Mathieu_Amalric_Tralala (c) J\u00e9r\u00f4me Pr\u00e9bois \u2013 SBS Productions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scale of his acting stretches from the alter ego role of his \u201cfinder\u201d Arnaud Desplechin, who visited our festival in 2019, to roles in films such as Steven Spielberg\u2019s Munich, Wes Anderson\u2019s The Grand Budapest Hotel, or an appearance in the Bond spectacle Quantum of Solace (2008). \u201cI can\u2019t tell them [my sons] one day that I refused to be the villain in a Bond movie\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n
His stardom as an actor has overshadowed the fact that Amalric, having been part of film productions since he was seventeen years old, considers himself first and foremost a director as we experience fully at Midnight Sun Film Festival. Highly productive, this man\u2019s career as a director starting in 1997 already includes six feature films, three documentaries, a number of feature-length TV films, at least eight short films, music videos and other productions\u2026<\/p>\n
The term \u201cstar\u201d undesired by the actor himself is perhaps a misnomer about such an original and ambitious, dare I say such a cult actor like Amalric. He has achieved acting praise in numerous arthouse films from directors like Otar Ioseliani, Olivier Assayas and Nanni Moretti \u2013 all the aforementioned past guests at MSFF. Not to mention the film screened at this year\u2019s festival; in which Amalric plays a paralysed man communicating solely with the blinking of his eyes \u2013 Julian Schnabel\u2019s film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. One can only imagine how big of a challenge this static role has been for such a physical type of actor like Amalric.<\/p>\n
As a director Amalric is as free spirited and versatile in his ambitions: A couple of his first feature films received positive responses in France yet have not been as recognised abroad. Instead, his third feature film about a burlesque group On Tour in 2010 was a breakthrough. The film was awarded in Cannes for best directing and nominated for C\u00e9sar in seven categories including best director and film. The crime thriller The Blue Room (based on Georges Simenon\u2019s novel), the unique singer biography Barbara as well as Hold Me Tight, a road movie about a family, prove that Amalric continues his uncompromising path. In his latest work of fiction, he succeeds in bringing together acting, cinematography, set design and soundtrack in a way that is as much music as poetry, far away from theatre or literature\u2026<\/p>\n
Even though you can most certainly talk about profound topics like football with Amalric (I won\u2019t reveal the favoured team) in Sodankyl\u00e4, at the festival we will devote time also to one of his passions, a completely self-motivated documentary project about the jazz titan John Zorn. This over a decade-long passion has already produced three feature films. The latest one \u2013 screened at our festival \u2013 also features Amalric\u2019s partner, soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan.<\/p>\n