And absolutely nobody Stateside noticed it.
I was scrolling through this year’s Cesars contenders and, my God, what an abundance of riches we had from France this past year.
“Titane,” “Petite Maman,” “Happening,” “Benedetta,” “Annette,” “Bergman Island,” “France,” “Onoda,” “Lost Illusions,” “The Restless,” and “Vortex.”
If you haven’t caught up with many of these films, I highly recommend that you do. Right now, French-based cinema is on a roll. Forget the fact that the top prize-winners at Venice and Cannes were films directed by French female directors, but it’s also the films that didn’t win that impress as well.
I can confirm that Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” is based on Frances Frederica Montrésor’s 1901 novel “The Alien: A Story of Middle Age.” It’s a ghost story. A gothic mystery.