As far-right sentiment surges in France ahead of April’s presidential elections — and lawmakers continue to concern themselves with hijab bans — the time is urgently right for artists to challenge the country’s enduring history of Islamophobia. On the face of it, “Nobody’s Hero” seems like a useful contribution in that regard. Set amid the tense aftermath of a radical terrorist attack in the placid central French city of Clermont-Ferrand, Alain Guiraudie’s latest feature centers on a weak-willed white man caught between being an ally and an oppressor to a homeless Muslim youth in his neighborhood, wryly commenting on a middle-class society that oscillates between liberal altruism and wary prejudice. Yet this promising setup is derailed by a separate, not especially complementary narrative detailing the same protagonist’s troubled romance with a married local sex worker: Moonlighting as a broad bedroom farce, this heavily plotted but oddly low-energy film...
- 2/10/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Alain Guiraudie’s “Nobody’s Hero,” which opened the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, is lighter than his last two films, the critically adored “Stranger By the Lake” (a Hitchcockian tale of murder and cruising) and its less loved follow-up, “Staying Vertical.” But one thing it shares with them is its abundance of naked flesh and candid sex.
The wry opening scene introduces Médéric (Jean Charles Clichet), an unattached thirtysomething who lives in Clermont-Ferrand in central France. The gray, rainy town is presented as being resolutely ordinary, and so is Médéric, a freelance computer programmer who is always either sucking on his e-cigarette or jogging up and down the hilly streets in unflattering running gear. He isn’t wholly conventional, though. After a moment’s hesitation, he marches up to a fiftysomething prostitute (Noémie Lvovsky) and announces that he wants to have coffee with her. True, he wants to have sex with her,...
The wry opening scene introduces Médéric (Jean Charles Clichet), an unattached thirtysomething who lives in Clermont-Ferrand in central France. The gray, rainy town is presented as being resolutely ordinary, and so is Médéric, a freelance computer programmer who is always either sucking on his e-cigarette or jogging up and down the hilly streets in unflattering running gear. He isn’t wholly conventional, though. After a moment’s hesitation, he marches up to a fiftysomething prostitute (Noémie Lvovsky) and announces that he wants to have coffee with her. True, he wants to have sex with her,...
- 2/10/2022
- by Nicholas Barber
- Indiewire
Berlinale Series Market, Co-Production Market name selections.
The world premiere of French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero will open the Panorama section at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time the director has screened at the event.
Nobody’s Hero is one of 16 world premiere additions to the Panorama strand, joining the 13 titles confirmed last month for a complete list of 29 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The film takes place after a terrorist attack in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and centres on a likeable man in his mid-thirties, an older...
The world premiere of French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero will open the Panorama section at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time the director has screened at the event.
Nobody’s Hero is one of 16 world premiere additions to the Panorama strand, joining the 13 titles confirmed last month for a complete list of 29 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The film takes place after a terrorist attack in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and centres on a likeable man in his mid-thirties, an older...
- 1/18/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The program announcements continue for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival this week, with the full Panorama line-up now confirmed.
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
We recently told you about Vinyan and Calvaire director Fabrice du Welz's next film, Alleluia, which brings a ripped-from-the-headlines tale to horrifying life. Today comes word that a distribution home for the film has been found so read on for the scoop!
Per Variety, Chicago-based arthouse distributor Music Box has acquired all North American rights to the Belgian genre filmmaker’s gritty horror movie. The film was also acquired by Carlotta Films, a company specializing in classics, for French distribution.
Head over to the official Alleluia website to learn more.
Written by Fabrice du Welz and Vincent Tavier, the film stars Laurent Lucas, Lola Dueñas, Héléna Noguerra, David Murgia, Stéphane Bissot, Renaud Rutten, and Philippe Résimont.
Synopsis
Manipulated by a loving and jealous husband, Gloria has run away with her daughter and started a new life far away from men and from the rest of the world. Impelled by her friend,...
Per Variety, Chicago-based arthouse distributor Music Box has acquired all North American rights to the Belgian genre filmmaker’s gritty horror movie. The film was also acquired by Carlotta Films, a company specializing in classics, for French distribution.
Head over to the official Alleluia website to learn more.
Written by Fabrice du Welz and Vincent Tavier, the film stars Laurent Lucas, Lola Dueñas, Héléna Noguerra, David Murgia, Stéphane Bissot, Renaud Rutten, and Philippe Résimont.
Synopsis
Manipulated by a loving and jealous husband, Gloria has run away with her daughter and started a new life far away from men and from the rest of the world. Impelled by her friend,...
- 6/26/2014
- by John Squires
- DreadCentral.com
It was just about four years ago that we first told you about Alleluia, the latest film from the man behind the French horror flicks Calvaire and Vinyan. At long last, some stills have finally surfaced, leading us to believe that it won't be long before this one enters our lives. Check 'em out!
Head over to the official Alleluia website to learn more.
Written by Fabrice du Welz and Vincent Tavier, the film stars Laurent Lucas, Lola Dueñas, Héléna Noguerra, David Murgia, Stéphane Bissot, Renaud Rutten, and Philippe Résimont.
Synopsis
Manipulated by a loving and jealous husband, Gloria has run away with her daughter and started a new life far away from men and from the rest of the world. Impelled by her friend, Madeleine, she agrees to meet Michel through a dating site. The first time they see each other, there is a spark. Michel, the small-time crook...
Head over to the official Alleluia website to learn more.
Written by Fabrice du Welz and Vincent Tavier, the film stars Laurent Lucas, Lola Dueñas, Héléna Noguerra, David Murgia, Stéphane Bissot, Renaud Rutten, and Philippe Résimont.
Synopsis
Manipulated by a loving and jealous husband, Gloria has run away with her daughter and started a new life far away from men and from the rest of the world. Impelled by her friend, Madeleine, she agrees to meet Michel through a dating site. The first time they see each other, there is a spark. Michel, the small-time crook...
- 6/18/2014
- by John Squires
- DreadCentral.com
Eldorado, Cannes, Directors' Fortnight
A couple of genial idiots in a beat-up Chevy hit the Belgian blacktops in Bouli Lanners' funny and melancholy road picture "Eldorado", with widescreen images that suggest the American West and a soundtrack to match.
Wacky rural humor and a yearning for country roads run smack into urban decay and city nightmares as Lanners puts his getaway trip into a hard u-turn in a story of ultimately frustrated generosity.
Pleasing in its look and sound, and often very amusing, the picture could venture beyond French-language territories, and English-language producers may well see remake potential.
Lanners wrote the script and stars in the film as Yvan, an overweight and unkempt car dealer who arrives home one night to discover that an incompetent young burglar named Elie (Fabrice Adde) has broken in.
Weary and philosophical, Yvan does not call the police and ends up consoling the intruder, who says he only needed money to make his way home to see his mother (Francoise Chicery). Still grieving over the death by overdose of his younger brother, Yvan knows a smackhead when he sees one, and after a couple of mishaps he agrees to give Elie a ride.
Never has Belgium appeared so spacious, as the two of them set off for the border (France), crossing vast areas of farmland and rushing waters. Along the way, they encounter some weird and wonderful characters including a man (Philippe Nahon) who collects cars that have dents in them caused by hitting pedestrians who were killed in the collisions.
When Yvan, who is drunk at the time, drives the Chevrolet off the road, the person in a camper who comes to their rescue says his name is Alain Delon (Didier Toupy) and gets out of his vehicle naked. No one bats an eye.
Later, at a drive-by food-stand, faced with a pair of ostentatious bikers (Jean-Jacques Rausin, Renaud Rutten), Yvan and Elie are startled by the explosive sound of a Doberman, which has been tossed from a bridge overhead, landing on the roof of their car.
The dog's plight signals a downturn in the film's mood but Lanners has a firm grasp on where he wants the story to go and it plays out as a road picture with no fixed destination should.
Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Francoise Chichery, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Renaud Rutten. Director-Screenwriter: Bouli Lanners. Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart. Director Of Photography: Jean-Paul de Zaeytijd. Set Designer: Paul Rouschop. Music: Renaud Mayeur, An Pierle & Koen Gisen. Costumes: Elise Ancion. Editor: Ewin Ryckaert.
No MPAA rating. Running time 81 mins.
A couple of genial idiots in a beat-up Chevy hit the Belgian blacktops in Bouli Lanners' funny and melancholy road picture "Eldorado", with widescreen images that suggest the American West and a soundtrack to match.
Wacky rural humor and a yearning for country roads run smack into urban decay and city nightmares as Lanners puts his getaway trip into a hard u-turn in a story of ultimately frustrated generosity.
Pleasing in its look and sound, and often very amusing, the picture could venture beyond French-language territories, and English-language producers may well see remake potential.
Lanners wrote the script and stars in the film as Yvan, an overweight and unkempt car dealer who arrives home one night to discover that an incompetent young burglar named Elie (Fabrice Adde) has broken in.
Weary and philosophical, Yvan does not call the police and ends up consoling the intruder, who says he only needed money to make his way home to see his mother (Francoise Chicery). Still grieving over the death by overdose of his younger brother, Yvan knows a smackhead when he sees one, and after a couple of mishaps he agrees to give Elie a ride.
Never has Belgium appeared so spacious, as the two of them set off for the border (France), crossing vast areas of farmland and rushing waters. Along the way, they encounter some weird and wonderful characters including a man (Philippe Nahon) who collects cars that have dents in them caused by hitting pedestrians who were killed in the collisions.
When Yvan, who is drunk at the time, drives the Chevrolet off the road, the person in a camper who comes to their rescue says his name is Alain Delon (Didier Toupy) and gets out of his vehicle naked. No one bats an eye.
Later, at a drive-by food-stand, faced with a pair of ostentatious bikers (Jean-Jacques Rausin, Renaud Rutten), Yvan and Elie are startled by the explosive sound of a Doberman, which has been tossed from a bridge overhead, landing on the roof of their car.
The dog's plight signals a downturn in the film's mood but Lanners has a firm grasp on where he wants the story to go and it plays out as a road picture with no fixed destination should.
Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Francoise Chichery, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Renaud Rutten. Director-Screenwriter: Bouli Lanners. Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart. Director Of Photography: Jean-Paul de Zaeytijd. Set Designer: Paul Rouschop. Music: Renaud Mayeur, An Pierle & Koen Gisen. Costumes: Elise Ancion. Editor: Ewin Ryckaert.
No MPAA rating. Running time 81 mins.
- 5/19/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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