02/12/2003

Any new film by Alain Resnais is always an event for the French film world. In fact, so much so that his last feature length film, Same Old Song had an audience of 2.6 million in France and it won 7 Césars, and that was six years ago. And when you add a young star like Audrey Tautou to the director’s usual cast members, once again featuring the duo Sabine Azéma/Pierre Arditi (their 7th film with Resnais), the event become even more of a media frenzy. So., this is the armosphere surrounding tomorrow’s French release of Pas sur la bouche, which will be distributed in 200 prints by Pathé Distribution.

The director, who has just turned 81, has chosen to adapt an operetta from 1925 by André Barde and Maurice Yvain for his new work. This musical comedy is set in a somewhat retro atmosphere, with an ironic vaudeville tone, showing the Parisian middle class portrayed by actors who aren’t familiar with the director’s sophisticated world: Isabelle Nanty ( And His Neighbor Dorine), Jalil Lespert (Risorse Umane) and Darry Cowl, even though the only actor in the cast who really knows how to sing is Lambert Wilson.
Pas sur la bouche is produced by Arena Films and co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, France 3 Cinéma, Arcade and the Swiss company Vega Film. The film has generated great expectations from the French cinema operators, including the art-house theatre operators. Now it’s time to see if the film captures the imagination of audiences out of the many films that are being released in French cinemas on December 3, 2003.

(Translated from French)