RELEASES France
Cluzet shines in Mon Père Est Femme de Ménage
by Fabien Lemercier
13/04/2011 - After the maids of Service Entrance [trailer], the subject of cleaning staff returns to the fore today in Mon Père Est Femme de Ménage [trailer] (“My Father Is a Cleaning Lady”) by Saphia Azzedine, adapted from her homonymous novel.
Launched by ARP Sélection on 198 screens, this debut feature, which won the Audience Award at the Alpe d’Huez International Comedy Film Festival, hasn’t received unanimous praise from critics but offers another demonstration of the talent of François Cluzet (who won the Best Actor César in 2007 for Tell No One [trailer], received two César nominations in 2010 for
Cluzet explains that he was attracted to this character of the male cleaner because of "his role as a father which he takes very seriously, justified by his admirable self-denial and his idea of duty and education. There is also his self-sacrificial side towards his son (Jérémie Duvall), as he tries with all his might to ensure his son gets on the social ladder, the quest for qualifications he never got and his determination to accept his condition as long as it enables his son to move up in the world. There is a sincere love which sustains him and a willingness to laugh about it to make it easier to swallow what he has to say and pass on. There is also an intelligence and lucidity faced with the absence of choice."
Other highlights among this Wednesday’s releases are Eric Valette’s thriller The Prey [trailer], starring Albert Dupontel, Alice Taglioni and Sergi Lopez (see news – distributed by StudioCanal in over 300 theatres); and Olivier Babinet and Fred Kihn’s European road movie Robert Mitchum Is Dead [trailer], featuring Olivier Gourmet (see news – Shellac on a 39-print run). Other noteworthy titles are Ange Leccia’s Blue Night [trailer] (Le Pacte on one screen); and Claude Lelouch’s documentary From One Film to Another (Les Films 13 on 20 screens).
Non-domestic European films also put in an appearance with Brit director Bernard Rose’s electrifying Mr. Nice [trailer] (UFO Distribution on a 48-print run); and Romanian director Andrei Ujica’s documentary The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu [trailer], which was unveiled out of competition at Cannes (distribution: Mandragora).
Finally, among the European co-productions, KMBO is releasing Iranian director Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men [trailer] (prize-winner at Venice in 2009 – see review); and Arizona Films Distribution is launching 10 to 11 [trailer] by Turkey’s Pelin Esmer (see news).
(Translated from French)
