexandre Steiger, Christophe Paou, and Lilith Grasmug. This looks like a searing tale about how messed up everyone is,...
- 3/16/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
A case study in the importance of knowing as little about a movie’s plot in advance as possible, “Bloody Oranges” ends somewhere completely different from where it began with only minor stumbles along the way. This acerbic look at the France of today isn’t as ha-ha funny as director Jean-Christophe Meurisse probably intended, but its darker shades reveal an underbelly that’s hard to turn away from — even if a few graphic scenes will make you want to.
Our deceptively low-stakes entrée into this world is a lengthy scene in which the judges of a local dance competition argue among themselves over the contestants’ respective skills and get sidetracked by tangential digressions and increasingly heated debates; one of them even breaks down in tears. The contest itself is a no-frills affair taking place in a gymnasium with no real audience beyond the aspiring dancers themselves, including an older...
Our deceptively low-stakes entrée into this world is a lengthy scene in which the judges of a local dance competition argue among themselves over the contestants’ respective skills and get sidetracked by tangential digressions and increasingly heated debates; one of them even breaks down in tears. The contest itself is a no-frills affair taking place in a gymnasium with no real audience beyond the aspiring dancers themselves, including an older...
- 11/10/2021
- by Michael Nordine
- Variety Film + TV
Alexandre Steiger, Christophe Paou, Vincent Dedienne, Blanche Gardin and Denis Podalydès, all star in the cast of this Mamma Roman and Rectangle production, set to be sold by Best Friend Forever. After kicking off on 26 October, filming on Oranges sanguines, Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s second feature film after Apnée (discovered in a Special Screening in Cannes’ Critics’ Week 2016), is scheduled to wrap on 2 December. Also known for being a stage director for his theatre company Les Chiens de Navarre, the filmmaker gathered together a cast including Alexandre Steiger, Christophe Paou (highly acclaimed for his performance in Stranger by the Lake), youngster Lilith Grasmug (Sophia Antipolis), Frédéric Blin, Olivier Saladin (whom he previously worked with on Apnée), Lorella Cravotta (Romantics Anonymous), Vincent Dedienne, Blanche Gardin...
- 11/27/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
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