Romantic Comedy

French Film
Directed by Jackie Oudnie    FR | 2009 | U

Journalist Jed Winter (Hugh Bonneville) is preparing to interview the celebrated French auteur film-maker Thierry Grimandi (Eric Cantona), a self-appointed expert on the nature of love. Jed is quick to dismiss Grimandi’s theories of love and romance as pretentious nonsense, irrelevant to real people in real life relationships.  But when his long-term girlfriend, Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton) refuses to marry him and instead forces him into couple counselling, Jed begins to realise that his own emotions aren’t as straightforward as he once believed. Even his best friend Marcus (Douglas Henshall) wants to talk less about football and more about love as the truth about his relationship with perfect girlfriend Sophie (Anne-Marie Duff) gradually emerges.

Heartbreaker
Directed by Pascal Chaumeil    FR | 2010 | U

HEARTBREAKER is an action-packed romantic comedy pairing two of France’s biggest young stars: Romain Duris (THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, PARIS) and actress/singer Vanessa Paradis (GIRL ON THE BRIDGE). A smash hit in France, the film was also featured at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Charming, funny and effortlessly cool, Alex (Duris) is a professional heartbreaker who for a fee can turn any husband, fiancé or boyfriend into an ex. Alex has one ironclad rule: He only breaks up couples where the woman is unhappy. His latest job will put that rule to the test. The target is Juliette, a beautiful heiress who is set to marry the man of her dreams. With ten days until the wedding, Alex has been hired by her father to carry out his most daring seduction yet that risks him being caught by his ruthless personal creditors, angry exes, and the beautiful and independent Juliette herself. But worst of all, will he discover to his own cost that when it comes to love, the perfect plan doesn’t exist? This fall no one will be able to resist HEARTBREAKER.

Coming 9/10/2010
Change of Plans
Directed by Danièle Thompson    FR | 2010 | U

CHANGE OF PLANS (LE CODE A CHANGÉ), is a delicious comedy of manners from acclaimed Oscar- and César-nominated writer/director Danièle Thompson (COUSIN COUSINE, LA BÛCHE, JET LAG, AVENUE MONTAIGNE). The film centers around a summer dinner party where ten acquaintances, each attempting to mask their own personal troubles, come together for an evening of food, wine and friendship. It’s not long before the couples begin revealing their dissatisfaction with their partners and it becomes obvious that they are planning or having affairs. The all-star ensemble cast includes Dany Boon (MICMACS), Emanuelle Seigner (THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY), Karin Viard (PARIS), and Marina Hands (LADY CHATTERLEY).

In Theaters/On Demand
Breaking Upwards
Directed by Daryl Wein    US | 2010 | U

Breaking Upwards’ follows a young, real-life New York couple in a fictional narrative loosely inspired by their open relationship. After four years together, the two have grown stifled. Desperate to escape their ennui, but fearful of life apart, they decide to intricately strategize their own break up. Based on an actual experiment in real-life devised by filmmakers and partners, Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, the film interprets a year in their lives exploring alternatives to monogamy, and the madness that ensues. The couple inhabits a hyper-articulate, emotionally layered world where twenty-somethings are portrayed in a complex and thoughtful new light. An uncensored look at young love, lust, and the pangs of codependency, ‘Breaking Upwards’ follows its characters as they navigate each others’ emotions across the city they love. It begs the question: is it ever possible to grow apart together?

All Original Soundtrack on iTunes featuring the voices from the stars of the film.

In Theaters/On Demand
Someone Else
Directed by Col Spector    UK | U

Thirtysomething photographer David (Stephen Mangan) has for some time been happily dating Lisa (Susan Lynch)… but increasingly he’s dreaming of Nina (The War Zone’s Lara Belmont), a tempestuous free spirit who seems to represent everything his loving, stable girlfriend is not. So what’s a man to do?

From this all-too-familiar premise first-time writer/director Spector has crafted a funny, sad, and above all discomfortingly honest look at the male gender’s seemingly infinite capacity for self-deception – superbly performed by a talented ensemble cast, and directed with admirable economy and confidence. This well-crafted British independent might, if you’re a bloke, have you looking awkwardly at your shoes and wondering how someone got inside your head to find this stuff out….

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