Category: Movies

French director Luc Besson accused of rape, denies ‘fantasist’ accusations – The Local

A young actress has lodged a complaint for rape against French film director Luc Besson, judicial sources said on Saturday, the latest in a string of sexual abuse allegations in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

The filmmaker’s lawyer Thierry Marembert said he categorically denied the claims calling them “fantasist accusations”, adding that the complainant was someone he knew “towards whom he has never behaved inappropriately”. Police in Paris opened an investigation after the actress accused the 59-year-old “The Big Blue”, “Nikita” and “Leon” director of raping her, the judicial sources said. A “complaint has been made for acts qualifying as rape by the plaintiff which happened Thursday night into Friday in Paris,” they said, adding that police were investigating. News of the allegation emerged shortly before the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival which was marked this year by an emotional speech by a Weinstein accuser.

Italian star Asia Argento, who has said she was raped by the Hollywood mogul at Cannes in 1997, told the ceremony he would never be welcome at the event again. “This festival was his hunting ground,” said Argento, who says she was 21 when Weinstein attacked her in his hotel room. Sources said Besson’s accuser went to police on Friday to file a complaint against Besson after the alleged assault at the Bristol hotel in the French capital.

The complainant said she had been in a relationship with him for around two years, stating she felt pressured into being intimate with him for professional reasons. One source close to the investigation said Besson was out of the country and had not been questioned. According to Europe 1 radio, which broke the story, Besson’s accuser said she had “drunk a cup of tea, then felt unwell and lost consciousness”.

The station quoted her as saying that when she came round she remembered being sexually assaulted. Giant of French cinema Besson, who is married to a film producer, has three children with his wife and two more from previous relationships. He has been married four times, including to US actress Milla Jovovich.

Continue reading “French director Luc Besson accused of rape, denies ‘fantasist’ accusations – The Local” →

‘The Trouble With You’ Review | Cannes 2018 

Pierre Salvadori's The Trouble With You 
Pierre Salvadori’s The Trouble With You 

Adele Haenel stars as a French Riviera detective who tries to make amends after discovering her late husband was a crooked cop in Pierre Salvadori’s screwball crime romance.

hanks to crime capers like the Taxi franchise, Marseilles is no stranger to cartoon violence and unorthodox police work. Pierre Salvadori’s The Trouble With You echoes those elements but is less interested in accelerated action than in the daffy romantic entanglements that ensue when the female protagonist starts spinning well-intentioned deceptions. That character is played with a collision of heedless irrationality and loopy integrity by a very funny Adele Haenel, flanked by appealing co-stars. If the movie overloads on the quirks, it has enough disarming absurdist elements and directorial brio to bolster its domestic profile.

As with most French comedy, international prospects will be trickier, but audiences familiar with Haenel’s intense presence in films like the Dardenne brothers’ The Unknown Girl or Robin Campillo’s BPM (Beats Per Minute) will be surprised to see the grace and buoyancy she brings to a character with delightful shades of the classic screwball heroine. Continue reading “‘The Trouble With You’ Review | Cannes 2018 “ →

Kristen Stewart ditches high heels to go barefoot at Cannes

The actress seemed to be protesting against the red carpet dress code at the film festival.

Now it seems Kristen Stewart, a member of this year’s jury at the film festival, has flouted the ban on flat shoes – by instead going barefoot on the red carpet.

The Twilight actress wore black Louboutin heels as she arrived at the BlacKkKlansman premiere.

But before entering the screening of the Spike Lee film, she slipped off her shoes to walk up the stairs.

She was apparently not sanctioned for taking off her heels.

‘You cannot ask me to wear heels’

Last year, Stewart – who’s been known to wear trainers with dresses on the red carpet – spoke about the event’s fashion rules.

“There’s definitely a distinct dress code, right?” she told the Hollywood Reporter. “People get very upset if you don’t wear heels or whatever.

“I feel like you can’t ask people that any more – it’s a given. If you’re not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either.”

Source: Kristen Stewart ditches high heels to go barefoot at Cannes – BBC News

Cannes: Red Carpet Inequality

UniFrance showed support for the red carpet walk made by 82 women at the Cannes Film Festival with this short montage of images from 70 recent French films directed by women.

Women gathered on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival to bring attention to gender inequality in the film industry

Music: “La Grenade” by Clara Luciani.

Cannes: Lars Von Trier’s “Disgusting,” “Torturous” Film Sparks Walkouts

The director presented his first film at the festival since getting temporarily banned for making Hitler jokes in 2011.

Lars von Trier has officially ended his Cannes exile with a divisive film that viewers on Twitter said have sparked walkouts.

On Monday, the controversial Danish director walked the red carpet at the Palais for the world premiere of The House that Jack Built, playing out of competition, marking his first appearance at the festival since Melancholia in 2011, when his jokes in the press conference about “sympathizing with Hitler” led to him getting temporarily banned.

The House that Jack Built sees Matt Dillon stars as Jack, a serial killer who views his murders as elaborate works of art. Uma Thurman, Riley Keough and Bruno Ganz co-star.

Continue reading “Cannes: Lars Von Trier’s “Disgusting,” “Torturous” Film Sparks Walkouts” →