Belle Epoque Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Back in 2009, Yorgos Lanthimos led the so-called Greek Weird Wave with the Oscar-nominated Dogtooth, an unsettling exploration of a family of teenagers kept from the world by their father in a gated estate that they could never leave. The family is rich, so they can have anything they want except the wide world and their freedom; even sex can be bought in. 

A preliminary investigation into accusations of rape and sexual assault against popular French actor and director Nicolas Bedos has been opened by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.

Popular French actor and director Nicolas Bedos is reported have spent 24 hours in police custody in Paris from Wednesday to Thursday following a complaint against him for sexual assault and faces a court hearing in 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Acclaimed Chinese auteur filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke has set “We Shall Be All” as his next feature directing project. It is his first in the five years since his “Ash Is Purest White,” which premiered in Cannes in 2018. Describing the project as a “dismantling of dystopia,” Jia says that the new film is set across the first two decades of the 21st century and tells the story of how a Chinese woman lives to herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Epoque with songs and dance. Some 22 years in the making, the film’s first elements were shot as far back as 2001. The balance will be filmed later this year. No release schedule has been indicated.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights to the animated feature They Shot the Piano Player for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within the aforementioned territories. The film from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, two of the directors behind the Oscar-nominated animated feature Chico and Rita, is set up for a fall awards push from SPC.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has closed major deals on Martin Provost’s “Bonnard, Pierre And Marthe” ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Slated for Cannes Premiere, the period film revolves around the colorful relationship and epic love between renowned French painters Pierre and Marthe Bonnard who are played by Vincent Macaigne (“Irma Vep”) and Cecile de France (“Lost Illusions”). The film has been pre-sold by Memento International to key distributors in Italy (I Wonder), Canada (Sphère Films), Latin America (California Filmes), South Korea (AUD), Taiwan (Flash Forward), Airlines (Skeye), Poland (Hagi), Hungary (Vertigo), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Czech Republic (Cinemart), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Ex-Yugoslavia (Demiurg).

Spanish auteur Fernando Trueba has wowed the cinema world over the years, and he has the accolades to prove it. He’s won three Goya Awards for Best Director, a Silver Bear for 1986’s “Year Of Enlightenment,” and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1994 with “Belle Époque.” Now, Trueba’s 2020 drama “Memories Of My Father” finally gets its US theatrical release after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled its premieres at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent The dream child of 10 Basque businessmen who hoped to prolong San Sebastián’s summer season into late September, the San Sebastian Film Festival was born on Sept. 21, 1953.  Presented by bullfighter Mario Cabré, who romanced Ava Gardner, and comprising just 19 films, won by “La guerra de Dios,” directed by Rafael Gil., rescued from a potential Republican firing squad by Luis Buñuel not so many years before. Fireworks, bullfights and quayside parties regaled the film week. From that first edition remain the beauty and gastronomy of San Sebastian, a Belle Epoque resort boasting the spectacular white-sand Concha Bay, steep-backed hills, an old quarter of higgeldy-piggeldy streets and a trio of three-star Michelin restaurants. 70 years later, San Sebastián still stuns.     

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba (“La Belle Époque,” “The Queen of Spain”). The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September. The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “History of a Pleasure Seeker” pilot is not moving forward and will not be be picked up to series at Hulu, Variety has learned exclusively. The show was first ordered to pilot at the streaming service back in March 2022. It was based on the Richard Mason novel of the same name. Per the official logline, the show was a musical drama “set in Amsterdam in 1907, a tale of a charismatic young man’s explosive adventures through all the temptations of the Belle Époque.” The cast for the pilot included Carla Woodcock, Callum Kerr, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Olumide Olorunfemi, and Bebe Bettencourt. “History of a Pleasure Seeker” was based on the Richard Mason novel of the same name. Mason adapted the novel for the screen and also served as an executive producer. Julie Anne Robinson directed and executive produced the pilot. Christopher Read executive produced in addition to serving as composer. Fremantle executive produced along with Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick Productions and Michael Gracey. ABC Signature was the studio behind the pilot.

EXCLUSIVE: Crystal Hu is joining the Hulu musical pilot History of a Pleasure Seeker.

EXCLUSIVE: Ato Blankson-Wood, star of Jeremy O. Harris’ Broadway show Slave Play, is the latest star added to Hulu’s musical pilot History of a Pleasure Seeker.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucifer’s Lesley-Ann Brandt is joining Hulu musical pilot History of a Pleasure Seeker.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentPathé and Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, have unveiled the first stills of their sprawling $75 million two-part European film based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady.”The companies will present a 15-minute promo reel at Cannes. Directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Eiffel”), the two ‘Musketeers’ films are currently completing principal photography after more than 140 days of shooting at prestigious French landmarks, including the Louvre Palace, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Castles of Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fort la Latte and Chantilly, as well as the citadel of Saint-Malo and the historic city center of Troyes.

Moulin Rouge windmill — which will be available to rent for the first time in history. Located on the edge of the tourist-favorite Montmartre neighborhood near Pigalle, the cabaret (whose name in English translates to Red Mill) is considered the home of the French can-can — a number that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s.According to the Airbnb listing, “guests will experience a peek behind the velvet curtains of the fabled landmark, including backstage access to the theater, a traditional French three-course meal, the best seats during the Moulin Rouge’s acclaimed show Féerie and an overnight stay inside the iconic windmill.” But if the crazy low price of just a buck to stay in one of the world’s most iconic properties sounds too good to be true that’s because it is.

Hulu pilot History Of A Pleasure Seeker continues to add to its cast.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe Hulu musical drama pilot “History of a Pleasure Seeker” has added Olumide Olorunfemi and Bebe Bettencourt to its cast, Variety has learned.The pair join previously announced cast members Carla Woodcock and Callum Kerr in the pilot, which is based on the Richard Mason novel of the same name.“History of a Pleasure Seeker” is set in Amsterdam in 1907 and tells the tale of a charismatic young man’s explosive adventures through all the temptations of the Belle Époque.Olorunfemi will play Sisanda, a Xhosa woman raised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. She’s used to being the most admired young lady in her village. She did not imagine she’d spend her life cleaning other people’s floors.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAlain Goldman, the well-respected French producer of “La Vie en rose” who’s just joined forces with Banijay, has teamed up with Amazon Prime Video on “Alphonse,” a humor-laced series by Nicolas Bedos (“La Belle Epoque”)The high-concept Prime original series is based on an original idea by Jean Dujardin, the Oscar-winning actor of “The Artist,” and Bedos. It marks the TV debut of Bedos, the Cesar-winning filmmaker of “Monsieur & Madame Adelman” and “La Belle Epoque,” which played out of competition at Cannes in 2019 and sold worldwideDujardin will star alongside Pierre Arditi (“La Belle Epoque”), Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Antichrist,” “Samba”) and Nicole Garcia (“Lupin”).

Carla Woodcock and Callum Kerr are starring in Hulu pilot History Of A Pleasure Seeker.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterCarla Woodcock and Callum Kerr are set to star in the Hulu pilot “History of a Pleasure Seeker,” Variety has learned.The project is described as a a musical drama set in Amsterdam in 1907, a tale of a charismatic young man’s explosive adventures through all the temptations of the Belle Époque.Woodcock will play Constance, the most magnetic girl in Amsterdam and the undisputed queen of the city’s gilded youth. Kerr will play Piet, tutor to a very troubled child and an extreme empath, with the confidence to back himself against the odds.

EXCLUSIVE: Hulu has handed a pilot order to History of a Pleasure Seeker, a one-hour musical drama based on Richard Mason’s novel of the same name. Mason is adapting his book himself with Bridgerton director Julie Anne Robinson helming the pilot and exec producing.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe Cannes Film Festival will close its 74th edition with “OSS 117: From Africa With Love,” the third opus of the spy spoof franchise headlined by Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”). The movie is directed by Nicolas Bedos, the popular French director whose last film, “La Belle Epoque,” world premiered out of competition at Cannes in 2019.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNicolas Bedos, the French writer-director behind the Cannes-premiering “La Belle Epoque,” is set to direct “Mascarade,” a French Riviera-set drama-comedy with Isabelle Adjani, Pierre Niney and Francois Cluzet.The ambitious film boasts a significant budget of €14 million ($17 million) and is bring produced by Francois Kraus and Denis Pineau-Valencienne at Les Films du Kiosque, and Pathé.

Having scored an Oscar for Spain with Belle Epoque in 1994, director Fernando Trueba returns to the International Feature Film race with a Colombian entry. Memories Of My Father (aka El Olvido Que Seremos) strikes a similarly nostalgic note to Belle Epoque, but focuses on familial love. Based on Héctor Abad Faciolince’s memoirs, it’s adapted by the director’s own brother, David Trueba: an apt familial collaboration.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn June 2019, Colombian artist Doris Salcedo set up an exhibition, Quebrantos, in Bogota’s main Bolivar Square, opposite Colombia’s parliament, and wrote in broken glass the names of 165 activists killed since – not before – Colombia’s peace agreement in 2016. “If we forgot them, if we don’t remember their names, we’re killing them a second time,” she explained.Colombia, Colombians themselves complain, are good at forgetting.

David Glasser's 101 Studios has acquired the U.S. rights to director Nicolas Bedos' La Belle Epoque, which bowed in Cannes.The French farce stars Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet, Dora Tillier, Fanny Ardant, and Pierre Arditi and is slated for a spring 2020 domestic theatrical release."We were struck by Nicolas' touching yet sharp-minded take on a romantic comedy and the impeccable performance given by Daniel Auteuil, who continues to be a tenacious force in French cinema.

By Andreas Wiseman