Cohen Media Group has acquired U.S. rights to Safy Nebbou’s “Who You Think I Am,” the critically acclaimed film starring Juliette Binoche which world premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Special Gala section.
“Who You Think I Am” turned out to be a hot title among international distributors at the EFM and was sold throughout the world by the Paris-based company Playtime rolling off its world premiere.
Blending romantic comedy, heated melodrama and psychothriller, “Who You Think I Am” features Binoche on nearly every shot as she plays a woman struggling with identity, sexuality and the perils of online flirtation. The film earned upbeat reviews including in Variety which described it as “a surprise package that plays its trump cards with shrugging insouciance, yielding giggles and gasps in equal measure, sometimes at once.”
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“Who You Think I Am,” adapted from a 2016 novel by Camille Laurens, follows Binoche as Claire Millaud, a fifty-something literature professor unhappily divorced who creates a fake profile on social media as 24 year-old Clara to cyberstalk Ludo, a man she has just met. But as her young avatar, Claire ends up falling in love with one of Ludo’s friends, Alex. Although everything is played out in the virtual world, the feelings that blossom between the pair are quite real and the lies start becoming entangled with reality, leading to a stunning climax. Nicole Garcia (“Mon Oncle d’Amerique”) and Charles Berling (“Ridicule”) also star in the film.
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Binoche’s multi-layered performance in the film has been applauded by critics across the board. “For anyone who’s ever been catfished or ghosted on the dating trail — or been an offender themselves — her evocation of exhilarated human connection and terrified self-sabotage is uncomfortably easy to empathize with, all written in a rich, deepening network of dimples and frown lines,” said Variety’s Guy Lodge of Binoche’s perf. The actress was in the limelight during the entire Berlin Film Festival as she presided the jury.
“We were instantly courted by all the American buyers after the screening of the film. I believe the film was the big surprise of the market for many of them,” said Playtime’s co-founder Nicolas Brigaud-Robert. He added that “CMG was an easy choice because of their experience in handling this type of French movies with box office potential and a big European star.”
Charles S. Cohen, the owner, chairman and CEO of Cohen Media Group, said “Who You Think I Am” was a “standout achievement at the Berlin Film Festival featuring a standout performance by one of cinema’s greatest actresses, Juliette Binoche.” Cohen Media Group’s John Kochman, who negotiated the deal with Brigaud-Robery, said, “This amazing film turned out to be ‘the’ prize at Berlin.”
“Who You Think I Am” will be released in France on Feb. 27 by Diaphana which also produced the film.
