What are we watching this weekend? Ridley Scott’s epic, the phenomena of Artus and Pierre Niney…
We also find the best doctors from French TV and an extremely romantic film by Emmanuel Mouret.
The film in theaters: Gladiator II by Ridley Scott
Some filmmakers would have made it their will: not Ridley Scott, who remade his own epic 25 years (approximately) later in venerated B series mode, where the emotion of the first film gives way to bloody professionalism. The result is undoubtedly the most exciting thing you will see, strictly speaking, on the big screen this year. Mescal and Pascal happily cut down the extras, the Roman emperors seem to have come out of a Safdie film, and all of Scott’s energy is focused on the fascinating Denzel Washington, brilliant as a gangsta plotter, between Iago and Alonzo Harris. Strength and honor? It’s all so 2000, all that.
Gladiator II, The Kingdom, Finally: what’s new at the cinema this week
The film on VOD: The Count of Monte Cristo by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière
While it has well exceeded 9 million admissions and still attracts nearly 70,000 spectators per week 20 weeks after its release, the adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel is arriving on VOD. The opportunity to once again savor the way in which the Delaporte-de la Patellière duo knew how to respect the spirit of the text while modernizing it through their staging. A film in the image of Pierre Niney who plays the title role: epic, romantic, flamboyant. On the way to the Césars… and the Oscars?
The series: Hippocrates season 3 on Canal Plus
After three absences, Thomas Lilti’s exciting series returns even more politicized than ever for six exciting new episodes. We find Louise Bourgoin, Karim Leklou, Zacharie Chasseriaud, Alice BelaÏdi and the new kid William Lebghil in a dilapidated hospital world. Exhausted by Covid, the white coats must face another equally insidious scourge: budget cuts.
The film on TV: A little something extra on Canal +
A first film as a response to those who insist that we no longer laugh at everything for fear of offending this or that category of the population. Inflated but never stupidly provocative, Artus succeeds in his first steps as a director with this hilarious comedy… about disability thanks to the quality of writing of the characters and situations at the heart of this summer camp for young adults with disabilities. We laugh a lot but with them and never at them… and without trying to apologize in the wake of these jokes. With nearly 11 million entries, the public made it the biggest success of the year 2024.
The film in streaming: Chronicle of a fleeting affair by Emmanuel Mouret, on Arte.tv
While his Three friends is currently enjoying great success in theaters, we will not shy away from the pleasure of diving back into Emmanuel Mouret’s previous film where he examined the fragility of the couple, through the story of an adulterer put to the test of its supposed transience . His love of words, his talent for probing, not without playfulness, the mysteries of the impulses of the heart and the quality of his direction of actors (Sandrine Kiberlain, Vincent Macaigne, Georgia Scalliet, sparkling) work wonders.
The documentary: Claude Lelouch, life better by Elise Baudouin on France.TV
Perfect complement to From one film to another where Claude Lelouch himself rewound the thread of his career, feature film by feature film, this excellent documentary co-signed by Stéphane Boudscoq, the RTL cinema man seeks to unlock the secrets of the Lelouch method by mixing images of archives, filming of scenes from his new feature film Finally, and always enlightened confidences from the person concerned. Chabadabadesque as hell.
What is the new Claude Lelouch worth, finally? (critical)