France
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBruno Dumont
Written byBruno Dumont
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDavid Chambille
Edited byNicolas Bier
Music byChristophe
Production
companies
  • 3B Productions
  • Arte
  • Red Balloon Film
  • Scope Pictures
  • Tea Time Film
  • Ciné+
Distributed byARP Sélection
Release dates
  • 15 July 2021 (2021-07-15) (Cannes)
  • 25 August 2021 (2021-08-25) (France)
Running time
134 minutes
Countries
  • France
  • Italy
  • Germany
  • Belgium
LanguageFrench
Box office$1.3 million[1]

France is a 2021 comedy-drama film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It stars Léa Seydoux, Blanche Gardin, Benjamin Biolay, Emanuele Arioli, Juliane Köhler, Gaëtan Amiel, Jewad Zemmar and Marc Bettinelli.

The film follows the life of a star television journalist caught in a spiral of events that will lead to her downfall. Between drama and comedy, France seeks to compare the intimate and public crisis of a young woman with a portrait of contemporary France.[2] The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 15 July 2021. It was released in France on 25 August 2021 by ARP Selection.

Synopsis

The film is intended in particular to be a satire of the treatment of information by television channels. France de Meurs is a star journalist at a private French television station. Her fame, her way of conceiving reports and programmes, as well as a chain of personal events, will cause a total questioning of her career in media and turn her life upside down, in addition to her struggles with panic attacks and anxiety.

Cast

  • Léa Seydoux as France de Meurs
  • Blanche Gardin as Lou
  • Benjamin Biolay as Fred de Meurs
  • Emanuele Arioli as Charles Castro
  • Juliane Köhler as Mme Arpel
  • Gaëtan Amiel as Joseph de Meurs
  • Jewad Zemmar as Baptiste
  • Marc Bettinelli as Lolo
  • Lucile Roche as Chouchou
  • Noura Benbahlouli as Baptiste's mother
  • Abdellah Chahouat as Baptiste's father
  • Emmanuel Macron as Himself (archive footage, uncredited)

Production

In May 2019, it was announced Léa Seydoux, Blanche Gardin and Benoît Magimel had joined the cast of the film, with Bruno Dumont directing from a screenplay he wrote.[3] In June 2020, the film was re-titled from On a Half Clear Morning to France.[4]

Principal photography began in October 2019.[5][6]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 15 July 2021.[7] It was released in France on 25 August 2021 by ARP Selection.[8]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 66% of 65 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "France might have benefited from a more passionate approach to its themes, but Léa Seydoux leads an amusing send-up of celebrity culture."[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[10] In France, the film averages 3.3/5 on AlloCiné from 36 press reviews.[11]

References

  1. "France (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  2. Billet-Garin, Quentin (29 January 2020). "After Jeannette's sequel, Bruno Dumont will bring together Léa Seydoux and Blanche Gardin for a new film". Les Inrocks. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  3. Goodfellow, Melanie (14 May 2019). "Indie Sales boards Bruno Dumont On A Half Clear Morning starring Léa Seydoux". Screen Daily. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  4. Lamercier, Fabien (15 June 2020). "Indie Sales pins its hopes on Should the Wind Drop at Cannes Online". Cineuropa. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  5. "Bruno Dumont's On A Half Clear Morning is now in the starting blocks". Cineuropa. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  6. "First look: Lea Seydoux in Bruno Dumont's 'On A Half Clear Morning' (exclusive)". Screen Daily. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  7. "The Films of the Official Selection 2021". Cannes Film Festival. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  8. "France". ARP Selection. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  9. "France". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  10. "France". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  11. "France". AlloCiné. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.