After premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival last year, Catherine Breillat‘s first film in a decade, “Last Summer,” finally hits US theaters. Granted, it only screens at Angelika Film Center and Film At Lincoln Center in NYC, but after the stir the film caused on the Croisette, New Yorkers should seek it out next month.

READ MORE: ‘Last Summer’ Review: Catherine Breillat’s Devastating Drama Exposes Bourgeois Amorality [Cannes]

Breillat’s made her career on films focusing on taboo subjects, and “Last Summer” is no different.

Continue reading ‘Last Summer’ Trailer: Catherine Breillat’s Erotic Drama Hits NYC Theaters On June 28 at The Playlist.

Hooking up with your step-mom in any form is obviously a big no-no. Still, when you’re step-mom wants to hook up with you, a teenage boy, well, I guess only French provocateur Catherine Breillat can be bold enough to pull off such a shocking tale which she seems to do in her new film, “Last Summer” (L’Été Dernier” in French; at least shocking to Americans, maybe it’s not as wild for the loose and free Europeans who think we are all Puritans).

Continue reading ‘Last Summer’ Trailer: Catherine Breillat Tackles Sexual Taboos In Story Of Step-Mom & Son’s Affair at The Playlist.

It would be nice to think that desires are nothing more than preferences, springing organically from a fixed identity and unaffected by outside circumstances such as personal history and societal norms. The reality is, of course, much thornier, and trying to disentangle the many different factors influencing our tastes and longings can quickly cause a lot of suffering. The complex question of nature vs. nurture represents one of vanishingly few areas of human life still infused with mystery and resisting essentialist, restrictive impulses; it can be cause for both horror and wonder.

Continue reading ‘Last Summer’ Review: Catherine Breillat’s Devastating Drama Exposes Bourgeois Amorality [Cannes] at The Playlist.

Kicking off on May 16, the Cannes Film Festival is around the corner, and the lineup was announced this morning alongside the names of six female filmmakers that will be participating this year that have films in competition. It’s a small number, but a new record for the festival. Those names include Alice Rohrwacher, Jessica Hausner, Kaouther Ben Hania, Catherine Breillat, Justine Triet, and Ramata-Toulaye Sy, with a rare debut feature, “Banel Et Adama.”

READ MORE: Wes Anderson, Jonathan Glazer, Steve McQueen, Todd Haynes To Debut New Films At The 2023 Cannes Film Festival

That group features established names and Cannes alumni bringing their latest films to the festival, such as Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” her fourth film to bow at the festival.

Continue reading Cannes Makes New Record As Alice Rohrwacher, Jessica Hausner & Catherine Breillat Are Among 6 Female Directors In Competition at The Playlist.

Continue reading French Filmmaker Catherine Breillat Calls Actress Asia Argento A “Mercenary And A Traitor” at The Playlist.

The 10 Best Films Of 2001

Continue reading The 10 Best Films Of 2001 at The Playlist.

Continue reading Watch: Full 90-Minute Documentary ‘Great Directors’ With David Lynch, Richard Linklater, Todd Haynes And More at The Playlist.

Lisa Cholodenko To Helm Miniseries 'The Slap,' Catherine Breillat To Make English Language Debut & More

Continue reading Lisa Cholodenko To Helm Miniseries ‘The Slap,’ Catherine Breillat To Make English Language Debut & More at The Playlist.

Watch: International Trailer For Catherine Breillat’s 'Abuse Of Weakness' Starring Isabelle Huppert

Continue reading Watch: International Trailer For Catherine Breillat’s ‘Abuse Of Weakness’ Starring Isabelle Huppert at The Playlist.

Watch: 'Venezia 70 - Future Reloaded' Short Films By Claire Denis, James Franco, Paul Schrader & Many More

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TIFF Review: Catherine Breillat’s 'Abuse Of Weakness' Starring Isabelle Huppert

Continue reading TIFF Review: Catherine Breillat’s ‘Abuse Of Weakness’ Starring Isabelle Huppert at The Playlist.

Watch: First Clip From Catherine Breillat's 'Abuse of Weakness,' Starring Isabelle Huppert

Continue reading Watch: First Clip From Catherine Breillat’s ‘Abuse of Weakness,’ Starring Isabelle Huppert at The Playlist.

New Pics From The Fall Film Season: 'Labor Day,' 'Out Of The Furnace,' 'Dallas Buyers Club,' 'Captain Phillips,' Fifth Estate' & More

Continue reading New Pics From The Fall Film Season: ‘Labor Day,’ ‘Out Of The Furnace,’ ‘Dallas Buyers Club,’ ‘Captain Phillips,’ Fifth Estate’ & More at The Playlist.

'Fat Girl' Director Catherine Breillat Teams With Isabelle Huppert For Autobiographical 'Abus De Faiblesse'

Continue reading ‘Fat Girl’ Director Catherine Breillat Teams With Isabelle Huppert For Autobiographical ‘Abus De Faiblesse’ at The Playlist.

“The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu” (Andrei Ujica)
If it wasn’t already evident, those pesky Romanians are, like, really frickin’ good at this whole filmmaking thing. The much ballyhooed “New Wave” from the Eastern European country has been in full swing for a good half-decade now, kicking off, or at least catching lots of attention from the press, when several films and filmmakers began winning major awards at Cannes: Cristi Puiu’s “The Death of Mr.

Continue reading VIFF ’10 Reviews: Catherine Breillat’s ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ ‘Mysteries Of Lisbon’ & ‘The Autobiography Of Nicolae Ceasusescu’ at The Playlist.

The Contemporary World Cinema program has certainly grabbed our attention with a number of high-profile films catching our eye. Receiving North American premieres are two highly anticipated titles (at least by us anyway), Kelly Reichardt’s gritty western tragedy “Meek’s Cutoff” and Tom Tykwer’s “Three.” A couple of intriguing titles making their World Premiere are Icíar Bollaín’s post-modern “Even The Rain” starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Bent Hamer’s (“Kitchen Stories”) latest “Home For Christmas.” The inconsistent but always fascinating Tsui Hark will unveil “Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame” to North American audiences while a selection of films that played Cannes earlier this year including Feng Xiaogang’s “Aftershock,” Pablo Trapero’s “Carancho,” Oliver Schmitz’s “Life, Above All,” Sergei Loznitsa’s “My Joy” and, pretty much already a lock for a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination (the critics loved this one at Cannes), Xavier Beauvois’ “Of Gods And Men.”

The Masters program also offers a selection of titles from some established auteurs led by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s head-scratching wonder “Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall Past Lives,” Ken Loach’s Iraq war drama “Route Irish,” Jean-Luc Godard’s total mindfuck “Film Socialisme.” Other titles of note include Jerzy Skolimowski’s Vincent Gallo-as-terrorist film “Essential Killing,” Catherine Breillat’s latest take on a fairy tale, “Sleeping Beauty,” Lee-Chang Dong’s “Poetry” and Jia Zhang-ke’s total snoozefest “I Wish I Knew.”

Over in the Vanguard section are a number of titles from new talents on the horizon.

Continue reading New Films By Kelly Reichardt, Tom Tykwer, Bent Hamer, Ken Loach, Catherine Breillat, Vincent Gallo & More Added To TIFF at The Playlist.

Soundtracked to beating hearts and heavy strings, with brief shots of blood and quick edits of supposedly shocking moments, the trailer is not representative of the film at all. Breillat’s “Bluebeard”, which has been disliked by various degrees from Playlist staff (this writer thought it was awful) is, if anything, completely boring.

Continue reading Catherine Breillat’s ‘Bluebeard’ Gets A Misleading Trailer at The Playlist.

What was the state of cinema? Oscar-wise, in 2001 the Academy Awards made some bold nominations, but of course awarded the safer “Gladiator” before Steven Soderbergh’s far superior, “Traffic.” Still, Soderbergh did pull off the feat of being nominated twice in the same directorial category for his drug trade drama and “Erin Brockovich” (he would win for “Traffic” and Julia Roberts would take Best Actress for ‘Brockovich).

Continue reading Best of The Decade: The Playlist’s Best Films Of 2001 at The Playlist.

Continue reading LFF ’09: ‘An Education’ and ‘Bluebeard’ at The Playlist.

“Trash Humpers” – We’re definitely not complaining, but festival-attending can wear you out (see below), but its films like Harmony Korine’s latest that make it all worthwhile.

Continue reading FNC ’09 Roundup: ‘Trash Humpers,’ ‘Bluebeard’ and ‘8000 Miles’ at The Playlist.

But the project, based on her novel of the same name, basically died, reportedly just a few days ago because infamous French con artist Christophe Rocancourt (cast as the male lead) allegedly scammed Breillat — who suffered a stroke in 2004 — out of around 650.000 Euros (and according to this French source, Breillat will write a non-fiction book (and probably quite a scabrous one) entitled, “Rocancourt et moi” about her wretched experience with him.

Continue reading Catherine Breillat’s ‘Bad Love’ With Naomi Campbell Not Dead, Director Says, “I Certainly Haven’t Said My Last Word” at The Playlist.

Arthouse distributors Strand Releasing, whose recent releases include Faith Akin’s “The Edge of Heaven,” and harrowing war movie “A Woman In Berlin,” have picked up the film for release next spring.

Continue reading Catherine Breillat’s ‘Bluebeard’ Gets U.S. Distribution, Thank Christ at The Playlist.

Of course you can’t just jump in and pick whatever film you want, but each week they will offer up four new films for digital rental. This week they’re offering up, Ronald Neame’s “The Horse’s Mouth,” the-always polarizing Catherine Breillat’s “Fatgirl,” Peter Brook’s classic “Lord of the Flies” and the sexually-charged and once banned, “Sweet Movie” by Yugoslav provocateur Dušan Makavejev.

Continue reading Criterion Launches Digital Distribution Rentals With New Online Cinematheque at The Playlist.