London, September 14: Half a century ago a group of French film critics with a shared passion for American cinema revolutionised world film-making.
The Nouvelle Vague, or French New Wave, blew the cobwebs off French cinema and merged American influences with a European arthouse sensibility.
Ever since, Hollywood has reciprocated with periodic crushes on the Gallic film industry, and right now the studio bosses are feeling particularly ardent. At least five American remakes of recent French films are in the works, with two scheduled to start filming next month.
Bruno Barde, the director of the Deauville Festival in Normandy, where the trend has been a topic of heated debate for the past week, said: “Hollywood has fallen in love with French cinema all over again.
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“For Americans, France represents Old Europe, something that fascinates them. We have a special relationship with Hollywood which is drawn to our charming habits and charming cafés.”
It is highly unlikely that any of the remakes will have anything like the impact of the joyful, inventive and diverse masterpieces made by François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer in the 1950s and 1960s. But what they all have in common is a strong, simple premise and rich commercial potential.
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis is the highest-grossing film at the French box office. A comedy about a Provençal postmaster who is transferred to the rainy “Ch’ti” country near the Belgian border, it mocks prejudices about the post-industrial north of France.
The actor Will Smith plans to remake it as Welcome to the Sticks, starring Steve Carrell and relocating the action to Dakota.
Pour Elle is a gripping thriller about a schoolteacher who plots to break his innocent wife out of jail after she is found guilty of murdering her boss.
Work is due to start next month on a remake called The Next Three Days, directed by Paul Haggis and starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.
Le Dîner de Cons was a hit 1998 comedy in which an unsavoury group of friends compete to invite the most idiotic guest to their weekly dinner parties. Shooting begins in the next few weeks on Dinner for Schmucks, directed by Jay Roach, who made Meet the Parents and the Austin Powers films.
Anthony Zimmer (2005) was a box-office flop but Charlize Theron is set to star in a remake called The Tourist, playing an Interpol agent who seduces an innocent tourist as part of a plot to trap a criminal mastermind.
—Agencies