Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #48. Emily Atef’s Plus que jamais

Published on January 11, 2022

Plus que jamais (More Than Ever)

Having worked on several television projects since competing for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival with 2018’s 3 Days in Quiberon, German-French-Iranian filmmaker Emily Atef headed to existential Scandi terrain with a lovely quartet of Euro actors for her next feature. Co-written by Lars Hubrich, Plus que jamais (More Than Ever) is coined as a melodrama toplined by very busy Vicky Krieps and Gaspard Ulliel and supported by Jesper Christensen and Liv Ullmann. Production began in April for two months in Bordeaux, and in Norway, and Michel Franco’s usual cinematographer Yves Cape (Sundown) was onboard. This is produced by Eaux Vives Productions’ Xénia Maingot and co-produced by Niko Film’s Nicole Gerhards, Samsa Film’s Jani Thiltges and Mer Film’s Maria Ekerhovd.

Gist: The film follows Hélène, a 33-year-old women who lives in Bordeaux, France, and is in a happy relationship. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she finds out that she suffers from a rare lung disease. After discovering Norway through a blog, Helene decides to leave everything behind and embarks on a trip across Europe all the way to Norway to find a new path.

Release Date/Prediction: This will likely receive an invite for a return trip to the Berlinale’s competition section.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include 1976 (Manuela Martelli), Godland (Hlynur Pálmason), Corsage (Marie Kreutzer), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen).