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Metamorphoses

Director: Christophe Honore

Writers: Christophe Honore

Producer: Philippe Martin

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: George Babluani, Damien Chapelle, Sebastien Hirel

While his last film, 2011’s Beloved was unfairly criticized for being more of the same from the musically inclined provocateur, whose films sometimes feel like (in tone, not visual style) a sexually playful Jacques Demy, his latest effort, an adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s epic mythological narrative, sees Honore changing it up a bit. Continuing his penchant for adapting difficult literary works (his 2004 Isabelle Huppert headlined Ma Mere was an unfinished novel by Georges Bataille and 2008’s The Beautiful Person was inspired by a novel by Madame de La Fayette), Honore’s cast consists of mostly unknown actors, his first film in over a decade not to star either of his muses, Louis Garrel or Chiara Mastroianni. With such lofty aspirations, the enigmatic Honore’s latest...

The Princess of Montpensier; The Tree of Life; The Way; X-Men: First Class; Everything Must Go

It would be easy to dismiss The Princess of Montpensier (2010, Studiocanal, 15) as little more than a handsomely appointed costume drama, with its period setting, romping horses, masked balls, dashing duels and lush scenic detours through leafy woods and remote castles. Yet 70-year-old director Bertrand Tavernier's vibrant adaptation of Madame de La Fayette's 1662 romance is a deceptively seductive affair which discreetly addresses issues of class, gender, religion and honour with wit, verve and ease.

Mélanie Thierry is Marie de Mézières, the eponymous heroine with an undying passion for the earthy Duc de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel), who finds herself bartered into a marriage of convenience with the woefully reliable Prince de Montpensier (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet). While her unloved husband is away fighting the Huguenots for Charles IX, it falls to Lambert Wilson's tortured Comte...

Bertrand Tavernier has always been one of French cinema's consummate storytellers and he's at his most elegant and engaged in The Princess of Montpensier, a tale of lust and deceit set during the 16th-century French wars of religion. The film is based on a novella by Madame de La Fayette, the 17th-century writer best known for the classic and often-adapted La princesse de Clèves, a novel which was thrust into the public eye in France recently when President Sarkozy revealed his distaste for it and unwittingly inspired an increase in the book's sales. Tavernier's adaptation might do the same for this lesser known work as it clips along with splendid locations and well-observed costumes and customs, displaying a sensibility and wit that never feel stuffy.

The story is of a beautiful young heiress (Mélanie Thierry) who is forced to marry the Prince de Montpensier despite being in love with the...

Period costume drama from veteran French director Bertrand Tavernier that is elegant but too long for its own good

This new film from the 70-year-old Bertrand Tavernier is a handsomely mounted period costume drama based on the 1662 romance by Madame de la Fayette. It gallops along as elegantly and confidently as the horsemen we see in the opening scene – part bodice-ripper, part patrician soap opera, and part romantic tragedy – albeit a romantic tragedy of no very great resonance or depth. In the middle of France's religious wars of the 16th century, the sublime beauty of a spirited and intelligent young woman, Marie de Mézières (Mélanie Thierry) enslaves the hearts of many warrior-noblemen who are, in Shakespeare's phrase, sudden and quick in quarrel. She is in love with her tempestuous cousin Guise (Gaspard Ulliel) but married off to the young Prince Montpensier (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet), and also, while he is away at the wars,...

This week Jason Solomons explores the enigmatic workings of director Terrence Malick with Jessica Chastain, the star of his latest film, The Tree of Life. Chastian plays the mother in a 1950s midwest suburban family. She discusses how her role symbolises the power of grace against nature, as represented by the father (Brad Pitt).

Legendary French director Bertrand Tavernier joins Jason to discuss his historical drama The Princess of Montpensier, a screen adaptation of a little known story by the 17th century French writer Madame de La Fayette. Starring Mélanie Thierry and Gaspard Ulliel, the film is a passionate and raucous telling of love, sexual jealousy and religious war in 16th century France – a remarkably energetic turn by one of France's most celebrated directors.

Xan Brooks pops into the pod to review all of the goings on in the week's other releases, including Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme, Jesse Eisenberg...

Chicago – Léa Seydoux is blessed with the sort of face that appears to convey a thousand different emotions without ever having to move a muscle. Her smile is beautiful but it almost feels like an intrusion, breaking the exquisite mystery of her passive, brooding expressions. Much has been written about her resemblance to Godard’s muse, Anna Karina, which perhaps inspired New Wave successor Christophe Honoré to direct her in this evocative drama.

“La belle personne” (a.k.a. “The Beautiful Person”) could’ve easily been made in the ’60s. Within the walls of its claustrophobic school, hormonal urges and repressed desires materialize in the form of pointed glances and scribbled notes as opposed to Facebook posts. Gossip is spread the old fashioned way, without the assistance of a Twitter feed. Body language emerges as the primary tool of communication. When a tight embrace is mistaken for a kiss, it can lead to devastating consequences.

Since the news was all a buzz last week with details of the big royal wedding in London, let’s take a look at this film about a wedding amongst the near royals in France a few hundred years ago. Oh, and the French royalty does figure into the story eventually. Director Bertran Tavernier has directed a motion picture based inspired by the short story by Madame de La Fayette, The Princess Of Montpensier.

This period romance is set near the end of the 16th century Wars of Religions between Catholics and Protestants. The Count de Chabannes has left the military service after having killed a peasant woman during a bloody skirmish at a farm. Soon the Count is rescued from Highwaymen by a former pupil, the Prince de Montpensier. They travel to the Prince’s castle where his father has arranged a marriage between him and Marie de Mezieres...

"The finest Western you'll see this year is set in aristocratic 16th-century France, in the heat of Counter-Reformation," declares Nick Pinkerton. Segueing into his interview with Bertrand Tavernier, Aaron Hillis, also in the Voice, sums up the gist of The Princess of Montpensier: "Adapted from Madame de la Fayette's classic novel, the film concerns a nubile, wealthy heiress (Mélanie Thierry) who loves a rugged hothead from the wrong clan (Gaspard Ulliel), but is forced by her father to marry another prince (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), leaving her to dwell on the too-modern desire for free will — defiantly bucking against the rigid traditions of her breed." Back to Pinkerton: "The setting always serves the performers rather than vice versa — though the film is also greatly enhanced by the costuming, the rugged French countryside photographed in outdoor-adventure CinemaScope, and Philippe Sarde's baroque-tribal score, its martial and romantic poles matching a tale of...

(Gaspard Ulliel, above. Photo by Nora Schaefer.)

By Terry Keefe

While playing a French historical character with the nickname of “le Balafré,” or “the Scarred,” in the new film The Princess of Montpensier, actor Gaspard Ulliel also risked his own famous features, while shooting some of the film’s highly realistic fight scenes. Although Ulliel does, in fact, sport a small scar on his left cheek from an accident with a dog when he was a child, the marks carried by his young warrior character in the film, the Duc de Guise, are considerably more pronounced, which isn’t surprising when you see Ulliel as the Duc in the heated battle scenes of Princess. Directed by legendary filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier (interviewed by Alex Simon for our site here), The Princess of Montpensier takes place during the French Wars of Religion of the 1500s, and the director opted not to use many stuntmen,...

Sometimes veteran directors make slower, more deliberate films as they get older, but there’s nothing draggy about Bertrand Tavernier’s historical drama The Princess Of Montpensier. Adapted by 69-year-old Tavernier and screenwriter Jean Cosmos from Madame de La Fayette’s 1662 novella, Princess stars Mélanie Thierry as a much-desired heiress who’s studying for her introduction at court with the help of principled count Lambert Wilson, while her husband (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) and her lover (Gaspard Ulliel) fight in the raging Catholic/Protestant wars of the late 1500s. Wilson worries about the his charge’s loyalty, but even ...

Filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier.

Bertrand Tavernier: Taking Rabbits Out Of Hats

By Alex Simon

Bertrand Tavernier was bitten by the cinema bug at a tender age, falling in love with a diverse slate of films and filmmakers like Jean Renoir, Fritz Lang and Buster Keaton. Born in Lyon in 1941, Tavernier abandoned his law studies to write for the now-legendary French cinema magazine Cahiers du Cinema, which also launched auteurs like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. Making his directing debut with The Clockmaker of Saint-Paul in 1974, Tavernier’s career has been a prolific one, with 35 films to his credit, and dozens of awards, including the Best Director prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival for A Sunday in the Country.

Tavernier’s latest film is the sweeping epic The Princess of Montpensier, an adaptation of a 1662 novel which was published anonymously, but later credited to French noblewoman Madame de La Fayette. Set...

Photo byEtienne George, Paradis Films

Acollaboration between Picktainment/PopCulturePassionistas Thisweekend an epic French film is opening in select theaters in New York and LosAngeles. The Princess of Montpensier is based on the short story by Madame deLa Fayette, and tells the tale of a young, aristocratic woman forced to marryin the shadow of the Wars of Religion. At a recent press conference directorBertrand Tavernier and star Gaspard Ulliel talked about developing the project,the appeal of the characters and finding the perfect leading lady.

Tavernierexplained that when he signed on to the film, there was already a script inplace — but not for long. ““I don’t think we kept one line out of it… It wasnot appalling. It was interesting but I think the look at the princess was notgood. The writer was describing her as a femme fatale in a film noir and for methat was the opposite.”

The...

Sneak Peek the newest poster supporting the upcoming French period romance feature "The Princess of Montpensier" ("La princesse de Montpensier"), directed by Bertrand Tavernier, based on the short story by author 'Madame de La Fayette'.

The film stars model/actress Mélanie Thierry in the title role, with Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson and Raphaël Personnaz.

"...The story takes place in the French aristocracy during the 'Wars of Religion', focusing on a young woman who is forced into marriage while passionately in love with another man..."

"Princess" premiered May 16, 2010 @ the Cannes Film Festival, with StudioCanal releasing it in 384 French cinemas on November 3, 2010. Distribution rights for the Us was acquired by IFC Films.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Princess of Montpensier"...

Sneak Peek the newest poster supporting the upcoming French period romance feature "The Princess of Montpensier" ("La princesse de Montpensier"), directed by Bertrand Tavernier, based on the short story by 'Madame de La Fayette'.

The film stars model turned actress Mélanie Thierry in the title role, with Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson and Raphaël Personnaz.

"...The story takes place in the French aristocracy during the 'Wars of Religion', focusing on a young woman who is forced into marriage while passionately in love with another man..."

"Princess" premiered May 16, 2010 @ the Cannes Film Festival, with StudioCanal releasing it in 384 French cinemas on November 3, 2010. Distribution rights for the Us was acquired by IFC Films, who will release the film April 1, 2011.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Princess of Montpensier"...

IFC Films announced that it has acquired the U.S. rights from European studio Studiocanal to director Bertrand Tavernier’s “The Princess of Montpensier,” which is screening in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film was produced by Eric Heumann and coproduced by Studiocanal, with a screenplay by Jean Cosmos, Francois-Olivier Rousseau and Tavernier, based on the novel by Madame de la Fayette. It stars Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Gaspard Ulliel, ...

There's something in the UK called the Campaign for Real Ale. It was started in The Guardian in the 1970s by Richard Boston, a journalist (naturally) who was alarmed by traditional British pubs being taken over by mass-produced, heavily marketed, rapidly brewed beer.

The real thing, he said, was not carbonated, was brewed in its own time, and had a distinctive flavor. It was drawn up by gravity from a cooled cellar, not forced through hoses under pressure. It wasn't tweaked to make it taste like all other beers, matching some international formula like Budweiser or Heineken's. I've tasted it. It went down smoothly, and you didn't belch.

We should start a Campaign for Real Movies. These also would not be carbonated by CGI or 3D. They would be carefully created by artists, from original recipes, i.e., screenplays. Each movie would be different. There would be no effort to...

Isabelle Huppert attends La princesse de Montpensier / The Princess of Montpensier Premiere at the Palais des Festivals during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: Swarovski / WireImage.) Bertrand Tavernier’s The Princess of Montpensier is in the running for the Palme d’Or. The period romantic drama is set during the reign of Charles IX, when followers of different Christian sects (Catholics and Protestants) were at each other’s throats. The film stars Mélanie Thierry in the title role, in addition to Gaspard Ulliel, Lambert Wilson, and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. According to the film’s notes, Tavernier decided to adapt Madame de la Fayette’s 17th-century novel because he wanted to make a "love story that was both lyrical and [...]...

Medieval times, encumbered as they are with codes of religion, status, politics and behavior that seem very foreign to us today, have always been particularly difficult to make come fully alive onscreen, but Bertrand Tavernier does a better job at this than most in "The Princess of Montpensier." An adaptation of a short tale by Madame de La Fayette, sometimes regarded as the first novelist, this is a charged story of sexual desire and heated rivalry played out as on a life-sized chess board that's left quite bloody by the time all is settled. Spirited. robust and intelligent, this is…...

Melanie Thierry and Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet in La Princesse de Montpensier

Photo: Studio Canal French helmer Bertrand Tavernier's work is a mystery to me. I didn't see 2009's In the Electric Mist starring Tommy Lee Jones, which would have served as an introduction, instead his 2010 Cannes Film Festival entry La princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpensier) has the honor. Unfortunately, this wasn't the welcoming I wished for. It's repetitive treacle based on Madame de La Fayette 1662 short story in which the characters make the same mistakes over and over again until the very end where they have no choice but to zig when all they'd done to that point was zag.

Set in France, 1562, The Princess of Montpensier stars Melanie Thierry as Marie de Mezieres and sets out to tell a love story with the religious war of the Protestants versus the Catholics serving as the backdrop. Marie is...

Bertrand Tavernier’s The Princess of Montpensier: Florence Thomassin, Mélanie Thierry (top); Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (bottom) Bertrand Tavernier’s La princesse de Montpensier / The Princess of Montpensier is in the running for the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The period drama set during the reign of Charles IX, when followers of different Christian sects (Catholics and Protestants) were at one another’s throats, stars Mélanie Thierry, Gaspard Ulliel, Lambert Wilson, and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. According to the film’s notes, Tavernier decided to adapt Madame de la Fayette’s 17th-century novel because he wanted to make a "love story that was both lyrical and epic in nature," adding that after filming In the Electric Mist in the United States he felt "the visceral [...]...

This is likely to be my last preview of this nature before I take off for the 2010 Cannes Film Festival on Monday morning, but seeing how it includes first look photos at several of the higher profile films at the festival I didn't think I could pass up the opportunity to share.

Unfortunately the images I received were not high resolution so I have put them together as best as I could to give you the best look at each and not distort the images. I've also included the date the first screen at the festival and hopefully (if all goes right) I'll have reactionary coverage soon after the credits for each. Stay tuned and enjoy...

Biutiful (dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) First Screening: Monday, May 17

Biutiful is directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel) and stars Javier Bardem as a man involved in illegal dealing who is confronted by his childhood friend,...

Over the weekend I was hard at work adding additional titles debuting at this year's 2010 Cannes Film Festival in an effort to make sure once I am in town it is all about seeing the movies and working as little as possible on the asset process. As a result, I now have 17 of the 18 films in competition in the database as information on Sergei Loznitsa's Schastye Moe (My Joy) doesn't seem to be available. However, information on the other 17 is now readily available along with some new pictures and trailers for several of them.

First off, to the right is one of the first three images available for Mathieu Amalric's Tournee, of which I also have the official synopsis for the film from the man most of you know as the villain from Quantum of Solace or Jean-Dominique Bauby from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

In Tournee...

As you all know, from May 12 through 23, 12 feature films produced or co-produced by France will be showcased in the Official Selection of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.

One movie that will be shown In Competition is La Princesse de Montpensier, directed by Bertrand Tavernier.

Little history repeating for this director, since he’s taking a break from thrillers. Let’s see how things at Cannes Festival will work out for him…

If you are familiar with Tavernier’s work, than you know he already had huge success with In The Electric Mist. But this time, looks like he has started working on a European history title about 16th century French aristocracy.

This is the story about the passions and tragic fate of a princess in the French kingdom of 1562. but if you’re interested in official synopsis part check this out: “Based on a short story by Madame de La Fayette...

With a Gangster film, WWII tale, Old Asian lady portrait and a period piece in the Main Competition you'd think we'd be talking about last year's batch of films: e.g.: Mother, Basterds and Bright Star. Not a recycling of story ideas, but rather same genres, among the surprise films below being nominated in the category, I was expecting Tavernier to occupy an Out of Comp or Special Screening slot. - With a Gangster film, WWII tale, Old Asian lady portrait and a period piece in the Main Competition you'd think we'd be talking about last year's batch of films: e.g.: Mother, Basterds and Bright Star. Not a recycling of story ideas, but rather same genres, among the surprise films below being nominated in the category, I was expecting Tavernier to occupy an Out of Comp or Special Screening slot. Here are four more from the 16. Outrage...

• You won't find veteran filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier anywhere close to swampy Cajun backwoods (In the Electric Mist) or for that matter, return to the thriller format, instead his next pic is set in 1562 and includes matters of the heart. Set to begin production later this month, La Princesse de Montpensier will see Mélanie Thierry in the lead with Lambert Wilson, Gaspard Ulliel, Louis Garrel and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet also joining the pic. Paradis Films' Eric Heuman and Marc Silam are producing. Based on a short story by Madame de La Fayette (published in 1662), co-scripted by Tavernier and Jean Cosmos, La Princesse de Montpensier is a tale of the passions and tragic fate of a princess, a rich heiress of a French kingdom under threat in the wars of religion of 1562. The focal point of La Fayette’s work is the love Mlle de Mézières feels for the duke de Guise

...

• For a third time and year in a row, IFC Films are teaming up with French filmmaker Christophe Honore. The distribution company who have been picking up titles left and right are looking to put La Belle Personne into theaters sometime next year. Co-written by Honore and Gilles Taurand, this is a contemporary adaptation of French literary classic The Princess of Cleves by Madame de La Fayette (1678). The film retraces the misadventures of Junie (Seydoux, mademoiselle de Chartres in the book). Aged 16, the young girl changes high school in the middle of the academic year, following the death of her mother. She joins a new class that includes her cousin Esteban, who introduces her to his group of friends. Junie is soon courted by the boys in the group and becomes the fiancée of the quietest young man, Grégoire (the book’s Prince of Cleves). But soon she falls overwhelmingly in love,

...

• If you're the art-house/subtitle type then helmer Christophe Honoré needs no introductions. With an output like his, a recent string of pictures such as Ma Mere, In Paris and most recently, Love Songs, you know it's just a question of time before his next project is unveiled. Cineuropa recently filled us in on the Frenchman's latest project (a pic that will once again feature Honoré's muse: Louis Garrel) and which was compared to Laurent Cantet’s brilliant exposé of Paris' urban jungle a.k.a high school and Palme d'or winner Entre Les murs because of the likeliness of the setting. Co-written by the director and Gilles Taurand, La Belle Personne is a contemporary adaptation of French literary classic The Princess of Cleves by Madame de La Fayette (1678). The film retraces the misadventures of Junie (Seydoux, mademoiselle de Chartres in the book). Aged 16, the young girl changes high

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