Sing the Body Apoplectic: Giannoli Pays Thanks to the Music
French director Xavier Giannoli borrows an obscure piece of American pop culture for his latest feature, Marguerite, a 1920s Parisian high society dramedy based loosely on the life and career of New England socialite Florence Foster Jenkins. Oblivious to her glaring lack of talent, the wealthy soprano was the source of rampant ridicule, her folly reaching an unmitigated apotheosis following a sold-out Carnegie Hall performance in an instance of truth being stranger than fiction. Resting beautifully on the masterful shoulders of Catherine Frot, an oft-Cesar nominated actress who hasn’t had the deserving international acclaim she’s due, the film’s success hinges delicately on her performance, even with a cadre of supporting players otherwise subjugated to empathetic cliché or predictably reprehensible conduct.
Marguerite Dumont (Frot) has staged a benefit concert at her home, a sprawling chateau outside of Paris.
French director Xavier Giannoli borrows an obscure piece of American pop culture for his latest feature, Marguerite, a 1920s Parisian high society dramedy based loosely on the life and career of New England socialite Florence Foster Jenkins. Oblivious to her glaring lack of talent, the wealthy soprano was the source of rampant ridicule, her folly reaching an unmitigated apotheosis following a sold-out Carnegie Hall performance in an instance of truth being stranger than fiction. Resting beautifully on the masterful shoulders of Catherine Frot, an oft-Cesar nominated actress who hasn’t had the deserving international acclaim she’s due, the film’s success hinges delicately on her performance, even with a cadre of supporting players otherwise subjugated to empathetic cliché or predictably reprehensible conduct.
Marguerite Dumont (Frot) has staged a benefit concert at her home, a sprawling chateau outside of Paris.
- 3/7/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Big winners also included Oscar nominee Mustang and local box office hit Margurite.
Philippe Faucon’s contemporary immigrant drama Fatima won best film at France’s César ceremony in Paris on Friday, beating hot favourites Marguerite, My Golden Years, and Oscar nominee Mustang as well as Palme d’Or winner Dheepan.
The picture — based on the semi-autobiographical works of Fatima Elayoubi about an illiterate North African woman adapting to life in France — also won Césars for best upcoming actress for Zita Hanot and best adaptation for Faucon.
As was the case last year, when Abderrahmane Sissako’s timely exploration of Islamic extremism of Timbuktu swept the board, the votes of 4,276-strong César academy appear to have been influenced in part by events in France, which like many countries across Europe is preoccupied with immigration and the reality of its ethnic minorities.
Other winners on Friday night included foreign language Oscar nominee Mustang and local box office hit [link...
Philippe Faucon’s contemporary immigrant drama Fatima won best film at France’s César ceremony in Paris on Friday, beating hot favourites Marguerite, My Golden Years, and Oscar nominee Mustang as well as Palme d’Or winner Dheepan.
The picture — based on the semi-autobiographical works of Fatima Elayoubi about an illiterate North African woman adapting to life in France — also won Césars for best upcoming actress for Zita Hanot and best adaptation for Faucon.
As was the case last year, when Abderrahmane Sissako’s timely exploration of Islamic extremism of Timbuktu swept the board, the votes of 4,276-strong César academy appear to have been influenced in part by events in France, which like many countries across Europe is preoccupied with immigration and the reality of its ethnic minorities.
Other winners on Friday night included foreign language Oscar nominee Mustang and local box office hit [link...
- 2/27/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Paris-based sales agent to launch new film loosely inspired by “world’s worst soprano”, Florence Foster Jenkins.
Memento Films International will launch French Xavier Giannoli’s upcoming Marguerite, starring Catherine Frot as an aspiring opera singer with a terrible voice, at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14).
The French-language, period drama - set against the backdrop of 1920s Paris - revolves around Marguerite Dumont, a wealthy chatelaine devoted to music, who loves to sing to her guests.
None of her friends or hangers-on dare tell Marguerite she has a dreadful voice and when a journalist mischievously gives one of her private recitals a rave review she decides to give her first public concert.
Ignoring her husband’s protests, she enlists the help of a former diva and starts training for the big night.
The tale is loosely inspired by American Florence Foster Jenkins, a real opera singer known as the “diva of din” who was...
Memento Films International will launch French Xavier Giannoli’s upcoming Marguerite, starring Catherine Frot as an aspiring opera singer with a terrible voice, at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14).
The French-language, period drama - set against the backdrop of 1920s Paris - revolves around Marguerite Dumont, a wealthy chatelaine devoted to music, who loves to sing to her guests.
None of her friends or hangers-on dare tell Marguerite she has a dreadful voice and when a journalist mischievously gives one of her private recitals a rave review she decides to give her first public concert.
Ignoring her husband’s protests, she enlists the help of a former diva and starts training for the big night.
The tale is loosely inspired by American Florence Foster Jenkins, a real opera singer known as the “diva of din” who was...
- 8/28/2014
- ScreenDaily
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