APPEARANCES

NEW RELEASE DATE • Available for rental: Sunday, June 27 @ Noon PDT → Wednesday, June 30 @ Noon PDT.

PLEASE NOTE THAT FOR THIS FILM YOU WILL NEED TO ACTIVATE THE SUBTITLES BY CLICKING ON “CC” ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF YOUR SCREEN AND SELECTING “ENGLISH”.

Join our Closing Zoom Discussion with Le Professeur Kevin Elstob, on Monday, June 28 @ 6:30pm PDT.**
If you purchase the film or the Virtual Festival Pass, you will receive the Zoom invitation. Questions about the discussion? Email kelstob@csus.edu.

Suggested short film pairing: Cancer, No Kidding!

Ève (Karin Viard, The Chef’s Wife — SFFF 2015) and Henri (singer Benjamin Biolay) are a couple living in privilege, part of the well-to-do French community in Vienna. They are “la crème de la crème,” he a famous conductor, she the head of the French Institute. They are handsome, elegant, they organize the best parties, and live a seemingly flawless life in their expatriate bubble.

But the perfect picture crumbles when Ève discovers that Henri is cheating on her with their son’s young teacher (Laetitia Dosch). On an impulse, she finds revenge with Jonas, a young man she meets in a bar. But when Jonas turns out to be a stalker, the comedy of manners veers into a poisonous thriller reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock and Claude Chabrol.

Karin Viard is impeccable as a scorned woman desperate not to lose face, ready to do anything to keep her prestigious husband and maintain appearances. Benjamin Biolay is ambiguous at will as the unfaithful and aloof husband. A guilty pleasure!

Not Rated (adult themes, some violence).

Original Title: Les Apparences

Reviews

By putting social adultery at the heart of a social comedy that slides towards film noir, director Marc Fitoussi is following in the footsteps of Claude Chabrol.
Eric Neuhoff — Le Figaro

An impeccable cast for a captivating thriller. Marc Fitoussi enters the thriller world with flying colors.
Claudine Levanneur — aVoir-aLire.com