The film's trailer comes across as slightly over the top, a little zany, and perfectly suited for mainstream audiences, and I'm liking the whole 70's, feminist vibe, hairdos and knitted sweaters.
Strand Releasing are once again teaming up with the prolific French filmmaker (they last worked with Francois Ozon on Time to Leave). Plans are for a Spring release. Looking back on this title, I wouldn't call it your typical comeback moment for Ozon, but sometimes a simple, one note number can make waves and Le Refuge certainly did back at Fall film festivals such as San Sebastian and Toronto.
Mousse and Louis are young, beautiful, rich and in love. But drugs have invaded their lives. One day they overdose, and Louis dies. Mousse survives, but soon learns she’s pregnant. Feeling lost, she runs away to a house far from Paris. Several months later, Louis’ brother joins her in her refuge.
Coming off the recent, critically well-received, smaller in scale Le Refuge (a drama that initially is conceived as an addiction drama but is better labeled as a film about yearning and loneliness, François Ozon has commenced shooting his 12th feature titled Potiche.
Despite an unusually slow weekend for all U.S. indie releases not from Fox Searchlight, imports like Potiche from director Francois Ozon saw great success. The film starring Gerard Depardieu (and a Catherine Deneuve who hit the late night talk show circuit) made a promising $12,143 average in 7 locations. Distributor Music Box Films will likely continue to bank on Depardieu/Deneuve’s star power as it slowly expands into other markets around the country.
What do Juan Antonio Bayona, Bernardo Bertolucci, Guillermo del Toro, Ken Loach, Jacques Audiard, François Ozon and Wong Kar-Wai have in common? They all got their starts at the far-end of the Croisette in the smallest of the sections called Critic's Week. The section specializes in mostly first time, and sometimes sophomore films from new talent.