Albert Dupontel and Benoit Poelvoorde - Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern, Albert Dupontel, Benoit Poelvoorde Tuesday 22nd May 2012 Le Grand Soir photocall during the 65th Cannes Film Festival
Benoit Poelvoorde
Benoit Poelvoorde
Romantics Anonymous Review
By Rich Cline
Excellent
Almost criminally charming, this French romantic-comedy is very slight, but it's so enjoyable that we love every minute. And by centring on emotionally damaged people, it even has a few strongly resonant moments. Not to mention the chocolate craving it induces.
A member of a Romantics Anonymous group, Angelique (Carre) is crippled by her emotional reactions to other people, mainly men. So when she starts to fall for Jean-Rene (Poelvoorde), her new boss at a chocolate company, she doesn't know what to do. This is complicated by the fact that Jean-Rene is even more paralysed by fear than she is, and that she is secretly one of Paris' finest, most legendary chocolatiers. And Jean-Rene's company is in desperate need of something new to boost sales.
Continue reading: Romantics Anonymous Review
Romantics Anonymous Trailer
Angelique is a highly emotional person; so much so that she goes to meetings, known as Romantics Anonymous, to talk to other people like herself. Angelique is also a master chocolatiere, who is pursuing a job offer to work in a small chocolate manufacturing business, which is run by Jean-Rene.
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Mammuth Review
By Rich Cline
Very Good
Mixing warm drama with hilariously deadpan comedy, this is one of the most unusual road movies you'll ever see. But the filmmakers' approach is clever, artful and often very funny as it makes profound observations about human nature.
Serge (Depardieu), better known as Mammuth, is a long-haired biker dude who has retired from working in a slaughterhouse. His sharp-tongued wife Catherine (Moreau) has no idea how he'll fill his time and, when his pension doesn't come through, she starts to worry that her supermarket job isn't enough to make ends meet. So he dusts off his old motorbike and heads off in search of the papers he needs to claim his pension. But riding it sparks memories of his lost love (Adjani), who haunts him as he travels from town to town.
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A Town Called Panic [panique Au Village] Review
By Rich Cline
Very Good
Extremely silly and often very funny too, this quirky stop-animated romp might have been better as a half-hour short, because there's not really much to it. ![A Town Called Panic [panique Au Village]](http://images.contactmusic.com/images/reviews2/atowncalledpanic-fr.jpg "A Town Called Panic [panique Au Village]")
But it does manage to keep us chuckling with a continual stream of throwaway gags.
Cowboy and Indian (Aubier and Ellison) are like bickering kids in the home they share with Horse (Patar). Their neighbours Steven and Janine (Poelvoorde and Dumont) are highly strung but loyal friends, and they get rather annoyed when Cowboy and Indian accidentally order 50 million bricks to build a barbecue for Horse's birthday. Then the house walls start disappearing, and the culprit seems to be a team of underwater thieves. So Cowboy, Indian and Horse head off to stop them, ending up at one point inside a gigantic mechanical penguin on the North Pole.
Continue reading: A Town Called Panic [panique Au Village] Review
Coco Before Chanel Review
By Rich Cline
Very Good
This biopic kind of dwells on the misery in Coco Chanel's life, but it's a strong story of a woman who made her own way against all odds. And it's skilfully and beautifully filmed and acted.
After her mother died in 1895, Gabrielle Chanel (Cohen) moves into orphanage, where nuns teach her how to sew. As soon as she's 18 (now Tautou), she becomes a bar singer with her sister (Gillain) and is dubbed "Coco" after her signature song. Even now she's rebelling against the constricting clothes of the day, and when she becomes the mistress of the wealthy Etienne Balsan (Poelvoorde), she has clear ideas about her own life. What she doesn't expect is that she'll fall for his friend Boy Capel (Nivola).
Director-cowriter Fontaine tells this story like Chanel's fashion style: elegant and detailed, but without frills. The film takes us through these early years in a somewhat dispassionate way, only drawing emotion from Tautou's mesmerising performance. She conveys a sharp, opinionated intelligence even as Coco knows her place in society. And as she quietly evolves to the moment she becomes the Coco we remember, Tautou keeps the character consistently engaging without sacrificing any of her inner toughness.
Fontaine doesn't shrink from portraying this male-dominated society: men treated women like possessions. So Coco was a true revolutionary, going against the grain to become the first major female designer. Fontaine makes sure the period detail is sleek and gorgeously recreated, with actors who aren't afraid to show the dark sides of their characters. There are moments of levity, but powerful scenes between Tautou, Poelvoorde and Gillain reveal a shadowy complexity.
The problem is that the film feels a bit gloomy as a result; Coco seems melancholic even when she's smiling. And this carries through to the limited colour scheme, as well as Coco's simple clothing in a time when women wore outrageous frills. But watching closely, we can see Coco in control of her life, even though the men around her thought she was theirs. And into this world, Nivola's Boy is a breath of fresh air, a rare man who can see her for who she is. So where their story goes can't help but move us.
After her mother died in 1895, Gabrielle Chanel (Cohen) moves into orphanage, where nuns teach her how to sew. As soon as she's 18 (now Tautou), she becomes a bar singer with her sister (Gillain) and is dubbed "Coco" after her signature song. Even now she's rebelling against the constricting clothes of the day, and when she becomes the mistress of the wealthy Etienne Balsan (Poelvoorde), she has clear ideas about her own life. What she doesn't expect is that she'll fall for his friend Boy Capel (Nivola).
Director-cowriter Fontaine tells this story like Chanel's fashion style: elegant and detailed, but without frills. The film takes us through these early years in a somewhat dispassionate way, only drawing emotion from Tautou's mesmerising performance. She conveys a sharp, opinionated intelligence even as Coco knows her place in society. And as she quietly evolves to the moment she becomes the Coco we remember, Tautou keeps the character consistently engaging without sacrificing any of her inner toughness.
Fontaine doesn't shrink from portraying this male-dominated society: men treated women like possessions. So Coco was a true revolutionary, going against the grain to become the first major female designer. Fontaine makes sure the period detail is sleek and gorgeously recreated, with actors who aren't afraid to show the dark sides of their characters. There are moments of levity, but powerful scenes between Tautou, Poelvoorde and Gillain reveal a shadowy complexity.
The problem is that the film feels a bit gloomy as a result; Coco seems melancholic even when she's smiling. And this carries through to the limited colour scheme, as well as Coco's simple clothing in a time when women wore outrageous frills. But watching closely, we can see Coco in control of her life, even though the men around her thought she was theirs. And into this world, Nivola's Boy is a breath of fresh air, a rare man who can see her for who she is. So where their story goes can't help but move us.
Coco Before Chanel Trailer
Watch the trailer for Coco Before Chanel
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Man Bites Dog Review
Excellent
From scene one, Man Bites Dog affronts the senses and grabs you by the throat. Our Belgian antihero is first captured on film by the faux documentary crew following him as he strangles a girl to death on a train. We are then treated to his rules on how to properly weight a corpse so that it sinks when you throw it into the river. Women, the elderly, and midgets are all special cases.
Man Bites Dog's Ben (Benoît Poelvoorde, who also wrote/directed/produced as part of a cadre of guerrilla filmmakers who) is unapologetic about his vocation (serial killer). In fact, he's darn proud of it, and he aims to teach us a thing or two not just about the hard work of a madman, but about his racist, misogynistic, and generally misanthropic philosophy too.
Continue reading: Man Bites Dog Review
Man Bites Dog Review
Excellent
From scene one, Man Bites Dog affronts the senses and grabs you by the throat. Our French antihero is first captured on film by the faux documentary crew following him as he strangles a girl to death on a train. We are then treated to his rules on how to properly weight a corpse so that it sinks when you throw it into the river. Women, the elderly, and midgets are all special cases.
Man Bites Dog's Ben (Benoît Poelvoorde, who also wrote/directed/produced as part of a cadre of guerrilla filmmakers who) is unapologetic about his vocation (serial killer). In fact, he's darn proud of it, and he aims to teach us a thing or two not just about the hard work of a madman, but about his racist, misogynistic, and generally misanthropic philosophy too.
Continue reading: Man Bites Dog Review
Benoit Poelvoorde
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Benoit Poelvoorde Movies
Romantics Anonymous Movie Review
Almost criminally charming, this French romantic-comedy is very slight, but it's so enjoyable that we...
Romantics Anonymous Trailer
Angelique is a highly emotional person; so much so that she goes to meetings, known...
Mammuth Movie Review
Mixing warm drama with hilariously deadpan comedy, this is one of the most unusual road...
A Town Called Panic [panique Au Village] Movie Review
Extremely silly and often very funny too, this quirky stop-animated romp might have been better...
Coco Before Chanel Trailer
Watch the trailer for Coco Before ChanelCoco Chanel was one of the pioneering women who...
