Parking Lot.
What a sexy delight Erotic Thriller Month has been! We’ve tackled a diverse batch of films within the subgenre over the last four weeks, including Brian De Palma’s controversial classic Dressed to Kill, Paul Feig’s bisexual suburban noir A Simple Favor, and the Wachowski sisters’ sexy neo-noir Bound.
Have we saved the best for last? Well that would depend on how unsimulated you like your gay sex!
In writer/director Alain Guiraudie‘s French gay thriller, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) frequently visits a nude beach, cruising for anonymous gay sex. He strikes up a friendship with outsider Henri (Patrick D’assumçao), but spends most of his time seeking out the enigmatic Michel (Christophe Paou).
When Franck stays late one evening, however, he sees Michel drown another man in the lake. Can he be sure what he saw or turn off his attraction to the sexy man with the moustache?...
What a sexy delight Erotic Thriller Month has been! We’ve tackled a diverse batch of films within the subgenre over the last four weeks, including Brian De Palma’s controversial classic Dressed to Kill, Paul Feig’s bisexual suburban noir A Simple Favor, and the Wachowski sisters’ sexy neo-noir Bound.
Have we saved the best for last? Well that would depend on how unsimulated you like your gay sex!
In writer/director Alain Guiraudie‘s French gay thriller, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) frequently visits a nude beach, cruising for anonymous gay sex. He strikes up a friendship with outsider Henri (Patrick D’assumçao), but spends most of his time seeking out the enigmatic Michel (Christophe Paou).
When Franck stays late one evening, however, he sees Michel drown another man in the lake. Can he be sure what he saw or turn off his attraction to the sexy man with the moustache?...
- 10/2/2023
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
A corrupt minister and a delusional pair of dance contestants are just two of the monsters of mediocrity who haunt Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s strange film
Macron’s France gets tied to a chair in a basement and abused in this scabrous and gruesome state-of-the-nation black comedy from Jean-Christophe Meurisse. Olivier (Olivier Saladin) and Laurence (Lorella Cravotta) are a conceited retired couple in deep denial about how much debt they’re in, but hoping to win big money by competing in a dance contest. They figure they are entitled to extra points for being older, and the ferocious opening scene shows the judges debating precisely this kind of liberal identity-politics issue.
The couple’s grown-up son, Alexandre (Alexandre Steiger), is a lawyer who, along with a bleary spin doctor (Denis Podalydès), is advising a creepy and reactionary government minister (Christophe Paou) who is keen to cut welfare while engaging in personal...
Macron’s France gets tied to a chair in a basement and abused in this scabrous and gruesome state-of-the-nation black comedy from Jean-Christophe Meurisse. Olivier (Olivier Saladin) and Laurence (Lorella Cravotta) are a conceited retired couple in deep denial about how much debt they’re in, but hoping to win big money by competing in a dance contest. They figure they are entitled to extra points for being older, and the ferocious opening scene shows the judges debating precisely this kind of liberal identity-politics issue.
The couple’s grown-up son, Alexandre (Alexandre Steiger), is a lawyer who, along with a bleary spin doctor (Denis Podalydès), is advising a creepy and reactionary government minister (Christophe Paou) who is keen to cut welfare while engaging in personal...
- 9/12/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
"Be scandalous." Whoa! This trailer is not for the faint of heart. Dark Star Pictures has debuted one final red band trailer for a "shockingly" dark comedy film titled Bloody Oranges, originally known as Oranges Sanguines in French. This premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight section, and it also played at Fantastic Fest; it already opened in US theaters back in March. You won't be ready for what this shows! The film is about a retired couple who enter a dance contest, a corrupt politician caught evading paying his taxes, a girl eager to lose her virginity, and a lawyer obsessed with social status - a seemingly benign look into these daily lives goes haywire in this shocking black comedy. The director reveals that, "the film speaks of actual events which I read about in the newspapers." There's a quote in here that talks about how...
- 4/14/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"Brimming with comedy and shocking content." Dark Star Pictures has revealed an official US trailer for an indie very, very dark comedy film titled Bloody Oranges, originally known as Oranges Sanguines in French. This first premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival last year in the Midnight section, and it also played at Fantastic Fest and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The film is about a retired couple who enter a dance contest, a corrupt politician caught evading paying his taxes, a girl eager to lose her virginity, and a young lawyer obsessed with social status - a seemingly benign look into these daily lives goes haywire in this shocking black comedy. The director reveals that, "the film speaks of actual events which I read about in the newspapers." But with a twist! The film stars Alexandre Steiger, Christophe Paou, and Lilith Grasmug. This looks like a searing tale about how messed up everyone is,...
- 3/16/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
A case study in the importance of knowing as little about a movie’s plot in advance as possible, “Bloody Oranges” ends somewhere completely different from where it began with only minor stumbles along the way. This acerbic look at the France of today isn’t as ha-ha funny as director Jean-Christophe Meurisse probably intended, but its darker shades reveal an underbelly that’s hard to turn away from — even if a few graphic scenes will make you want to.
Our deceptively low-stakes entrée into this world is a lengthy scene in which the judges of a local dance competition argue among themselves over the contestants’ respective skills and get sidetracked by tangential digressions and increasingly heated debates; one of them even breaks down in tears. The contest itself is a no-frills affair taking place in a gymnasium with no real audience beyond the aspiring dancers themselves, including an older...
Our deceptively low-stakes entrée into this world is a lengthy scene in which the judges of a local dance competition argue among themselves over the contestants’ respective skills and get sidetracked by tangential digressions and increasingly heated debates; one of them even breaks down in tears. The contest itself is a no-frills affair taking place in a gymnasium with no real audience beyond the aspiring dancers themselves, including an older...
- 11/10/2021
- by Michael Nordine
- Variety Film + TV
Popular French theater director Jean-Christophe Meurisse is making his sophomore film outing with “Bloody Oranges,” a black comedy headlined by Denis Podalydès (“La Belle Epoque”), Blanche Gardin (“Delete History”) and Christophe Paou (“Synonyms”).
Brussels-based outfit Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to the film, which is produced by Rectangle Prods. “(“It Must Be Heaven,” “Climax”) and Mamma Roman.
“Bloody Oranges” marks Meurisse’s follow-up to “Apnee,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016. Meurisse is also a well-known figure in the world of theater, having launched the Chiens de Navarre theater troupe.
“Bloody Oranges” takes place in contemporary France and weaves the stories of a retired couple overwhelmed by debt trying to win a dance contest, a minister of economy who is suspected of tax evasion, a teenage girl coming across a sexual maniac and young lawyer trying to climb the social ladder. When the shoe drops, the...
Brussels-based outfit Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to the film, which is produced by Rectangle Prods. “(“It Must Be Heaven,” “Climax”) and Mamma Roman.
“Bloody Oranges” marks Meurisse’s follow-up to “Apnee,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2016. Meurisse is also a well-known figure in the world of theater, having launched the Chiens de Navarre theater troupe.
“Bloody Oranges” takes place in contemporary France and weaves the stories of a retired couple overwhelmed by debt trying to win a dance contest, a minister of economy who is suspected of tax evasion, a teenage girl coming across a sexual maniac and young lawyer trying to climb the social ladder. When the shoe drops, the...
- 3/1/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Emmanuelle Devos, Swann Arlaud and Christophe Paou star in the cast of this Les Films de l’Après-Midi production, which signals the director’s return to fiction. Filming has entered the final home straight on Claire Simon’s Je voudrais parler, which is set to wrap on 29 January and marks the filmmaker’s return to fiction, a genre she’d previously set aside following Gare du Nord (in competition in Locarno in 2013) in order to devote herself to the documentary form by way of The Woods Dreams are Made Of (screened out of competition in Locarno 2015), The Graduation (Venice Classics 2016), Young Solitude (Berlinale Forum 2018), The Grocer’s Son, The Mayor, The Village and The World (IDFA 2020) and the series Le Village (2019). Dazzling in the cast of Je voudrais parler we find Emmanuelle Devos (recently nominated for the 2021 Best Actress Lumières Award for Perfumes and whom we’ll be seeing...
Alexandre Steiger, Christophe Paou, Vincent Dedienne, Blanche Gardin and Denis Podalydès, all star in the cast of this Mamma Roman and Rectangle production, set to be sold by Best Friend Forever. After kicking off on 26 October, filming on Oranges sanguines, Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s second feature film after Apnée (discovered in a Special Screening in Cannes’ Critics’ Week 2016), is scheduled to wrap on 2 December. Also known for being a stage director for his theatre company Les Chiens de Navarre, the filmmaker gathered together a cast including Alexandre Steiger, Christophe Paou (highly acclaimed for his performance in Stranger by the Lake), youngster Lilith Grasmug (Sophia Antipolis), Frédéric Blin, Olivier Saladin (whom he previously worked with on Apnée), Lorella Cravotta (Romantics Anonymous), Vincent Dedienne, Blanche Gardin...
- 11/27/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Dreams! Visions! Madness!: Maddin & Johnson’s Extravagant Symphony of Silent Cinema Fantasia
Those familiar with the works of auteur Guy Maddin, sometimes referred to as the Canadian David Lynch, know to expect strange hybrids of silence film techniques mixed with zany weirdness that often reflect delightfully perverse and sometimes queer dynamics mixed in with its dashes of visual inventiveness and extreme narrative playfulness. While he still creates a healthy amount of short film projects and is involved with other installations in-between feature films, including several notable unions with actress Isabella Rossellini, who has starred in The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Keyhole (2011) and as narrator of the brilliant Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), his latest has been in gestation over a period of several years, at one point known as Seances and Spiritismes, and it was uncertain whether this would ever be a theatrical release. Known finally as The Forbidden Room,...
Those familiar with the works of auteur Guy Maddin, sometimes referred to as the Canadian David Lynch, know to expect strange hybrids of silence film techniques mixed with zany weirdness that often reflect delightfully perverse and sometimes queer dynamics mixed in with its dashes of visual inventiveness and extreme narrative playfulness. While he still creates a healthy amount of short film projects and is involved with other installations in-between feature films, including several notable unions with actress Isabella Rossellini, who has starred in The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Keyhole (2011) and as narrator of the brilliant Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), his latest has been in gestation over a period of several years, at one point known as Seances and Spiritismes, and it was uncertain whether this would ever be a theatrical release. Known finally as The Forbidden Room,...
- 10/9/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake leads the pack in this year’s International Cinephile Society Awards with nine nominations, while Xavier Dolan’s Mommy (a film considered a 2014 release but landed theatrically last month) places 2nd, with eight total noms. The Grand Budapest Hotel, Under the Skin and Boyhood all placed well and should effectively land wins in the multiple categories below. The winners of the 12th Ics Awards will be announced on the 20th. Here are the noms:
Picture
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Goodbye to Language
• The Immigrant
• Inherent Vice
• Mommy
• Mr. Turner
• Only Lovers Left Alive
• Stranger by the Lake
• Two Days, One Night
• Under the Skin
Director
• Xavier Dolan – Mommy
• Jonathan Glazer – Under the Skin
• Jean-Luc Godard – Goodbye to Language
• Alain Guiraudie – Stranger by the Lake
• Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Film Not In The English Language
• Force Majeure
• A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night...
Picture
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Goodbye to Language
• The Immigrant
• Inherent Vice
• Mommy
• Mr. Turner
• Only Lovers Left Alive
• Stranger by the Lake
• Two Days, One Night
• Under the Skin
Director
• Xavier Dolan – Mommy
• Jonathan Glazer – Under the Skin
• Jean-Luc Godard – Goodbye to Language
• Alain Guiraudie – Stranger by the Lake
• Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Film Not In The English Language
• Force Majeure
• A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night...
- 2/3/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Last year's Cannes sensation Stranger by the Lake has an incredible theatrical run in the U.S. this past January from Strand Releasing, now Alain Guiraudie's sublime erotic mystery is available on Blu-ray and DVD.
The film takes place in a gay lakeside cruising spot during the summer in France. There, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), a young homosexual man looking for company, falls for an odd man,Michel (Christophe Paou), who seduces him from a distance and becomes an instant obsession. Under the blazing sun their passion is born out of a crime that Franck witnessed but prefers to hide to keep Michel by his side. Then there is Henri (Patrick d'Assumçao), an older man who sincerely befriends Franck, and whose loneliness is becoming too much for him to bear. Accompanied by many others who, like them,enjoy undisclosed sexual encounters in the nearby woods, the two men will soon faced the cost of choosing carnal desire over rational thinking.
Stranger by the Lake is a grade A masterpiece. One of the most acclaimed films of this year. Playing across the world to mesmerized audiences, the film has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes and won the Queer Palm and Un Certain Regard Award for Best Director at Cannes in 2013. Exquisitely crafted, perfectly written, and imbued with a dangerous eroticism unmatched by any other film in recent memory, this is a must-see.
To buy the film click Here or Here
Take Look at the our interview with Director Alain Guiraudie
Interview: Alain Guiraudie on his Alluring and Explicit Film Stranger by the Lake
A sunbathed murderous man who can ignite a morally corrosive desire in those around him, at a lakeside homosexual cruising spot, is at the center of Alain Guiraudie’s latest erotic mystery Stranger by the Lake. Unafraid to present the promiscuous sexuality of its characters with unapologetically explicit imagery, the film is the perfect exposition of passion overruling rationality. This man, whose charm is inexplicably magnetic for a younger visitor to the clandestine meeting place, commits a murder of which his prospective lover is the only witness. Guiraudie’s astonishing atmospheric delivery combined with the evocative and unsettling idea of being in love with a dangerous individual make for a truly suspenseful film. The fact that everything occurs under the bright sunlight of a beautiful French summer adds a layer of captivating duality that plays with the thin line between fear and infatuation, pain and pleasure, or seduction and manipulation. I talked to Mr.Guiraudie during his visit to this year’s Sundance Film Festival where the film screen in the Spotlight section as one of the most acclaimed works from last year’s festival circuit.
Aguilar: Your film deals with a dangerous man, and how Frank, the man that falls for him, wants him irrationally. Is it the mysterious quality or the danger he emanates that lure Frank in?
Guiraudie: No. It is not danger that attracts Frank. He remains attracted to Michel, although he is a murderer. It is not because Michel is a murderer that Frank is attracted to him, but he is attracted to him first and falls in love even though he becomes a murderer, and he is willing to go with it..Read More...
The film takes place in a gay lakeside cruising spot during the summer in France. There, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), a young homosexual man looking for company, falls for an odd man,Michel (Christophe Paou), who seduces him from a distance and becomes an instant obsession. Under the blazing sun their passion is born out of a crime that Franck witnessed but prefers to hide to keep Michel by his side. Then there is Henri (Patrick d'Assumçao), an older man who sincerely befriends Franck, and whose loneliness is becoming too much for him to bear. Accompanied by many others who, like them,enjoy undisclosed sexual encounters in the nearby woods, the two men will soon faced the cost of choosing carnal desire over rational thinking.
Stranger by the Lake is a grade A masterpiece. One of the most acclaimed films of this year. Playing across the world to mesmerized audiences, the film has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes and won the Queer Palm and Un Certain Regard Award for Best Director at Cannes in 2013. Exquisitely crafted, perfectly written, and imbued with a dangerous eroticism unmatched by any other film in recent memory, this is a must-see.
To buy the film click Here or Here
Take Look at the our interview with Director Alain Guiraudie
Interview: Alain Guiraudie on his Alluring and Explicit Film Stranger by the Lake
A sunbathed murderous man who can ignite a morally corrosive desire in those around him, at a lakeside homosexual cruising spot, is at the center of Alain Guiraudie’s latest erotic mystery Stranger by the Lake. Unafraid to present the promiscuous sexuality of its characters with unapologetically explicit imagery, the film is the perfect exposition of passion overruling rationality. This man, whose charm is inexplicably magnetic for a younger visitor to the clandestine meeting place, commits a murder of which his prospective lover is the only witness. Guiraudie’s astonishing atmospheric delivery combined with the evocative and unsettling idea of being in love with a dangerous individual make for a truly suspenseful film. The fact that everything occurs under the bright sunlight of a beautiful French summer adds a layer of captivating duality that plays with the thin line between fear and infatuation, pain and pleasure, or seduction and manipulation. I talked to Mr.Guiraudie during his visit to this year’s Sundance Film Festival where the film screen in the Spotlight section as one of the most acclaimed works from last year’s festival circuit.
Aguilar: Your film deals with a dangerous man, and how Frank, the man that falls for him, wants him irrationally. Is it the mysterious quality or the danger he emanates that lure Frank in?
Guiraudie: No. It is not danger that attracts Frank. He remains attracted to Michel, although he is a murderer. It is not because Michel is a murderer that Frank is attracted to him, but he is attracted to him first and falls in love even though he becomes a murderer, and he is willing to go with it..Read More...
- 5/13/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Taking home the Queer Palm and the Un Certain Regard Directing Award after its 2013 Cannes premiere, (not to mention a Cesar for Pierre Deladonchamps for Most Promising Actor), the scintillating Stranger By the Lake makes its way to Blu-ray, where it will hopefully continue to transcend the norm of settling quietly into the niche of the gay ghetto. A scandalous outburst in conservative Versailles concerning a small detail in the background of the original French poster art notwithstanding, it’s enjoyed a delightful amount of critical acclaim.
Idiosyncratic filmmaker Alain Guiraudie took the art house by storm with his bold, unsettling, and provocative new film, Stranger By the Lake. Already infamous after its Cannes premiere for its graphic and blatantly nonchalant depictions of gay sex, Guiraudie may be one of the few voices to tread bravely in the footsteps of Derek Jarman with this latest film, transcending polite labels like homoeroticism for an honest,...
Idiosyncratic filmmaker Alain Guiraudie took the art house by storm with his bold, unsettling, and provocative new film, Stranger By the Lake. Already infamous after its Cannes premiere for its graphic and blatantly nonchalant depictions of gay sex, Guiraudie may be one of the few voices to tread bravely in the footsteps of Derek Jarman with this latest film, transcending polite labels like homoeroticism for an honest,...
- 5/13/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
As Lars Von Trier's controversial and explicit sex odyssey opens in cinemas this weekend, we ask actors what they think about being asked to perform in increasingly graphic sex scenes
The script, Christophe Paou says, was even more sexually explicit, so the French actor knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up for Alain Guiraudie's film, Stranger By the Lake. Paou plays Michel, a handsome and charismatic man – with an extremely sinister side – who meets Franck, a younger man, at a cruising spot. Stranger By the Lake is one of two sexually-explicit films released this weekend, the other being Lars von Trier's much-hyped Nymphomaniac, in which Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Joe, a sex addict. Both films use body doubles for the genital close-ups and the explicit scenes.
Nymphomaniac's producer Louise Vesth said: "We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles,...
The script, Christophe Paou says, was even more sexually explicit, so the French actor knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up for Alain Guiraudie's film, Stranger By the Lake. Paou plays Michel, a handsome and charismatic man – with an extremely sinister side – who meets Franck, a younger man, at a cruising spot. Stranger By the Lake is one of two sexually-explicit films released this weekend, the other being Lars von Trier's much-hyped Nymphomaniac, in which Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Joe, a sex addict. Both films use body doubles for the genital close-ups and the explicit scenes.
Nymphomaniac's producer Louise Vesth said: "We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles,...
- 2/23/2014
- by Emine Saner
- The Guardian - Film News
Alain Guiraudie's gay art-cinema suspense story is compelling and audaciously candid in its erotic charge
While Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac sees carnality as the glummest of purgatories, French director Alain Guiraudie makes sex more alluringly dangerous, depicting it as both paradise and perdition. Guiraudie has been making wildly idiosyncratic gay-themed films since the early 90s, often set in an imaginary neo-mediaeval Provence, where portly elderly men tend to be the hottest love objects around.
His new film is more conventional only in that Guiraudie has purged the overt goofiness. Stranger By the Lake is a gay art-cinema suspense story, set over 10 days on the sun-kissed, pine-forested banks of a lake – a cruising ground where men can work on their tans in between torrid tussles in the shrubbery. There, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) strikes up a friendship with a seemingly asexual, portly loner (Patrick d'Assumçao), and finds himself falling hard...
While Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac sees carnality as the glummest of purgatories, French director Alain Guiraudie makes sex more alluringly dangerous, depicting it as both paradise and perdition. Guiraudie has been making wildly idiosyncratic gay-themed films since the early 90s, often set in an imaginary neo-mediaeval Provence, where portly elderly men tend to be the hottest love objects around.
His new film is more conventional only in that Guiraudie has purged the overt goofiness. Stranger By the Lake is a gay art-cinema suspense story, set over 10 days on the sun-kissed, pine-forested banks of a lake – a cruising ground where men can work on their tans in between torrid tussles in the shrubbery. There, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) strikes up a friendship with a seemingly asexual, portly loner (Patrick d'Assumçao), and finds himself falling hard...
- 2/23/2014
- by Jonathan Romney
- The Guardian - Film News
Stranger By The Lake | Only Lovers Left Alive | Nymphomaniac | A New York Winter's Tale | A World Not Ours | Stalingrad | The Godfather: Part II | Highway
Stranger By The Lake (18)
(Alain Guiraudie, 2013, Fra) Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick D'Assumçao, Jérôme Chapatte. 100 mins
Sex and death take a synchronised swim in this bold thriller, shot at a single lakeside location. It's a popular cruising spot, and the rituals of its regular (and regularly naked) male visitors are observed with a combination of frankness, lyricism and mischievous satire. But a more mysterious tone takes hold when newcomer Franck sees his Selleck-moustachio'd crush commit a terrible crime. The riptide of desire drags him into a dangerous game.
Only Lovers Left Alive (15)
(Jim Jarmusch, 2013, UK/Ger/Fra/Cyp/Us) Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska. 123 mins
Making Twilight look like Sesame Street, Jarmusch gives us the coolest vampires imaginable – too cool to even do much vampire stuff.
Stranger By The Lake (18)
(Alain Guiraudie, 2013, Fra) Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick D'Assumçao, Jérôme Chapatte. 100 mins
Sex and death take a synchronised swim in this bold thriller, shot at a single lakeside location. It's a popular cruising spot, and the rituals of its regular (and regularly naked) male visitors are observed with a combination of frankness, lyricism and mischievous satire. But a more mysterious tone takes hold when newcomer Franck sees his Selleck-moustachio'd crush commit a terrible crime. The riptide of desire drags him into a dangerous game.
Only Lovers Left Alive (15)
(Jim Jarmusch, 2013, UK/Ger/Fra/Cyp/Us) Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska. 123 mins
Making Twilight look like Sesame Street, Jarmusch gives us the coolest vampires imaginable – too cool to even do much vampire stuff.
- 2/22/2014
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
This stunning psychological drama takes place in an atmosphere of frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo
Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu Du Lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a stunning, confrontationally explicit psychological drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. He creates an atmosphere of absolutely frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo. I was reminded of Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library or Thom Gunn's poem The Discovery of the Pacific. But when a single, terrible event takes place, the mood swings to that of classic Hollywood suspense, like John M Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven (1945) or George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), movies in which a beautiful lake becomes the epicentre of danger.
Christophe Paou plays Michel, a handsome, well-built man who comes to the lake and is instantly enamoured of Michel, played by Pierre Deladonchamps, who has already struck up a tender,...
Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu Du Lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a stunning, confrontationally explicit psychological drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. He creates an atmosphere of absolutely frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo. I was reminded of Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library or Thom Gunn's poem The Discovery of the Pacific. But when a single, terrible event takes place, the mood swings to that of classic Hollywood suspense, like John M Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven (1945) or George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), movies in which a beautiful lake becomes the epicentre of danger.
Christophe Paou plays Michel, a handsome, well-built man who comes to the lake and is instantly enamoured of Michel, played by Pierre Deladonchamps, who has already struck up a tender,...
- 2/21/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
On the phone from Paris, Christophe Paou is recounting his favourite response to his latest film, Stranger by the Lake. “A friend of mine told me that her aunt went to see it with two friends,” says the actor, “and they were all 75. They really enjoyed it.” Given that Paou looks as if he could play James Bond’s French cousin, and given that he spends much of Stranger by the Lake stark naked, the grande dames’ enjoyment is understandable.
- 2/16/2014
- The Independent - Film
Wet Hot French Summer: Guiraudie’s Bold, Scintillating New Film
Idiosyncratic filmmaker Alain Guiraudie is set to take the art house by storm with his bold, unsettling, and provocative new film, Stranger By the Lake. Already infamous after its Cannes premiere for its graphic and blatantly nonchalant depictions of gay sex, Guiraudie may be one of the few voices to tread bravely in the footsteps of Derek Jarman with this latest film, transcending polite labels like homoeroticism for an honest, introspective, and even morbid portrait of normative tendencies in the sexual lives of gay men. Perhaps most astoundingly, he manages to create a non-judgmental, even moving portrayal of the search for acceptance, love, and creature comfort over the course of one sun baked summer on the gay side of the beach—albeit it one darkly foreboding one.
We first see a handful of cars parked lazily within a secluded wooded area,...
Idiosyncratic filmmaker Alain Guiraudie is set to take the art house by storm with his bold, unsettling, and provocative new film, Stranger By the Lake. Already infamous after its Cannes premiere for its graphic and blatantly nonchalant depictions of gay sex, Guiraudie may be one of the few voices to tread bravely in the footsteps of Derek Jarman with this latest film, transcending polite labels like homoeroticism for an honest, introspective, and even morbid portrait of normative tendencies in the sexual lives of gay men. Perhaps most astoundingly, he manages to create a non-judgmental, even moving portrayal of the search for acceptance, love, and creature comfort over the course of one sun baked summer on the gay side of the beach—albeit it one darkly foreboding one.
We first see a handful of cars parked lazily within a secluded wooded area,...
- 1/24/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Stranger by the Lake (2013) Film Review from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Alain Guiraudie, and starring Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d’Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte, and Mathieu Vervisch. Having already played at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where its director, Alain Guiradie, was lauded with the Best Director [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac [Sundance 2014]...
Continue reading: Film Review: Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac [Sundance 2014]...
- 1/21/2014
- by Drew Stelter
- Film-Book
Stranger By The Lake (L’inconnu du lac) Strand Releasing Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: B Director: Alain Guiraudie Screenwriter: Alain Guiraudie Cast: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d’Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 1/14/14 Opens: January 24, 2014 One can imagine this movie done by another director as broad comedy. Instead of possessing the title “Stranger by the Lake” (“L’inconnu du lac” being the French title translated as “Unknown of the Lake”), the theater lights would exhibit it as “Cruising for a Bruising.” Simply put, Alain Guiraudie’s film, a meditation on homosexual attraction and death, turns on a murder done by one [ Read More ]
The post Stranger by the Lake Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Stranger by the Lake Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 1/15/2014
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
January usually brings to mind two things when it comes to specialty film: Catching up on Oscar hopefuls from late 2013, and the Sundance Film Festival, which will bring a slew of new films into the marketplace for the coming year. But this January seems truly exceptional for films that (mostly) fall into neither category: Three remarkable foreign language films that are out of the running for the Oscars, and two great documentaries (notably one of which could very well end up with an Oscar nomination). From murderous gay cruising at a lake to recreating a Vermeer painting to a Chilean woman trying to get her groove back, check out Indiewire's picks for January 2014's best: 1. Stranger By The Lake (January 24) Director: Alain Guiraudie Cast: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao Distributor: Strand Current Criticwire average: A- (see all grades) Why Is It a "Must See"? At Cannes last year, a sexually explicit,...
- 1/7/2014
- by Peter Knegt and Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
‘Cahiers du Cinéma’ Top Ten Films of 2013: Gay erotic thriller ‘Stranger by the Lake,’ Girls Gone Wild thriller ‘Spring Breakers’ are top picks (image: ‘Stranger by the Lake’ poster) We’ve begun updating our posts featuring end-of-the-year awards season winners and nominees, in addition to various Top Ten lists. So, below you’ll find the top ten films of 2013 according to the iconic French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, which announced its selections in late November. Now, what was Cahiers du Cinéma‘s top movie of 2013? The answer is Alain Guiraudie’s gay erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake / L’inconnu du lac, about a young man (Pierre de Ladonchamps) who falls in lust with a suspected murderer (Christophe Paou). Back in the spring, Stranger by the Lake won the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. ‘Cahiers du Cinéma’ top ten list: Several curious picks The Cahiers du Cinéma...
- 12/13/2013
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
The Sundance Institute has released the movie line-up for their Spotlight, Midnight and Sundance Kids selections for The Sundance Film Festival 2014. The Midnight selection has always been my favorite because its always packed with really crazy, fun, and messed up films. It looks like another great collection of films this next year! They include films such as Cooties with Elijah Wood, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead and more. Sundance Kids is a new addition this year which, if you couldn't tell, is meant for younger audiences.
The Festival takes place January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah, and we will be there to cover as many of the films as humanly possible. Director of Programming, Trevor Groth, had this to say in a statement.
“The films in the sections announced today round out our 2014 Sundance Film Festival program and further reflect the depth and...
The Festival takes place January 16-26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah, and we will be there to cover as many of the films as humanly possible. Director of Programming, Trevor Groth, had this to say in a statement.
“The films in the sections announced today round out our 2014 Sundance Film Festival program and further reflect the depth and...
- 12/8/2013
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
You may have noticed Uncle Creepy posting lots of imagery from films playing at Sundance 2014 earlier today, and now we have the full announcement of which horror projects are included in the Spotlight and Park City at Midnight lineups.
As mentioned when posting the first wave of films screening this year, it's sometimes difficult to tell exactly what's horror-related, so below are our best guesses of what we'll be covering from this latest batch or are films that sound just fringey enough that we'll be keeping our eyes on them:
Spotlight
Blue Ruin / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeremy Saulnier) — A mysterious outsider’s quiet life turns upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving to be an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family. Cast: Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves, Sidné Anderson, Devin Ratray,...
As mentioned when posting the first wave of films screening this year, it's sometimes difficult to tell exactly what's horror-related, so below are our best guesses of what we'll be covering from this latest batch or are films that sound just fringey enough that we'll be keeping our eyes on them:
Spotlight
Blue Ruin / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeremy Saulnier) — A mysterious outsider’s quiet life turns upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving to be an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family. Cast: Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves, Sidné Anderson, Devin Ratray,...
- 12/6/2013
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
Sundance’s Spotlight section works as a sampling of quality items that dug their knees in the sand of the Croisette, or hit the asphalt payment in Toronto. It’s an acknowledgment of U.S film distributors (in this case: Radius-twc, Magnolia, Music Box Films, A24, Sony Pictures Classics, Strand Releasing) who’ve all contributed to my favorite disease – one that is called cinephilia. It’s also a look into 2014 – which is when they’ll be unveiled theatrically. And finally, it’s a way in which to receive the extended Sundance family once again such as Richard Ayoade (preemed his debut feautre here – Submarine) and Jeremy Saulnier (was at the fest as a cinematographer for Matthew Porterfield’s I Used to Be Darker). Here are the eight selections:
Blue Ruin / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeremy Saulnier) — A mysterious outsider’s quiet life turns upside down when he returns...
Blue Ruin / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeremy Saulnier) — A mysterious outsider’s quiet life turns upside down when he returns...
- 12/5/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
When Sundance announced the films in competition for the 2014 festival yesterday, its organizers noted that they were impressed by the caliber of cinematic artistry — mostly due to technology — that freed up filmmakers to experiment with different genres. No category of the festival is more rooted in genre than Park City at Midnight, the late-night section that specializes in horror and the supernatural, and this year’s slate has several potential breakouts. “The Midnight lineup came together in a way that is about the strongest group we’ve ever had, top to bottom,” says Trevor Groth, Sundance’s director of programming.
- 12/5/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow sequel, Adam Wingard’s The Guest and Xyz Films’ Killers from The Mo Brothers are among the Park City At Midnight line-up as festival heads also unveiled Spotlight selections and the inaugural Sundance Kids section on December 5.
The Sundance Kids strand is programmed in cooperation with Utah children and youth festival Tumbleweeds, and will premiere Ernest And Celestine starring Forest Whitaker and Lauren Bacall and Zip & Zap And The Marble Gang with Javier Gutiérrez.
“The films in the sections announced today round out our 2014 Sundance Film Festival programme and further reflect the depth and diversity of modern independent film-making that will satisfy everyone from festival fledglings to fanatics,” said director of programming Trevor Groth.
The Sundance Film Festival is set to run from January 16-26 2014 in Utah. Organisers will showcase 117 feature selections, of which 96 are world premieres, representing 37 countries and 53 first-time film-makers, including 34 in competition.
The selections...
The Sundance Kids strand is programmed in cooperation with Utah children and youth festival Tumbleweeds, and will premiere Ernest And Celestine starring Forest Whitaker and Lauren Bacall and Zip & Zap And The Marble Gang with Javier Gutiérrez.
“The films in the sections announced today round out our 2014 Sundance Film Festival programme and further reflect the depth and diversity of modern independent film-making that will satisfy everyone from festival fledglings to fanatics,” said director of programming Trevor Groth.
The Sundance Film Festival is set to run from January 16-26 2014 in Utah. Organisers will showcase 117 feature selections, of which 96 are world premieres, representing 37 countries and 53 first-time film-makers, including 34 in competition.
The selections...
- 12/5/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie
France, 2013
There is a certain simplicity in Alain Guiraudie’s L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake) not seen in many films these days. However, that is not to say this is a simple film; it happens to run deep with emotion, stimulation, and humor. The story is set in what appears to be the early 1990s in the south of France, where local men gather around a crystalline lake to swim, sunbathe in the nude, and cruise. Starring Pierre Deladonchamps as Franck, a sensitive and curious young man; and Christophe Paou as Michel, a seductively dangerous stranger, the film is suspenseful, sexy, and smart, not to mention beautifully shot.
L’inconnu du lac might be deemed a drama or even a dark comedy; others might consider it artistically pornographic. Yet at its core, it is a thriller,...
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie
France, 2013
There is a certain simplicity in Alain Guiraudie’s L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake) not seen in many films these days. However, that is not to say this is a simple film; it happens to run deep with emotion, stimulation, and humor. The story is set in what appears to be the early 1990s in the south of France, where local men gather around a crystalline lake to swim, sunbathe in the nude, and cruise. Starring Pierre Deladonchamps as Franck, a sensitive and curious young man; and Christophe Paou as Michel, a seductively dangerous stranger, the film is suspenseful, sexy, and smart, not to mention beautifully shot.
L’inconnu du lac might be deemed a drama or even a dark comedy; others might consider it artistically pornographic. Yet at its core, it is a thriller,...
- 10/22/2013
- by Trish Ferris
- SoundOnSight
The erotic thriller genre has been tarnished somewhat with a reputation for spawning quite seedy, formulaic pictures that tend to wind up on Channel 5 on a Saturday night. However Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake supplants the genre somewhat, in turn for a film that is intricately dark, complete with a cryptic, meditative ambiance.
Set amidst a hazy summer in the South of France, we meet Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), who spends most of his time casually wondering around a gay cruising spot, tucked away on an idyllic lakeside. Though befriending the peculiar Henri (Patrick d’Assumçao), Franck finds himself falling desperately in love with elusive stranger Michel (Christophe Paou), and although being fully aware of his menacing and dangerous nature, that doesn’t diminish his allure – instead making him even more entranced and seduced by this mysterious man.
Guiraudie has created a film so incredibly intense, with a final...
Set amidst a hazy summer in the South of France, we meet Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), who spends most of his time casually wondering around a gay cruising spot, tucked away on an idyllic lakeside. Though befriending the peculiar Henri (Patrick d’Assumçao), Franck finds himself falling desperately in love with elusive stranger Michel (Christophe Paou), and although being fully aware of his menacing and dangerous nature, that doesn’t diminish his allure – instead making him even more entranced and seduced by this mysterious man.
Guiraudie has created a film so incredibly intense, with a final...
- 10/19/2013
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
★★★★☆ A hidden beach at the lapping edges of a glorious lake provides the sole setting for Alain Guiraudie's exceptional, erotically-charged French thriller Stranger by the Lake (2013) (released through Peccadillo Pictures next year). Having scooped a couple of awards earlier in the year at Cannes, it now arrives as the gala screening in the London Film Festival' 'Dare' strand replete with woozy visuals, heady passion, and an atmosphere of overwhelming suspense. The graphic gay sex will undoubtedly hog the headlines, but there is an awful lot more going on beneath the calm sun-dappled water than initially meets the eye.
In a shot that will be repeated during the film to deftly escalate tension, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) pulls up in a secluded car park. He makes his was down to the beach which, strewn with bronzed - and oft naked - men, is revealed as a local cruising spot. Men sunbathe,...
In a shot that will be repeated during the film to deftly escalate tension, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) pulls up in a secluded car park. He makes his was down to the beach which, strewn with bronzed - and oft naked - men, is revealed as a local cruising spot. Men sunbathe,...
- 10/17/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
At Cannes earlier this year, a sexually explicit, queer-focused French film with two extraordinarily beautiful leads won over critics and audiences alike before making its way to the ongoing New York Film Festival -- and we're not talking about Abdellatif Kechiche's Palme d'Or winning "Blue is the Warmest Color." While that film has been getting most of the attention (thanks to a continuing flow of controversy), its male-centric counterpart of sorts (though think more "Blue Is The Coldest Color") -- Alain Guiraudie’s stunning "Stranger By The Lake" -- is just as deserving of it. Featuring a narrative very much like what its title suggests, the film is set at a cruising spot by a lake, where Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) meets Michel (Christophe Paou). Despite being certain Michel is a murderer (he witnesses the man drown one of his lovers), Franck pursues their intense sexual relationship anyway, leading him...
- 10/10/2013
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
Gay sex meets murder mystery – without sensationalism – in this gripping and complex French film by Alain Guiraudie
• Video: why you should go to the London film festival
• Captain Phillips - Peter Bradshaw's Lff review
The tired old trope "erotic thriller" does no justice to how confrontationally and explicitly sexual this movie is — nor how thrilling, nor how menacing and complex. Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu du lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a psychological suspense drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. Throughout the summer, guys drive up; they park in some patchy clearing, then walk down to the pebbly lakeside in singles and couples. They sunbathe, but there are no books or magazines or Kindles: the name of the game is returning each other's glances. They go swimming, mostly naked, and then stroll back into the surrounding woodland, for casual sex, bareback or with condoms,...
• Video: why you should go to the London film festival
• Captain Phillips - Peter Bradshaw's Lff review
The tired old trope "erotic thriller" does no justice to how confrontationally and explicitly sexual this movie is — nor how thrilling, nor how menacing and complex. Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu du lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a psychological suspense drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. Throughout the summer, guys drive up; they park in some patchy clearing, then walk down to the pebbly lakeside in singles and couples. They sunbathe, but there are no books or magazines or Kindles: the name of the game is returning each other's glances. They go swimming, mostly naked, and then stroll back into the surrounding woodland, for casual sex, bareback or with condoms,...
- 10/10/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie
France, 2013
Despite the fact that it’s now 2013, it’s still the case that nothing destabilizes the dialogue surrounding a film quite like explicit depictions of sex, especially when it’s of the same-sex variety. Just ask Abdellatif Kekiche, whose Palme D’Or-winning Blue is the Warmest Color has been dogged with controversy for its allegedly lascivious depictions of lesbian sex. The similar kerfuffle that’s seen the poster for Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake get censored in France is amusing, given the chaste nature of the painted image relative to the film’s actual contents. Beyond all of this silliness, however, Stranger is a remarkable film, one whose perceptiveness about human desire, fear, and fear of living without being desired charges its every moment – even the X-rated ones.
Set entirely within the idyllic...
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie
France, 2013
Despite the fact that it’s now 2013, it’s still the case that nothing destabilizes the dialogue surrounding a film quite like explicit depictions of sex, especially when it’s of the same-sex variety. Just ask Abdellatif Kekiche, whose Palme D’Or-winning Blue is the Warmest Color has been dogged with controversy for its allegedly lascivious depictions of lesbian sex. The similar kerfuffle that’s seen the poster for Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake get censored in France is amusing, given the chaste nature of the painted image relative to the film’s actual contents. Beyond all of this silliness, however, Stranger is a remarkable film, one whose perceptiveness about human desire, fear, and fear of living without being desired charges its every moment – even the X-rated ones.
Set entirely within the idyllic...
- 9/19/2013
- by Simon Howell
- SoundOnSight
Stranger by the Lake
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie
France, 2013
Having already won the Queer Palm earlier in the year at Cannes, French director Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake should easily endure as a confident and bold entry in the gay cinema canon. While it operates as a rigorously challenging experience, what Guiraudie has accomplished is nothing short of mesmerizing. The film carefully blends noir trappings with a suffocating milieu of harsh silences and muted glares. While the emotions on display are shifting and evolving, Stranger by the Lake manages to transcend even its own environment by becoming universal in its display of misguided passion and love.
Time doesn’t seem to exist during the endless summer in which Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) falls for the brutish Michel (Christophe Paou). The former is slender and traditionally handsome; the latter sports a muscular build and a ‘70s style porn-mustache.
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie
France, 2013
Having already won the Queer Palm earlier in the year at Cannes, French director Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake should easily endure as a confident and bold entry in the gay cinema canon. While it operates as a rigorously challenging experience, what Guiraudie has accomplished is nothing short of mesmerizing. The film carefully blends noir trappings with a suffocating milieu of harsh silences and muted glares. While the emotions on display are shifting and evolving, Stranger by the Lake manages to transcend even its own environment by becoming universal in its display of misguided passion and love.
Time doesn’t seem to exist during the endless summer in which Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) falls for the brutish Michel (Christophe Paou). The former is slender and traditionally handsome; the latter sports a muscular build and a ‘70s style porn-mustache.
- 9/16/2013
- by Ty Landis
- SoundOnSight
Gay erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake wins Queer Palm at Cannes Film Festival (photo: Pierre de Ladonchamps, Christophe Paou in Stranger by the Lake) Writer-director Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake / L’inconnu du lac has won the 2013 Queer Palm handed out to Cannes Film Festival movies featuring gay, lesbian, bi, tri, multi, transgender, etc. characters. Stranger by the Lake was screened in the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Set near an idyllic lake where hot-and-heavy gay cruising takes place during the summer season, Guiraudie’s sexually charged thriller revolves around Franck (Pierre de Ladonchamps), a young man who falls in lust with brawny suspected murderer Michel (Christophe Paou). Strand Releasing will handle the distribution of Stranger by the Lake in North America. Stranger by the Lake: Mixing explicit sex with explicit love As quoted by Agence France Presse, Alain Guiraudie explained the (purportedly) graphic sex scenes in Stranger...
- 5/26/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
2 Autumns, 3 Winters
Film Movement has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Sebastien Betbeder's "2 Autumns, 3 Winters." The story follows two friends in their early-thirties over two falls and three winters, as one falls in love while the other has a stroke.
Blood Ties
Lionsgate has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Guillaume Canet’s English-language directorial debut "Blood Ties" in a $2 million deal. Lionsgate's Roadside Attractions will release the film, a remake of "Les Liens Du Sang," which follows two brothers, one a cop and one an ex-con. Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Zoé Saldana, James Caan, Matthias Schoenaerts and Mila Kunis star.
Blue Is The Warmest Color
Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. rights to Abdellatif Kechiche's French-language drama "Blue Is the Warmest Color" starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos. The story deals with a young girl's first love and includes explicit lesbian sex scenes. It has also drawn rave reviews at Cannes.
Film Movement has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Sebastien Betbeder's "2 Autumns, 3 Winters." The story follows two friends in their early-thirties over two falls and three winters, as one falls in love while the other has a stroke.
Blood Ties
Lionsgate has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Guillaume Canet’s English-language directorial debut "Blood Ties" in a $2 million deal. Lionsgate's Roadside Attractions will release the film, a remake of "Les Liens Du Sang," which follows two brothers, one a cop and one an ex-con. Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Zoé Saldana, James Caan, Matthias Schoenaerts and Mila Kunis star.
Blue Is The Warmest Color
Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. rights to Abdellatif Kechiche's French-language drama "Blue Is the Warmest Color" starring Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos. The story deals with a young girl's first love and includes explicit lesbian sex scenes. It has also drawn rave reviews at Cannes.
- 5/25/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Alain Guiraudie’s "Stranger By the Lake," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. Written and directed by Guiraudie, this sexy, and explicit drama has been one of the festival's buzz titles. Set against the backdrop of a beach where men cruise for sex, young Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) finds himself attracted to Michel (Christophe Paou), who may be a killer. Jon Gerrans from Strand negotitated the deal with Films du Losange’s head of sales, Agathe Valentin.“We’re thrilled to be able to work with Mr. Guiraudie’s acclaimed film, which has garnered a lot of positive reaction with audiences at the official screenings," said Gerrans. "It’s a true and original hyrbrid.” Strand Releasing is currently releasing the Ulrich Seidl "Paradise" Trilogy as well as last year’s Cannes entries, Sergei Loznitsa’s "In the Fog,...
- 5/22/2013
- by Dana Harris
- Indiewire
North American rights to Alain Guiraudie's Stranger at the Lake (L’Inconnu du lac) have been picked up by Los Angeles-based Strand Releasing. The psychological thriller, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the fest, stars Pierre Deladonchamps as Frank, a young man who find himself attracted to a man (Christophe Paou) who may be a killer. Photos: Cannes Competition Lineup Features 'Behind the Candelabra,' 'Only God Forgives,' 'Nebraska' Films du Losange’s head of sales, Agathe Valentin, and Jon Gerrans from Strand Releasing brokered the deal in Cannes. In THR's review of the film, critic Jordan
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- 5/22/2013
- by Rebecca Ford
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Strand Releasing has picked up N. American distribution rights to Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake (L'inconnu du lac)) erotic thriller which premiered at Cannes, reports Variety. The story which is set against a cruising spot for men tells of Pierre de Ladonchamps' Franck character who falls for Michel (played by Christophe Paou), a man who may be a killer, but he lives out his passing regardless. Also in the cast of the film scripted and helmed bu Guiraudie are Patrick d'Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatt, Mathieu Vervisch and Gilbert Traina.
- 5/22/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
★★☆☆☆ Set during one particularly hot and steamy summer, in Stranger by the Lake (L'inconnu du lac, 2013) French men visit a secluded spot on the shore of the lake to cruise for sex. One individual seems to be there just for conversation, whilst another conceals far more sinister motives. Gay cinema auteur Alain Guiraudie's Un Certain Regard offering slowly reveals itself as part-sex exposé, part-murder mystery. Franck (Pierre de Ladonchamps) is a young man out for stimulation who's immediately attracted to Christophe Paou's Michel. However, Michel appears to already have a boyfriend, so Franck amuses himself with a casual hook-up or two.
The ever-inquisitive Franck consequently spends a lot of time chatting to the fat, middle-aged Henri (played by Patrick d'Assumçao), who claims to be straight despite his obvious interest in the gay frivolities that perpetually surround him. Between swimming in the picturesque lake and listening to the presumably...
The ever-inquisitive Franck consequently spends a lot of time chatting to the fat, middle-aged Henri (played by Patrick d'Assumçao), who claims to be straight despite his obvious interest in the gay frivolities that perpetually surround him. Between swimming in the picturesque lake and listening to the presumably...
- 5/20/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Opening with scenes of graphic full-frontal male nudity and proceeding towards seemingly unsimulated depictions of sexual acts on occasion, Alan Guiraudie‘s Stranger by the Lake certainly begins as it means to continue. If the initial glimpses of naked men on a makeshift French nude beach act as an opening statement for the film, over the course of the runtime this frank imagery serves to remind that nudity for nudity’s sake does not necessarily constitute good cinema in of itself, in spite of the film’s many other qualities. Our protagonist, Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) finds himself quite literally flirting with danger when a trip to his local gay hookup place, a secluded beach area next to a lake, sees him meet and take a liking to the moustachioed Michel (Christophe Paou). It all seems cutesy and (relatively) innocent until late one night Franck catches Michel drowning one of his sexual partners, yet...
- 5/18/2013
- by Shaun Munro
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
It’s no secret, though it’s often forgotten, that the heyday of art film — roughly speaking, the ’50s through the ’70s — depended, to a much larger degree than we may like to think, on the promise of erotic adventurousness, the kind that Hollywood couldn’t hope to match. I don’t mean to say that the European and Asian films that explored sexuality, sometimes the outer limits of sexuality, were glorified porn. It’s not just that we saw more flesh in them; it’s that we saw more of the internal experience that flesh is really about. Yet...
- 5/17/2013
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW - Inside Movies
"Over eighty percent of silent films are lost. I've always considered a lost film as a narrative with no known final resting place — doomed to wander the landscape of film history, sad, miserable and unable to project itself to the people who might love it." That's Guy Maddin, as quoted by Kim Morgan, introducing Maddin's Spiritismes, happening now at the Centre Pompidou in Paris ("During 'séances'... Maddin and his actors will allow themselves to be possessed by the wandering spirits of the dead, to bring their movies back to life") through March 12:
Filmmaking, dead made undead, is happening live at the Centre — lost or unrealized films by directors as diverse as Jean Vigo, Kenji Mizoguchi, Lois Weber, William Wellman, von Stroheim (I will appear in that particular Poto-Poto), Alexandre Dovjenko and more are coming — rising from the dead, in their own unique way. Maddin will be shooting one film a day.
Filmmaking, dead made undead, is happening live at the Centre — lost or unrealized films by directors as diverse as Jean Vigo, Kenji Mizoguchi, Lois Weber, William Wellman, von Stroheim (I will appear in that particular Poto-Poto), Alexandre Dovjenko and more are coming — rising from the dead, in their own unique way. Maddin will be shooting one film a day.
- 2/24/2012
- MUBI
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