Music Box Madly in Love with Fabrice Du Welz’s “Alleluia”

Definitely in the Godfather: Part II category of films where the second instalment might be the jewel of a proposed trio of films, Fabrice Du Welz’s Ardennes trilogy which began with The Ordeal and was seconded with Alleluia, frankly one of the best films to come out of Cannes this year, and perhaps the best item in the Directors’ Fortnight — has been picked up by the Music Box Films folks. We imagine this will spend more time on the fest circuit before its eventual theatrical release.

Gist: The film revolves around real-life 1940s serial killers and lovers Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez – known as “the honeymoon killers’ — who went on a frenzied killing spree across the US.

Worth Noting: Lola Dueñas is spectacular here – she worked on four Pedro Almodóvar films.

Do We Care? The IONCINEMA.com Cannes team of Nicholas, Blake and I, were pretty much in agreeance on Du Welz’s output here. In his 4 1/2 star review, Nicholas wrote, “his is a demonic hymnal of passion, a darkly droll exercise in the delusory notion of love as an unhealthy obsession told with aggressive flourish. But at its prominent dark heart is an utterly captivating performance from Spanish actress Lola Duenas.”