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In Christine Angot’s documentary “A Family,” which premieres Sunday in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival, the French novelist explores how various members of her family reacted to the revelation that she was repeatedly raped by her father from the age of 13.

The film starts with a startling confrontation between Angot and her stepmother in Strasbourg, with Angot pushing her way into her stepmother’s apartment with a camera-person and proceeding to question the woman about Angot’s late father’s crimes and the wife’s view on that.

Angot says that this incident was not planned at all. In fact, the documentary itself was not planned. It started when Angot went to Strasbourg as part of a book signing tour to support the publication of “Le Voyage dans l’Est,” which focuses on those in her inner circle who knew of the abuse and failed to intervene.

by Cláudio Alves

Belgian-born French actress Virginie Efira has been on an upward path since around 2016, when she supported Isabelle Huppert in the Oscar-nominated Elle and dazzled as the titular lawyer in Justine Triet's Victoria. The latter part earned the thespian her first César nomination, followed by citations for Sink or Swim, An Impossible Love, Bye Bye Morons, Benedetta, and, finally, a victory thanks to Revoir Paris. And yet, beyond the Francoshpere, Efira is probably best known for Verhoeven's mad nun and little else. That's going to change fast. After 2023, there's no stopping her rise to international stardom. 

This week, American cinemas welcomed Madeleine Collins, Efira's third release of the year, following career-best work in Other People's Children and Revoir Paris. Just the Two of Us and All to Play For are still awaiting distribution making for a titanic body of recent work. In a just world, this next...

Justine Triet’s Sibyl, a heady and rollicking rush of blood through the veins after the controlled acidic screwball In Bed with Victoria (2016), shows the French director raising her game substantially. Amid a flurry of festival publicity, the director took some time to talk me through the production of her new movie. The film centers on Sibyl, an apparently settled and successful therapist, who is still devastated by the messy break-up of an early relationship with Gabriel (Niels Schneider). Sibyl decides to return to writing and embarks on a novel liberally based on the story of Margot Vasilis (Adele Exarchopoulos), an actor whom she takes on as a client. Margot is in the midst of a turbulent affair of her own, with the vain and self-involved actor Igor Maleski (Gaspard Ulliel), and asks Sibyl for help when she becomes stuck with him on a film shoot on Stromboli in a...

Music Box Films has acquired the U.S. and Canadian rights to Justine Triet’s darkly comic drama “Sibyl,” which competed at Cannes and had its North American premiere at Toronto in the Special Presentation section.

Represented in international markets by mk2, the film follows the ambiguous relationship between Sibyl, a jaded psychotherapist, and her newest patient, Margot, a troubled up-and-coming actress. Margot becomes a source of inspiration and obsession for Sibyl, who starts getting more and more involved in the young woman’s tumultuous life. The movie also stars Gaspard Ulliel (“Paris Je T’aime”) and Sandra Hüller (“Toni Erdmann”).

“A Russian doll of a film packed with stories within stories, ‘Sibyl’ takes a hard look at the creative process, the unconscious mind, and the ways in which we can both create and destroy our own realities,” said Music Box Films president William Schopf, who negotiated the deal with...

Domestic violence drama earns four prizes in Paris.

Xavier Legrand’s domestic violence drama Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde) was named best film at the 44th Cesar Awards in Paris on Friday (23).

Legrand’s feature directorial debut and Venice 2017 Silver Lion winner began the night on a field-leading 10 nominations alongside Gilles Lellouche’s comedy Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain), and also won awards for Legrand’s original screenplay, best actress Lea Drucker, and editor Yorgos Lamprinos.

Jacques Audiard was named best director for The Sisters Brothers at the ceremony in the Salle Pleyel, presided over by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Xavier Legrand’s feature debut “Custody,” a tense portrait of a family torn by domestic violence, won best film, actress (for Lea Drucker), and original screenplay at the 44th Cesar Awards, which took place at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The awards are France’s highest film honors.

“Custody,” which marks Legrand’s follow up to his Oscar-nominated short, tells the story of a boy named Julien (Thomas Gioria), who is forced by a court ruling to split his time between his mother (Drucker) and estranged father (Denis Ménochet), whom he regards as a violent monster, amid his parents’ bitter divorce. “Custody” world-premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it won two awards, and went on to play at Toronto in the competitive Platform section.

In her speech, Drucker paid homage to all the brave women who have inspired her and also dedicated the award to women who...

After winning best director at the Venice Film Festival, Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers” picked up three awards, including best film, director and cinematography, at the 24th Lumières Awards, France’s équivalent to the Golden Globes. The ceremony took place on Monday at the Institut du Monde Arabe.

Although it has not made its way into the awards season in the U.S. despite its fall festival bow, the movie is well-positioned in France where it will be vying for nine Cesar Awards, France’s équivalent to the Oscars, on Feb. 22.

Produced by Pascal Caucheteux’s Why Not, “The Sisters Brothers” stars starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal.

“The Sisters Brothers” won over Jeanne Herry’s adoption drama “In Safe Hands,” Mikhaël Hers’ “Amanda,” Alex Lutz’s “Guy” and Emmanuel Mouret’s “Mademoiselle de Joncquières.”

Xavier Legrand’s heart-pounding domestic violence drama “Custody” won best first film.

Further best film nominees include Pierre Salvadori’s The Trouble With You and Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers.

Gilles Lellouche’s Sink Or Swim and Xavier Legrand’s Custody lead the way with 10 nominations for France’s César Awards, announced this morning (Jan 23) in Paris.

Custody premiered at Venice in 2017, where it won the SIlver Lion, while comedy Sink Or Swim, which stars Mathieu Amalric, Virginie Efira and Guillaume Canet, screened out of competition at Cannes last year.

Closely following with nine nods are Pierre Salvadori’s The Trouble With You, which screened in Directors’ Fortnight in 2018, and Jacques...

French actor-turned-director Gilles Lellouche’s “Sink or Swim” and Xavier Legrand’s feature debut “Custody” lead the race for this year’s Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, with 10 nominations each, including best picture and best director.

“Sink or Swim” (“Le Grand Bain” in France), a star-driven dramedy about a men’s synchronized swimming team, world-premiered at Cannes out of competition and was released by Studiocanal. The ensemble film, which was one of the highest-grossing French films in 2018, picked up multiple nominations in the best supporting actor and actress categories, for Jean-Hugues Anglade, Philippe Katerine, Leila Bekhti and Virginie Efira.

“Custody” follows a boy named Julien (Thomas Gioria), who is forced by a court ruling to split his time between his mother (Léa Drucker) and estranged father (Denis Ménochet), whom he regards as a violent monster, amid his parents’ bitter divorce. “Custody” world-premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival,...

Disney feature puts on £4.6m.

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.28.

Rank Film (Distributor) Three-day gross (Jan 4-Jan 6) Total gross to date Week 1 Mary Poppins Returns (Disney) £4.6m £34.3m 3 2 The Favourite (20th Century Fox) £2.2m £4m 1 3 Aquaman (Warner Bros) £1.9m £18.3m 4 4 André Rieu’s 2019 New Year Concert In Sydney (Piece Of Magic) £1.7m £1.7m 1 5. Bumblebee (Paramount) £1.7m £9.1m 2 Disney

Mary Poppins Returns has surged to a third straight weekend on top of the UK box office, after engaging audiences all through the Christmas/New Year holiday.

The fantasy feature took £4.6m over the weekend - a drop of 40% on...

The historical comedy opened on New Year’s Day.

Twentieth Century Fox’s historical comedy The Favourite is set for its first weekend in cinemas, having already set a new UK record for director Yorgos Lanthimos in taking £1.8m since its launch on New Year’s Day (Tuesday Jan 1).

Its early cume, which includes £336,655 from four days of previews prior to Tuesday, outranks Lanthimos’ previous highest amount for 2015’s The Lobster. That film opened to £229,946 and finished on £1.5m, and went on to secure a best original screenplay nomination at the 2017 Oscars.

The Favourite was also the number two title...

Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers” has been nominated for best film and director at the 24th Lumieres Awards, France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes.

The Western starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal world-premiered at Venice Film Festival, where it earned Audiard a best director award.

Produced by Paris-based company Why Not, “The Sisters’ Brothers” is vying for best film against Jeanne Herry’s adoption drama “In Safe Hands,” Mikhaël Hers’ “Amanda,” Alex Lutz’s “Guy” and Emmanuel Mouret’s “Mademoiselle de Joncquières.”

“In Safe Hands” and “Mademoiselle de Joncquières” lead the nominations with four each. Mouret’s critically acclaimed French period drama, “Mademoiselle de Joncquières,” world-premiered at Toronto and was recently acquired by Netflix for most rights worldwide. The film’s star, Cecile de France, has been nominated for best actress, along with Elodie Bouchez for “In Safe Hands,” Léa Drucker for “Custody,” Virginie Efira...

French writer Christine Angot is well-known in her homeland for a series of autobiographical books (including L’Inceste, Pourquoi le Bresil? and Rendez-vous) that chronicle the abuse she suffered as a child and the life she’s built in the wake of trauma. Filled with searingly honest accounts of her relationships, sexual experiences and psychological states past and present, Angot’s emotionally puissant first-person confessions return time and again to the disturbing events of her youth, reflecting on how they have shaped her evolution as an author and woman.

(In France, Angot is also a highly mediatized public intellectual who has made several ...

Non-Fiction and An Impossible Love had UK premieres in London.

UK distributor Curzon Artificial Eye has acquired rights to two new titles following their UK premieres at the recent BFI London Film Festival.

They have picked up Olivier Assayas’ Non-Fiction starring Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet, following a deal negotiated with Sebastien Beffa and Frédérique Rouault at sales agent Playtime.

The film explores the relationship to truth in art and love through the pairings of publisher Alain (Canet) and his wife Selena (Binoche), and the web of affairs and alliances in which they become entangled with author Léonard (Vincent Macaigne...

Le Pacte has acquired international sales and French distribution rights to “Phil Tippett, Mad Dreams and Monsters,” a documentary directed by Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet, the pair behind the critically acclaimed documentary “The Frankenstein Complex.”

“Mad Dreams and Monsters” charts the sprawling career of Tippett, the animator and vfx artist who won two Oscars for his work on “The Return of the Jedi” and “Jurassic Park.” The documentary showcases exclusive archives from Tippett Studio and discusses his achievements through interviews with Tippett himself, as well as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Paul Verhoeven.

Le Pacte also handled “The Frankenstein Complex,” which shed light on the craft of movie creatures featured in blockbusters such as “King Kong,” “Avatar,” “Star Wars” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

“‘The Frankenstein Complex’ was a big hit for us — we sold it around the world,” said Camille Neel, head of international sales at Le Pacte,...