Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #22. Stéphane Brizé’s Une Vie

Published on January 12, 2016

Une Vie

Director: Stéphane Brizé
Writers: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon

Following his critically acclaimed The Measure of Man, which took home a Best Actor award for Vincent Lacoste at 2015, Stéphane Brizé has quickly moved onto his next project, an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant with Une Vie (One Life). Once again, Brizé re-teams with co-writer Vignon (Mademoiselle Chambon, A Few Hours of Spring) to adapt a tale centered on a hypersensitive woman unaccustomed the world’ cruelty. In essence, this sounds quite similar to Measure, but from a feminine perspective. Brizé often fleshes out characters and scenarios set within the confines of the working class, often to very eloquent effect. While Lacoste (who has starred in his last three features) is not returning this time, Brizé casts notables such as Yolande Moreau, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Jalil Lespert.

Cast: Yolande Moreau, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Jalil Lespert

Production Co./Producers:TS Productions’ Milena Poylo and Gilles Sacuto, Versus Productions

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. TBD (domestic) Diaphan Films (international).

Release Date: With filming underway, we’re assuming Brizé has his eyes on returning to the Cannes lineup following his success in 2015.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.