new wave films
Slack Bay (DVD and VOD)
A film by Bruno Dumont
Synopsis
There lives a small community of fishermen. Among them a curious family, the Bruforts, renowned ferrymen of the Slack Bay, and especially the impetuous 18 year old Ma Loute.
Towering high above the bay stands the van Peteghems’ mansion. Every summer, this bourgeois family – degenerate and decadent from inbreeding – stagnates in the villa, not without mingling during their leisure hours with the ordinary local people, Ma Loute and the other Bruforts.
Over the course of five days, a peculiar love story starts between Ma Loute and the young and mischievous Billie van Peteghem and confusion and mystification will descend on both families, shaking their convictions, foundations and way of life.
After P'tit Quinquin, the latest film by Bruno Dumont finds once again its inspiration in slapstick comedy, at turns bleak and funny, with the most amazing cast of French actors whose performances take the film to another level.
We are delighted to be collaborating with MUBI again for the distribution of this film.
Where It's On
Trailer
Director — Bruno Dumont
Bruno Dumont (born 1958, Bailleul, France) studied and taught philosophy before he started writing and directing films.
Often working with non-professional actors and mostly filming in the Calais region where he lives, he has, to date, directed eight feature films and a TV series, all of which mix dark realistic drama with a work on forms. His feature films are La vie de Jésus (1997), L'Humanité (1999), Twentynine Palms (2003), Flandres (2006), Hadewijch (2009), Hors Satan (2011), and Camille Claudel 1915 (2013). L'Humanité and Flandres were both awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, while Hadewijch won the FIPRESCI prize.
P'tit Quinquin (2014), also distributed by New Wave Films, was Dumont's first forray into TV series and into comedy. Dumont has since been working on a sequel.
Slack Bay / Ma Loute, is his latest feature film, presented in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, and a further investigation of comedy by one of France's most original filmmakers.
Since Ma Loute, Dumont has been working on a musical comedy on the early years of Jeanne d'Arc, called Jeanette and set to be finished in 2017.
Filmography
La vie de Jésus / The Life of Jesus (1997)
L'humanité / Humanity (1999)
Twentynine Palms (2003)
Flandres / Flanders (2006)
Camille Claudel 1915 (2013)
P'tit Quinquin (2014)
Slack Bay / Ma Loute (2016)
Jeannette (2017)
CoinCoin and the Extra-Humans (2017/8) - in production
Cast & Credits
Cast
Fabrice LUCHINI - André Van Peteghem
Juliette BINOCHE - Aude Van Peteghem
Valeria BRUNI TEDESCHI - Isabelle Van Peteghem
Jean-Luc VINCENT - Christian Van Peteghem
RAPH - Billie Van Peteghem
Brandon LAVIEVILLE - Ma Loute Brufort
Cyril RIGAUX - Malfoy
Laura DUPRÉ - Nadège
Crew|
Screenplay, dialogues, direction |
Bruno DUMONT |
|
Producers |
Jean BRÉHAT Rachid BOUCHAREB Muriel MERLIN |
|
Co-producers |
Thanassis KARATHANOS Geneviève LEMAL |
|
Line producers |
Muriel MERLIN Cédric ETTOUATI |
|
Post production supervisor |
Cédric ETTOUATI |
|
Director of photography |
Guillaume DEFFONTAINES |
|
Script supervisor |
Virginie BARBAY |
|
Editing |
Bruno DUMONT Basile BELKHIRI |
|
Sound |
Phillipe LECOEUR |
|
Sound mixer |
Emmanuel CROSET |
|
Sound editing |
Romain OZANNE |
|
Costume supervisor |
Alexandra CHARLES |
|
Art designer |
Riton DUPIRE-CLÉMENT - ADC |
|
Make-up |
Michèle CONSTANTINIDES Jana SCHULZE |
|
Hair stylist |
Mathieu GUERAÇAGUE |
|
Casting |
Clément MORELLE Catherine CHARRIER |
|
First Asssistant Directors |
Marie LEVENT Aurélia HOLLART |
|
Location manager |
Julien BOULEY |
|
Stills photographer |
Roger ARPAJOU |
|
Produced by |
3B PRODUCTIONS |
|
In coproduction with |
TWENTY TWENTY VISION FILMPRODUKTION & PALLAS FILM ARTE FRANCE CINÉMA WDR/ARTE |
|
In association with |
MEMENTO FILMS DISTRIBUTION MEMENTO FILMS INTERNATIONAL PICTANOVO LE FRESNOY STUDIO NATIONAL DES ARTS CONTEMPORAINS COFINOVA 12 CINEMAGE 10 SOFICINEMA 12 SCOPE PICTURES |
|
With the participation of |
CANAL+ CINE+ ARTE FRANCE CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINÉMA ET DE L’IMAGE ANIMÉE |
|
|
LA RÉGION DES HAUTS-DE-FRANCE IN PARTENERSHIP WITH LE CNC TAX SHELTER DU GOUVERNEMENT FEDERAL BELGE |
|
International sales |
MEMENTO FILMS INTERNATIONAL |
France / Germany, 2016, 122 min., colour, Scope 2.35, 5.1, Cert 15
Images
Click any still to enlarge
The Critics
★★★★
"Dumont is still in a mordantly merry mood, as this alternately buoyant, bleak and thoroughly bananas seaside ramble makes delightfully clear."
Guy Lodge, Time Out★★★★“Ma Loute is a fascinatingly made film, theatrically extravagant and precise... very strange and very funny.”
“The film features a gallery of nightmare faces and outrageous performances from French cinema A-list- ers…”
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian"Dumont exalts his characters and his performers alike, high ideals and raw desires, harsh subsistence and loopy frivolity, the splendors of nature and architectural delights together, in images of such instant revelation that they seem to tear away the screen and deliver his imaginary world as immediate experience."
Richard Brody, The New Yorker★★★★
"It's spellbinding to watch Dumont give pastoral comedy the full welly."
Nigel Andrews,The Financial Times
★★★★
"Singular, absurd and inspired"
Phil Concannon, Little White Lies
"The sight of Binoche camping it up beneath an enormous hat mounted with a gaily coloured dead bird is not the weirdest thing in a film that mixes slapstick, social commentary and cannibalism."
Ryan Gilbey, The New Statesman
“Somehow Dumont has sneakily managed to have things both ways. Fans of his work will recognize the familiar metaphysical strains erupting in a new guise. The violence, while brief and played for laughs, is nonetheless brutal and creepy, as it typically is in his films. It’s not everyone’s brand of comedy by a long shot, but “Slack Bay” is likely to be recognized as one of the more truly original films screening this year at Cannes.’’
Barbara Scharres, rogerebert.com
“Slack Bay” operates as a high farce. Its parodic look at decadent lunatics suggests Buñuel’s “L’Age D’or” by way of Godard’s “Weekend” in its vibrant skewering of social classes... Combining savage archetypes with spot-on wit, “Slack Bay” is a fun, peculiar romp with deeper conceits lurking beneath the surface. Shot with a high contrast palette, the movie has a painterly quality that yields a hyperreal quality and makes it Dumont’s most polished work. It also succeeds at lending an air of elegance to the strange proceedings...”
Eric Kohn, Indiewire
“There are some great performances from the likes of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Cannes Dame Juliette Binoche, and particularly Fabrice Luchini, whose hump-backed, swaggering toff André Van Peteghem is a particular highlight. The film also looks fantastic, and Director of Photography Guillaume Deffontaines creates a wonderful depiction of the overcast beaches of northern France during the early part of the 20th century.”- The Hollywood News - by Paul Heath“Everything is shot immaculately: the costumes are exquisite and the seascapes are enough to give Turner the vapours, while some of the performances are tone perfect caricatures of brutal mimicry.’’
John Bleasdale, Cine-Vue
“Slack Bay (Ma Loute) is a one-of-a-kind outing from perennially outre French auteur Bruno Dumont, a stylized slapstick art film’’
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
‘Dumont is still in a mordantly merry mood, as this alternately buoyant, bleak and thoroughly bananas seaside ramble makes delightfully clear. ‘
Guy Lodge, Time Out
"The film’s textures are a wonder. Acting very much in the clown style, the performers shriek and gurn to endless heightened effect. Luchini and Tedeschi form a gorgeously horrid couple. Juliette Binoche (…) throws herself at the camera with admirable abandon."
Donald Clarke, The Irish Times
“Understandably, enjoying a film like this requires a considerable suspension of disbelief. Those who are able to accept the work for its aimless and whimsical escapism, however, are in for a real treat. Surreal and strange but ultimately a laugh-out-loud affair, “Slack Bay” is a creative revelation."
Steven S.K Hao,The Harvard Crimson
Links
Read an interview with Bruno Dumont in Film Comment
Interview with Juliette Binoche about Slack Bay on Indiewire
Watch an interview with the actors and director of Slack Bay
Interview with Juliette Binoche in The Observer
Interview with Bruno Dumont in The Financial Times
Interview with Bruno Dumont in CineVue
Download photo-set
Download Press Book
Download High Res jpg of quad poster
UK Trailer on Vimeo (mp4 file can be downloaded)
UK Trailer on Youtube
Download UK Trailer full-size Pro Res
Bookings & Press
For film bookings please contact Colin Burch at Verve Pictures — [email protected]. Press resources are on the Press page.