This untitled "social thriller" is Asghar Farhadi's latest work following his Oscar-winning film A Separation. It will be shot in France in French this Autumn and Winter for a possible release around May 2013, with a likely premiere at the Festival de Cannes. Absolutely nothing is known about the plot so far.
César-winning actor Tahar Rahim (La Commune, Un Prophète) will star. Marion Cotillard dropped out of the other leading role, probably due to scheduling conflicts with her international promotional duties for the great De rouille et d'os (Of Rust and Bone), or maybe it was because of the upcoming Nightingale (from James Gray, starring Joaquin Phoenix & Jeremy Renner) or Blood Ties (from Guillaume Canet and James Gray, starring Clive Owen & Mila Kunis). Her replacement shows that they certainly have the ambition to gain some international fame with this film : they went with Bérénice Bejo.
Bérénice Bejo is best known for portraying Peppy Miller in The Artist, a role which earned her a César win and BAFTA, Oscar & Golden Globe nominations. Other parts of hers include roles in Meilleur espoir féminin, A Knight's Tale (her first and only English-speaking film), 24 heures dans la vie d'une femme, La maison and Bouquet final.
And she was the female leading role in OSS 117 : Cairo, Nest of Spies, which is just one of the greatest comedies I've ever seen (like its sequel, OSS 117 : Lost in Rio).
First, here's the set up for the joke in the video below (sadly missing from the clip) : Bérénice Bejo's character (Larmina El Akmar Betouche) offered to drive. Jean Dujardin's character (Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, aka OSS 117) accepted.
Now, the scene :
OSS 117 : I never could say 'no' to a brunette with brown eyes.
Larmina : What if I had blond hair and blue eyes?
OSS 117 : It wouldn't matter, you're my type of woman, Larmina.
Larmina : Oh, really? What if I was a midget? And myopic?
OSS 117 : … Well I wouldn't let you drive. This makes no sense.
Ah, I love it. Treat yourself and watch this film and its sequel, except if you hate laughing your ass off. Anyway, I'm drifting.
Recently Bérénice Bejo has voiced Kelly Macdonald's character Merida in the French version of Pixar's Brave (Rebelle).
Soon she will be seen in Populaire, a comedy also starring Déborah François, Romain Duris, Mélanie Bernier and Nicolas Bedos. This film was shot in Normandy, Paris and Liège between October 2011 and January 2012.
The release date of Populaire is set for November 28, 2012 in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland... and in 2013 in North America since The Weinstein Company (The Artist, Intouchables) bought the rights for the US distribution.
Set in 1958, Populaire tells the story of a woman who aspired to be nothing more than a secretary but she discovers she has a gift : she types really fast. Here's a teaser :
Rose (Déborah François) : Being a secretary, it's modern.
Louis (Romain Duris) : All the girls want to be secretaries.
Rose : It's meeting a lot of people, going around the world and work for great men.
Louis : Reality is less chic than what they say in the papers. Have a safe trip home.
Rose : The one thing that I do very well is typing on a machine !
Louis : That's the minimum for a secretary.
Louis (0:36=>0:53) : I cannot look away from such a gift. Without any training, she's already going at full pelt ! You can put the world at your feet, damn it. You may be just good for typing on a machine. But being good at one thing, in this world, that's enough.
Looks like an original idea.
Anyway, the sources for Bérénice Bejo replacing Marion Cotillard in Farhadi's new film : The Playlist, Allociné, etc.
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