10) The Hedgehog The debut of director Mona Achache, The Hedgehog, based on a popular French novel, centers on Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic), an 11 year old girl that, fed up with her world, has decided to kill herself on her twelfth birthday. Formidably (and thankfully, not annoyingly) precocious, Paloma is fascinated with art and philosophy, decided to film her world around her as she moves forward with her plan, narrating her opinions to us on what’s wrong with her parents and the world at large. Paloma meets a kindred spirit in the form of the cranky and seemingly unhappy Renee (an absolutely fabulous Josiane Balasko), the building janitor. The arrival of a new tenant creates some ripples as he flirts with the avid reader Renee through Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and the cinema of Ozu, and soon a very endearing and unpredictable romance ensues. Touching, tragic, and funny, The Hedgehog is an excellent debut,...
- 1/1/2012
- IONCINEMA.com
Based on a bestselling novel by the Moroccan-born French novelist Muriel Barbery, Mona Achache's debut as writer-director looks at a hypocritical adult world through the eyes of the lonely, precocious 11-year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic). She's making a testamentary documentary about her haut-bourgeois family whom she despises and about the neighbours in their smart Parisian apartment block, as she plans to commit suicide on her 12th birthday. It's a brisk, touching comedy with a deliberately shocking climax and attractive performances from Josiane Balasko and Togo Igawa as the two people who change Paloma's understanding of life. The former is a self-taught concierge, who deliberately conceals her great intelligence and sensitivity to literature and the arts, the latter a kindly Japanese businessman, happily named Ozu, who appreciates the concierge's worth.
ComedyPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More...
ComedyPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More...
- 9/3/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Kill List (18)
(Ben Wheatley, 2011, UK) Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley, Emma Fryer. 95 mins
Who knew there was a missing link between Mike Leigh, Andy McNab and The Wicker Man? That's how unpredictable this macabre and outlandish tale is, but it unfolds in a credible modern-day Britain scarred by foreign wars and domestic recession. Circumstances lead a blokey hitman and his partner to accept a dodgy new assignment – and by the time they start asking questions, it's too late.
Attenberg (18)
(Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010, Gre) Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelina Randou. 97 mins
Fans of Dogtooth will be ready for another prime dose of Greek oddness. Beneath the animal impersonations, silly walks and bad sex lies an intelligent, intimate study of human behaviour.
Fright Night (15)
(Craig Gillespie, 2011, Us) Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant. 106 mins
A teen vampire horror remake that benefits from superior effects, a shrewd Las Vegas setting, and some lively comedy.
(Ben Wheatley, 2011, UK) Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley, Emma Fryer. 95 mins
Who knew there was a missing link between Mike Leigh, Andy McNab and The Wicker Man? That's how unpredictable this macabre and outlandish tale is, but it unfolds in a credible modern-day Britain scarred by foreign wars and domestic recession. Circumstances lead a blokey hitman and his partner to accept a dodgy new assignment – and by the time they start asking questions, it's too late.
Attenberg (18)
(Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010, Gre) Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelina Randou. 97 mins
Fans of Dogtooth will be ready for another prime dose of Greek oddness. Beneath the animal impersonations, silly walks and bad sex lies an intelligent, intimate study of human behaviour.
Fright Night (15)
(Craig Gillespie, 2011, Us) Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant. 106 mins
A teen vampire horror remake that benefits from superior effects, a shrewd Las Vegas setting, and some lively comedy.
- 9/2/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
This French tale of a prickly concierge and the 11-year-old girl who helps draw her out of her shell is an odd but intriguing watch
There's a lo-tech neatness to the central conceit of this sturdily made film, adapted from a bestselling French novel: two vastly different and barely-interacting worlds are encased in the same apartment block building. Upstairs are the deluxe flats inhabited by the privileged haut-bourgeoisie; downstairs is the nest of the grumpy, baleful concierge, the "hedgehog" of the title. Josiane Balasko – still probably best known in the UK as the frumpy secretary in Trop Belle Pour Toi – plays Renée the concierge with a fierce anti-glamour, all but invisible to her charges; her latent intellectualism, however, is unlocked by new arrival Kakuro Ozu, a wealthy Japanese widower, who senses the cultural sensitivity lurking beneath the hostile facade. The third major character is 11-year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic), a...
There's a lo-tech neatness to the central conceit of this sturdily made film, adapted from a bestselling French novel: two vastly different and barely-interacting worlds are encased in the same apartment block building. Upstairs are the deluxe flats inhabited by the privileged haut-bourgeoisie; downstairs is the nest of the grumpy, baleful concierge, the "hedgehog" of the title. Josiane Balasko – still probably best known in the UK as the frumpy secretary in Trop Belle Pour Toi – plays Renée the concierge with a fierce anti-glamour, all but invisible to her charges; her latent intellectualism, however, is unlocked by new arrival Kakuro Ozu, a wealthy Japanese widower, who senses the cultural sensitivity lurking beneath the hostile facade. The third major character is 11-year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic), a...
- 9/1/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Title: The Hedgehog Director: Mona Achache Starring: Garance Le Guillermic, Josiane Balasko, Togo Igawa Somewhere, no doubt, adult film actor and shameless publicity whore Ron Jeremy is kicking himself over finding out that there exists a movie entitled “The Hedgehog” in which he is not the star, or the beneficiary of a large life-rights check. No, director Mona Achache’s movie is no hairy skin-flick biopic, but instead a darkly comedic broadside aimed at stuffy French elitism, a movie very loosely of a sort with “Gosford Park” and the forthcoming “The Women on the 6th Floor,” written and directed by Philippe Le Guay. Based on Muriel Barbery’s 2006 French-language novel “The Elegance...
- 8/31/2011
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Four new movies are opening wide this weekend:
Opening in almost 3000 theaters is the horror comedy Fright Night directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Please, David Tennant and Toni Collette. The film’s music is composed by Ramin Djawadi. A soundtrack CD will be released on August 30, 2011 by Varese Sarabande. The album is already available to download on iTunes, where you can also listen to audio clips. Check out our soundtrack announcement for more details.
Also opening wide is the action remake of Conan the Barbarian directed by Marcus Nispel and starring Jason Momoa, Ron Perlman, Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan and Stephen Lang. Warner Bros Records has released a soundtrack album featuring the film’s music by Tyler Bates. For more details and audio clips, visit our previous article. Also check out a lengthy audio interview with the composer on Film Music Magazine, as well...
Opening in almost 3000 theaters is the horror comedy Fright Night directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Please, David Tennant and Toni Collette. The film’s music is composed by Ramin Djawadi. A soundtrack CD will be released on August 30, 2011 by Varese Sarabande. The album is already available to download on iTunes, where you can also listen to audio clips. Check out our soundtrack announcement for more details.
Also opening wide is the action remake of Conan the Barbarian directed by Marcus Nispel and starring Jason Momoa, Ron Perlman, Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan and Stephen Lang. Warner Bros Records has released a soundtrack album featuring the film’s music by Tyler Bates. For more details and audio clips, visit our previous article. Also check out a lengthy audio interview with the composer on Film Music Magazine, as well...
- 8/20/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
Everett Josiane Balasko in “The Hedgehog”
To play the part of Renée Michel, actress Josiane Balasko shaved her eyebrows off and wore a nappy wig. She was restricted to the palette of brown, black and grey, and never really smiled. But as Balasko sat casually smoking on the roof deck of a midtown building in New York, she was chuckling, her red lips constantly breaking into a smile.
Balasko formed one part of the two-character “fable” that is the film,...
To play the part of Renée Michel, actress Josiane Balasko shaved her eyebrows off and wore a nappy wig. She was restricted to the palette of brown, black and grey, and never really smiled. But as Balasko sat casually smoking on the roof deck of a midtown building in New York, she was chuckling, her red lips constantly breaking into a smile.
Balasko formed one part of the two-character “fable” that is the film,...
- 8/19/2011
- by Alexandra Cheney
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
It shouldn’t have to be this way, but the summer movie-going season is generally known far more for big, bombastic spectacles than for smart, affecting character-based films. That’s not a knock on blockbusters as there were actually quite a few good ones in theaters the past few months, but it’s more an unfortunate commentary on how the smaller films are often lost in the shuffle of May to July if they’re even released at all. But August is the month where explosions and CGI slowly give way to dialogue and character, and it’s here where an intimate look at life, death, and defying expectations just might find the audience it deserves. Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) has had enough. She’s only eleven years old, but she’s already had her fill of life’s absurdities thanks to a family that annoys far more than they enrich. Her...
- 8/18/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
NeoClassics Films
At the ripe, old age of nearly twelve, Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) has decided that life is futile, and riddled with ridiculous hypocrisy, and she's decided to opt out. What's moving, telling, and ultimately brilliant about her decision is that her plan to kill herself on her next birthday is perhaps one of the most thought out, and well-reasoned decisions she has run across.
The daughter of wealthy parents - a father who, very "averagely," spends so much time on work, that he has little left to spend with his family, and a mother who talks to her plants more than anyone else, has quite the cocktail of "therapy helpers," and is the purpose behind creating the phrase, "flitting about the house" - Paloma can find little about life that makes an argument for meaningful connection... with anything.
Wise miles beyond her years, Paloma has decided to make...
At the ripe, old age of nearly twelve, Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) has decided that life is futile, and riddled with ridiculous hypocrisy, and she's decided to opt out. What's moving, telling, and ultimately brilliant about her decision is that her plan to kill herself on her next birthday is perhaps one of the most thought out, and well-reasoned decisions she has run across.
The daughter of wealthy parents - a father who, very "averagely," spends so much time on work, that he has little left to spend with his family, and a mother who talks to her plants more than anyone else, has quite the cocktail of "therapy helpers," and is the purpose behind creating the phrase, "flitting about the house" - Paloma can find little about life that makes an argument for meaningful connection... with anything.
Wise miles beyond her years, Paloma has decided to make...
- 7/28/2011
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Chicago – In our special French film festival edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the Chicago showing of the film “The Hedgehog” at the closing night of the Music Box Theatre’s Chicago French Film Festival! “The Hedgehog” star Josiane Balasko will be at this showing in person!
The film’s original title is “Le hérisson”. “The Hedgehog” stars Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride, Wladimir Yordanoff, Sarah Lepicard, Jean-Luc Porraz and Gisèle Casadesus from writer and director Mona Achache based on the novel by Muriel Barbery.
To win your free pass to the closing-night Chicago showing of “The Hedgehog” at the Chicago French Film Festival courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This showing is on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Directions to enter this...
The film’s original title is “Le hérisson”. “The Hedgehog” stars Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride, Wladimir Yordanoff, Sarah Lepicard, Jean-Luc Porraz and Gisèle Casadesus from writer and director Mona Achache based on the novel by Muriel Barbery.
To win your free pass to the closing-night Chicago showing of “The Hedgehog” at the Chicago French Film Festival courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This showing is on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Directions to enter this...
- 7/21/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – For the first time, a foreign film festival in Chicago will focus solely on the latest and greatest works from France. On July 22nd, the Music Box Theatre will kick off its three-day inaugural festival of French cinema, featuring eight pictures that have recently garnered praise from audiences and festival goers around the globe. It may prove to be just the ticket for movie buffs bored with summer blockbusters and outdated superheroes.
Bookending this year’s festival are appearances by two major figures in the French film industry. Director/co-writer Jean-Pierre Améris will be present for the opening night screening of his neurotic comedy, “Romantics Anonymous,” starring Benoît Poelvoorde (“Man Bites Dog”) and Isabelle Carré (“Private Fears in Public Places”). The picture was a surprise hit in France, thus rekindling interest in Améris’s acclaimed body of work (his 2004 drama “Lightweight” was screened at Cannes).
One of the country’s most respected veteran actresses,...
Bookending this year’s festival are appearances by two major figures in the French film industry. Director/co-writer Jean-Pierre Améris will be present for the opening night screening of his neurotic comedy, “Romantics Anonymous,” starring Benoît Poelvoorde (“Man Bites Dog”) and Isabelle Carré (“Private Fears in Public Places”). The picture was a surprise hit in France, thus rekindling interest in Améris’s acclaimed body of work (his 2004 drama “Lightweight” was screened at Cannes).
One of the country’s most respected veteran actresses,...
- 7/20/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Title: The Hedgehog (Le Herisson) Directed By: Mona Achache Written By: Mona Achache, from Muriel Barbery’s novel “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” Cast: Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/28/11 Opens: August 19, 2011 Things are seldom what they seem. An eleven-year-old girl, one would figure, would be watching Disney cartoons, checking out her email on a BlackBerry, and giggling with friends over boys in her class. A janitor who mops the floors of a building but probably would not know how to fix a leaky sink would hardly be expected to curl up with Tolstoy. Yet both of these...
- 6/30/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
A fifth movie has been added to The Collective's already impressive summer line-up. The French film The Hedgehog (Le hérisson) will be looking at a release date of August 5th Stateside and will be joining Rammbock, Yellowbrickroad, Cold Fish, and Atrocious for what they are calling "a summer of smart horror".
As previously reported, The Collective has partnered up with our friends at Bloody Disgusting and the good folks at AMC Theaters to bring some unique horror films to the table this summer with their showcase Bloody Disgusting Selects. With representatives from Germany, Spain, Japan, the Us, and now France - this is truly a wide slice of the horror pie.
The Hedgehog, directed by Mona Achache and distributed by NeoClassic Films, is a deep and atmospheric film that explores the journey of a 12-year-old girl (Garance Le Guillermic) bent on ending her life. Not as much typical horror fare...
As previously reported, The Collective has partnered up with our friends at Bloody Disgusting and the good folks at AMC Theaters to bring some unique horror films to the table this summer with their showcase Bloody Disgusting Selects. With representatives from Germany, Spain, Japan, the Us, and now France - this is truly a wide slice of the horror pie.
The Hedgehog, directed by Mona Achache and distributed by NeoClassic Films, is a deep and atmospheric film that explores the journey of a 12-year-old girl (Garance Le Guillermic) bent on ending her life. Not as much typical horror fare...
- 4/21/2011
- by dougevil
- DreadCentral.com
Thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have passes for The Hedgehog, which featured at the Alliance Française French Film Festival this year.
Directed by Mona Achache and freely inspired by the bestselling novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog, it stars Josiane Balasko, Togo Igawa and Garance Le Guillermic.
Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. Beneath his facade of a reliable though totally uncultured concierge lies the real Renee, passionate about the arts and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers.
Several floors up, eleven-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to film the people around her – in an effort to show how absure her life is.
A chance encounter with Renee and Paloma’s elegant and enigmatic new neighbour, Mr Ozu, will change their lives forever.
The Hedgehog will be released on July 8.
To win,...
Directed by Mona Achache and freely inspired by the bestselling novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog, it stars Josiane Balasko, Togo Igawa and Garance Le Guillermic.
Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. Beneath his facade of a reliable though totally uncultured concierge lies the real Renee, passionate about the arts and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers.
Several floors up, eleven-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to film the people around her – in an effort to show how absure her life is.
A chance encounter with Renee and Paloma’s elegant and enigmatic new neighbour, Mr Ozu, will change their lives forever.
The Hedgehog will be released on July 8.
To win,...
- 7/1/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumiere Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret's Welcome (which just got picked up by Film Movement this week) and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet (a Spc release next February) received five and four noms respectively. - Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumière Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret...
- 12/18/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
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