Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #107. Radioactive – Marjane Satrapi

Published on January 2, 2019

Radioactive

Marjane Satrapi continues to work in the English language with fifth feature, Radioactive, a UK production financed through Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title and co-produced through Paul Webster of Shoebox Films. A biopic of scientist Marie Curie, played by Rosamund Pike (following in the footsteps of Greer Garson, Isabelle Huppert and the 2016 production Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge, starring Karolina Gruszka), Satrapi’s Amazon Studios/Studiocanal film also features Sam Riley as Pierre Curie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Aneurin Barnard and Simon Russell Beale. Oscar winner Anthony Dod Mantle (2008’s Slumdog Millionaire) serves as cinematographer. Satrapi won the Jury Prize in Cannes for her 2007 debut Persepolis, which also won Cesars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best First Film. Her 2011 follow-up Chicken With Plums competed in Venice, while her 2014 English language debut The Voices (read review) premiered at Sundance.

Gist: Written by Jack Thorne (Wonder, 2017), Radioactive relays the scientific and romantic passions of Nobel prize winning scientists Marie and Pierre Curie.

Release Date/Prediction: Satrapi filmed in Budapest in early 2018. With Amazon behind the film, we expect Satrapi to potentially return to the Cannes competition for the first time in over a decade.

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.