04/06/2014 - Pascale Ferran’s film is up against some stiff competition, including Starred Up and French Women

If plentiful supply is the key to assuring a fighting-fit film market in the movie theatres, as a great many exhibitors and distributors assert (with the unfortunate consequence being release log jams and an accelerated turnover of titles on cinema line-ups), this Wednesday shows many encouraging signs of a top-notch cinematic assortment, in terms of both the quantity and the quality of new releases.

Diaphana is releasing the astonishing and ambitious Bird People [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pascale Ferran
film profile] by Pascale Ferran, unveiled in Un Certain Regard at Cannes (read the review), across 122 screens, while Le Pacte and Wild Side are pinning their hopes on 86 copies of the hard-hitting Starred Up [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Mackenzie
film profile] by British director David Mackenzie.

Wild Bunch Distribution has settled on a print run of 339 copies for French Women by Audrey Dana, a fairly uninhibited portrait of 11 modern Parisian women, played by Isabelle Adjani, Vanessa Paradis, Laetitia Casta, Sylvie Testud, Géraldine Nakache, Marina Hands, Julie Ferrier, Alice Taglioni, Audrey Fleurot, Alice Belaïdi and Mélanie Doutey. Produced by Fidélité, this "film by women about women" has had a mixed reception by critics, but it will be interesting to analyse its results to find out to what extent its target market (female viewers) will actually be enticed to watch it.

The renewal of French talents is also represented by Vincent Mariette’s promising feature debut, Tristesse Club (read the article - Haut et Court in 93 cinemas).

Top quality is also hitting screens in the guise of two films that were popular at the Venice Film Festival in 2013: We are the Best! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson (read the review - MK2 Distribution in nine theatres) and The Quispe Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Sebastian Sepulveda (read the review - Ciné Sud Promotion across 15 screens).

Lastly, of note are the Franco-American co-production Swim Little Fish Swim by Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar (Jour2Fête in 31 cinemas), and The Maneater [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Natalie Saracco (Kanibal Films Distribution in 55 theatres).

In terms of the box office, the comedies Serial (Bad) Weddings [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (8.6 million admissions in 47 days - UGC Distribution) and Babysitting [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2 million viewers in seven weeks - UPI France) are still raking in the cash, while Two Days, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] by Belgian duo Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne has already taken 342,000 admissions in 12 days (Diaphana Distribution).

(Translated from French)