‘Rain’ in Long Term Forecast for IFC

More times thas not, if it’s a drama and comes with subtitles we can expect either SPC or IFC Films to duke it out for domestic rights. Fresh from its NYFF premiere, IFC has picked up the North American rights to Let it Rain (Parlez-moi de la pluie) for a 2009 multi-platform release.  

Co-written by Jean-Pierre Bacri and Jaoui, this sees Agathe Villanova (Jaoui), a feminist with a role on the political scene, returns for ten days to her family home, in the South of France, to help her sister, Florence, to set their deceased mother’s affairs in order. In that house, Florence lives with her husband and their children, but also with Mimouna, the housekeeper who came to France with Villanova family when they left Algeria, in the moment of independence. Mimouna’s son, Karim (Jamel Debbouze), and his friend Michel Ronsard (Bacri) decide to make a documentary on Agathe Villanova, for a collection dedicated to the women who became successful.

Though their last picture Look at Me (Comme une Image) didn’t fully win me over, I wrote “Heavy in a delicious dialogue, yet somewhat empty in true character development, Comme Une Image is a marathon ran by an ensemble of equally unlikable characters, where salacious suffering is kept in full view“, it did manage to win Best Screenplay award at Cannes in 04′. Oddly, the Jaoui/Bacri combo didn’t receive a festival slot this year, instead StudioCanal brought it to the Cannes market. I wonder if this says anything about the effectiveness of the comedy.