Music Box Films has purchased U.S. rights to “The Crime Is Mine” (“Mon Crime”), a interval comedy by French helmer François Ozon (“Swimming Pool,” “8 Women”).
“The Crime Is Mine” stars Rebecca Marder and Nadia Tereszkiewicz, who simply received the Cesar Award for feminine newcomer, alongside Isabelle Huppert, Fabrice Luchini, Dany Boon and André Dussolier. Music Box Films plans a theatrical launch for later this yr, adopted by a house leisure rollout.
Adapted from a 1934 play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, “The Crime Is Mine” follows struggling actress Madeleine (Tereszkiewicz), and her greatest pal and roommate Pauline (Marder), an unemployed lawyer in Nineteen Thirties Paris. Madeleine ascends to fame after standing trial for the homicide of a film producer, with Pauline serving as protection counsel and media circus ringmaster. Upon Madeleine’s acquittal, a brand new lifetime of fame, wealth and tabloid movie star awaits — till the reality comes out.
The acquisition marks Music Box Films’ fifth collaboration with Ozon, having beforehand distributed his French interval comedy “Potiche” ($1.6 million on the U.S. field workplace), “Frantz,” “By the Grace of God” and most just lately “Summer of ‘85.”
A nicely polished crowdpleaser, “The Crime Is Mine” has been Ozon’s largest industrial hit within the final decade based mostly on its B.O. throughout Europe.
“We are thrilled to work again with one of the most essential and prolific contemporary French filmmakers, who’s fashioned a delightful comedy that pays homage to ’30s screwball style with the verve of a true cinephile,” mentioned Music Box Films’ Brian Andreotti. “Despite its period setting, Ozon’s deft reckoning with issues of gender, sexuality and power dynamics truly position this as a film for our times.”
Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, Playtime’s CEO, mentioned Music Box Films and Playtime “have been working together successfully for over a decade, it is only natural that we work with them on our biggest French film of the year.”
Brigaud-Robert negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers with William Schopf and Andreotti of Music Box Films.