22/07/2015 - The madcap comedy by Rose and Alice Philippon is being distributed by Rezo Films and is just one of 12 new films hitting French theatres today

The weeks plod on and merge together in this, the summer season in French theatres, with a number of new films that has remained very high compared with previous years: 12 new films (six European and six American) today after 11 were released last week.

French productions are particularly well-represented at the box office at the moment, with four films in theatres including an endearing and promising debut feature film being distributed by Rezo Films: Les bêtises [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Rose and Alice Philippon (see news article). Centred around a thirty-year-old goofball (a role which could have been made for Jérémie Elkaïm), an adopted kid looking for his biological mother who gets himself a gig working as a waiter at a party she’s throwing, the film uses absurd, slapstick and poetic humour in the vein of the Coen brothers, Jacques Tati, Charlie Chaplin, Wes Anderson and even Jacques Demy. Major reference points who may seem overwhelming, but all base their work on a simple and effective comic principle: "take a carefully regulated environment and introduce an individual who then proceeds to wreak havoc". It is interesting to note that Les bêtises is also the first debut feature film to be made by production company Asa Films, managed by Antoine Denis.

The other new French films of the week are Nos futurs [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Rémi Bezançon (see review - distributed by Gaumont), Des Apaches [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Nassim Amaouche (see news article - Pyramide Distribution) and Bizarre [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Etienne Faure, which was unveiled in the Panorama section of the Berlinale (see review – distributed by Eivissa Productions). 

Also showing in theatres is Belgian-French co-production Je suis mort mais j'ai des amis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guillaume and Stéphane Mala…
film profile] by Guillaume and Stéphane Malandrin (see review and interview - starring Bouli Lanners - Happiness Distribution) and Lose My Self [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by German director Jan Schomburg, which was unveiled in competition last year at Rotterdam (Sophie Dulac Distribution).

US animated blockbuster Minions (co-directed by French director Pierre Coffin and created by the Paris-based team at Illumination Mac Guff with backing from the international tax credit managed by CNC) is still leading the box office with 3 million admissions in 12 days, with French comedy Les Profs 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] bringing its total number of viewers to 2.1 million in 19 days.

(Translated from French)