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RELEASES France

Polanski and McQueen unleash Carnage and Shame

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A sex addict on a descent into hell, a film-loving slasher, zombies, a vampire, tragedy in a forest, couples full of hatred smashing the veneer of propriety: the new European releases hitting French theatres today form a line-up that is well seasoned with all sorts of violence.

Within this bitter cocktail, New York is the setting (fake in one, real in the other) of two outstanding films unveiled at the latest Venice Film Festival. Wild Bunch Distribution is launching a 280-print run of Roman Polanski’s exhilarating French/German/Polish co-production Carnage [+see also:
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(see review), which sees the highly civilised Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz gradually sink into a conflictual hatred.

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Meanwhile, MK2 is releasing a 115-print run of the intense and brilliant Shame [+see also:
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by British helmer Steve McQueen (see review), who confirms the sensational impression made by his feature debut Hunger [+see also:
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interview: Laura Hastings-Smith Rob…
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(winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2008). The director has reunited with Michael Fassbender (in a tremendous role as a sex addict trapped in the emptiness of his existence, which earned him the Best Actor Award at Venice), starring alongside a moving Carey Mulligan (Drive).

Fear is invading screens this Wednesday with the killer in Laurent Achard’s Last Screening [+see also:
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(see review - Epicentre Films on 50 prints); the vampire in directorial duo Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s Livid (see news - La Fabrique 2 on 20 prints); and Roland Edzard’s oppressive The End of Silence [+see also:
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, unveiled in the latest Cannes Directors’ Fortnight (see review - Equation on nine prints).

The line-up is completed by Bruce La Bruce’s German/US/French co-production L.A. Zombie [+see also:
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(distributed by Outplay) and a double bill entitled “Punk or Dead” at the Latina Cinema in Paris, showing Belgian director Koen Mortier’s 22nd of May and Ex-Drummer [+see also:
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(distribution: Blaq Out).

In this line-up full of tense atmospheres, fans of comedy will find consolation in directorial duo Frédéric Berthe and Pascal Serieis’s Hollywoo, starring highly popular performers Florence Foresti and Jamel Debbouze (StudioCanal on 657 screens).

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(Translated from French)

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