RELEASES France
The Life of Another : Juliette Binoche everywhere
by Fabien Lemercier
15/02/2012 - Released by ARP Sélection today in over 200 French cinemas, actress Sylvie Testud’s first feature film as a director, The Life of Another [trailer] (article), is new proof of Juliette Binoche’s intense activity of late.
Juliette Binoche also stars in Elles [trailer, film focus] by Malgorzata Szumowska, a film that has been showing in France for now two weeks, that is being screened in the Panorama section at the ongoing Berlinale, and that will hit Poland’s cinemas on February 17. The French actress has just finished filming A Monkey on My Shoulder by Marion Lainé (article), and is soon to start acting in front of Bruno Dumont’s camera in Camille Claudel. And then there is Cosmopolis by David Cronenberg (news), a film expected to do very well at the next Cannes Film Festival.
In The Life of Another, Binoche plays a 40-year-old woman who wakes up thinking that she is still 25 and having forgotten 15 years of her life. "It’s clearly one of the most beautiful roles that I have ever played,” said Binoche. “You have to continuously play two completely opposed states of mind. On one hand, she is lost in an internal labyrinth, with intense and quite tragic moments of panic. She wakes up, doesn’t know where she lives, nor with whom, and it’s extremely worrying. But beyond all that, she also finds herself in these extraordinary, ludicrous situations of light comedy, extremely funny situations considering the mad situation she is living through.”
This Wednesday, critics however especially fell over themselves for La Désintégration [trailer] (lit. “Disintegration”) by Philippe Faucon, a film that explores the social roots of terrorism in France. Discovered out of competition in Venice (read the review), the film has been released by Pyramide in 54 cinemas.
European cinema has this week given French audiences The Iron Lady [trailer] by Phyllida Lloyd (read the review), starring a brilliant performance by Meryl Streep, nominated for an Oscar for best actress (Pathé Films on 160 copies). Also in cinemas are Amador [trailer] by Spanish director Fernando León de Aranoa (review - Sophie Dulac Distribution on 19 copies), and Dix hivers à Venise by Italian director Valerio Mieli with shooting stars Michele Riondino and Isabella Ragonese (Bellissima Films on 12 copies).
Finally, also worth mentioning is the comedy Il était une fois, une fois [trailer] by Christian Merret-Palmair (UGC Distribution in over 250 cinemas), as well as two films released by Kanibal Films Distribution : Flesh Memories [trailer] by Dominique Maillet on five copies and Je suis venu vous dire..., a documentary by Pierre-Henry Salfati about Gainsbourg, on 26 copies.
(Translated from French)
