Francois Ozon pays tribute to Fassbinder with the colorful new remake Peter von Kant

From celebrated gay filmmaker Francois OzonPeter von Kant is a critically-acclaimed retelling of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s classic drama The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.

Set in the 1970s, the film follows Peter (Denis Menochet), a famous director who lives with his assistant Karl (Stefan Crepon), whom he likes to mistreat and humiliate. Through his actress muse Sidonie (Isabelle Adjani), he meets and falls in love with Amir (Khalil Gharbia), a handsome young man of modest means. Quickly becoming smitten, Peter offers to help break Amir into cinema – setting up a tense love triangle and complicated working relationship with Karl.

Having previously helmed the cult film Water Drops on Burning Rocks, an adaptation of a play by Fassbinder, back in 2000, Ozon creates a loving tribute to one of his cinematic idols while also offering up a colorful, sexually-charged drama all his own.

 

Watch the trailer for Peter von Kant below and click here to order your copy. The film is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

 

Out This Week: Summer of 85

When Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) capsizes off the coast of Normandy, David (Benjamin Voisin) comes to the rescue and soon opens the younger boy’s eyes to a new horizon of friendship, art, and sexual bliss.

David’s worldly demeanor and Jewish heritage deliver an ardent jolt to Alexis’s traditional, working-class upbringing. After Alexis begins working at the seaside shop owned by David’s mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the two lovers steal every possible moment for a fugitive kiss, a motorcycle ride, or a trip to the cinema. Their relationship is soon rocked by a host of challenges, including an unexpected sexual rival (Philippine Velge) and a romantic oath that transcends life itself.

Adapted by François Ozon from Aidan Chambers’s groundbreaking LGBT young adult novel Dance on My GraveSummer of 85 is a sexy, nostalgic reverie of first love and its consequences from one of France’s most versatile filmmakers. Their summer fling lasts just six weeks, but casts a shadow over a lifetime.

Long one of our favorite subversive queer filmmakers, we’ll watch any new movie François Ozon has to offer. Consistently versatile, Summer of 85 is something of a return to his roots – which fans of his work will recognize and greatly enjoy.

Watch the trailer for Summer of 85 below and click here to order your copy. The film will be available on DVD and Blu-ray starting on August 17th.

 

Watch the trailer for François Ozon’s stunning new coming-of-age romance Summer of 85

When Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) capsizes off the coast of Normandy, David (Benjamin Voisin) comes to the rescue and soon opens the younger boy’s eyes to a new horizon of friendship, art, and sexual bliss.

David’s worldly demeanor and Jewish heritage deliver an ardent jolt to Alexis’s traditional, working-class upbringing. After Alexis begins working at the seaside shop owned by David’s mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the two lovers steal every possible moment for a fugitive kiss, a motorcycle ride, or a trip to the cinema. Their relationship is soon rocked by a host of challenges, including an unexpected sexual rival (Philippine Velge) and a romantic oath that transcends life itself.

Adapted by François Ozon from Aidan Chambers’s groundbreaking LGBT young adult novel Dance on My GraveSummer of 85 is a sexy, nostalgic reverie of first love and its consequences from one of France’s most versatile filmmakers. Their summer fling lasts just six weeks, but casts a shadow over a lifetime.

Long one of our favorite subversive queer filmmakers, we’ll watch any new movie François Ozon has to offer. Consistently versatile, Summer of 85 is something of a return to his roots – which fans of his work will recognize and greatly enjoy.

Watch the trailer for Summer of 85 below and click here to pre-order your copy. The film will be available on DVD and Blu-ray starting on August 17th.

 

Just Came Out: By the Grace of God

From prolific queer filmmaker Francois Ozon (Criminal Lovers, 8 Women, Swimming Pool, Double Lover, Frantz), By the Grace of God is the true story of three adult men – Alexandre (Melvil Poupaud), Francois (Denis Menochet) and Emmanuel (Swann Arlaud) – who banded together to expose the code of silence that continued to enable a priest who abused them as boys.

The three men will go to great lengths to denounce the perpetrator and the institution that has always protected him, a risky endeavor that will endanger the relationships with their loved ones, as well as compromise their own fragile selves. The true story upon which the film is based is an ongoing scandal in France, with Philippe Barbarin, Cardinal of Lyon, convicted in March 2019 for concealing the conduct of Father Preynat.

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Double Lover © Cohen Media Group

This Week’s Guiltiest Pleasure: Double Lover

Throughout his career, maverick queer filmmaker François Ozon has built an impressive catalog of surreal masterpieces. Though he is best known for the (more kinda/sorta mainstream) films Under the Sand8 WomenSwimming Pool and the recent post-WWII drama Frantz, his earlier works give the best example of his unique and sharply satirical style. Don’t miss See the SeaSitcomWater Drops on Burning Rocks or Criminal Lovers – all transgressive gems that pushed boundaries with their provocative and overtly gay sensibility. We also think you should take a look at his latest film, Double Lover, a sexy, no-holds-barred new thriller loosely adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates novel “Lives of the Twins” and greatly indebted to the style of Hitchcock.

 

Crafting a deliriously cinematic web of suspense, shock, eroticism, and power dynamics Ozon masters the trashy thriller genre with Double Lover. It’s the movie equivalent of a breezy pulp paperback you bring on vacation, plow through and leave behind in your room for future guests to enjoy.

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Double Lovers © Cohen Media Group

Okay… so it’s not really a gay movie, but we still think you should check out Double Lover

Throughout his career, maverick queer filmmaker François Ozon has built an impressive catalog of surreal masterpieces. Though he is best known for the (more kinda/sorta mainstream) films Under the Sand, 8 Women, Swimming Pool and the recent post-WWII drama Frantz, his earlier works give the best example of his unique and sharply satirical style. Don’t miss See the Sea, Sitcom, Water Drops on Burning Rocks or Criminal Lovers – all transgressive gems that pushed boundaries with their provocative and overtly gay sensibility. We also think you should take a look at his latest film, Double Lover, a sexy, no-holds-barred new thriller loosely adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates novel “Lives of the Twins” and greatly indebted to the style of Hitchcock.

 

Crafting a deliriously cinematic web of suspense, shock, eroticism, and power dynamics Ozon masters the trashy thriller genre with Double Lover. It’s the movie equivalent of a breezy pulp paperback you bring on vacation, plow through and leave behind in your room for future guests to enjoy.

Read More