"The Pianist," "Irréversible," "The Other Side" and "Un Oso Rojo": 4 French productions presented on the Croisette today.
Official Selection:
"The Pianist" by Roman Polanski (Grand Théâtre Lumière, 8.30 a.m. and 9 p.m.)
Roman Polanski makes a comeback to the Croisette this year, 22 years after the scandal sparked by his film "Tess." A far cry from Hollywood sirens, the producer-director brings us his version of the Holocaust, following the path of a Jewish pianist constrained to live in a Warsaw ghetto. Flying under the Polish banner, the film was produced by RP Productions (France), Héritage Films (Poland), Studio Babelsberg (Germany) and Runteam Ltd (England). It is distributed by Bac Films, with foreign sales handled by StudioCanal.
"Irréversible" by Gaspar Noé (Grand Théâtre Lumière, 12.30 a.m.)
Classed since the announcement of the line-up as the shock film of the festival, "Irréversible" is above all the first film from the "Hot French Touch" group (Christophe Gans, Olivier Dahan, Mathieu Kassovitz and Jan Kounen, among others) to be presented since "La Haine" ("Hatred") by Mathieu Kassovitz in 1995. The second feature by Gaspard Noé deals with human behavior, animal instincts, vengeance and love... Nord-Ouest Production and Eskwad shared the production of the film that is distributed by Mars Films, with international sales handled by Wild Bunch.
Special Screening:
"The Other Side" by Chantal Akerman (Salle Buñuel, 7.30 p.m.)
Two years after presenting "The Captive" at the Directors' Fortnight, this Belgian filmmaker joins the official selection with a film out of competition, that follows the difficulties of destitute people to make their way back into society. The film is co-produced by AMIP.
Directors' Fortnight:
"Un Oso Rojo" ("L'Ours Rouge") by Israel Adrian Caetano. This Franco-Spanish-Argentinean film is to be presented at 11.30 a.m. at the Noga Hilton. It evokes the fate of a marginal dispenser of justice in the hard reality of the inner suburbs. The French side of the production was handled by TS Productions.
And finally, a restored print of "The Red Circle" by Jean-Pierre Melville (1971) will be screened at the Salle Buñuel at 10 p.m. today.
