Ah Marion Cotillard, how I do love this actress. From her wonderful starring turn in Jeux D’Enfants to a supporting role as a deadly assassin in A Very Long Engagement to her Oscar winning portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose up to her current (on DVD recently) strong and sexy role in Public Enemies. She is now officially getting big enough for carry-the-movie-roles in France, and here comes a classic adult motion picture (something Hollywood used to be very good at) to give her the chance. In Le Dernier Vol (The Last Flight) she plays a woman who loses her husband in the desert and dives in head first to find him. Epic spectacle, thrills, romance and drama will likely ensue:
A romantic drama inspired by real-life flying couple Bill Lancaster and Jessie ‘Chubbie’ Miller, whose aviation exploits in the 1920s and 30s led to Lancaster’s mysterious death in the Sahara in 1933. Lancaster’s willful and stubborn flying partner and lover flies solo into the desert to try and find him. Arriving in the Tuareg heartlands, she meets Antoine, a rebellious captain from a remote French camel corps, who gets caught up in her dangerous mission. In the oppressive heat and under the massive, empty skies, the pair find themselves falling in love.
Guillaume Canet is nearly unrecognizable with the beard here, but also puts in fine work. Many will remember him as co-star in Danny Boyle’s The Beach, or perhaps as the director of 2007′s crossover thriller, Tell No One, but even more appropriate is that the two leads of the very underrated Jeux D’Enfants are back together for some more ‘traditional’ romancing!
Trailer is tucked under the seat.
There are a lot of things to love in A Very Long Engagement, but Marion Cotillard’s character is easily one of the best.
I’m annoyed with myself for not having seen La vie en rose yet…
I’m a sucker for desert settings, so I’m already interested just by that. And for me, Cotillard was about the only thing that I completely loved about Public Enemies. Sadly, I don’t remember her in A Very Long Engagement! I’ll have to rewatch, but I remember being sort of disappointed with it when I first saw it – probably more to do with my expectations than the film itself.
Well, Amelie IS a tough act to follow.
Public Enemies is also on my to-see list, but I have heard that Cotillard nails her part.
So Jandy – have you seen THE FOUR FEATHERS? There isn’t a whole lot of love out there for the film but I have a soft spot for it.
Funny that I think A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is a better film than Amelie. Just me though. Might have been Marion Cottilard at the time, I had a huge crush on that actress before she became as big as she is today, mainly from Jeux D’Enfants.
On The Four Feathers, it is the director, Shekhar Kapur, who accidentally found success with Elizabeth, but really makes overly bombastic and down right terrible movies.
Marina, you mean the one from 2002? I think I’ve seen it but didn’t care for it that much. Can’t really remember why, though, it just didn’t impress me. I also didn’t like Sahara, if we’re on the subject of desert movies I don’t like.
Marc, for me, Cotillard made Public Enemies. Despite how much I like both Depp and Bale as actors, I wasn’t really able to connect with their characters, but Cotillard became the emotional center of the film. And that surprised me a little, because in the trailers, it looked like she was going to be just the overly-smiley girl dragged into everything because she didn’t know any better. But she ended up being so much more than that.
I haven’t seen La vie en rose yet, either – I guess I should get around to that at some point. I didn’t care for Jeux d’enfants as much as Kurt and others (I think) around here, though. I liked a lot of it, and both actors were good, it just ended up being too cruel for me. I guess I can appreciate that it took the conceit to its logical end, but…I still didn’t like where it went.