Notizie

Studiocanal has racked up several deals on Cedric Klapisch‘s “Colours of Time” ahead of its world premiere in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Colours of Time” tells the story of four cousins who inherit an old house in rural Normandy and retrace the steps of their ancestors in 19th century Paris, most specifically Adèle, who had a unique destiny after living her hometown to search for her mother in Paris in 1895. She discovered there a city on the cusp of modernity, bustling with new-found avant-garde creativity, with the rise of photography and the birth of Impressionist painting. The script was penned by Klapisch and Santiago Amigorena, who collaborated on many films, including “Peril Jeune,” “Ce qui nous lie,” “Deux moi” and “En corps.”

Both a coming-of-age tale and family drama, the film stars up-and-comers such as Suzanne Lindon, who plays Adele who previously broke through in “Spring Blossom” which she wrote,...

Cedric Klapisch, one of France’s most celebrated filmmakers who notably directed cult French movies such as “The Spanish Apartment” and “Peril Jeune,” will once again explore youths in his next movie, “Colours of Time,” but this time in 19th century Paris.

The movie, budgeted at 15.6 million euros ($16 million), is being represented internationally by Studiocanal which unveiled a trailer to distributors during the Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous With French Cinema.

The film weaves coming-of-age tale and family drama, starring a cast of up-and-comers such as Suzanne Lindon, Abraham Wapler, Zinedine Soualem, Paul Kircher and Vassili Schneider, alongside seasoned actors such as Sara Giraudeau, Cécile de France, Olivier Gourmet and Vincent Macaigne.

In “Colours of Time,” four cousins leading very different lives discover they share a mysterious family history. “In 1895, their ancestor Adèle, then aged 21, leaves her hometown to search for her mother in Paris. She discovers a city on the cusp of modernity,...

The new Todd Phillips film is about a pair of Jokers and this week’s film quiz focuses on other movie duos.

They say it takes two to tango, but no one ever says it takes two to Tango And Cash. Why would they? Stupid thing to say. Anyway, October’s first big release Joker: Folie à Deux sees Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker joined by Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn for an all-singing, all-dancing sequel – just don’t call it a musical! And as Warner Bros also announced the animated Robin movie Dynamic Duo earlier this week, we’re quizzing for two.

As always, there are three rounds and 30 questions in total. Once you’ve completed today’s film quiz, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. This is just for fun, but please let us know how...

Our weekly film quiz returns with 30 all-new movie-related questions – fair warning, it features Michael Keaton’s name three or more times…

We’re back, baby, and so is Beetlejuice in Tim Burton’s new sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Accordingly, this week’s film quiz features questions about sequels, demons, and Michael Keaton movies. It’s quizness as usual for the next few weeks too, with subjects ranging from the silent era to this year in horror movies, every Friday till Christmas.

Once you’ve completed all three rounds, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is just for fun, but please let us know how you did in the comments (scores out of 30 this week!) and give us any other lovely feedback. Oh, and apologies if you were reading that first line aloud, that guy can...

Now showing, this week’s film quiz features questions on animated heroes, real-life villains, and fictional movies within movies.

There are a couple of movies about making movies out now – MaXXXine sees Mia Goth’s aspiring movie star bag a role in a 1980s horror sequel, while Fly Me To The Moon has Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum stage moon-landing footage as a Plan B for NASA in 1969. Accordingly, this week’s film quiz has a whole round on fictional films within real films – think more The Purple Rose Of Cairo in The Purple Rose Of Cairo than “Argo”in Argo.

Once you’ve completed all three rounds, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is all just for fun, but please let us know how you did in the comments (scores out of 30 this week!

Consult a young priest and an old priest before playing this week’s film quiz, which features 30 new movie-related questions.

In cinemas now, Russell Crowe stars in his second exorcism movie in as many years, straightforwardly titled The Exorcism. (Read James’ review here!) With a certain TV season finale also involving demonic possession (see Q21!), this week’s film quiz includes some general knowledge movie questions, ramps up the crazy with a second round on demons, devils, and exorcists on screen, then settles back into another round of cinematic teasers.

Once you’ve completed all three rounds, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is all just for fun, but please let us know how you did in the comments (scores out of 30 this week!) and give us any other lovely feedback. And if you don’t like it,...

Dominique Boutonnat, the President of France’s cinema board, will stand trial for sexual assault in June.

The producer and Cnc chief has been under investigation for two years after being indicted in February 2021 for an alleged sexual assault. In September 2022, the case was taken to trial. According to French media reports, a court in Nanterre has now set a court date for June. Boutonnat denies all charges.

Boutonnat was first placed under investigation in October 2020 after his godson filed a police complaint accusing him of an assault during a family holiday in Greece in August 2020.

When contacted about whether he would remain at the head of the Cnc following the news, the cinema body declined to comment and referred us to Boutonnat’s lawyer. We have reached out to Boutonnat’s legal team for comment.

Boutonnat was first appointed Cnc President in 2019. France’s government then gave him a...

Exclusive: Judith Godrèche is burning down the house. Her hope is that something better will emerge from the ashes.

In recent weeks, the French actress and director, a three-time César nominee known for starring in English and French-language hits including The Man In The Iron Mask, The Spanish Apartment and Potiche, has taken a match to a culture of silence and denial within France’s cinema world when it comes to sexual abuse. In her first trade interview, she talks to Deadline about her experiences, the motivation behind her campaign and what she hopes to achieve.

At the heart of Godrèche’s mission is the relationship she had with director Benoît Jacquot in the late 1980s, which began when she was only 14 years old, and he was 39. The minimum age of consent in France is 15.

Godrèche, now 51, lived with Jacquot for six years and appeared in his films The Beggars and The Disenchanted,...

Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Cédric Klapisch’s (“The Spanish Apartment”) hit dance film “Rise” (“En corps”) from Studiocanal.

One of 2022’s highest grossing French films, “Rise” sold nearly 1.3 million tickets in local theaters and was sold around the world. The movie tells the story of a young ballet dancer whose life is upended when she suffers a career-threatening injury and catches her boyfriend cheating on her. As she begins her physical and emotional rehabilitation, she finds solace in friends, a new love, and a new contemporary dance troupe.

Marion Barbeau, a dancer-turned-actor, delivers a breakthrough performance in the lead role, and stars opposite French stars, including François Civil (“Three Musketeers”), Pio Marmaï (“How I Became a Super Hero”), Denis Podalydès (“Anaïs in Love”), as well as Hofesh Shechter (“Send Me an Angel”).

“We are so thrilled to bring Cedric’s beautiful film to US audiences,...

Series is a spin-off from auteur’s film trilogy of ’Pot Luck’, ’Russian Dolls’ and ’Chinese Puzzle’.

“It would have been impossible to imagine 20 years ago,” says acclaimed French writer-director Cedric Klapisch of showrunning a TV series based on his feature trilogy that began with Pot Luck in 2002, and was followed by Russian Dolls in 2005 and Chinese Puzzle in 2013.

“When I made Pot Luck I never thought I’d make a sequel,” he says. “I never imagined it would become the work of a lifetime.”

Greek Salad is an eight-episode spin-off produced by Klapisch and Bruno Levy’s Ce Qui Me Meut for Amazon France.

Series is a spin-off from auteur’s film trilogy of ’Pot Luck’, ’Russian Dolls’ and ’Chinese Puzzle.’

”It would have been impossible to imagine 20 years ago,” says acclaimed French writer-director Cedric Klapisch of showrunning a TV series based on his feature trilogy that began with Pot Luck in 2002, and was followed by Russian Dolls in 2005 and Chinese Puzzle in 2013.

“When I made Pot Luck I never thought I’d make a sequel,” he says. “I never imagined it would become the work of a lifetime.”

Greek Salad is an eight-episode spin-off produced by Klapisch and Bruno Levy’s Ce Qui Me Meut for Amazon France.

It has been over 20 years since Cédric Klapisch delighted audiences with his 2002 comedy “Pot Luck” about a group of twentysomethings sharing a flat in Barcelona.

Featuring the likes of Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile de France and “Yellowstone” star Kelly Reilly, the film – also known as “The Spanish Apartment” – has spawned two sequels: “Russian Dolls” and “Chinese Puzzle.”

Now, French director is putting the old team back together in the Amazon Prime Video series “Greek Salad,” which opens Series Mania on March 17. But there is a twist.

“People often asked me if I would make another film about these characters. They are my family, but I kept saying ‘no,’” he says.

“When Amazon approached me about a series, I thought it would be interesting if I would talk about their children instead. Suddenly, it wasn’t as if I was making ‘Indiana Jones 4’ or ‘Fast & Furious Xii’. I was...

With an International Panorama spangled by gems – think Spain’s “Apagón,” Sweden’s “Blackwater,” and Canada’s “Disobey” and “Little Bird” – Series Mania also weighs in this year with one, if not the, strongest and most mouthwatering of international competitions in its history.

Including the opening and closing series, Amazon’s “Greek Salad” and Netflix’s “Transatlantic,” nearly all the global streamers have titles in the lineup, from Apple TV+’s “Drops of God” and Paramount+’s “Fleeting Lies.” The lineup also features some A-List international writing talents, such as the U.K.’s Jack Thorne and Israel’s Ron Leshem and Amit Cohen, whose “The Virtues” and “No Man’s Land” rank among the most memorable of recent Series Mania competition titles, and closing the festival, out of competition, “Unorthodox’s” Anna Wenger.”Fleeting Lies” also represents one of the first series from Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar’s El Deseo label in Madrid,...

When Laurence Herszberg first launched Series Mania back in 2010 in Paris, the former Forum des Images director was keen to apply her deep knowledge of film and the film festival model to the television sector. At the time, says the French exec, no one was doing any kind of TV festival “solely dedicated to series.”

“No one was really talking about TV series,” the festival general director tells Deadline. “So, I decided to do something for the public just to try and see and imagine how it would work in the television sector.”

Little did she know how much the industry would shift, with much of the balance (and money) now lying in the scripted television sphere rather than the independent film space. As a result, across the last 13 years Herszberg and her team have been able to nurture and grow Series Mania into one of the most attractive events in the global TV calendar.

Varun Sood, who made his acting debut with the Bollywood film ‘JugJugg Jeeyo’, will be seen in the second installment of the comedy drama web series ‘Potluck’. A ‘thrilled’ Varun on joining the cast said: “Even though the shoot wasn’t for a long period, it was always a warm, lively environment on sets with everyone being up to some mischief or the other.”

“What my character brings to this season is a surprise that the audiences will have to wait and find out themselves, but I can guarantee that they will be in for a mad ride.”

Following the dynamics of a modern Indian family, the show combines the expectations of the older generation and the freedom of expression of the young ones.

A Triplecom Media, Loose Cannons Content Studio & Vial Content presentation, ‘Potluck’ is produced by Kunal Das Gupta, Pavneet Gakhal, Gaurav Lulla, Vivek Gupta, and is written by Ashwin Lakshmi Narayan,...

Event closes with Anna Winger’s Netflix series Transatlantic.

Series Mania will kick off its 2023 event with Cédric Klapisch’s Amazon French Original series Greek Salad before serving up 32 world premieres, an industry Forum, and closing with Anna Winger’s Netflix series Transatlantic.

The International Competition of the annual television festival and industry event includes Franco-Belgian Arte series Grace of Heaven, Apple TV+, France Televisions and Hulu Japan’s Drops of God, Paramount+’s Spanish Fleeting Lies, Reshet 13’s Israeli series Red Skies, Viaplay’s Norwegian The Fortress and Prime Video’s US series The Power. Among the titles from...

“Call My Agent!,” the hit French show set at a Parisian talent agency, is set for a number of international adaptations with remakes in the works at top streamers and broadcasters in South Korea, Indonesia, the Middle East, Philippines, Malaysia and Poland.

Co-represented by France Televisions Distribution and Newen Connect’s TF1 Studio, the show was previously adapted in India, Canada and Turkey. A U.K. remake with BAFTA award winner John Morton as head writer and director of the first two episodes will soon launch on Amazon U.K. and Sundance Now in the U.S. In Italy, the remake is being produced by Mediawan-owned Palomar for Sky with German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel on board.

In The Philippines, the show is being adapted by Erik Matti, the critically acclaimed director of “On The Job,” who will serve as director and showrunner. Dondon Monteverde is executive producer. The writing...

Studiocanal has begun worldwide sales on writer-director Cédric Klapisch’s “Rise” (En corps) at the virtual American Film Market this week.

A story of resilience set in Paris and Brittany, “Rise” traverses the the worlds of classical and contemporary dance with a young woman’s journey from success to rock bottom, and back again.

The cast includes emerging actor and dancer Marion Barbeau, Pio Marmaï (“How I Became a Super Hero”), Denis Podalydès (“Anaïs in Love”), François Civil and Hofesh Shechter (“Send Me an Angel”).

Barbeau plays Elise, who thought she had the perfect life, with an ideal boyfriend and a promising career as a ballet dancer. But it all falls apart the day she catches him cheating on her with her stage backup, and after she suffers an injury on stage, it seems like she might not be able to dance ever again. The path to physical and emotional...

“The Three Musketeers – d’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady,” the $85 million epic two-part saga based on Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece produced by Dimitri Rassam’s Paris-based banner Chapter 2 and Pathé Films, has kicked off filming in France. Variety can reveal a first still of the movie (pictured).

The ambitious two-part feature, directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Eiffel”), and based on a script by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière (“What’s in the Name?”), will be shooting entirely in France for 27 weeks through May 2022 for an expected release on Oct. 13.

Prestige locations will be featured in the movie franchise, such as the Louvre Palace, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Castles of Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fort la Latte and Chantilly, as well as the citadel of Saint-Malo and the historic city center of Troyes. The star-studded cast is headlined by François Civil, Eva Green and Vincent Cassel as D’Artagnan, Milady and Athos.

Veteran entertainer Ernie Sigley has died aged 82 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Sigley’s career within the entertainment industry spanned more than five decades and encompassed work across television, radio, music, and stage.

He received 21 Logie Awards as a performer and producer, including a Gold Logie Award in 1975.

Born in Footscray, Melbourne, Sigley started at radio station 3Db (Melbourne) before making his television debut as host of Teenage Mailbag on Hsv-7 in 1957.

He would go on to hone his craft overseas, spending time at the BBC in London and then completing a three-year stint at Radio Luxembourg, where he performed under the name ‘Ernie Williams’.

From 1974–1976, Ernie hosted the Nine Network variety show, The Ernie Sigley Show, beginning a long-term working partnership with fellow performer Denise Drysdale. It was to be the Nine Network’s highest ever rating tonight show.

Sigley moved to ATV0 in Melbourne and fronted the early-evening national variety show,...

Muriel Sauzay, Pathe Intl.’s former head, and Agnès Mentré, Wild Bunch’s former acquisition topper, have launched Maremako, a Paris-based banner banner with a special interest in adaptations and remakes.

The company’s first slate includes an English-language remake of “Stalk” with Endeavor Content, in association with Drake’s DreamCrew and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Prods.; and “French Love,” a anthology series with Noemie Saglio (Netflix’s “The Hook Up Plan”) showrunning and Richard Grandpierre’s Eskwad producing. “Stalk” follows a teenage hacker who gets hazed in his freshman year at a prestigious engineering school and sets off to take his revenge by cyber-stalking his tormentors.

“French Love,” meanwhile, will be based on the highly popular Elle magazine weekly column “C’est mon histoire” (It’s My Story). The column, which boasts one of the highest readerships of French women’s magazine segments on love stories in France,...

A Ce Qui Me Meut production sold by StudioCanal, the film’s cast stars dancer Marion Barbeau, who is joined by Pio Marmaï, François Civil and Denis Podalydès. Having kicked off on 21 December, the nine-week film shoot enjoyed by Cédric Klapisch’s 14th fiction feature En corps has wrapped today in Paris. The focus of particular acclaim for When The Cat’s Away, Family Resemblances, Pot Luck and Paris, not to mention the series Call My Agent! and his most recent movie Someone, Somewhere, the director offered the lead role in his latest opus to Marion Barbeau (prima ballerina at the Paris Opera Ballet).Joining the dancer in the cast are Pio Marmaï (nominated for the 2019 Best Actor César via The Trouble With You, and soon to be seen in...

Amazon Prime Video France today published details of its upcoming slate of productions, including four new originals:

Greek Salad is a contemporary sequel to the movie trilogy L’Auberge Espagnole (Pot Luck), 20 years after the originals. It follows the lives of Tom and Mia (the children of Xavier and Wendy from L’Auberge Espagnole) as they embark on a new adventure in Athens. The eight episode series is created by Cédric Klapisch, with Lola Doillon and Antoine Garceau (Call my Agent). The show will be co-produced by Bruno Levy for Ce Qui Me Meut and will launch exclusively on Prime Video in 2022.

Flashback is the second Amazon original movie produced in France. This one is a time travel comedy starring comedian Caroline Vigneaux, with Sophia Aram, Suzanne Clément, Lison Daniel, Gad Elmaleh, Lannick Gautry, Emy Ltr, Florent Peyre and Sylvie Testud. It is produced by Alain Goldman for Legende Films and...

New slate includes projects spearheaded by filmmaker Cédric Klapisch and Ballsy Girl actress Melha Bedia.

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled a slate of French original productions, including Cédric Klapisch’s drama series Greek Salad, a spin-off of his 2002 hit feature Pot Luck (L’Auberge Espagnole), about a group of students from across Europe living in a flat in Barcelona together.

The new series follows the lives of the children of two of the original characters as they embark on a new adventure in Athens.

Kaplisch has created the eight-episode drama with Lola Doillon and Antoine Garceau, who both took credits (like...

New slate includes projects spearhead by filmmaker Cédric Klapisch and Ballsy Girl actress Melha Bedia.

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled a new slate of French original productions, including Cédric Klapisch’s drama Greek Salad, a spin-off of his 2002 hit feature Pot Luck (L’Auberge Espagnole), about a group of students from across Europe living in a flat in Barcelona together.

The new series follows the lives of the children of two of the original characters as they embark on a new adventure in Athens.

Kaplisch has created the eight-episode drama with Lola Doillon and Antoine Garceau, who both took credits (like...

There are some cinematic universes worth reentering and when they do, it feels like you’re reconnecting with an old friend. The Surrogate Valentine cinematic universe is certainly one of these.

Shot in stark black-and-white and starring musician Goh Nakamura, first in his 30s finding his voice and now in his 40s confronting the reality of adulthood, marriage, and his past, the latest installment checks in with him and his love interests eight years after Daylight Savings. Created by Dave Boyle and Nakamura, I Will Make You Mine, directed by Lynn Chen, spends more time with the three women of the previous films than with Goh. The movie is somewhere between a daydream–where you can relive those kinds of long spring days spent around your college dorm playing guitar in bed–and the grim reality of an adulthood that is nothing like you imagined it back in your idealistic days.

Pio Marmaï, Ana Girardot, François Civil star in family vineyard drama.

Music Box Films has acquired Us rights to Cédric Klapisch’s Back To Burgundy from Studiocanal.

Pio Marmaï, Ana Girardot, and François Civil star in the story of a man who left his homestead 10 years earlier to embark on a world tour.

When the traveller learns of his father’s imminent death he returns to his childhood home where he must earn back the trust of his brother and sister as they work to save the family vineyard.

Music Box plans a theatrical release in autumn, followed by home entertainment roll-out.

“We are thrilled to bring to the Us Cédric Klapisch’s tender and charming tale of the ties that bind a family to each other and to the land they love,” Music Box Films president William Schopf said.

“The film’s picturesque setting, universal themes, and fascinating peek into the art of French winemaking will hold...

By Kat Kinsman

Allegedly, First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy made really good waffles. I say “allegedly” not because the waffles attributed to her in various cookbooks aren’t objectively good; they’re actually wonderfully airy and crisp, thanks to an innovative technique involving whipped egg whites and baking powder. But did she ever actually cook or consume the waffles? Does it matter? Didn’t she do enough for her country, between being the exceptionally tolerant wife of a blatantly randy president, the widowed mother of small children expected to bear up beautifully in public after her husband was murdered before her eyes,...

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

New on DVD and Blu-ray

"A Most Violent Year"

The DVD and Blu-ray package for this Oscar Isaac/Jessica Chastain crime drama includes some cool features, including commentary from writer/director J.C. Chandor; a featurette going "Behind the Violence"; "A Conversation with Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac"; "The Contagious Nature of Violence: The Origins of A Most Violent Year"; and the intriguingly titled, "We Can Cure Violence Public Service Announcement."

"Inside Amy Schumer"

You can get the first two seasons -- 20 episodes -- of Amy Schumer's Comedy Central show on April 7, which gives you just enough time to prepare for the April 21 premiere of Season 3. The Seasons 1 and 2 package includes outtakes and deleted scenes, commentary on select episodes and a photo gallery.

"The Immigrant"

Marion Cotillard...

The Chew, ABC 1pm Et Monday, March 2 “Old Faves, New Flaves!” – Recipes for smothered chicken paprikash and southwestern meatloaf; a visit to Old Skool Café in San Francisco, CA. Tuesday, March 3 “When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip” – Juliette Lewis (ABC’s Secrets and Lies); the co-hosts make some of their favorite dips. Wednesday, March 4 “Dinner In A Dash”– Shania Twain (“You’re Still The One”); the co-hosts share time saving cooking tips. Thursday, March 5 “The Great American Pot Luck”– Stacy London (Love, Lust or Run); a visit to the South Beach Food & Wine Festival … Continue reading →

The post Who’s on TV Talk? Talk Show Guests March 2-6 appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.

For Xavier Rousseau (Romain Duris), life is complicated. He’s just moved to New York City to be close to his kids because his British ex-wife Wendy (Kelly Reilly) moved there to be with a very tall American man. This also brings him close to his best lesbian friend Isabelle (Cecile De France) who is having his baby with her girlfriend Ju (Sandrine Holt). Meanwhile, he’s adapting to life in the States while pretending to be married to Nancy (Li Jun Li) for a Green Card. And, all the while, he finds himself pining after ex-girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou). Such complex situations should be familiar to those who’ve followed Xavier’s life in 2002’s The Spanish Apartment and 2005’s Russian Dolls both of which were also written and directed by Cedric Klapisch.

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★★★☆☆Like a distant Gallic relative to Richard Linklater's Before trilogy - though worlds apart in terms of style and tone - it's been over a decade since Cédric Klapisch first introduced a multinational group of friends sharing an Barcelona apartment in Pot Luck (2002). Three years later, they were brought back together for a wedding in Russian Dolls (2005) and now a third outing in the form of Chinese Puzzle (2013). Combining the director's free-wheeling style and the series' protagonist's 'complicated' life, this is a warm, funny and inventive addition to the likable French series. Romain Duris returns as genial lead, Xavier, a writer in need of inspiration and finding it through the tumultuous twists his once tranquil life begins to take.

★★★★☆Cédric Klapisch's lively romantic comedy, starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou, is the final chapter in his 'Spanish Apartment Trilogy', which began with the titular The Spanish Apartment (2002). As the name suggests, Chinese Puzzle (2013) is a colourful mishmash of different characters' stories, sub-plots and intersecting timelines. There's also a clever meta-textual commentary running through the film. Writer Xavier Rousseau is approaching 40 when his wife of ten years, Wendy (Kelly Reilly), announces that she is leaving him and moving to New York City with their children. Inconsolable without his family, Xavier decides to follow them to the Big Apple, where he hopes to finish his latest book.

Romance on the run: Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris in Chinese Puzzle

He first went to study film in New York when he was 23. French director Cédric Klapisch, now 53, returned to the city for Chinese Puzzle, the third part of the comedy trilogy that started with Pot Luck (L’Auberge Espagnole) in Barcelona in 2002 and continued three years after in St Petersburg and London for Russian Dolls (Les Poupées Russes), all featuring the same characters falling in and out of love. Now Xavier, economics student turned writer and played by Romain Duris, heads for the Big Apple to be near his children who live with his ex Wendy, portrayed by Kelly Reilly. Former girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou) turns up – and there’s also Cecile de France from the original as Xavier’s lesbian friend Isabelle. How did Klapisch sustain the momentum of the characters and what does it feel like to grow old with them?...

Capturing basic human interactions on film isn’t as easy as you’d think. Too often screenwriters and directors retreat into cliched dialogue and stock characters to the point where the people on screen feel as artificial as any rampaging CG monster. Cédric Klapisch’s Chinese Puzzle is different though, effortlessly serving up a blizzard of well observed moments, shifting relationships and fragments of honest emotion. This is that annoyingly rare thing: a film that really understands the complexities – the soaring joys and the crushing miseries – of modern love.

Our hero is Xavier Rousseau (Romain Duris), a 40 year old writer navigating some pretty choppy relationship waters. Framed through a Skype conversation with his publisher, we track his friendships and romances with three women; businesswoman and old flame Martine (Audrey Tautou), his lesbian best friend Isabelle (Cecile de France), and Wendy (Kelly Reilly), his estranged ex-wife and mother of his two children.

Over the course of 20 years, legendary French director Francois Truffaut created a series of five semi-autobiographical films that explored the life of Antoine Doinel. The character was introduced in 1959 and viewers around the world watched him grow up on screen from a 12-year-old in The 400 Blows into a man in his early thirties in 1979's Love On The Run. 

With Chinese Puzzle, which opens Friday in Austin at Regal Arbor, Cedric Klapisch has completed his "Spanish Apartment" trilogy and given us a contemporary series that certainly owes a lot to Truffaut's Doinel films. When we first meet Xavier Rousseau (Romain Duris) in 2002's L'Auberge Espagnole, he is in his early twenties and taking off for the Erasmus student exchange program. He leaves France and his girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou) behind to spend a year in Barcelona studying finance. Xavier makes lifelong friends with the roommates he shares in a small Spanish apartment,...

The path to true happiness is strewn with thorns, and hedged in by emotions and personalities that often spiral out of control. That appears to be the overriding theme of the three films that Cédric Klapisch has made revolving around Xavier Rousseau, a ladies' man who has evolved into a family man without quite realizing it. The latest, Chinese Puzzle, is the strongest of them all. We first met Xavier (Romain Duris), Martine (Audrey Tautou), Isabelle (Cécile De France), and Wendy (Kelly Reilly) way back in L'Auburge Espagnole (aka The Spanish Apartment, 2002). Xavier and Martine were a couple; he was an economics student who moved to Barcelona for a year, where he met the others, part of a mélange of Europeans from different countries...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Here's a rundown of the specialty box office this weekend, which saw Cédric Klapisch's "Chinese Puzzle" find a promising debut, James Gray's much more anticipated "The Immigrant" fail to make much of an impression, and "Chef," "Ida," "Belle" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" all hold on nicely later in their runs. The Debuts: Debut Winner of the Weekend: "Chinese Puzzle." While James Gray's "The Immigrant" had a higher per-theater-average, it had a lot of star power and the backing of The Weinstein Company. Which is why the fact that "Chinese Puzzle" just narrowly lost the PTA crown to it this weekend is so impressive. Released by Cohen Media Group, Cédric Klapisch's film follows a 40-year-old French father of two (Roman Duris) who heads to New York when the his wife leaves him and takes the children there.  It comes after 2002's "L'Auberge Espagnole" and 2005's "Russian Dolls...

Filmmaker Cedric Klapisch and French actor Romain Duris reunite for their seventh film together, Chinese Puzzle, which is actually the third installment of a series of films that revisit the characters introduced in the international hit L'Auberge Espagnole. Duris returns as writer Xavier Rousseau, now living in New York City, and he's joined once again by Audrey Tautou, Cecile de France and Kelly Reilly.

As the American university industry makes study abroad programs all but mandatory and damn luxurious at that, it can be tempting to write off Cédric Klapisch's films as idealistic romps, prepackaged adventures for the privileged class who can actually afford to enact them. But his Trilogy of Xavier's Travels predates the politics, and over a decade since the series started, it's still that same earnest tribute to the thrills of taking on a new locale.

In this final installment, Xavier (Romain Duris) and the friends he originally made in L'Auberge Espagnole (2002) are on the brink of 40. Two kids and two unsuccessful novels into life, intrepid writer Xavier is off to New York this time, as a last-ditch attempt to salvage his family in the wake of an impromptu divor...

"It's funny that you find life so complicated." Today's indie trailer is for a film called Chinese Puzzle, or Casse-tête chinois in French, another third film in a charming romantic comedy trilogy about a couple and their lives over the years. The film features the same cast/characters from Cédric Klapisch's Russian Dolls and The Spanish Apartment, including Romain Duris as Xavier Rousseau, along with Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly, Toshiko Onizawa, Cécile de France and Sandrine Holt. While it is a French film, they do speak English and it takes place mostly in New York City, and doesn't look that bad at all. I'll check it out. Watch the official trailer for Cédric Klapisch's Chinese Puzzle, found via YouTube: A 40-year-old father of two, still finds life very complicated. When the mother of his children moves to New York, he can't bear them growing up far away from...

Already megawatt stars in France, Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris have seen their star shine across international borders too. And together they make a pretty attractive package. While they most recently teamed for Michel Gondry's "Mood Indigo," the duo are perhaps best known for their ensemble dramedies with director Cédric Klapisch, "Pot Luck" and "Russian Dolls." And they've once again teamed with the filmmaker for another tale in the saga started in those movies. "Chinese Puzzle" brings together a cast that also includes Kelly Reilly, Cecile De France, Sandrine Holt and more, for the story of a 40-year-old father of two, who splits from his wife who moves with the kids to New York City. He follows along to be closer to his children, but in order to stay in the country, he becomes the father of a child to two lesbians, marries a Chinese woman and also winds...

"L'Auberge Espagnole," "Russian Dolls" -- now "Chinese Puzzle," the third installment of Cédric Klapisch's trilogy about a group of international friends, has arrived, and premieres in New York and Los Angeles on May 16th before expanded in following weeks. After his ex-wife Wendy (Kelly Reilly) leaves him in Paris to move with their kids to New York, Xavier (Romain Duris) follows his family to the city and attempts to piece together a life while writing a novel and basically un-jumbling everything else.  "Chinese Puzzle" was a big hit in its native France and stars Duris and Reilly as well as Audrey Tautou and Cécile De France from the two earlier films in the trilogy. Check out the colors, charmingly awkward tensions and fun dance sequences in the trailer, exclusive to Indiewire, below:...

As a special surprise for this year's 18th edition the Colcoa Festival (City of Lights, City of Angels) "A Week of French Film Premieres in Hollywood" has added an unprecedented seven classic films to its popular roster. The festival runs from April 21-28 at the Directors Guild of America. For the first time, a daily matinee showing of a classic will complement the new films shown in competition.

Focus on a filmmaker : Cédric Klapisch

Colcoa will honor writer-director Cédric Klapisch on Thursday, April 24 with a special presentation of L'Auberge Espagnole (2002) as well as the Premiere of his new film Chinese Puzzle that will be released in May in the U.S. by Cohen Media Group. Chinese Puzzle completes a trilogy Klapisich began in 2002 with L'Auberge Espagnole,followed by Russian Dolls in 2005. The cast includes Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou and Cécile de France. Klapisch joins previously honored writer-directors Bertrand Blier, Costa Gavras, Florent Siri, Julie Delpy and Alain Resnais whose key body of work has been shown in past events.  This will be the third film by the writer-director to be presented at the festival, following Paris and My Piece of the Pie.  Cédric Klapisch will meet the audience for a Happy Hour Talk panel dedicated to his work. (Colcoa Classics + Panel +Premiere of Chinese Puzzle)

Homage to Patrice Chéreau

The late writer-director Patrice Chéreau (1944-2013), who attended Colcoa in 2003 for the world Premiere of Son frère (His Brother) will be remembered in the Colcoa Classics program, which includes a special presentation of digitally restored director's cut of Queen Margot (1994), based on a novel of Alexandre Dumas, co-written by Danièle Thompson & Patrice Chéreau, and directed by Chéreau. The cast includes Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Daniel Auteuil. The film (celebrating its 20th anniversary) is presented in association with Cohen Media Group. The film will have will be released theatrically, as well as in digital format in the U.S.

Premiere of the Restored Version Beauty and the Beast Colcoa will present the digitally restored print of the remarkable Beauty and the Beast (1946), a romantic drama written and directed by Jean Cocteau and starring Josette Day and Jean Marais in partnership with the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), Snd/M6, Janus Films and La Cinémathèque Française.

Premiere of the Restored Version Favorites of the Moon

A special 30th anniversary screening of Favourites of the Moon (1984), winner of the Special Jury Prize that year at the Venice International Film Festival, a comedy co-written by Gérard Brach and Otar Iosseliani and directed by Otar Iosseliani, starring Mathieu Amalric, Alix de Montaigu, Pascal Aubier, Jean-Pierre Beauviala, will be presented in association with the Cohen Media Group before its digital release in the U.S.

Premiere of the Restored Version Purple Noon

The film is also a special presentation of Purple Noon , a drama based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, co-written by Paul Gégauff and René Clément , directed by René Clément and starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt and presented in association with the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), StudioCanal, Janus Films and La Cinémathèque Française.

Premier of the Restored Version of L'assassin habite... au 21 New digitally restored version of L'assassin habite... au 21, (1942) a drama co-written by Stanislas-André Steeman and Henri-Georges Clouzot , directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay, Suzy Delair, Jean Tissier. The film is presented in association with Titra Tvs and Gaumont.

FRANÇOIS Truffaut: A Tribute

Citing the 30th anniversary of the passing of universally renowned François Truffaut in 1984, Colcoa will pay tribute to the writer-director with a special program.(To be announced soon)

From April 21 to April 28, 2014, filmgoers will celebrate the 18th edition of Colcoa  "A Week Of French Film Premieres In Hollywood" at the Directors Guild of America. The 18th line-up of films in competition for the Colcoa Awards will be announced April 1, 2014.

About ColcoaColcoa was created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, and France's Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem). Colcoa is also supported by France's Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (L'arp), the Film and TV Office of the French Embassy in Los Angeles, the Cnc and Unifrance.

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City of Lights, City of Angels (Colcoa), a week of French film premieres in Hollywood, has rolled out a terrific lineup of seven classic films for the 18th edition of the festival, running April 21-28 at the DGA. Screenings will supplement new films in the competition lineup, which will be announced April 1. Colcoa will honor writer honor writer-director Cedric Klapisch on Thursday, April 24 with a special presentation of "L'Auberge Espagnole" (2002) as well as the Premiere of his new film "Chinese Puzzle" that will be released in May in the U.S. by Cohen Media Group. The fest will also screen late writer/director Patrice Chereau's 1994 director's cut of "Queen Margot," based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas and starring Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Daniel Auteuil. Digitally restored prints of Jean Cocteau's 1946 classic "Beauty and the Beast" starring Josette Day and Jean Marais, and a new print of...

On his travels: a scene from Jean-Pierre Jeunet's The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet.

With the buyers and sellers safely despatched from Paris to Sundance this weekend it's the turn of the international media to move into the Grand Hotel for interviews with more than 100 actors and directors lining up for films to be released shortly in different countries as part of the 16th Unifrance Rendez-vous With French Cinema.

Among the talent talking up their films is Audrey Tautou (for the third part in the Pot Luck series, Chinese Puzzle, as well as Michel Gondry’s Blue Indigo after Boris Vian); Tautou’s Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet with his new title The Young And Prodigious T.S. Spivet with Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham Carter, Judy Davis and Callum Keith Rennie; Ludivine Sagnier for the romcom Love Is In The Air and former footballer Eric Cantona joining an orgy...

Young directors from Paris to Athens are tackling the existential woes of 'adulescent' twentysomethings

July is not normally a month for seminal cinema in France. But even the summer lull and the heatwave in France haven't managed to eclipse totally the release of Juliette, the first film by 24-year-old director Pierre Godeau, which is being heralded as the latest example of a new wave of European films dealing with youth and the eurozone meltdown.

Featuring the 27-year-old Franco-Spanish actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, known for her role as Syrena in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Juliette tells the story of a young woman who keeps postponing the moment when she'll have to make choices in life.

It is a far cry from the carefree atmosphere of films such as Cédric Klapisch's L'Auberge Espagnole (Pot Luck) in 2002, and its follow-up, Russians Dolls. Describing pre-euro-crisis European youngsters on the Erasmus exchange...

Audrey Tautou, known for her sweet and light roles in such films as Amélie, Priceless and Pot Luck turns in a much darker direction in the late director Claude Miller's final film Thérèse Desqueyroux, which closed 2012 Cannes Film Festival last year and which opens in the UK on June 7. The French star plays the title role in the adaptation of Francois Mauriac's novel about a frustrated wife whose desire for freedom spells trouble for her husband (Gilles Lellouche). Earlier this year I met her at the Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris to talk about the experience.

Did you have any qualms about such sombre role?

I was delighted that a director of the stature of Claude [Miller] could imagine me in a role that was so different than anything I had done before. It is always a gift to have...

We’ve done pies-to-the-face, snowball fights, karaoke wars, sketch-offs and more … but this year we’re looking for something really Different for our annual Memorial Day show! We need your ideas … so fire ‘em in – and if Harvey picks yours as the theme for our show, we’ll give you a $100 gift card to the TMZ store!! Think about all the TMZ dog bowls you can buy!Fyi – here are the ideas Harvey has already...

Next month Audrey Tautou will host the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, an honour only given to a select few. Is she finally overcoming the curse of her most successful film?

For someone as shy and discreet as Audrey Tautou, the next few weeks will be feel uncomfortably like putting her head above the parapet again, exposed to potshots from her Gallic critics.

On the other hand her British fans, who remember her as the pixie-faced heroine of The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, one of the most successful French films of all time, can look forward to a feast after the famine.

Next month the film Thérèse Desqueyroux, an adaptation of the François Mauriac 1927 classic released in France last November, in which Tautou plays the title role of a repressed wife who poisons her domineering, misogynistic husband, will open in British cinemas.

Around the same time, Tautou...