Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #147. Curiosa – Lou Jeunet

Published on January 1, 2019

Curiosa

French director Lou Jeunet makes her directorial debut with Curiosa, produced by Olivier Delbosc for Curiosa Films. Lensed by Simon Roca (9 Fingers, 2017), Jeunet’s project stars Niels Schneider, Noemie Merlant, Camelia Jordana, Amira Casar, Mathilde Warnier and Benjamin Lavernhe. Jeunet has directed several television features over the past two decades (she got her big break via François Truffaut’s scribe Claude de Givray landing her Tout ce qui Brille with Annie Girardot and Isabelle Carré) and she recently worked as an assistant to Robin Campillo on BPM. Curiosa is her first stint behind the camera since 2004.

Gist: Written by Jeunet and Raphaelle Desplechin, Curiosa is set against the backdrop of the erotic photography scene of Belle Epoque Paris, Niels Schneider plays a Parisian dandy and poet who flees briefly to Algeria after the provocative and wilful love of his life Marie de Heredia (Noémie Merlant) marries his best friend Henri De Régnier because he has a better social standing. There, Pierre meets the bewitching Zohar with whom he shares a passion for erotic photography.

Release Date/Prediction: Jeunet completed production on Curiosa during the summer of 2017. With an April release date pegged in France, we expect to see this to land at Tribeca.

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.