Latest news with #MarcelPagnol
New Indian Express
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Sylvain Chomet: I don't believe that AI is going to replace the craft
English English Sylvain Chomet: I don't believe that AI is going to replace the craft The French filmmaker, comic writer, and animator Sylvain Chomet discusses the process of creating A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), an animated biopic of French icon Marcel Pagnol, the advantages of animation over live-action, and how artificial intelligence can never surpass the artist's creativity
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Despite Big Wins at Festivals, Female Crew Members Are Still Underrepresented in French Film Industry, Study Says
Despite significant wins at major film festivals and policies enforced by the National Film Board (CNC) aimed at boosting female representation behind the camera, male crew members still dominate the French film industry. A study conducted by the org Collectif 50/50 teams on 220 titles released in 2024 shows that the proportion of women in key below-the-line positions has remained mostly stagnant compared with 2023, and only rarely rose. More from Variety 'Brand New Landscape' Review: An Architect Has No Design for Family Life in a Quietly Affecting Japanese Drama 'A Magnificent Life' Review: A Treat for Marcel Pagnol Fans, Sylvain Chomet's Animated Biopic Seems Unlikely to Win Over the Uninitiated 1-2 Special Acquires North American Rights for Simón Mesa Soto's Cannes Award-Winner 'A Poet' (EXCLUSIVE) The only two fields where women lead in terms of representation are costume designers and casting directors with 90% and 80%, respectively. The org 50/50 says these 'jobs are historically perceived as feminine' and are therefore 'still overwhelmingly occupied by women. These are followed by editors with 50% of women, set designers with 47% (compared with 41% in 2023), music composers with 12% (compared with 8% in 2023), cinematographers with 13% (compared with 18% in 2023), music composers with 12% and sound engineers with 11%. While modest, the biggest year-on spike was seen in special effects where the number of female heads of department rose from 11% to 17% between 2023 and 2024. In above-the-line roles, women made up 26% of filmmakers (down two percent on 2023), 27% of producers and 34% of screenwriters (on par with 2023). The study also reveals that larger budgets are systematically allocated to men, even in fields that are mainly occupied by women. For instance, projects on which men are tapped as costume designers have 27% more budget, and projects on which women work as cinematographers and music composers have budgets 38% and 27% lower, respectively. The National Film Board has put in place, since 2019, a scheme to incite producers to hire female filmmakers, cinematographers and/or heads of production by giving them a bonus, on top of the regular subsidy that they receive from the CNC. But while the scheme sparked an uptick in female jobs in the first years after it launched, the proportion has since stagnated. Another recent study, presented by Annenberg's Dr. Stacy L. Smith and Katherine Pieper, for the 10-year anniversary of Kering's Women in Motion program showed that the number of women behind the camera had in fact skyrocketed from 8.3% in 2015 to 32.3% in 2024. In the U.S. it went from 8% to 16.2%, and in France it grew from 14.4% to 25.9%. Aside from these numbers, French female directors have highly visible at prominent film festivals in the last few years, with Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet winning the Palme d'Or, Coralie Fargeat winning best screenplay 'The Substance.' This year's Cannes festival was another strong showcase of female talent. The 78th edition kicked off with Amelie Bonnin's 'Leave One Day,' while Ducournau was back in competition this year with 'Alpha,' alongside with Hafsia Herzi's 'La Petite dernière' which saw rising actor Nadia Melliti receive the best actress award from Juliette Binoche's jury at Cannes. The festival also played films by Rebecca Zlotowski, 'Vie Privée,' playing out of competition, and Josephine Japy's 'The Wonderers' playing in Special Screening. The Collectif 50/50 has had a crucial role in getting international film festivals to sign a gender parity and diversity pledge starting with Cannes in 2018. As many as 156 festivals have now signed the of Variety All the Godzilla Movies Ranked Final Oscar Predictions: International Feature – United Kingdom to Win Its First Statuette With 'The Zone of Interest' 'Game of Thrones' Filming Locations in Northern Ireland to Open as Tourist Attractions
Observer
09-06-2025
- Observer
In Search of Anyplace but the ‘Most Charming Village in France'
I was finishing a monthlong book tour in France, traveling by train to new cities each night—many I'd never seen. Those 28 days revealed how much of France exists beyond Paris's allure. With four days before returning home, I decided to rent a car and take a spontaneous road trip through southern France. No plans, just the open road. I initially planned to go alone, but then I learned Stephen, an old friend, was also in France, finishing work in Marseille. I suggested we share the adventure. His wife, also a friend, wasn't with us, and there was no romantic motive—just two friends seeking a quiet escape. 'Two for the Road,' minus the love story. We started in Nice, picked up a car, and a local friend recommended we visit Èze, famous for its beauty. But Èze was swarmed with tourists: winding streets lined with shops selling soap and towels. I turned to Stephen. 'Let's avoid any place called the Most Charming French Village.' We headed north, aimless but eager for small moments—good, affordable food and unexpected sights. My goal was to feel like a character in a French film, though I wasn't sure which one. Soon, I saw a handmade sign reading 'Fromage' outside a farmhouse. Inside, a young woman looked like she'd stepped out of a Marcel Pagnol film, offering us chèvre. I asked about nearby bread; she pointed to a dirt road where cows ambled. No English, just locals, fresh cheese, and quiet charm. Later, we drove to Gorges du Verdon, a winding river between steep cliffs, bustling with birds. For about $10, we rented a paddleboard, swam, and ate cheese and bread. 'What about the Côte d'Azur?' Stephen proposed. Who was I to argue? In Villefranche-sur-Mer, we searched for Jean Cocteau's Chapel, famed for its frescoes. It was closed, so we swam near a small quay instead. A good road trip has no plan, and we embraced that. Around 6 p.m., we searched for Airbnb. Usually, I'd spend hours hunting, but I let go. We found a simple place and settled in. The novelist Joyce Maynards four-day road trip in the south of France was guided by pure spontaneity, which is how she ended up in Le Love Room. (Victoria Tentler-Krylov/The New York Times) 'A Dozen Oysters' Next morning, we wandered into a village market. For about 10 euros, I bought a dozen oysters and a glass of Muscadet. Alain, behind the stand, handed me the oysters with flair, saying 'vive la France.' They might've been the best I'd ever had. He even sang as he shucked the second dozen. Stephen glanced at his watch. Sometimes we had plans, then abandoned them. I wanted to see the Calanques near Cassis, but instead, swam and relaxed on rocks, napping in the sun. We made a quick stop in Marseille at Maison Empereur, a historic hardware store. I wanted vintage bulbs and cast iron for cooking, but I only bought a feather duster, a pink hot water bottle, and some French jokes. Le Love Room Later, in Fayence—a quiet, charming town—the name evoked images of still-life paintings, but the town was peaceful. Flowers spilled from stone houses; fields stretched beyond. No tourists—just locals and one Airbnb: Le Love Room. After booking, Stephen suggested dinner. The only open restaurant was Les Temps des Cerises, a cozy bistro crowded with locals. We ordered house wine, foie gras with Calvados, and coq au vin—perfectly prepared. Walking back, we passed an elderly woman leaning out her window with her cat, smiling and greeting us. We returned her wave. Our Airbnb was in an old stone building. Climbing the narrow, steep stairs, we entered Le Love Room, dimly lit with red bulbs. Inside, hooks held whips. The decor was eccentric but spotlessly clean. A machine offered condoms and accessories. The owner thought of everything. Stephen and I settled for the night—he in the bed, I on a leather couch. I laid out my toothbrush; he pulled out his book. Just two friends, calling it a night. The next morning, we returned the car early, heading for Charles de Gaulle. Passing the same woman in her window with her cat, I waved, but she didn't respond. 'She probably knows where we spent the night,' I said. We quickly looked away. Stephen laughed. 'I'll tell my wife I was just sightseeing,' he said as we headed back out on the road—our brief, surprising escape from the 'Most Charming Village in France' confirmed: sometimes, the best moments happen without a plan. —NYT
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘A Magnificent Life' Review: Sylvain Chomet's Beautifully Animated but Clumsily Scripted Love Letter to Marcel Pagnol
A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), a biopic of French playwright-filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, clearly represents a labor of love for writer-director Sylvain Chomet. His first animated feature since 2010's The Illusionist, it features the gorgeous style first showcased in 2003's award-winning The Triplets of Belleville. If its storytelling proves more rudimentary, hewing closely to the stylistic formula endemic to the genre, the ample visual pleasures prove their own reward. Premiering at Cannes, the film should find appreciative audiences in its native France, where its subject is best known. The story, told in flashback, begins in 1956 Paris, where the 61-year-old Pagnol (voiced by Matthew Gravelle in the English-language version) is despairing that his work has gone out of fashion. Although he intends to give up writing to pursue his hobby of inventing (he's working on a perpetual-motion machine), he's asked by a magazine editor to pen a memoir. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Peak Everything' Review: Piper Perabo Headlines a Cute Canadian Rom-Com Imbued With Very Timely Anxieties Rebel Wilson Responds to Latest 'The Deb' Controversy as Legal Dispute Leaves Film in Limbo 'My Father's Shadow' Review: First-Ever Nigerian Film at Cannes Is an Elegant and Stirring Ode to Lagos 'Memoir? You'd need a memory for that,' a dubious Pagnol responds. Nonetheless, aided by his younger self, who magically appears to jog his recollections, Pagnol begins to recount his life, starting with his early years in Marseille and the death of his mother when he was still a teenager. He moves to Paris as a young man to pursue a career as a playwright, the decision amusingly signaled by a promotional travel video for the City of Lights ('a mere 15 hours from Marseille' by train, it promises). Although his early efforts are flops, he eventually finds success with such plays as Jazz and Topaze, the latter resulting in his disapproving father finally accepting his career choice. He hearkens back to his native city with another hit, Marius, which becomes the first of his works to be adapted for the screen. Pagnol initially resists the idea of making movies, which Chomet cleverly dramatizes in the form of a mock silent film. But the advent of talkies, and a trip to London where he's enthralled by a screening of The Broadway Melody, convince him otherwise. Soon he's rhapsodizing about the stylistic freedom afforded by cinema, in another superbly designed sequence that illustrates those visual devices. More pictures follow, including such hits as 1932's Fanny, with clips from several of them woven into the animated proceedings. A Magnificent Life also delves deeply into Pagnol's patriotism and love of French cinema, illustrating such episodes as his refusal to work for the Nazis during the German occupation and his later advocacy for taxing American films to prevent them from dominating local culture. Pagnol's personal life is explored as well, including his marriage to actress Jacqueline Bouvier, for whom he wrote Manon of the Spring, and the tragic death of their young daughter. He's also shown mourning the death of his close friend Raimu, who starred in several of his works. Chomet's screenplay doesn't fully succeed in its blend of surreal whimsy, such as talking animals, and detailed depiction of its subject's life and career. There are times when A Magnificent Life gets too heavily into the weeds, attempting to cover so many biographical bases that it loses narrative momentum. But the stylistic imagination and beautiful, hand-drawn animation on display more than make up for its awkward storytelling, and it ultimately emerges as a loving tribute to an important figure in French culture. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sylvain Chomet Won't Be Using AI Anytime Soon
For French animation auteur Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist), storytelling has always lived in the space between silence and song. 'Most of my work so far has been silent movies, I didn't really do much with dialogue,' he says. But for his latest project — A Magnificent Life, a fully animated biopic of pioneering French screenwriter and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, which Sony Pictures Classics will release stateside — Chomet brings one of cinema's great voices back to life. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Wild Foxes' Review: Budding French Star Samuel Kircher Jabs His Way Through a Tough Yet Tender Debut Boxing Drama Cannes: 'Militantropos' Directors on Identity and the Limits of Art: "The War Has Become Part of Us" Cannes: Salty Pictures Sets Martial Arts Drama '8 Limbed Dragon,' Starring UFC Fighter Jingliang Li (Exclusive) Pagnol revolutionized film dialogue, bringing literary sophistication and realism to the screen at a time, in the early sound era, when producers feared the spoken word. He also brought regional realism, having his actors speak in the broad Marseilles dialect of his hometown, unheard of at the time. Pagnol transformed the style of European cinema by taking the camera outdoors, inspiring Italian neorealism and the Nouvelle Vague. His proposal to tax the profits on American films and use the money to fund local productions led to the creation of France's film board, the CNC, and was the foundation of the country's still vital and still competitive national industry. Chomet spoke to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the Cannes Film Festival special screening premiere of A Magnificent Life on Saturday, about Pagnol's legacy, the challenge of dialogue and translation, and what the late master would think of Trump's tariffs proposals. When did you first discover Marcel Pagnol's work? When I was at school. I don't remember the year, but I was quite young, 10 or 11 years old. At that time, we had La Gloire de mon père [My Father's Glory] and Le Château de ma mère [My Mother's Castle] as part of the regular school curriculum. That's not the case anymore, which I think is a shame. I didn't really like reading much, because my medium was drawing. I preferred watching films or reading comics. But I read a small book from Pagnol and I really, really loved it. He's writing is magical. The style is strong but really clear. He's a bit like Mozart—it feels easy, simple, but it's so clear. I really fell in love with this book, and it made me want to read more… Later on I discovered he was the guy who wrote and directed [1931 French comedy classic] Marius, and so I felt his presence. Did his work directly inspire you as a filmmaker? I'm not sure about that. I don't think so, because most of my work was silent movies… I didn't have many opportunities to make any talking movies. The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist were really silent. I liked his work, I liked his films, but it's difficult to tell if they made me want to make films or inspired me. I think it became part of my DNA. It's only when you go back to it later on, that you realize how great his style was, how amazing his stories were and how much it has shaped you. How did the idea for a biopic come about? It was basically when I met Nicolas Pagnol, the grandson of Marcel Pagnol. He was with a producer, Charlène Poirier, and his wife, Valérie. They wanted me to do a documentary on Marcel Pagnol, and I was interested because I'd never done a documentary. So I wrote a documentary based on the archive material. But these people, I think, had a secret plan to make me do an animated film. They started asking me to do little bits of animation, to substitute for parts of the story that we didn't have archive material for. I'd show them the little animated sequences and they said: 'That's what everyone wants.' S So I threw everything away and made a biopic all in animation, using the archive material. Nicola had access to everything from his grandfather, and he had some texts, some poems, things never been published and not even seen by anybody, which I could use. The script is very much in Pagnol's voice. And we used clips from his films together with the animation, which is something I've done before in my films. We have a clip of an unfinished film that was supposed to have been destroyed, but they found the fragment recently and we put it in. It's never been seen before. Pagnol was an inventor and always on the cutting edge of technology. If he were alive today, would he be embracing AI? He really loved technology. He was a bit of an engineer—very good with his hands, making little machines. But I'm not sure he would have liked working with a tool supposed to be more intelligent than he is. I think he would have been horrified by the idea of using AI to do voices. Dialogue and dialects were so important to him. And I think we should be horrified. I'm doing animation, and the tools are different. I don't use paper anymore, I work with a computer screen. But everything is still drawn, still painted, with these digital tools. The work I'm doing hasn't changed much from what Walt Disney was doing in the 1950s. We use our hands to draw. I've been trying to use some AI for development, and I'm not really satisfied with it. I'd prefer to take out a pencil and paper and work my ideas out that way. I don't feel frightened by AI. I mean, if people believe to be creative, you need a superior being to help you, fine. But I don't see what kind of joy you have in creation when you need to have a superior being to help you. I don't see what kind of joy you have in creating that way. And that's what creation should be: Joy. You directed both French and English versions of the film. How did you handle the differences? There were a few little tweaks. In the original, Pagnol is an English teacher. In English, he's a Latin teacher, which he also was, because it works better than having an English teacher in an English-speaking film. The main challenge was the accents. For the Parisians, we used Cockney, but were really scratching our heads to find the equivalent of the Marseille accent in English. We tried speaking English with a Marseille accent, but it sounded Italian. It was really bizarre. We needed a language that had the same sing-song sound to it as the Marseille accent does. The first thing I thought of was Welsh, because they have a real singing accent as well. And it works really well. What impact do you think Pagnol had on cinema? For dialogues, he really gave birth to a style. His use of realism inspired Italian neorealism and the Nouvelle Vague. He was one of the first to take the camera outside the studio. The opening of Fanny (1932), with Orane Demazis walking through the streets of Marseille, was shot from the trunk of a car with a hidden camera. That inspired the Nouvelle Vague to take their cameras outside. Pagnol also helped shape film policy in France by introducing essentially a tariff on American films. What do you think he'd say to Trump's idea of a ? Yes, it's interesting. Pagnol did suggest this idea, to put a tariff on American cinema. He wasn't any sort of nationalist, quite the opposite, but he knew how important, how powerful, cinema was, and he was scared of what it could do. Remember, he had seen how the Nazis used cinema. The Nazis even tried to get him to join them to make a European cinema, which would have been a Nazi cinema. After the war, he realized France was in chaos and Hollywood was producing really strong, really life-changing films: Color movies, panoramic films. He knew that unless there was a way to ensure the French industry could carry on making French movies, American movies would invade and take over the cinema. He didn't want to censor American films, because we aren't Russia. Instead, he decided to tax American movies, not when they come in, but on the profit they make, and use that money to subsidize French movies. He essentially created the CNC. We're the only country that did that, and that's probably the reason why there is still a very strong French cinema today. What's next for you, another dialogue-packed feature? No! My next film will be completely silent again. I'm doing a sort of spin-off of The Triplets of Belleville, but this time without the bicycles. There's a cat now. It's more about the triplets—the big, tall ladies. There'll be lots of music but no dialogue. I'm going to start storyboarding very soon, within a month or so, and we're going to use the same team as we did with Pagnol. I wrote the story at the same time as Triplets, 25 years ago now, so it's fresh from my early mind. It's completely bonkers. Back to the roots. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
