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Streaming in Europe on Netflix, “Bardot" is a 6-episode, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez as the iconic film actress:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'......

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

"Bardot" is the new 6-episode, live-action, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez, airing in 2023 on France 2:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'...... 

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

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"Bardot" is the new 6-episode, live-action, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez, airing in 2023 on France 2:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'...... 

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

Editors note: This review was originally published in June 2021 after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film opens in New York on Friday and in Los Angeles on April 21.

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Beautifully upholstered and decked out with a starry cast, Everything Went Fine (Tout S’est Bien Passé) is the sort of comforting, thoroughly mainstream commercial film not often seen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Although the subject of euthanasia does not normally suggest a good time at the movies, French director François Ozon serves one up anyway with the help of a raft of crafty and appealing veteran actors, lush filmmaking and savvy and deft handling of the central emotional dynamic.

Shortly after family patriarch André (André Dussollier) suffers a debilitating stroke, the 85-year-old insists to his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau) that he wants to end to it all, on his own terms. He seems something of a borderline case,...

Cohen Media Group has dropped the trailer for Francois Ozon’s drama “Everything Went Fine” ahead of its theatrical release in New York on April 14 and Los Angeles on April 21, followed by a national expansion.

“Everything Went Fine” is based on the autobiographical novel by author Emmanuèle Bernheim who previously collaborated on Ozon’s screenplays for “Under The Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “Ricky.”

The movie follows 85-year-old art collector André Bernheim (André Dussolier) who, after a debilitating stroke, demands that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau), help him end life on his own terms. Faced with a painful decision, Emmanuèle, with the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), begins sorting through the processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s final wish, as she is forced to reconcile her past with a complicated, stubborn, yet charismatic man.

Here’s the trailer:

“Everything Went Fine” also stars...

While she retired prematurely at the age of 39, Brigitte Bardot has left an indelible mark on France’s popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s. With her wild blonde mane, smoky eyes and pouty lips, Bardot became a symbol of a modern, effortlessly sexy French woman and a style emblem that continues to inspire current trends.

The event series “Bardot,” which is penned and directed by Daniele Thompson (“The Queen Margot”) and Christopher Thompson (“La bûche”), world premiered at Series Mania Festival to unanimous praise and has been pre-sold by Federation nearly worldwide.

“‘Bardot’ is like the French ‘The Crown’ because Bardot embodied France, and through her journey we reminisce about many parts of France’s history and popular culture in the 1950s and 1960s,” Federation’s boss and “Bardot” producer Pascal Breton told Variety. “That era is a historical moment where everything changes, where we go from black and white to color,...

Melvil Poupaud Validee

Is anyone out there? If so, can people here cope with whoever or whatever that might be? The French TV series UFOs (OVNIs) gives us a rather light-hearted view of how that may play out. Think of it as an X-Files run by Steve Carrell’s character from The Office.

It’s 1978. Didier (Melvil Poupaud) is in charge of France’s major missile launch that was years in the making. It fizzles spectacularly, but no one, including his ex-wife and collaborator Elise (Geraldine Pailhas), can figure out what went wrong. In the wake of his high-profile flop, someone’s head must roll, so the boss dumps him into an obscure department that deals with reported UFO sightings. That sub-agency is merely a joke to the country’s aerospace scientists and politicians, so his mission is to debunk all the rumors to justify shutting it down.

Didier finds...

Further new releases include ’Good Luck To You Leo Grande’ and ‘Pleasure’.

Lightyear will be hoping to blast to the top of the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, with Disney releasing the animation at 654 locations.

Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear origin story has had a lukewarm reception from critics, but the Angus MacLane-directed title will hope to capitalise on the enduring influence of the Toy Story franchise. When Toy Story 4 was released in 2019, it broke a record for the highest ever three-day opening for an animated title in the UK, opening in 668 venues, and taking £13.3m.

Chris Evans takes...

Reims Polar, a new international festival set in Northern France and dedicated to police thrillers, has awarded Wen Shipei’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” Adikhan Yerzhanov’s “Assault” and Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution.”

The selection of Reims Polar is curated by Bruno Barde, who is also the artistic director of the Deauville American Film Festival.

“Assault,” a dead-pan thriller set fictional village in rural Kazakhstan and revolving around a school hostage situation, won the festival’s Grand Prize Award. Yerzhanov, a prolific Kazakh director, previously directed “The Gentle Indifference of the World” which played at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2018.

The Reims Polar jury prize went to a pair of feature debuts, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” a Chinese film which world premiered out of competition at last year’s Cannes, and Russian filmmaker Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution,” a thriller inspired by the case of an infamous Soviet-era serial killer.

Less than two years after joining France Televisions, former Canal Plus executive Manuel Alduy has contributed to bolstering the French public broadcaster’s roster of international series with shows such as “Bardot,” a mini-series biopic of Brigitte Bardot, and “L’Insoumise” about Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker ever.

Ahead of France Televisions’ press conference at Series Mania, Alduy said the broadcaster’s first-look initiative with the European Broadcasting Union (Ebu) has yielded several prestige projects, including “Bardot.” The Ebu represents 113 organizations across the 56 countries, including the BBC in the U.K., Ard in Germany, Dr in Denmark, Svt in Sweden, Rai in Italy and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

“Bardot” charts the life of the French actor and model from 1949, when she first appeared on the cover of a magazine, to the birth of her son in 1960. It’s being produced by Federation Entertainment with France Televisions in France, and...

Sophie Marceau: 'What really attracted me was the way of treating a difficult subject in a completely pragmatic and practical way' Photo: UniFrance For someone who started out as an adolescent teen icon, bursting with life, in La Boum back in the day Sophie Marceau has been spending rather a lot of time recently contemplating death.

She has the perfect excuse: she plays one of two sisters (the other is Géraldine Pailhas) whose 85-year-old father (André Dussollier) ask them to help him to end his life in François Ozon’s Everything Went Fine (Tout c’est bien passé), which is screening at Glasgow Film Festival on March 11 and 12 and, as part of New York's Rendez-vous with French Cinema on March 7.

Ozon was able to persuade Marceau, 55, to return to the big screen after a lengthy absence to join the cast of his adaptation of the autobiographical book by Emmanuèle Bernheim,...

The dilemmas about the end of life and assisted dying are brought in to soft focus by director François Ozon, who makes what could have been an impossibly painful subject more palatable but nonetheless affecting.

It helps, of course, that he has a thoroughly professional cast who knowingly lead us through the emotional dynamics in a way that spares none of the anguish yet provides sparks of comfort and illuminating perspectives.

André Dussollier perfectly incarnates the curmudgeonly 85-year-old who insists that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau at the top of her game) helps him to end his life after a stroke has left him debilitated. He’s a man who is used to getting his own way … and why at the moment of death change the habits of a lifetime?

The family gather around, among them Emmanuèle’s sister (played by the ever dependable Géraldine Pailhas) and their mother Claude (Charlotte Rampling,...

Cohen Media Group and Curzon have jointly acquired all U.S. and U.K. distribution rights to “Everything Went Fine,” Francois Ozon’s film with Sophie Marceau, which just world-premiered in competition at Cannes and earned a warm critical welcome.

The deal was negotiated by Cmg senior VP Robert Aaronson, Curzon Artificial Eye’s managing director Louisa Dent and Sébasten Beffa and Nicolas Brigaud-Robert at Playtime.

“Everything Went Fine” marks Marceau’s first time working with Ozon, one of France’s most critically laureled helmers. The drama is based Emmanuèle Bernheim’s novel “Everything Went Well” and centers on a woman as she is confronted with her father’s declining health following a stroke. Sick and half-paralyzed in his hospital bed, André asks Emmanuèle to help him end his life. The film explores the father-daughter relationship.

Written and directed by Ozon, “Everything Went Fine” also stars Géraldine Pailhas, Charlotte Rampling,...

Ah, François Ozon. He’s like that local artisan whose atelier you walk past and hope that he never retires or shuts up shop despite the fact that you don’t necessarily shop there. For Ozon is a true craftsman, quietly fashioning exquisite pieces that are beautifully made, long lasting and highly polished.

The French director is in Cannes in competition with Tout s’est bien passé, a very French tale focussing on a middle-aged woman Manue (Sophie Marceau) dealing with her aged and difficult parents with the aid of her sister. The story opens with author Manue seated at her desk when she receives a phone call from her sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas): their irascible and tyrannical father André (André Dussollier) has had a stroke and is in the hospital. It transpires that dad is a bit of handful and his daughters are in thrall to him, always doing his bidding.

The cast features Sophie Marceau, Andre Dussollier, Géraldine Pailhas and Charlotte Rampling.

Paris-based sales company Playtime has unveiled a slew of deals on François Ozon’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender Everything Went Fine following its premiere in Competition on Wednesday evening.

For Europe, it has sold to Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Austria and Germany (Wild Bunch), Spain (Golem Distribución), Greece (Filmtrade), Italy (Academy Two), Portugal (Leopardo), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Hungary (Vertigo), Lithuanian, Baltics, Cis (A-One), ex-Yugoslavia (Fma),

In the rest of the world it has been acquired for Canada (MK2|Mile End), Israel (Lev Cinema/Shani Films), Turkey (Bir Film...

André Dussollier and Sophie Marceau are outstanding as a father and daughter whose tricky relationship is upended when he asks for her help to die

François Ozon has brought a tremendous understated confidence and artistry to this very affecting film about euthanasia and assisted dying. There is a robust unsentimentality here, encapsulated by the throwaway gesture in the title itself, leaving us to decide what it exactly it is in the end which has gone “well”. And the final shot of a dead person, the supremely difficult moment to bring off, is haunting in its lack of emotional affect.

André Dussollier, the veteran French character actor, plays André, a wealthy and socially well-connected retired industrialist. In his late 80s, André suffers a stroke and the vigorous, handsome but cruelly sharp-tongued man that we see in flashback is reduced to a sad state in hospital: his face and right eye sagging.

François Ozon follows his darkly sensual melodrama about queer first love, Summer of 85, with a pivot back to sober dramatic territory in Everything Went Fine, which doubles as a gesture of gratitude toward the late novelist Emmanuèle Bernheim, his script collaborator on Under the Sand, Swimming Pool and 5×2. Taking a refreshingly frank, uncomplicated attitude to its fraught issues, the film stars Sophie Marceau in a compellingly grounded performance as Bernheim, asked to take on a role of tremendous moral and emotional weight by a man with whom she has always had a somewhat thorny relationship and yet finds impossible to deny.

The other actor who elevates the intimate drama is veteran André Dussollier as Emmanuèle’s father, André Bernheim, a cultured art collector whose vitality continues to peek through his distress even after the stroke that leaves him semi-paralyzed. He makes the unbending decision to end his life rather than...

Early in “Everything Went Fine,” ailing 85-year-old André asks — instructs, really — his daughter Emmanuèle to help him end his life. After a brief period of understandable panic, she takes the assignment more or less in stride, give or take the odd cry behind closed bathroom doors. “Why would your father ask this of his daughter?” her bewildered husband asks her in bed one night. “That’s why, because I’m his daughter,” she replies, seemingly amazed he has to ask. Thus does François Ozon’s tender-hearted but cool-headed euthanasia drama effectively divide the world into people who understand this and people who don’t, while remaining sympathetic to all parties.

Adapted from French writer Emmanuèle Bernheim’s memoir of her father’s death, this elegantly written, persuasively performed drama finds the ever-unpredictable Ozon in his plainest, most pragmatic gear as a filmmaker. The results are cinematically low-key, but a tony cast of familiar faces,...

Arnaud Ducret, Géraldine Pailhas, Stéphane de Groodt and Alison Wheeler star in the cast of this Les Films du Cap and Mm Films production, sold by Other Angle. Filming came to an end on 23 December for Tendre et saignant, Christopher Thompson’s second feature film as a director following his initial Bus Palladium (which earned two César nominations in the categories of Male Newcomer and Musical Score in 2011). Standing tall in lead roles are Arnaud Ducret and Géraldine Pailhas, among others, as well as the series Marseille), who are flanked by Belgium’s Stéphane de...

Red carpet protest highlighted fact only 82 women have been honoured in Official Selection over 71 editions of festival.

Cate Blanchett and Agnes Varda led 82 female industry figures in a silent ascent of the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday protesting the lack of female representation at the event over its 71 editions.

Moving, historic, 82 women from all countries and professions in cinema have just made the red carpet entrance for Les Filles Du Soleil (Girls Of The Sun) by Eva Husson. #Cannes2018 #Competition pic.twitter.com/0YY9SNbRqg

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 12, 2018

Other stars joining the protest...

Emmanuel Bourdieu on who could play Louis-Ferdinand Céline: "One is Denis Podalydès, who is my best friend. And the other was Denis Lavant whom I knew only as a fan." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Emmanuel Bourdieu, director and co-screenwriter of Louis-Ferdinand Céline (based on the book The Crippled Giant by Martin Hindus and starring Denis Lavant), spoke with me about the casting of the lead role, shooting in Belgium with cinematographer Marie Spencer and screenwriter Marcia Romano and editor Benoît Quinon on board, working with composer Grégoire Hetzel on creating a tune for a William Blake poem to characterize Philip Desmeules' portrayal of Hindus, and how Géraldine Pailhas helped with the costumes for Lucette (designed by Florence Scholtes and Christophe Pidre).

Denis Lavant as Louis-Ferdinand Céline with Bébert: "He could change the mood very very fast. And Denis knows how to do that.

Thirteen first and second films revealed.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed 13 of the first and second films by European, Asian and Latin American filmmakers set to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.

Among the films are Chilean film Princess, produced by Juan de Dios, Pablo Larraín and Fernanda del Nido, and the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant to Michael Haneke and Olivier Assayas, starring Pauline Burlet (The Past) and Géraldine Pailhas (Young & Beautiful).

Princess is the second feature film by Marialy Rivas. The Chilean director debuted with Young & Wild (Joven & Alocada) selected for Films in Progress 20 at the San Sebastian Festival (2011) and a competitor in Horizontes Latinos after winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2012.

The film, which was selected by Films in Progress 28, narrates the experience of a 12-year-old girl living in a sect.

The Sower (Le Semeur), the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant...

Thirteen first and second films revealed.

The San Sebastian Film Festival has revealed thirteen of the first and second films by European, Asian and Latin American filmmakers set to compete for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award.

Among the films are Chilean movie Princess, produced by Juan de Dios, Pablo Larraín and Fernanda del Nido and the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant to Michael Haneke and Olivier Assayas, starring Pauline Burlet (The Past) and Géraldine Pailhas (Young & Beautiful).

Princess is the second feature film by Marialy Rivas. The Chilean director debuted with Young & Wild (Joven & Alocada) selected for Films in Progress 20 at the San Sebastian Festival (2011) and a competitor in Horizontes Latinos after winning the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2012.

The film, which was selected by Films in Progress 28, narrates the experience of a 12 year-old girl living in a sect.

The Sower (Le Semeur), the first film by Marine Francen, former assistant...

Denis Lavant as Louis-Ferdinand Céline with Bébert

Paolo Sorrentino begins his Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) with a quote about imaginary travel from Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Journey To The End Of The Night. Céline's novels changed French literature forever and influenced writers all over the world since the early 1930s. Is it possible, Emmanuel Bourdieu's probing film asks, to reconcile the literary genius with his anti-Semitic pamphlets and statements?

Céline and Lucette (Géraldine Pailhas) with Milton Hindus (Philip Desmeules)

In the green room at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, the director of Louis-Ferdinand Céline and I discussed the terror of a genius, the score by Grégoire Hetzel, casting Denis Lavant of Léos Carax's Holy Motors fame, creating a tune for a William Blake poem, how Géraldine Pailhas helped with the costumes, bird sounds, and Bébert, the cat.

At a loss for what to watch this week? From new DVDs and Blu-rays, to what's new on Netflix and TV, we've got you covered.

TV Worth Watching

"The Good Wife" (Sunday on CBS at 9 p.m.)

This is it. The end of an era. After seven seasons of heartbreak (she'll always love you, Will!), headaches, incredibly sharp writing, and powerful performances from Julianna Margulies down to the many amazing guest stars, Alicia Florrick's story is coming to an end on May 8. The series finale, appropriately titled "End," was written by showrunners Robert and Michelle King, and directed by Robert King. Margulies told Entertainment Weekly the finale will be "satisfying, uplifting and sad." The showrunners have Not shot down that Josh Charles return rumor, so here's hoping for some kind of flashback/vision/cameo/thing. Also, here's hoping for more of this, from Alicia and Jason:

"Project Runway: All Stars...

Netflix has released 2 new date announcement trailers for their original series The Crown and Marco Polo Season 2 and a full trailer for Bloodline Season 2. In addition Netflix has also released a cast shot from their upcoming new series Marseille, starring Gérard Depardieu.

You can check out the trailers and photo below.

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The Crown

The Crown, the highly anticipated, new original series will premiere on Netflix, the world’s leading Internet TV network, to a global audience on Friday, November 4, 2016. The 10-episode series will be available in 4K.

The Crown reunites acclaimed writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) with director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and producer Andy Harries (The Queen). Based on the award-winning play, The Audience, The Crown tells the inside story...

It has been a long journey, but at long last we have a return date for Marco Polo.

Netflix has announced that Season 2 of the adventure drama will release globally on July 1. The cast for the 10-episode sophomore run includes Lorenzo Richelmy (as Marco Polo), Michelle Yeoh (the Handmaiden), Benedict Wong (Kublai Khan), Joan Chen (Empress Chabi), Zhu Zhu (Kokachin), Tom Wu (Hundred Eyes), Olivia Cheng (Mei Lin), Claudia Kim (Khutulun), Rick Yune (Kaidu), Remy Hii (Prince Jingim), Mahesh Jadu (Ahmad) and Uli Latukefu (Byamba), among others.

Netflix also has released a teaser that touts a November 4 global release date for The Crown,...

Not only is Netflix spending big on original programming; they are launching productions around the globe, as their audience has expanded far beyond U.S. borders. And this spring, their starry French drama "Marseille" will be unveiled. It looks like a French "House Of Cards," and that's just fine by me. Read More: Disruptors: How Netflix & Amazon Are Creating Greater Tumult In The Independent Film Industry Starring Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Magimel, Géraldine Pailhas, Nadia Farès, Stéphane Caillard, Jean-René Privat, Guillaume Arnault, Hedi Bouchenafa, Carolina Jurczak, and Nassim Si Ahmed, the story follows the struggle for power in the titular city between the old guard and the young upstarts. Here's the synopsis:  As the municipal elections approach in Marseille, Robert Taro, the city's Mayor for the last twenty years, prepares his last coup: push through the vote for the construction of a casino in the...

The new Marseille TV series premieres globally, on Netflix Friday, May 5, 2016 at 12:01am Cet. This French political drama features the race to become Mayor of Marseille. Watch a teaser with the series announcement, below.

Marseille stars: Gérard Depardieu as Robert Taro and Benoît Magimel as Lucas Barrès. Also starring are Géraldine Pailhas, Nadia Farès, Stéphane Caillard, Jean-René Privat, Guillaume Arnault, Hedi Bouchenafa, Carolina Jurczak, and Nassim Si Ahmed.

Read More…...

Us streaming giant and French rival Canalplay battle it out for Svod audience.

Netflix marked the first anniversary of its arrival in France on Tuesday (Sept 15) but in contrast to the glitzy, star-studded launch party on the banks of the River Seine and local media frenzy of last year it was a low-key affair.

Since its creation in 1997, the Us streaming giant has set up shop in more than 50 territories across the globe but France - with its strict media chronology laws, strong home-grown film and TV industry and powerful local players led by Canal Plus - is seen as one of its most challenging launches to date.

The company does not divulge subscription data but estimates by various research agencies suggest that France - as expected - is proving a tough nut to crack.

A report released over the summer by Futuresource Consulting put the number of French Netflix subscribers at roughly 750,000, including those who are...

Kornél Mundruczó’s White God has won the top prize in Un Certain Regard at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczo has won the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival with his film White God (Feher Isten).

The Hungary-Germany-Sweden co-production centres on a 12-year-old girl who runs away from home to search for her dog. Sales are handled by The Match Factory.

It marks a triumphant return to Cannes for Mundruczo, who was previously in Competition in 2008 with Delta, which won the Fipresci prize, and in 2010 with Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project. His feature Johanna played in Un Certain Regard in 2005.

It has been a good week for Body, the dog who played Hagen in White God, who became the first canine to be invited on stage with Thierry Fremaux at the film’s Un Certain Regard screening and earlier today won the coveted Palm Dog.

The Jury Prize...

Chicago – “Young & Beautiful” may have people rethinking the phrase, “Oh, to be young and beautiful again.” Well, maybe the “young” part, since we seldom don’t hear lamentations of the loss of beauty. Here’s a film that reminds us that wisdom not only comes with age, but also with mistakes.

It also serves as a reminder that in our youth, we often get stuck in irreversibly bad patterns that hurt ourselves and the ones who love us. Writer/director Francois Ozon’s latest leaves us to decide whether or not the young and beautiful protagonist has any regret for her rash and vacant erotic adventures.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The film opens on a teenage girl relaxing topless on a beach in France, while a younger boy peeps through binoculars from the tree line above her. She is seventeen year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth) and he is her curious brother, Victor (Fantin Ravat...

Argentine director Pablo Trapero to preside over Un Certain Regard; actress-director Nicole Garcia to head Camera d’Or jury.

Just days before the launch of the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25), two more juries have been revealed.

As previously announced, Argentine director Pablo Trapero will preside over the five-member jury, which will also include:

Peter Becker, President of The Criterion Collection (Us)

Maria Bonnevie, actress (Norway / Sweden)

Géraldine Pailhas, actress (France)

Moussa Touré, director, scriptwriter, producer (Sénégal)

Bonnevie is best known for her roles in I Am Dina (2002) and The 13th Warrior (1999), and will next be seen in Susanne Bier’s En Chance Til.

Pailhas is best known for Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Palme d’Or nominee Jeune & Jolie (2013) and The Returned (2004)

The 20 films taking part in Un Certain Regard will be screened in the Debussy Theatre from May 15-23. The opening film will be Party Girl by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Théis, a debut movie...

Directors Pablo Trapero and Nicole Garcia will lead two juries composed of six men and six women in the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard and Camera d'Or competitions, festival organizers announced on Sunday. The Un Certain Regard jury, which will judge the 20 films in competition in that section, is headed by Argentinian director Pablo Trapero (“White Elephant,” “Carancho”) and also includes Criterion Collection president Peter Becker, actresses Maria Bonnevie (“I Am Dina”) and Géraldine Pailhas (“Don Juan DeMarco”) and Senegalese writer-director Moussa Touré (“La Pirogue”). The films they will consider include Ryan Gosling's “Lost River,” “Ned Benson's “The Disappearance.

Seventeen-year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth) is deflowered during her family's Summer holiday in the south of France, and by the time Autumn rolls around she has taken up a career as a prostitute. With an online profile that lists her age as 20, the underage call girl quickly builds a client base of wealthy old men. Unafraid to meet these strange men in hotel rooms, Isabelle does not seem to comprehend the inherent risks of her career. All the while, Isabelle's mother (Géraldine Pailhas) and step-father (Frédéric Pierrot) are utterly clueless about her secret life. Writer-director François Ozon's Young & Beautiful intimately observes Isabelle during the four seasons of the seventeenth year of her life, separating each season into a distinct chapter featuring a song by Françoise Hardy -- "The Love Of A Boy," "When Even Try?," "First Encounter," and "I Am Me." Ozon focuses the eerily nonchalant attitude of a modern teenager,...

Charles Cohen on Catherine Deneuve in On My Way: "an incredible performance by the iconic Catherine Deneuve." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, uniFrance Films and Cohen Media Group presented on the opening night of New York's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at the Paris Theatre, Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way (Elle s'en va), starring Catherine Deneuve. François Ozon with his star of Young And Beautiful (Jeune Et Jolie), Géraldine Pailhas, directors Sébastien Betbeder - 2 Autumns, 3 Winters (2 Automnes, 3 Hivers), Justine Triet - Age Of Panic (La Bataille De Solférino), Katell Quillévéré - Suzanne, Axelle Ropert - Miss And The Doctors (Tirez La Langue, Mademoiselle), Rebecca Zlotowski - Grand Central, and co-screenwriter Antonin Baudry of The French Minister (Quai D’Orsay) were among those who walked the red carpet.

Young and Beautiful director François Ozon with his star Géraldine Pailhas Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The evening was hosted with style by Charles Cohen,...

French president François Hollande's alleged lover wins nomination for ripped-from-the-headlines comedy Quai d'Orsay

• Julie Gayet to sue French magazine Closer over Hollande affair claims

Art appears to be imitating life at the César awards, where French actor Julie Gayet, the star of one political farce, finds herself nominated for her role in another. The alleged lover of president François Hollande is shortlisted as best supporting actress for her performance in Quai d'Orsay, a screwball comedy about a vain French politician.

Directed by Bertrand Tavernier, Quai d'Orsay goes behind the scenes at the French foreign ministry, where harassed government staffers have their hands full attending to the whims of their preening, gnomic boss. Gayet co-stars as a vampish policy adviser on Africa who will reportedly stop at nothing to gain an advantage over her rivals. She is joined on the shortlist by Marisa Borini, Françoise Fabian, Adèle Haenel and Géraldine Pailhas.

Leviathan | Saving Mr Banks | Carrie | Jeune & Jolie | Marius, Fanny | Saving Santa | The Best Man Holiday | Free Birds | Day Of The Flowers | Life's A Breeze

Leviathan (12A)

(Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, 2012, Fra/UK/Us) 87 mins

An arthouse fishing-trawler documentary sounds like a practical joke, but this takes us to places we've never before – into the ocean depths and back out on to the decks with the catch. It's a series of dark, semi-abstract tableaux full of flapping fish, clanking machinery and tattooed fishermen doing wet, gory work. It's easy to forget this is real life you're watching.

Saving Mr Banks (PG)

(John Lee Hancock, 2013, Us) Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson. 125 mins

How Walt Disney came to make Mary Poppins was hardly a pressing movie mystery, and one suspects a spoonful of drama has been added, but the leads are eminently watchable.

Carrie (15)

(Kimberly Peirce, 2013, Us) Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore. 100 mins

Brian De Palma...

Only French cinema could get away with Jeune & Jolie. Beneath its stylish, sexy glow lies an essential absurdity and obtuseness

François Ozon's fervent and well-acted drama about a 17-year-old girl exploring her sexuality by becoming a high-class call girl is very watchable … and entirely ridiculous. It has a stylish gloss and sexy glow, no doubt about it. Only French cinema could get away with it.

Yet once the credits roll, its essential absurdity and obtuseness become apparent: it's a solemn belle de jour tale with a touch of David Hamilton softcore, existing outside the grim reality of vulnerable women being abused and trafficked.

Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Colour was attacked as a movie for middle-aged men; that charge could be made far more powerfully against Jeune & Jolie.

Yet it has to be said that Marine Vacth is excellent as Isabelle, the schoolgirl with a secret life as a €500 prostitute,...

★★★☆☆ Following on from the Kristen Scott-Thomas-starring In the House (2012), which hit screens back in March, prolific French director François Ozon returns to UK cinemas for the second time this year with Jeune & Jolie (2013). Playing at the London Film Festival ahead of a wider cinematic release, it is an elusive study of a 17-year-old girl's sexual awakening built around an exceptional performance from actress and model Marine Vacth. Vacth perfectly encapsulates the youth and beauty of the title whilst the audience is left to admire her - and the drama itself - from something of a distance and through a primarily male gaze.

Taking place across four clearly delineated seasons (each of which is also associated with a particular, pertinent, song) it opens during a sun-drenched summer holiday. Here, the teenage Isabelle (Vacth) has a brief tryst with a young man and loses her virginity during a rendezvous on the beach.

The critics rained on Baz Luhrmann's parade but a star was born in Young and Beautiful, and Sofia Coppola hit a nerve with a film about a teen gang robbing the homes of Hollywood stars

Nicole Kidman is here in Cannes, so is Ang Lee, and Audrey Tautou, and a second-generation Jagger, and Justin Timberlake, and Cindy Crawford, and Cheryl Cole, and Pelé, and all of them have been rained on, stubbornly, for days. Rain at Cannes used to be rare, regulars say. Russell Crowe has an anecdote about sitting in a screening wearing sodden zip-ups back in 1991, and Bruce Willis got splashed by a freak wave in 2006 – but for a couple of decades straight, at least, this festival was a dry deal, screenings and parties staged outdoors, everyone "cooked to a turn" (as F Scott Fitzgerald described the local way of sunbathing). Then last year the roof of the Soixantième theatre blew off.

François Ozon's Young & Beautiful, a portrait of a 17-year-old French call girl, is a story about a family in crisis: Isabelle (played by Marine Vacth, a stunning-looking if ultimately inert actress) is a student who still lives at home with her mother, stepfather, and kid brother; no one, least of all mom (Géraldine Pailhas), is too happy when her secret profession comes to light. The picture is reasonably compelling, particularly in the way Ozon outlines the tender relationship between Isabelle and one of her much older clients. And it's more restrained than many of Ozon's pictures—there's no exhausting campiness here. But Young & Beautiful might have worked better wit...

François Ozon has concocted a tense, serious study of a 17-year-old girl's sexual awakening. It plays a little like Belle de Jour without the subversion

François Ozon's new film is a luxurious fantasy of a young girl's flowering: a very French and very male fantasy, like the pilot episode of the world's classiest soap opera. There's some softcore eroticism and an entirely, if enjoyably, absurd final scene with Charlotte Rampling, whose cameo lends a grandmotherly seal of approval to the drama's sexual adventure. But this is well-crafted and well-acted, with strong performances from Géraldine Pailhas and Frédéric Pierrot as well-to-do middle-aged couple Sylvie and Patrick, and from newcomer Marine Vacth as Isabelle, their 17-year-old daughter, who is on the verge of a seismic personal transformation. There is also a nice contribution from Fantin Ravat as Isabelle's kid brother Victor: a saucer-eyed onlooker and confidant – and also, I suspect,...

Jeune et Jolie

Director/Writer: François Ozon

Producer(s): Mandarin Cinéma’s Eric and Nicolas Altmayer

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Nathalie Richard, Charlotte Rampling

I often mention how François Ozon (and Michael Winterbottom) are the most prolific filmmakers of the past two decades, and what I like best about the pair is that they often deviate from their previous films. Falling into the comedy genre, his 14th film sees model-turned-actress Marine Vacth (Klapisch’s Ma part du Gâteau) in the lead and will once again have the participation of Charlotte Rampling of Swimming Pool fame – Ozon’s 2003 film.

Gist: This is about a young woman who becomes a prostitute for pleasure.

Release Date: Filming began in mid 2012, so without any mentions of a showing at the Berlin Film Festival, we think this either hits Cannes or Venice.

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Updated through 5/25.

"Like his last two films, Claire Dolan (1998) and Keane (2004), Lodge Kerrigan's Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs) is named for its protagonist," writes Dennis Lim, introducing his interview with the director for the New York Times. "The French actress Géraldine Pailhas appears as a mentally unstable Grace Slick fan named Rebecca H. and also as herself, playing an actress starring in a Grace Slick biopic — or is it a film about a Grace Slick biopic? — shot in France by a director named Lodge Kerrigan (played by Mr Kerrigan)."...

Joan Jett and Cherie Currie aren't the only female frontman to receive the big screen treatment this year (The Runaways), as Lodge Kerrigan has "secretly" filmed a story on Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick - the film is actually already in the can and filmed last May. It's Kerrigan's first film since the anxiety-filled 2004 film Keane, which starred bite-sized Abigail Breslin and Damian Lewis in his best work to date. Currently on Wild Bunch's film slate, Kerrigan's Rebecca H. was funded with French coin and the film stars Géraldine Pailhas (Ozon's 5X2) as Slick. - Joan Jett and Cherie Currie aren't the only female frontman to receive the big screen treatment this year (The Runaways), as Lodge Kerrigan has "secretly" filmed a story on Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick - the film is actually already in the can and filmed last May. It's Kerrigan's first film since the anxiety-filled 2004 film&nbsp;Keane,...