Auf Wiedersehen, Werner Schroeter

German filmmaker Werner Schroeter, one of the significant queer cinéastes from Germany in the 1970s, died yesterday, just a week after turning 65. Though relatively unknown in the United States, Schroeter began making films in the late-1960s, often collaborations with another important (though still little known in the US) queer filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim. In 1980, his film Palermo or Wolfsburg [Palermo oder Wolfsburg], currently (as of February 2010) the only film of his available on DVD in the US, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Schroeter also appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore [Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte] as the cinematographer and had a brief role in Fassbinder's television mini-series Welt am Draht [World on Wires]. Since then, Schroeter worked consistently in both Germany and France. His films include the lavish, multilingual musical Der Rosenkönig [The King of Roses], a film adaptation of Ingeborg Bachmann's novel Malina (scripted by Elfriede Jelinek) with Isabelle Huppert and Mathieu Carrière, the documentary Love's Debris [Abfallprodukte der Liebe / Poussières d'amour] in which Huppert and Carole Bouquet interview some of the director's favorite opera singers and Deux, also with Huppert. His last film Nuit de chien, which stars Pascal Greggory, Bruno Todeschini, Amira Casar, Jean-François Stévenin and Bulle Ogier among others, screened at both the 2008 Toronto and Venice Film Festivals.

Moi, ailleurs

In addition to my own proceedings, I participated on two other sites' '00s round-up, both of which were posted today. Firstly, over at The Auteurs Notebook, a collection of writers submitted a single image from a single film from the past ten years and then defended that with a single sentence. The image I selected came from Claire Denis' L'intrus.

Over at Out 1 Film Journal, I was asked to contribute my Top 13 Films of the '00s (which you can find here), as well as 5 performances and directors (for their entire output over the past ten years). You can see the results at the link above.

The performances I selected, in order, were:

1. Isabelle Huppert - La pianiste
2. Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
3. Tilda Swinton - Julia
4. Laura Dern - Inland Empire
5. Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson

So to conclude my list-making of the '00s, I came up with 20 runners-up, alphabetically. It's predictably female-heavy. Had I seen Inglourious Basterds before a few days ago, I probably would have included Mélanie Laurent... but I'm always reluctant to make such high claims without allowing time to set in first.

Asia Argento - Boarding Gate
Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls
Juliette Binoche - Code inconnu (or Le voyage du ballon rouge)
Björk - Dancer in the Dark
Maggie Cheung - Clean
Penélope Cruz - Volver (or Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Béatrice Dalle - À l'intérieur
Julie Delpy - Before Sunset
Emmanuelle Devos - for really every single film I saw her in during the '00s, I couldn't choose just one
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
Olivier Gourmet - Le fils
Gene Hackman - The Royal Tenenbaums
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Ashley Judd - Bug
Samantha Morton - Morvern Callar
María Onetto - La mujer sin cabeza
Clive Owen - Closer
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos - Femme Fatale
Carice van Houten - Zwartboek
Jürgen Vogel - Die freie Wille

Michael Haneke Is the Big Winner at This Year's European Film Awards

Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band] claimed three major prizes at the European Film Awards yesterday, taking home prizes for Best Film, Director and Screenwriter. Last year's Oscar winner, Slumdog Millionaire, was the People's Choice for Best European Film, and Peter Strickland's Katalin Varga was named the European Discovery of the Year. Ken Loach and Isabelle Huppert were also honored for Lifetime Achievement and Achievement in World Cinema respectively, and Andrzej Wajda's Sweet Rush [Tatarak], which stars Krystyna Janda and screened at this year's NYFF, was the recipient of the FIPRESCI critic's prize, which was announced earlier. Complete list of winners below:

Film: The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy
Director: Michael Haneke - Das weiße Band Actor: Tahar Rahim - A Prophet [Un prophète] Actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader Screenwriter: Michael Haneke - Das weiße Band
Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle - Antichrist; Slumdog Millionaire
Prix d'excellence: Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier, Jean-Paul Hurier, Marc Doisne, sound design - Un prophète Composer: Alberto Iglesias - Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos]
Discovery: Katalin Varga, d. Peter Strickland, Romania/UK/Hungary
Documentary: The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy - d. Peter Liechti, Switzerland
Animated Feature: Mia and the Migoo [Mia et le Migou], d. Jacques-Rémy Girerd, France
FIPRESCI Award: Sweet Rush [Tatarak], d. Andrzej Wajda, Poland
People's Choice Award: Slumdog Millionaire - d. Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan

It's Official; Inset Bad Pun About Finding a Home

I had heard a while back that Lorber Films were looking to, or had already, acquired Ursula Meier's Home, which stars Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet as bohemian parents of three children whose happy existence is threatened by the opening of a new highway about twenty feet in front of their once secluded abode. Home was selected as Switzerland's official submission for next year's foreign language Academy Award, and according to Variety, Lorber Films will release it in New York on 27 November. I'll be writing about the film soon. Think of a warmer The Seventh Continent. Or... maybe not.

We Belong Together

Isabelle Huppert and Michael Haneke will join forces yet again for the director's latest project, which begins filming next year. It will be their third pairing, after La pianiste [The Piano Teacher] and Le temps du loup [Time of the Wolf] and after his latest The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band] was awarded the Palme d'Or in May by Huppert and her jury. The yet-untitled film will also mark Jean-Louis Trintignant's return to the screen after almost ten years of absence. He did have a bit part in the film Janis et John (Patrice Chéreau's Ceux qui m'aime prendront le train [Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train] was his last major role in 1998) but has been otherwise absent from the screen following his daughter Marie's death in 2003. Being Isabelle Huppert's "friend" on Facebook has its perks.

DVD and Acquisition Updates - 14 September 2009

Three new IFC/MPI titles and a slew of films from Asia are on the bill for this DVD round-up.

- Silence, ça tue!, 2008, d. Christophe Lamont, Brink/MVD, 22 September
- Decoder, 1984, d. Muscha, Cobraside/MVD, 29 September, w. William S. Burroughs, FM Einheit, Genesis P-Orridge
- The Asphyx, 1973, d. Peter Newbrook Hens Tooth, 27 October
- Bloody Beach, 2000, d. Kim In Soo, Pathfinder, 3 November
- Fear of Fiction, 2000, d. Charlie Ahearn, Brink/MVD, 17 November, w. Melissa Leo, Sam Trammell, Penn Jillette, Reno
- Hansel & Gretel, 2007, d. Yim Pil-sung, Tokyo Shock, 17 November
- Teacher's Pet, 2005, d. Chung Ji Woo, Pathfinder, 17 November
- Thirst, 2009, d. Park Chan-wook, Focus Features, 17 November
- Green Fish, 1997, d. Lee Chang-dong, Pathfinder, 24 November
- Peter Pan Formula, 2005, d. Cho Chang-ho, Pathfinder, 24 November
- Devilman, 2004, d. Hiroyuki Nasu, Tokyo Shock, Special Edition, 24 November
- Dog Eat Dog [Perro come perro], 2008, d. Carlos Moreno, IFC Films, 8 December
- Ghosted, 2009, d. Monika Treut, First Run Features, 8 December
- Home Movie, 2008, d. Christopher Denham, IFC Films, 8 December
- Prima Ballerina, 2009, d. Laurent Gentot, First Run, 8 December
- The Skeptic, 2009, d. Tennyson Bardwell, IFC Films, 8 December
- The Year of the Jellyfish [L'année des méduses], 1984, d. Christopher Frank, Televista, 22 December
- Kid with the Golden Arm, 1979, d. Chang Cheh, Tokyo Shock, 29 December

Date Changes

- Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, 3 November, also on Blu-ray
- Janky Promoters, 24 November
- Lesbian Vampire Killers, 29 December
- Antichrist, Artificial Eye/UK, 11 January

In acquisition news, you've probably already read about the strange distribution deal Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles is (finally) receiving nearly a year after its premiere at Toronto. Sony Pictures Classics nabbed Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs [Micmacs à tire-larigot]. National Geographic Films announced their second theatrical release in Lu Chuan's City of Life and Death. Kino will release Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Ajami, which received a Special Mention for the Camera d'Or at Cannes this year. IFC took Mia Hansen-Løve's Father of My Children [Le père de mes enfants]. And Zeitgeist picked up Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar's A Town Called Panic [Panique au village].

Magnolia disclosed that they're planning to release Bong Joon-ho's Mother, which South Korea announced recently as their Academy Award submission for 2009. In addition to Mother, they also took the US rights to Bong's first film, Barking Dogs Don't Bite, from 2000 (likely for just a DVD release, but I'm not sure). The director's The Host was one of the company's biggest successes to date.

Thanks to Eric from ioncinema for directing me to this: Mark Urman, former head of ThinkFilm, has started a new company called Paladin. Their first title Steve Jacobs' Disgrace, which stars John Malkovich and Eriq Ebouaney, was released in New York City this past Friday, and before the end of the year, Paladin will roll out Splinterheads, a comedy written and directed by Brant Sersen (Blackballed), and Jodie Markell's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Evans, Ann-Margret, Ellen Burstyn and David Strathairn. Early next year, they'll release the new Bette Gordon (Variety) feature Handsome Harry, with Jamey Sheridan, Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, John Savage, Campbell Scott, Karen Young and Bill Sage.

And finally, perhaps I mentioned this before, but I remember reading somewhere that Lorber Films will be picking up Ursula Meier's extraordinary debut feature Home, which stars Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet, for a 2010 release. Fingers crossed! All for now.

2 Films by Eduardo de Gregorio, DVD Update

Les Films du paradoxe are releasing two films directed by Eduardo de Gregorio, frequent co-screenwriter for Jacques Rivette, on 18 June: Sérail [Surreal Estate] and La mémoire courte [Short Memory]. I mentioned the releases before, but now I have cover artwork for both. I still can't find any specifics of the releases, but I'd expect not to find English subtitles on either one... but then again, you never know. Another notable release from Les Films du paradoxe for 2009 is Werner Schroeter's 1996 documentary Poussières d'amour, in which Isabelle Huppert and Carole Bouquet interview some of the director's favorite opera singers. Check this link for more titles; the links for the two de Gergorio films above include their trailers.

Some Thoughts on the Closing Ceremony of the 62nd Festival International de Cannes

I trekked through the closing ceremony yesterday morning streaming via the Cannes Official website, which really is not conducive for the few of us who are fluent in both English and French, and had a few observations.

1. The best moment wasn't the long-overdue recognition for Alain Resnais or finally bestowing Michael Haneke with the fest's top prize, but instead, it was the humble acceptance of Charlotte Gainsbourg after being named Best Actress for Lars von Trier's Antichrist. With a "bien sûr" delivery, Isabelle Huppert read off Gainsbourg's name as if there were no other choice the jury could have made, which makes natural sense considering Huppert and fellow jury member Asia Argento's history of emotionally devastating roles. With her hushed voice, Gainsbourg thanked von Trier, co-star Willem Dafoe, husband Yvan Attal, her two children, mother Jane Birkin and, naturally, her late father, whom she hoped was looking down at her both proud and shocked. This was easily the best moment of the whole ceremony.

2. Worse than Isabelle Adjani's shameless plug for her film La journée de la jupe, which Andrew Grant informed me is not only "god-awful" but worse than Bon voyage, were presenter Terry Gilliam's laughless crocodile tears when host Edouard Baer informed him that he was not the winner of the Best Director prize, which he was introducing. IndieWire commented, "Across the stage, Isabelle Huppert, not laughing, remarks simply, 'OK?'" I was sort of hoping for a bitchier "OK?" than Huppert gave, with a half-smile, but her sentiment was precisely how I felt. I was more embarrassed for Gilliam in those three minutes than I was during the entirety of The Brothers Grimm.

3. While I was partly amused by Christoph Waltz's acceptance speech for Best Actor, I think I'm beyond the point of wanting to hear someone verbally jerk Quentin Tarantino off. He does a good enough job by himself.

4. Though it seems Isabel Coixet's Map of the Sounds of Tokyo was the hands-down worst film to screen in competition this year (not surprising after the steady decrease in the director's work from My Life Without Me to Elegy), I'm wondering if the boos that accompanied Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay and Lou Ye's Spring Fever from the US critics were appropriate or if the rumored "jury craziness" had some validity. I wasn't impressed with Mendoza's The Masseur or Lou's Summer Palace, but I'm certainly willing to give both another shot.

5. While this has nothing to do with the ceremony itself, I've read conflicting reports of how IFC Films is planning on releasing Antichrist in the US. Some have said we'll be seeing the film in all its genital-mutilation glory, but others have said it will be cut. Another source said that IFC will be releasing both versions, as certain cable providers would probably shy away from showing the film OnDemand. It'll be interesting to see how this is handled when IFC rolls the film out, hopefully later this year.

Cannes 2009: Haneke, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Andrea Arnold, Jacques Audiard Among the Winners

The jury, headed by Isabelle Huppert, handed out their awards this afternoon, with a few surprises, both good and bad. Jane Campion's Bright Star and Marco Bellocchio's Vincere went home empty-handed despite mostly universal acclaim from the reviews I read. The awards are as follows.

Palme d'Or: Das weiße Band [The White Ribbon] - d. Michael Haneke - Austria/Germany/France
Grand prix: Un prophète [A Prophet] - d. Jacques Audiard
Prix exceptionnel du Festival de Cannes: Alain Resnais - Les herbes folles [Wild Grass]
Prix du jury: (tie) Fish Tank - d. Andrea Arnold; Thirst - d. Park Chan-wook
Prix de la mise en scène [Best Director]: Brillante Mendoza - Kinatay
Prix d'interprétation féminine [Best Actress]: Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
Prix d'interprétation masculine [Best Actor]: Christophe Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Prix du scénario [Best Screenplay]: Ye Lou - Spring Fever
Caméra d'Or: Samson and Delilah - d. Warwick Thornton - Australia
Caméra d'Or Mention Spéciale: Ajami - d. Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani - Israel/Germany

As for the acquisitions, only a few have been snatched up so far. Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock and Park Chan-wook's Thirst were produced by The Weinstein Company and Focus Features, respectively. IFC Films took three films so far: Lars von Trier's Antichrist, Ken Loach's Looking for Eric and Tales from the Golden Age, from Romania. Sony Pictures Classics has the Palme d'Or and the Grand prix winners, as well as the fest's out-of-competition closer Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky and Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], which they bought a few months back. It's rumored that Bright Star will be the first release for a new company from Picturehouse's former head. I'll be posting more acquisitions in the coming weeks as they're announced.

Cannes 2009 Line-Up

Heavy competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which was announced earlier today in France. As stated earlier, the new Pixar 3D film Up! will open the fest, and it will be closed by that other Coco Chanel film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, from director Jan Kounen (Dobermann) with Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen. New films from a number of previous Palme d'Or winners will screen in competition, from Lars von Trier (Dancer in the Dark), Jane Campion (The Piano), Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds) and Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley). More films in the other various programs will be announced tomorrow. Actress Isabelle Huppert is the head of this year's jury.

In Competition

Bright Star - dir. Jane Campion - UK/Australia/France - with Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox, Abbie Cornish

Spring Fever - dir. Ye Lou - China/France

Antichrist - dir. Lars von Trier - Denmark/Sweden/France/Italy - with Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Enter the Void - dir. Gaspar Noé - France/Japan

Face [Visages] - dir. Tsai Ming-liang - France/Taiwan/Netherlands/Belgium - with Laetitia Casta, Lee Kang-sheng, Mathieu Amalric, Jeanne Moreau, Fanny Ardant, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Baye

Les herbes folles - dir. Alain Resnais - France/Italy - with André Dussollier, Emmanuelle Devos, Sabine Azéma, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny

À l'origine [In the Beginning] - dir. Xavier Giannoli - France - with Gérard Depardieu, Emmanuelle Devos, François Cluzet

Un prophète [A Prophet] - dir. Jacques Audiard - France - with Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup

The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band] - dir. Michael Haneke - Austria/Germany/France - with Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Tukur

Vengeance - dir. Johnnie To - France/Hong Kong/USA - with Johnny Hallyday, Simon Yam, Sylvie Testud

The Time That Remains - dir. Elia Suleiman - Israel/France/Belgium/Italy

Vincere - dir. Marco Bellocchio - Italy/France - with Giovanna Mezzogiorno

Kinatay - dir. Brillante Mendoza - Philippines

Thirst - dir. Park Chan-wook - South Korea/USA - with Eriq Ebouaney, Song Kang-ho

Los abrazos rotos [Broken Embraces] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - Spain - with Penélope Cruz, Ángela Molina, Lola Dueñas, Rubén Ochandiano, Blanca Portillo, Rossy de Palma, Chus Lampreave

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo - dir. Isabel Coixet - Spain - with Rinko Kikuchi, Sergi López

Fish Tank - dir. Andrea Arnold - UK/Netherlands - with Michael Fassbender, Harry Treadaway

Looking for Eric - dir. Ken Loach - UK/France/Italy/Belgium

Inglourious Basterds - dir. Quentin Tarantino - USA - with Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Kruger, Mike Myers, Eli Roth, Cloris Leachman, Til Schweiger, Michael Fassbender, Maggie Cheung, Daniel Brühl

Taking Woodstock - dir. Ang Lee - USA - with Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Paul Dano, Eugene Levy, Kelli Garner, Imelda Staunton, Katherine Waterson

Out of Competition

Drag Me to Hell - dir. Sam Raimi - USA - with Justin Long, Alison Lohman

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - dir. Terry Gilliam - France/Canada - with Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Jude Law, Tom Waits

Agora - dir. Alejandro Amenábar - USA/Spain - with Rachel Weisz

The Decade List: La pianiste (2001)

La pianiste [The Piano Teacher] - dir. Michael Haneke

Rattle-your-ass-to-the-fucking-ground performances don't happen often, and when they do, they usually come from French actresses (though I can extend that to Swedish and/or German ones). Isabelle Huppert gives performances like that with nearly every film she graces, but none of them will probably ever reach the magnitude of her work in The Piano Teacher, Michael Haneke's masterful adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek's novel. It could be suggested that her performance as Erika Kohut, the title character who pretty much defies the use of a simple apposition, is what keeps The Piano Teacher afloat, as the delicate nature of the material could have descended into hideous comedy if placed in lesser hands. However, the film's triumphs are a result of both Huppert and Haneke, who employs remarkable restraint as he places the greatest trust in his actor. It's actually surprising how un-explicit The Piano Teacher is when returning to it, as its emotional violence carries a weight that exceeds the consecrated brutality of the so-called New French Extremity "movement" (see Trouble Every Day and Fat Girl), but Haneke has always operated in that way.

The restraint Haneke shows may have been the only way to make Jelinek's novel work on the screen, but this also allows for his camera to find something much more haunting than the display of physical violence in Huppert's face. On numerous occasions, he holds his gaze upon hers, sometimes in jump-cuts, other times in viscously long takes. It may come as some relief that the purpose of these shots aren't to understand or interpret Erika's thoughts. Haneke is never concerned with sympathy. Instead, the relationship between the camera and Erika provides the understanding of what those thoughts are doing to her. In all of the scenes that proceed Erika's bathroom meeting with Walter (Benoît Magimel), which marks her turning point, her placement within the frame, usually medium close-up dead-centered, maintains her control of the surroundings. Almost always, these shots fixate on more than just thinking; they show Erika assessing her situation and planning in order to maintain that control.

Once Erika has lost that which is so important to her, the shots take on a much different meaning. No longer is she planning; she's anticipating. Once the letter of her sexual requests has entered Walter's possession, she has given away her control. Even if the requests weren't of a masochistic nature, the transfer of control renders her a slave, for she knows no middle ground. As Walter reads the letter in her bedroom, her mental process relies solely on someone else's response. There is a progression to this change, which begins the moment she accepts Walter's kiss in the bathroom. In this scene, she disappears for the first time, both inside and outside of the frame. Once the embrace is initiated, Huppert's tiny frame literally vanishes behind Magimel's comparatively broad physique. As the scene goes on, she disappears again when fellating Walter, placing him in the camera's focal point. Erika's gravitational placement also indicates the beginning stages of her descent. Walter gets Erika to fall to her knees. She quickly returns to her feet, but as the film advances, it becomes evident that Erika's moments of weakness all occur when she's on her back, whether it be on the floor of a locker room or her foyer with Walter or in bed with her suffocating mother (Annie Girardot). In the bathroom scene, she's still able to exert a projected austerity, that which has kept her on top until this point, but this vanishes once she's handed Walter the letter.

As Walter half-heartedly attempts to adhere to her requests, he's placed in the position he thinks he's striving for, partially for the success of his pursuits, which Erika always suspects as his musical undertakings implore the same gain, and partially because he's a man. "You should know what you can and cannot do to a man," he tells Erika after she refuses to let him ejaculate, as if the fact that he has a penis is his innate leverage. He gets Erika on the ground twice afterward, the first in her desperate attempt to normalize the relationship in the locker room, the second when he fucks her by force in her apartment. The latter results in the second-to-last time the camera holds on Erika's gaze. She processes what has just happened and again she's left without a plan. At the recital that follows and closes the film, Erika comes to her greatest understanding. Walter has confirmed her early suspicions; his fallacious greeting at the recital proves what Erika's always known about him and men in general: that he'd leave once he got what he really wanted. His want is to conquer, both on physical and mental levels.

As we see Erika's face for the last time, which is bruised and torn apart, something that's subtly concealed as she prepares for the recital, she returns to the same gaze she would hold before giving Walter the letter. By plunging the knife in her chest, a moment that's incredibly unsettling, we discover this isn't an act of desperation or dejection, but the means in which for Erika to re-assert control. Though it's only implied, suicide doesn't serve as an act of hopelessness but of power. She again retains control of her situation and, most importantly, of herself, surmounting any damage caused by Walter in his abuse of her willing vulnerability. It is, perhaps, the ultimate control, and Erika understands that it is the only way to retain it. When the film descends into its most devastating moments, The Piano Teacher becomes all the more dangerous because it's sadomasochistic play without a safe word. Though Erika ultimately comes out on top, it's through her last resort.

Haneke very finely inserts his obsession with the media when Erika's ideas of men begin to personify the ludicrous sitcom her mother watches earlier in the film where a nurse suggests her patient thinks women are inferior to men. He never allows this to take precedence as it has in nearly all of his other works, from The Seventh Continent [Der Siebente Kontinent] to Caché, so it's a bit surprising that the film in which his artistic obsessions exist in the background would be his greatest triumph. Elements of Erika can be found in many of Huppert's prior and subsequent performances. She had previously worked from Jelinek's writing in Werner Schroeter's Malina, which Jelinek adapted from Ingeborg Bachmann's novel, and is currently set to star alongside Tilda Swinton and Udo Kier in Ulrike Ottinger's Die Blutgräfin, which Jelinek co-wrote. It's also worth noting that her role in François Ozon's 8 Women [8 femmes] is almost a parody of Erika. However, it's pretty hard to argue with the notion that The Piano Teacher is her finest hour, and perhaps even the finest single piece of acting we've seen all decade.

With: Isabelle Huppert, Benoît Magimel, Annie Girardot, Anna Sigalevitch, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Cornelia Köndgen
Screenplay: Michael Haneke, based on the novel Die Klavierspielerin by Elfriede Jelinek
Cinematography: Christian Berger
Music: Francis Haines
Country of Origin: Austria/France/Germany/Poland
US Distributor: Kino

Premiere: 14 May 2001 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 29 March 2002 (New York City)

Awards: Grand Prix, Best Actress - Isabelle Huppert, Best Actor - Benoît Magimel (Cannes Film Festival); Best Supporting Actress - Annie Girardot (César Awards, France); Best Actress - Isabelle Huppert (European Film Awards); Best Actress - Isabelle Huppert (Seattle International Film Festival)

Coming (or Not Coming) in 2009: Part 1

This is the first part of a series of posts which will look at what films we can expect to see make their premiere during 2009. You can check some of my earlier posts about the Berlinale for news about films from Lukas Moodysson, Catherine Breillat, François Ozon, Rebecca Miller, Stephen Frears, Costa-Gavras, Andrzej Wajda, Hans-Christian Schmid (Requiem), Lucía Puenzo (XXY), Andrew Bujalski, Sally Potter, Chen Kaige and Theo Angelopoulos. This post will focus on French directors and productions. The run-down is admittedly auteur-driven, as no one can really predict when a film like Cristian Mungui's 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days will sneak up and floor us. As you can imagine, many of these films won't hit the US until next year, later (or never).

UPDATED: I forgot to include Jean-Pierre Jeunet's new film when I pasted this from my word processor, so scroll down for that. I've also included some more links (nearly all of which are in French).

I've mentioned my enthusiasm for Claire Denis' latest film, White Material, several times on the blog as I was told (via Facebook) that Denis was hoping to have the film edited in time for the Berlinale. It isn't playing there, so the next likely place would have to be Cannes in May, though I'd suspect it'd play out of competition as star Isabelle Huppert is the head of this year's jury. Set in Cameroon, Christopher Lambert co-stars as Huppert's husband, along with Nicolas Duvauchelle and Isaach de Bankolé, both of which have worked with Denis in the past. The film is produced by Why Not Productions in France. Denis' 35 rhums [35 Shots of Rum], which played at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, opens in France on 18 February.

Four years after Gabrielle, Patrice Chéreau (Queen Magot, L'homme blessé) returns behind the camera for Pérsecution, which he co-wrote with Anne-Louise Trividic who also co-write Gabrielle, Son frère and Intimacy with Chéreau. The film stars Romain Duris, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jean-Hughes Anglade, is being produced by Arte France Cinéma and should be released by mk2 before the end of the year.

Isabelle Huppert will once again team with director Benoît Jacquot (L'école de la chair [The School of Flesh]) for Villa Amalia, which opens in France on 11 March through EuropaCorp. Jean-Hughes Anglade, Xavier Beauvois and Maya Sansa (Buongiorno, notte [Good Morning Night]) also star.

I haven't been able to find any new information about Catherine Breillat's Bad Love, a remake of her own Parfait amour! starring Naomi Campbell and Christophe Rocancourt. Naturally, I will post more information as I come across it. Her latest, a fantasy La barbe bleu, premieres at the Berlinale. La barbe bleu was produced by Arte France and look for the possibility of a re-release of Tapage nocturne [Nocturnal Uproar] as it will screen at Berlin as well.

In their sixth collaboration, Catherine Deneuve will once again grace the screen for director André Téchiné in La fille du RER, which opens in France on 18 March from UGC Distribution. The film also stars Michel Blanc (who was in Téchiné's last film Les témoins [The Witnesses]), Mathieu Demy (Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda's son), Ronit Elkabetz (Late Marriage, The Band's Visit), Émilie Dequenne (Rosetta) and Nicholas Duvauchelle.

Alain Resnais' new film Les herbes folles stars Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos and Anne Consigny, all three of which were last seen in Arnaud Desplechin's Un conte de Noël, as well as André Dussollier and longtime collaborator Sabine Azéma. The film is based on the novel L'incident by Christian Gailly and should be released through Studio Canal on 21 October in France. Les herbes folles was shot by Eric Gautier, who has previously worked with Olivier Assayas, Catherine Breillat, Patrice Chéreau and Desplechin.

Still working at 81, Jacques Rivette's new film (perhaps his last?) 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup stars Jane Birkin, who also co-starred in Rivette's L'amour par terre and La belle noiseuse, Jacques Bonnaffé (Prénom Carmen, Jeanne et le garçon formidable) and Sergio Castellitto (The Wedding Director, My Mother's Smile). Les Films du Losange are releasing the film on 16 September.

Claude Chabrol, who turns 80 next year, will unveil his latest Bellamy on 25 February through TFM Distribution after it premieres in Berlin on the 8th. Gérard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac (Faubourg 36) and Jacques Gamblin star.

In the second Coco Chanel biopic in two years (the other was made-for-television and starred Shirley Maclaine), Anne Fontaine (Nathalie...) will direct Audrey Tautou as the fashion designer. Coco avant Chanel [Coco Before Chanel], which also stars Alessandro Nivola, Emmanuelle Devos and Benoît Poelvoorde, will be out in France through Warner Brothers on 22 April. Warner will also distribute the film in the US sometime at the end of the year or 2010.

Seven years after her disturbing feature-length debut as a director Dans ma peau [In My Skin] Marina de Van's second film Ne te retourne pas stars Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau and Andrea Di Stefano (Before Night Falls). The film sounds a BIT like The Eyes of Laura Mars, but that's okay in my book. The film should be out sometime in May in France from Wild Bunch.

The filmmaking duo Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (Jeanne et le garçon formidable, Drôle de Félix [The Adventures of Felix], Ma vraie vie à Rouen [My Life on Ice], Crustacés et coquillages [Côte d'Azur]) should have their latest, L'arbre et la forêt, out sometime this year, though I wasn't able to find any dates or distributors for the film. L'arbre et la forêt stars Guy Marchand, Françoise Fabian, Sabrina Seyvecou (Paris), Yannick Renier and Pierre-Loup Rajot (Felix, À nos amours). Their last film Nés en 68 [Born in '68], which also stars Seyvecou, Renier, as well as Laetitia Casta and Yann Trégouët, will be released in the US later this year through Strand Releasing.

Julie Delpy's second foray as a director will make its international debut at the Berlinale on 9 February. The Countess, which Delpy also wrote and stars in, also features William Hurt, Anamaria Marinca, Daniel Brühl and Sebastian Blomberg. The poster above incorrectly lists Vincent Gallo, Ethan Hawke and Radha Mitchell as stars though all three dropped out of the film. No word yet on a French or US release.

Jacques Audiard's (Sur mes lèvres [Read My Lips], De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté [The Beat My Heart Skipped]) Un prophète will be released through UGC Distribution on 26 August in France. The film stars Niels Arestrup (Je, tu, il, elle, Stavisky....).

Bruno Dumont's fifth film Hadewijch will be distributed by Tadrat Films sometime in 2009, after making a likely showing at this year's Cannes Film Festival. All of his films except for Twentynine Palms have debuted at the fest, and his last film Flandres won the Grand Prix. The cast will, like Flandres, be comprised of unknowns.

After contributing to two omnibus films (Destricted and 8), Gaspar Noé's third feature film Enter the Void will be released in France from Wild Bunch over the summer, possibly after a showing at Cannes. Enter the Void, which was filmed in Montréal and Tokyo, will be Noé's first English-language film.

After disastrous results working in the US (he called Babylon A.D. "like a bad episode of 24"), Mathieu Kassovitz returns home to direct, star and co-write L'ordre et la morale. Not much is known about the project, but it seems unlikely to make it out by the end of the year.

And finally, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's latest film Micmacs à tire-larigot stars Dany Boon (of the regional box office sensation Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, currently being remade in the US), Dominique Pinon, André Dussollier and Yolande Moreau (the latter three were all in Amèlie). Warner will release the film in France on 28 October and in the US sometime in 2010.

More coming soon...