11/04/2005

The Cornwall born actress Kristin Scott Thomas who has been living in France for the last 25 years, just told the BBC World Service that French filmmakers are not afraid anymore of make commercial films and have begun making a wider variety of films because they feel "they don’t have to reply to the US market so much".

In London for the last days of shooting of the English comedy Keeping Mum and for the promotion of Jean-Paul Salomé’s Arsène Lupin (to be released on 09.09.05 by Cinefile in the UK) the actress said that Arsène Lupin is typical of this new approach to movie making in France, the making of films for an audience in mind: "In France, we’re far more independent really (than in the US). So we are able to make all sorts of different films, from very small, intimate problems to fantastic, all-singing all-dancing things like Arsène Lupin. I think that stems from the fact that the directors in France are also the writers, so it becomes a very personal commitment. But they’re taking a lot of time, putting a lot of energy into it, so sometimes the commercial side has been forgotten. But they’re beginning to regain territory on that". "They’re making big, successful pictures", she continues, citing The Chorus [+see also:
trailer
film profile] as a recent hit and "feel-good-movie" that has been beneficiary for French cinema as a whole.

The Oscar-nominated actress for The English Patient has just finished the shooting of Keeping Mum, also starring Rowan Atkinson, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze. The comedy directed by Niall Johnson tells the story of a vicar who is totally oblivious to his wife’s affair. The film is produced by Julie Palau and Matthey Payne for Tusk Production in association with Azure Films, with support from the Isle of Man Film Commission and Allied Irish Bank. The film pre-bought by Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK was recently sold by Summit Entertainment to SND in France, Constantin Film in Germany, IFF in Italy, Tri Pictures in Spain, and Nordisk Film for Scandinavia.