Francois Ozon - The Films

It's about time, right? His new transsexual movie The New Girlfriend is out. I got the screener; will watch it this week. There's a superficiality to him that's attractive and frustrating -- he'd rather write and direct a light, darting little film than wring a situation dry. Under the Skin and Young & Beautiful are exceptions.

I probably need to see more of him, but I wasn't wild about Young & Beautiful or that one where Catherine Deneuve plays the housewife of a corrupt factory owner. Ricky was an interesting bit of magic realism, though.

Most of his films are on the breezy side of acceptable. I liked Potiche -- its conceit worked, but I've a weakness for Catherine Deneuve these days.

yea i generally like his stuff. water drops on burning rocks is a great fassbinder imitation, recall liking see the sea & 5x2 quite a lot also but my memory of each is a bit hazy

I didn't like Potiche

the Fassbinder adap was a good one and hardly light

New one is good. These days I don't think Almodovar could've handled the tone.

whens it come out

Already opened in some cities. Opens in South Florida on Friday.

Yeah, I liked it a lot.

Link not working.

Here.

Spuds interesting. Nice review too.

Sounds!

The first hour of The New Girlfriend is so delightful that its kind of a letdown when it starts taking some more conventional turns towards the end (and poor Gilles!), but it is by far the best Ozon that I've seen.

it's a lot of fun

not as much as i was expecting

The B&W Frantz, adapted from The Man He Killed and made into early Lubitsch talkie Broken Lullaby, is rather good.

His new film, Double Lover sounds like a (deliberately?) ludicrous merger of Hitchcock and the 90s "erotic thriller." Anyone seen it yet?

"Deliberately ludicrous" is the Ozon adverb-adjective leitmotif.

xpost Watched it a few months ago. Forgettable, I thought.

Just saw it, kinda felt like Ozon was confessing to the audience: "You might think my films are highbrow but actually they're very dumb. Enjoy!" The casting of the cats was excellent. When Bergman said the subject of cinema is faces, he meant these kitties.

By the Grace of God, about a Catholic priest pedophilia case in Lyons, is a fine film, distinguished by ecumenical (no pun intended) editing, a vigorously written screenplay, and a mixture of tones. It felt good to watch a film whose results met its ambitions.

Yeah, that is very spot on. Very fine. Not my favorite of the year or anything, but a pretty difficult story executed very well.

an acting showcase

...in the best sense

your boy has aged well

I seem to like Peter von Kant more than most responders, and I may "like" it more than the Fassbinder "original."