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Suite Française (film)

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Suite Française
UK release poster
Directed bySaul Dibb
Screenplay by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEduard Grau
Edited byChris Dickens
Music byRael Jones
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 13 March 2015 (2015-03-13) (United Kingdom)
  • 1 April 2015 (2015-04-01) (France)
Running time
107 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • Belgium
Languages
  • English
  • German
Budget€15 million ($20 million)[2]
Box office$15.4 million[3]

Suite Française is a 2015 British-French-Belgian romantic World War II drama film directed by Saul Dibb and co-written with Matt Charman. It is based on part of Irène Némirovsky's 2004 novel of the same name. The film depicts the second part of the novel, Dolce. The film stars Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sam Riley, Ruth Wilson, Lambert Wilson and Margot Robbie. It centres on a romance between a French villager and a German soldier during the early years of the German occupation of France. Suite Française was filmed on location in France and Belgium. It was released theatrically in the UK on 13 March 2015 and in the US on 10 October 2016 through Lifetime.

Plot

In Nazi-occupied France, Lucille Angellier and her domineering mother-in-law await news of her husband. A regiment of German soldiers arrives, and promptly moves into the homes of the villagers. Lucille tries to ignore Bruno, the German commander coopting her house, but he soon infatuates her.

Cast

Production

Conception and adaptation

On 9 November 2006, Michael Fleming from Variety reported that the rights to Irène Némirovsky's novel Suite Française (written during the Nazi occupation of France but published posthumously in 2004) had been acquired by Universal Pictures.[4] Ronald Harwood, who wrote the script for The Pianist, was set to write the screenplay, with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall producing the film.[4] The following year, TF1 Droits Audiovisuels acquired the rights to the novel from publisher Éditions Denoël.[2] The novel was then adapted for the screen by Saul Dibb and Matt Charman, with Dibb directing.[2] The film was given a budget of €15 million ($20 million), which Mick Brown from The Daily Telegraph noted was "big by European, if not American, standards".[5]

Dibb focused his adaptation on book two of Némirovsky's novel, which explores the relationships between the French women and the German soldiers who occupied their village, in particular the story of Lucile Angellier, who is waiting for news of her husband, when a German officer is billeted in her home.[6] Of his intentions, Dibb explained "in the making of the film I want to capture this strong sense of immediacy and authenticity. The action should feel that it's happening now – urgent, tense, spontaneous, made with no benefit of hindsight – like we've discovered a time capsule. And very far from a safe, stuffy period piece."[6] Dibb used the story of the novel's discovery by Némirovsky's daughter, Denise Epstein, to book-end the film.[6] Némirovsky's original manuscript is shown during the credits. Epstein died shortly before production began, but she read drafts of the script.[7]

Casting

Variety's Jeff Sneider reported in October 2012 that actress Michelle Williams was in talks to star in Suite Française as the protagonist Lucille Angellier.[8] Shortly after she joined the project, Kristin Scott Thomas was attached to appear as Lucille's "domineering" mother-in-law.[9] In an interview with Moviefone's Erin Whitney, Scott Thomas commented that the character was similar to herself.[10] In November, Baz Bamigboye from the Daily Mail confirmed that Matthias Schoenaerts was in the final stages of negotiations to play Lucille's love interest, Bruno.[11]

On 14 June 2013, Dominic Patten from Deadline.com reported that actor Sam Riley had joined the cast as a French soldier called Benoit.[12] Riley's wife Alexandra Maria Lara also joined the cast, along with fellow actresses Margot Robbie as Celine and Ruth Wilson as Madeleine.[13][14] Actors Tom Schilling and Lambert Wilson will also appear in the film as Kurt Bonnet and Viscount de Montmort respectively.[2][14] Harriet Walter has been cast as Viscountess de Montmort, while Eileen Atkins will appear as Denise Epstein and Cédric Maerckx as Gaston Angellier.[14]

Filming

Filming took place in Marville.

Principal photography commenced on 24 June 2013.[15] The shoot lasted until late August.[16] The cast and crew spent eight weeks shooting in Belgium and eight days in France.[16] From 10 July, filming took place in the village of Marville in the Meuse department.[17] In August, the cast and crew spent three-and-a-half weeks filming scenes in a house in Belgium. Dibb commented that the hot weather helped create "its own weird, uncomfortable, claustrophobic atmosphere which you hope is going to feed into the atmosphere of the scenes."[7] Leo Barraclough from Variety reported that principal photography was completed on 2 September 2013.[18]

Costumes and make-up

English costume designer Michael O'Connor, who previously worked with Dibb on The Duchess, designed and created the clothing for the film.[2] O'Connor used photographs, magazines and movies of the time to make the clothing and accessories as authentic as possible.[19] His major influences were Némirovsky's novel, which describes the clothing in detail, and Jean Renoir's 1939 film The Rules of the Game.[19] The costumes use authentic French fabrics from Paris.[19] The film's countryside setting led Jenny Shircore, the hair and make-up designer for the production,[18] to invoke a sense of sobriety in place of glamor.[19] Shircore used quite little make-up on Williams, who understood she must look quite "natural, simple, in a sense resigned."[19]

Music

French composer Alexandre Desplat was originally attached to compose the film's musical score.[20] Dibb wanted Bruno's piano piece to be composed before shooting began, and he wanted it to be played during the film as "a developing theme" and then at the end in its full form.[6] Desplat wrote Bruno's Theme, but was unable to write the final score for the entire film and was replaced by Rael Jones. Jones's score was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London.[21] Sony Classical released the soundtrack album on 16 March 2015.[22] It features original music composed by Jones, a piano piece composed by Desplat and songs performed by Lucienne Boyer, Josephine Baker and Rosita Serrano.[22] Dibb explained that music plays a crucial part in the film and called the score "subtle and atmospheric."[6]

Release

In May 2013, it was announced that The Weinstein Company would cover the U.S., Latin America, Australia, Russia and Germany territories for distribution.[15] The first trailer for the film was released on 24 October 2014.[23] The film was released theatrically in the UK on 13 March 2015,[24] and on DVD on 27 July 2015.[25]

The film didn't have a theatrical release in the U.S. and premiered on Lifetime on 10 October 2016.[26][27]

Reception

Suite Française earned £503,928 upon its opening weekend in the United Kingdom. The film opened to 425 locations and landed at number four in the UK box office top ten.[28] The following week the film played at a further 21 screens and earned £268,607 for a total of £1,293,408. It fell three places to seven in the box office chart.[29] As of August 2015, Suite Française has earned over $9 million worldwide.[3]

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 76% of 29 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6 out of 10.[30] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[31] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film two stars out of five and likened the central love story to "a damp haddock on a slab".[32] He continued, "This adaptation of Irène Némirovsky's acclaimed bestseller about French folk collaborating with the Nazis is flabby, sugary – and passion-free."[32] Emma Dibdin from Digital Spy gave the film three stars and commented, "Suite Française works far better as the story of a community in flux than it does as a brooding romance, the shifting loyalties between villagers and soldiers escalating towards a somewhat compelling third act."[33]

Anna Smith from Empire rated the film "good" and said "Sterling performances lift the occasionally soapy storyline in this semi-successful adaptation."[34] Variety's Guy Lodge found the film "fusty but enjoyably old-fashioned", adding "iffy scripting decisions can't thwart the romantic allure of this handsomely crafted, sincerely performed wartime weeper."[35] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Leslie Felperin's consensus was "[Suite Française] has sturdy production values, a tony cast and middlebrow tastefulness up the wazoo, but barely any soul, bite or genuine passion."[36]

The "Desire" trailer for Suite Française created by eOne Films International and Create Advertising London earned a nomination for Best Foreign Romance Trailer at the 16th Golden Trailer Awards.[37] Jones's score was nominated for the Public Choice Award at the 2015 World Soundtrack Awards.[38]

References

  1. ^ "Suite Française (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Rosser, Michael (27 June 2013). "Suite Francaise shoot begins". Screendaily. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Suite Francaise". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b Fleming, Michael (9 November 2006). "Checking into 'Suite'". Variety. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  5. ^ Brown, Mick (7 March 2015). "Matthias Schoenaerts interview: 'I think cautious is boring. I want to be bad'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e Dibb, Saul (July 2012). "Suite Française – Intentions". TF1 International. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  7. ^ a b Black, Claire (10 March 2015). "Saul Dibb on shooting his new film Suite Francaise". The Scotsman. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  8. ^ Sneider, Jeff (10 October 2012). "Michelle Williams in talks for 'Suite Francaise'". Variety. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  9. ^ Raup, Jordan (15 October 2013). "Kristin Scott Thomas Joins Michelle Williams In WWII Drama 'Suite Francaise'". The Film Stage. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  10. ^ Whitney, Erin (17 July 2013). "'Only God Forgives': Kristin Scott Thomas on Playing an Evil Mother, Swearing On-Screen". Moviefone. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  11. ^ Bamigboye, Baz (22 November 2012). "Watch out for..." Daily Mail. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  12. ^ Patten, Dominic (14 June 2013). "Sam Riley Set For 'Suite Française' With Michelle Williams". Deadline.com. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  13. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (27 June 2013). "Margot Robbie, Ruth Wilson, Alexandra Maria Lara Join Weinstein Co.'s 'Suite Française'". Deadline.com. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  14. ^ a b c "Suite française – Leading cast". TF1 International. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  15. ^ a b "TF1 DA, Entertainment One and The Weinstein Company Announce Partnership on Suite Française". Entertainment One. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  16. ^ a b Daniels, Nia (28 May 2013). "Michelle Williams leads cast on WWII drama". KFTV.com. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  17. ^ Pradayrol, François (20 July 2013). "Culture – Rain of stars at Marville for the filming of a historical film". Le Républicain Lorrain (in French). Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  18. ^ a b Barraclough, Leo. "First Image Released of TWC Pickup 'Suite Francaise'". Variety. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  19. ^ a b c d e Palladini, Federica (5 March 2015). "French Suite: the costumes and the makeup of the film". Elle Italy (in Italian). Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  20. ^ Lopez, Kristen (27 June 2013). "Alexandre Desplat Scoring 'Suite Francaise' Starring Michelle Williams & Matthias Schoenaert". IndieWire. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  21. ^ "Rael Jones Scoring Saul Dibb's 'Suite Francaise'". Film Music Reporter. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  22. ^ a b "'Suite Francaise' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  23. ^ Armitage, Hugh (24 October 2014). "Michelle Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas in Suite Française trailer". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  24. ^ Hemrajani, Sara (20 November 2014). "'Suite Francaise' Gets New U.K. Release Date". Filmoria. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  25. ^ "Suite Francaise". BBC Films. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  26. ^ "Fall Into Lifetime's October Movies". The Futon Critic. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  27. ^ "Is 'Suite Francaise' A True Story? The Movie Has A Tragic Backstory". Bustle. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  28. ^ Grant, Charles (17 March 2015). "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel outruns Liam Neeson at UK box office". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  29. ^ Gant, Charles (24 March 2015). "Home sweet at UK box office while older children rush to Insurgent". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  30. ^ "Suite Française (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  31. ^ "Suite Française". Metacritic. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  32. ^ a b Bradshaw, Peter (12 March 2015). "Suite Française review – Michelle Williams sleepwalks through wartime". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  33. ^ Dibdin, Emma (13 March 2015). "Suite Francaise review: Michelle Williams stars in a rote war romance". Digital Spy. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  34. ^ Smith, Anna. "Suite Francaise". Empire. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  35. ^ Lodge, Guy (10 March 2015). "Film Review: 'Suite francaise'". Variety. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  36. ^ Felperin, Leslie (10 March 2015). "'Suite Francaise': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  37. ^ "The 16th Annual Golden Trailer Award Nominees". Golden Trailer Awards. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  38. ^ "Public Choice voting". World Soundtrack Academy. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
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