Lucky streak: Woody Allen returns to cinema with 50th film with 100% French cast

A year after the Rifkin festival, Woody Allen is back behind the camera with Coup de Chance. This time the filmmaker returned to France, 12 years after Midnight in Paris. For his 50th feature film as a director, Allen offers a particular novel, a variation Crimes and Punishments by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

The story introduces us to Fanny and Jean, played by Lou de Laagens and Melville Pupo. They have everything about the perfect couple: they are perfect in their professional lives, they live in a magnificent apartment in the most beautiful areas of Paris, and they seem to be in love on the first day.

But when the fan accidentally meets Allen, a former high school friend played by Nils Schneider, she’s immediately smitten. They see each other very quickly and get closer and closer…

A different experience for Woody Allen

If romantic intrigue and themes arising from it characterize the work of the New York director, it was radically new for him to direct actors in a language other than English.

“I only speak English so well that I didn’t think that one day I would have the opportunity to shoot in another language, but I realized that I could tell if an actor was acting convincingly or not. “I wrote the script, I knew what the actors were saying in each scene and if in doubt I was sneaky, I asked my screenwriter or cameramen who spoke French.Explains Woody Allen, who recently criticized the culture of cancellation during a speech at the Venice Film Festival.

“I was always influenced by French directors like Truffaut, Godard or Renoir. They were very important to the filmmakers of my generation. I like the idea that Coup de Chance could be directed by a French filmmaker.”The director emphasizes France Info columns.

For his part, Lou de Laag, who stars in Coup de Chance, relished his experience on the set of the Match Point director. “This is one of the most gentle, easy and caring shoots I’ve done. It was a little magic bubble. I’m not the only one who thinks so, and I can say the same for my partners and everyone. “The team. It’s one of those shots that leaves a mark, I’ll remember it.”He told our microphone in December 2022.

great freedom

Woody Allen did not know the actors involved in Coup de chance very well. To select them, he watched a lot of videos to make sure they fit the different roles. He then met with everyone shortly before the shoot and decided to give them a lot of freedom to act.

“I wanted the actors to master the dialogues and speak like any French. They didn’t have to follow the script to the letter: they could improvise and express themselves naturally as they did. In a comparative context. I give them room to maneuver because they’re so good.”The 87-year-old filmmaker points out.

The latter offered many stars of the French stage to interpret various characters in his story. Valérie Lemercier plays Fan’s saucy mother (Lou de Laagens) who gets involved in her daughter’s sentimental stories. We also meet Guillaume de Tonquedec, Elsa Zilberstein, Yannick Koirat and Grigory Gadbois as a private detective.

on the last road?

Could A Stroke of Luck be the last film of Woody Allen’s career? During a visit to Lyon to present this paper at the Lumer Institute, he was interviewed by France Info on the subject.

“I want to leave for two reasons. The first is that it’s getting harder and harder to get money to make movies. That’s the most boring part of the job. The second is that I don’t like what movies have become today on streaming platforms.”confirms the director.

“It used to be very exciting to see your film on the big screen, to see a room full of people and live the shared experience. If someone decided to finance me, I would definitely be tempted to make another feature film, but I will try to keep my film on the screen for as long as possible.”Woody Allen claims.

Coup de Chansi was released in theaters on September 27.