Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #187. Martin Provost’s Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe

Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe

A French filmmaker who offers comfort food portraits, for his eighth outing Martin Provost enlisted the likes of Vincent Macaigne, Cécile de France, Stacy Martin, Anouk Grinberg, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet and André Marcon for what is a historical romance biopic. Production on Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe began in August of last year and saw Provost re-team with his How to Be a Good Wife (2020) cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman.  François Kraus and Denis Pineau-Valencienne produced the project. Provost is best known for 2008’s Seraphine — Best Film at the 2009 César Awards (French Oscars).

Gist: This revolves around Pierre Bonnard who wouldn’t be the well-known painter he is today if it weren’t for the enigmatic Marthe who features in more than a third of his works. Maria Boursin, alias Marthe de Méligny, was posing as a ruined Italian aristocrat on the day they fell madly in love with one another. Little did she know that she would soon become the mainstay of a gigantic body of work, which is now considered to be one of the most significant from the beginning of the 20th century.

Release Date/Prediction: This could choose to go the non-festival route or drop at a fest like Locarno or Toronto.