Variety’s Peter Debruge Honored By France’s Ministry of Culture

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Depending on where you come down on the question of its main character’s guilt or innocence, Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” could be seen as a kind of “Gone Girl” in reverse: A frustrated writer dies of suspicious causes, leaving behind clues that implicate his wife (Sandra Hüller). If the man’s death was a suicide — and the bilingual (half-English) movie strongly points in that direction — then there’s a terrible cruelty to what follows, as his grieving wife is hauled into court and tried for his murder. Their 11-year-old son is obsessed with trying to make sense of what happened, whereas it’s the death of the marriage, not the husband, that preoccupies Triet. Can any couple’s relationship withstand the kind of scrutiny this one is subjected to, as old fights and infidelities are dragged into the open?

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission, will preside over the jury of the Malta Film Commission’s inaugural Mediterrane Film Festival celebrating movies from the Mediterranean Basin. The fest, which will take place in Valletta, Malta’s capital, and other locations on the island between June 25-30, will showcase films from each of the MED9 nations, an alliance of nine Mediterranean and Southern European Union member states. It comprises: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Besides Wotton the other jury members are “Triangle Of Sadness”actor Zlatko Burić; Cypriot filmmaker Tonia Mishiali; French actor and director Vahina Giocante; Greek producer Amanda Livanou; Italian journalist Boris Sollazzo; Maltese critic Mario Azzopardi; Portuguese journalist and programmer José Vieira Mendes; Slovenian journalist Tina Poglajen; and Spanish programmer Carlos Reviriego.

In an early scene of French director Stéphan Castang’s Cannes Critics’ Week entry Vincent Must Die, a colleague of the film’s titular protagonist whacks him around the head with his laptop. A little later, another workmate stabs him in the arm. “He’s just an average guy who wakes up one morning to discover that everyone wants to kill him,” Castang explains. The debut feature follows in the wake of Julia Ducournau’s Raw and Just Philippot’s The Swarm as French genre titles to be championed by the first and second film-focused Critics’ Week.

Navigating the frenzied Cannes Film Festival scene can prove perilous for a first-timer, even if he’s boss of the Oscars.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell car chase allegations, the royal family has no plans to issue a statement.ET has learned that neither Buckingham nor Kensington Palace will be commenting on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's claims of a car chase in New York City.A source tells ET that «since Harry and Meghan have stepped back from royal duties, the palace generally does not comment on their activities.»On Wednesday, a representative for Harry — who is the son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana — and Meghan told news outlets that the couple, along with Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, were involved in a «near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi» on Tuesday night. The rep said that the incident occurred after the trio left the Ziegfeld Theater, where Meghan had been honored at the the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards.

In the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s bombshell car chase allegations, the royal family has no plans to issue a statement.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell car chase allegations, the royal family has no plans to issue a statement.ET has learned that neither Buckingham nor Kensington Palace will be commenting on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's claims of a car chase in New York City.A source tells ET that «since Harry and Meghan have stepped back from Royal duties, the palace generally does not comment on their activities.»On Wednesday, a representative for Harry — who is the son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana — and Meghan told news outlets that the couple, along with Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, were involved in a «near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi» on Tuesday night. The rep said that the incident occurred after the trio left the Ziegfeld Theater, where Meghan had been honored at the the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic While the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, French director Thomas Cailley was imagining another kind of coronavirus, one he’d cooked up before the crisis, but which suddenly took on new real-world relevance. In “The Animal Kingdom,” a mysterious malady is sweeping France, unlocking something at a genetic level that causes people to transform into hybrid creatures. The mutations are slow and somewhat unpredictable: One person might sprout feathers, observing over weeks as their arms develop into wings, while another grows scales and winds up slithering like a snake. Through it all, 16-year-old Émile (Paul Kircher) and his father, François (Romain Duris), are just trying to stay calm, which isn’t easy when something akin to a zombie apocalypse has left the entire country jittery and suspicious. What’s causing the mutations? Is it contagious? Can the creatures be trusted, or are they a threat to others? A scar on Émile’s cheek, acquired during the early days of his mother’s infection, offers a hint of the risk. People are understandably frightened of the unknown, but scarier still is the possibility that the same could happen to them.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Appealing a conviction for two murders he insists he didn’t commit — while candidly, even proudly, admitting to multiple armed robbery charges — French activist turned criminal Pierre Goldman refuses to call any witnesses in his defense. “I’m innocent because I’m innocent,” he says flatly, rejecting the idea that testaments to his character and conduct have anything to do with it, and professing himself “disgusted” by courtroom pomp and theatricality. Except Goldman knows the power of fiery rhetorical speechifying when it suits him: In “The Goldman Case,” Cédric Kahn’s formally restrained but ultimately electrifying dramatization of a trial that gripped and divided France in 1976, that canny inconsistency is but one unexpected fold in a courtroom drama that finds equal intrigue in legal order and human chaos.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic They instructed her no one must turn their back to the king, but she did so anyway. They warned that she was not to look Louis XV directly in the eyes, lest others take it as “an invitation,” but she ignored Versailles’ advisers on this point as well, defiantly meeting the king’s gaze. Jeanne Bécu was not the type of woman to do as she was told. In this respect, divisive French actor-director Maïwenn can relate, casting herself as the courtesan-turned-comtess in “Jeanne du Barry,” a sensitive and surprisingly low-key portrait of the French monarch’s last mistress. That Maïwenn saw fit to engage tabloid-embattled Johnny Depp as “her king” is just one of the many hurdles she set for herself — but then, no one embarks on such a project with the intention of pleasing her critics.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Maiwenn Le Besco, the director of Johnny Depp’s Cannes opening night film “Jeanne du Barry,” has admitted that she spit in the face of an investigative journalist in February. The filmmaker confessed to the act just days ahead of the May 16 world premiere of “Jeanne du Barry.” The actor-director, who goes by Maiwenn, was asked on the French TV talkshow “Quotidien” if she could confirm that she had assaulted Edwy Plenel, the founder of Mediapart, which had published a report that several women had accused her ex-husband, director Luc Besson, of rape. “Do I confirm that I assaulted him? Yes,” she answered the interviewer, according to The Telegraph.

Meghan Markle was seen enjoying a hike with her close pals in California on Sunday, in the first picture to emerge after she opted not to attend King Charles' Coronation in London with her husband Prince Harry. The Duchess of Sussex, 41, looked relaxed as she headed on the walk with longtime friends Markus Anderson and Heather Dorak in Santa Barbara on 7 May, following Harry's very brief trip to the UK on Saturday to watch his father Charles and step-mother Camilla's crowning in London. Meghan, who remained in California with children Archie, four, and Lilibet, one, during the Coronation, cut a casual figure in navy leggings and a T-shirt, with her favourite J.

“float like a butterfly,” but her honesty stings like a bee.The “Roar” singer’s comments about Meghan Markle’s 2018 royal wedding dress have resurfaced from a recently unearthed interview and they’re far from pretty.“I would’ve done one more fitting,” Perry, who performed at King Charles III’s coronation concert this past Sunday, told “Access Hollywood” in an interview at the time.She continued, praising Kate Middleton’s lace Alexander McQueen dress she wore in 2011. “Kate won.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian actor Caterina Murino, best known globally for playing Solange in James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” will be the master of ceremonies at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. Born in Cagliari, Sardegna, Murino made her big screen debut in 2002 in late Chilean writer/director Luis Sepulveda’s political drama “Nowhere” which played well in France. She returned to French film screens in 2004 in “L’Enquete Corse” opposite actors Christian Clavier and Jean Reno. In 2006 Murino gained global visibility as the new 007 Bond Girl alongside Daniel Craig with her role as the shady seductive Solange Dimitrios in “Casino Royale.” 

A truly A-list event. Celebrities including Lionel Richie and Jill Biden attended King Charles III‘s coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday, May 6.

K.J. Yossman Guests have begun to arrive at Westminster Abbey in London for the coronation of King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla. Although Charles ascended to the throne the minute Queen Elizabeth II died last year, the coronation is a ceremony to mark the formal investiture of his regal powers (such as they are in modern-day Britain). The 2,200-strong congregation who will gather to watch the St Edward’s Crown being placed atop Charles’ head include members of the royal family, politicians, aristocrats, international dignitaries and celebrities including singers Nick Cave and Lionel Richie, TV hosts Bear Grylls and comedian Rowan Atkinson, better known as his on-screen alter-ego Mr Bean.

Damien Chazelle has been announced as the international jury president for the main competition of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, running Aug 30 — Sep 9.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Damien Chazelle will preside over the competition jury of the upcoming Venice Film Festival. The U.S. director is a Venice regular, having opened the Lido event on two occasions, in 2016 with “La La Land” and in 2018 with “First Man.” Damien Chazelle, welcoming Venice’s proposal stated: “For ten days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this year’s jury. I can’t wait to discover a new crop of great films at the 80th Venice Film Festival.”

The 76th Festival de Cannes already had a jury president in two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlünd. It now has eight more members to fill out its jury.

Brie Larson, Paul Dano and Julia Ducournau are among the eight people chosen to complete the main competition jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced Thursday morning in Paris.Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, who won the Palme d’Or last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” was previously announced as president of the jury. The presence of Ducournau, who won the top award for “Titane” in 2021, means that the last two Palme winners will be part of the deliberations to determine who succeeds them this year.Other jurors will be Moroccan writer-director Maryam Touzani, who was in Cannes last year with “The Blue Caftan”; French actor Denis Menochet, who recently appeared in Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid”; Zambian/British writer-director Rungano Nyoni, whose “I’m Not a Witch” premiered in Cannes; Afghan novelist and writer-director Atiq Rahimi, whose film work often adapts his own bestselling books; and Argentinian writer-director Damian Szifron, who landed an Oscar nomination for his 2014 Cannes film “Wild Tales.”The jury’s 5-to-4 split between men and women is typical for Cannes in recent years.