French minister sparks controversy by appearing – clothed – on the cover of Playboy

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the poster for the 76th edition featuring none other than Gallic cinema icon Catherine Deneuve. The black and white photo pictures the noted performer in the film “La Chamade” (Heartbeat), directed by Alain Cavalier. Shot in 1968 on Pampelonne beach, near Saint-Tropez, the film stars Deneuve as Lucile, who the festival describes as living a “worldly and superficial life, tinged with ease and a taste for luxury. Her heart beats frantically, hurriedly, passionately.” The festival called her “an embodiment of cinema, far from what is conventional or appropriate. Without compromise and always in tune with her convictions, even if it means going against the grain of the times,” recalling that Deneuve has been the muse of filmmakers including Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Marco Ferreri, Manoel de Oliveira, André Téchiné, Emmanuelle Bercot and Arnaud Desplechin.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A flamboyant man who was once a sales clerk, singer, actor, sports impresario, business mogul and government minister, Bernard Tapie led a rollercoaster life wilder than most fictional characters depicted in pop culture, even those created by Martin Scorsese. No wonder that it took a decade for Tristan Seguela and Olivier Demangel to create and pen “Tapie,” a Netflix original series charting the swaggering man’s epic rise, from his blue-collar origins to his glorious days as a wealthy businessman and president of one of France’s biggest soccer clubs, Olympique de Marseille. The limited series tells intimate parts of his life, including his relationship with loved ones and business partners, as well as some of his setbacks and legal problems. Tapie died in 2021.

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Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French director Catherine Corsini was meant to be the seventh female director in competition at the 72nd edition of Cannes with her film “Le Retour” (The Return). But her competition slot is on hold for now after news broke about several alleged inappropriate incidents during filming. The night before the press conference on April 13, Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux confirmed to the director that she would have a competition slot, but shortly before the start of the announcement, the festival’s administration board decided to hold off on including the title as part of the lineup. The delay came after the board discovered that Corsini was allegedly being accused of harassment by crew members, while other members of the crew had been allegedly been accused of inappropriate acts against two female actors, according to French reports. Fremaux told Variety the “administration board wished to gather more information about the situation around the film before taking a decision on whether to include the film in its Official Selection.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix has swooped on “Vortex,” the event drama-fantasy series which recently launched on France Televisions and garnered stellar ratings. The limited series will be available on Netflix in 190 countries starting June 2. The mini-series was produced by Quad Drama, the banner behind “Women at War” and “The Bonfire of Destiny” — a pair of highly successful shows which were jointly commissioned by Netflix and TF1. Set in 2025, the show stars Sisley as Ludovic, the police captain in the French city of Brest who lost the love of his life, Melanie, 27 years prior in a tragic accident. 

Ed Meza @edmezavar CJ ENM Sells Remake Rights to hit Korean Drama ‘Train’ to Firebrand Studios The U.K.’s Firebird Studios has acquired remake rights for hit Korean drama “Train” from entertainment giant CJ ENM. “Train” follows a detective investigating his love’s death who discovers a parallel universe, where his late partner is very much alive. Moving back and forth between the two worlds, he tracks down the truth behind her death in one, while protecting her in the other. “With two unforgettable central characters, ‘Train’ is a love story, a detective show, a journey across the multiverse,” said Firebird Pictures CEO Elizabeth Kilgariff. It’s “a story that defies expectations at every turn and one that we can’t wait to re-tell in a British setting.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Eco-thriller “The Swarm,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, has been acquired in the U.K. by pay-TV operator Sky. Negotiations with a U.S. partner are in the final stages. The show, produced by multiple Primetime Emmy award winner and “Game of Thrones” executive producer Frank Doelger and NDF IP’s managing director Eric Welbers, is set to play on the Sky Max channel in the U.K. later this year. “The Swarm” scored huge ratings in Germany on ZDF and on Austria’s ORF. In Germany, it attracted up to 10 million views per episode (linear and catch-up combined), multiple prime time wins, and big successes within the younger target group (between the ages of 14-49).

The second edition of the French Comedy Club unfolds at the Lumière Cinéma in Beverly Hills this weekend.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Once pitted againsteach other as rivals, streamers and broadcasters have become unlikely allies in the face of increased competition and economic pressure following the pandemic and the launch of more content viewing platforms.  Even in France, where Netflix was referred to as the “devil” by France Televisions president Delphine Ernotte Cunci in a 2019 interview, the tide has turned and a number of ambitious series have been jointly financed by both local broadcasters and streamers.  Examples of collaborations vary from period drama series such as “The Bonfire of Destiny” and “Women at War,” from TF1 and Netflix, to action series like Ziad Doueiri’s “Dark Hearts,” from  France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video. What do these shows have in common? They shot in French with local casts, and have the high budgets and production values that are typically allocated to international co-productions like “Marie Antoinette,” which shot in English and was produced with French and foreign TV partners. 

Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux unveiled the bulk of the Official Selection for the 76th edition of the festival at a packed press conference in Paris on Thursday morning.

dropped some stunning new for her Instagram followers to bring to their next nail appointments. The nails in question, which she shared on April 12, were a black and seemingly textured twist on the .The “About Damn Time” singer shared her new manicure in an Instagram post celebrating the one-year anniversary of her shapewear brand, Yitty. In the short video, Lizzo blew out a candle on a cake decorated with a picture of her face.

French fashion house Saint Laurent is moving into the world of cinema with an official production banner headed by house creative director Anthony Vaccarello.

Netflix has announced a remake of the 1950s French classic The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la Peur), in a production reuniting the platform with action-thriller maestro Julien Leclercq.

Playboy, and the timing hasn’t gone down well with some of her fellow politicians. Marlene Schiappa, who is the current minister for the social economy and French associations, took part in a shoot for the magazine and gave an interview highlighting women’s rights and LGBTQ+ issues. Schiappa has been vocal in campaigning for gender equality during her time in politics and led the way on a French law banning cat-calling and the harassment of women.

One of pop's greatest recent mysteries - the sudden and very surprising split of Daft Punk two years - has now been solved. Kind of.

PARIS (Reuters) - French junior social affairs minister Marlene Schiappa is facing criticism from her own party for posing in a white dress for the cover of Playboy, with French media reporting Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called Schiappa to express her displeasure. The furor comes at a time of social unrest in the country as the government is facing a big backlash over pension reforms.

Gerald Darmanin has defended Marlene Schiappa's playboy cover photoshoot. The minister for the social economy was fully clothed for the shoot for the April edition of the magazine in France.

Marlene Schiappa will be on the cover of the French edition of the magazine fully clothed and has given an interview to the publication on women’s rights and LGBTQ+ issues. Ms Shiappa, who is the current minister for the social economy and French associations, has long campaigned for gender equality and spearheaded a French law banning cat-calling and the harassment of women. Her decision has prompted criticism from politicians in France as the country is rocked by widespread unrest at president Emmanual Macron’s reforms to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

A French government minister will appear on the front cover of Playboy magazine. Marlene Schiappa, who is minister for social economy and associations in Emmanuel Macron's government, will feature fully clothed alongside a 12-page interview in the French edition of the magazine. Her decision to appear on the cover has been criticised by fellow politicians who are currently facing a huge backlash over Mr Macron's pension reforms.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Cinema, as an artform, relies on two tools — sight and sound — to fool us into believing that all five of our senses are being stimulated. That makes Léa Mysius’ more-intriguing-than-successful supernatural thriller, “The Five Devils,” a very curious animal indeed, since it focuses on a young girl with an exceptionally strong sense of smell, a phenomenon its director can show but never properly reproduce. Eight-year-old Vicky (Sally Dramé) would be right at home as one of the young mutants in an “X-Men” movie, so hypersensitive are her olfactory skills. A future perfume designer perhaps, the frizzy-haired kid spends her free time collecting odoriferous scraps from her life and environment and storing them in neatly labeled jars. When her mother Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos) discovers Vicky’s gift during a walk in the woods, she blindfolds her daughter and tries to hide under a pile of wet leaves. Sniffing the air, Vicky manages to locate Joanne almost immediately.