OFFLINE Releasing & Artistic License Films present

The Taste of Others (Le Got des Autres)

A Film by Agns Jaoui A Screenplay by Agns Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri

2000/35mm/color/112mins/Scope/Dolby SR-SRD/Digital DTS

Distribution Contact: Publicity Contact:

Artistic License Films Daniels Public Relations 250 West 57th Street, Suite 606 New York, NY 10107 York, NY 10018 Tel: 212.265.9119 Fax: 212.262.9299 Tel: 212.869.7233 Fax: 212.869.7114 [email protected]

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1375 Broadway, 21st Floor New

SYNOPSIS

CASTELLA (Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a successful suburban businessman caught behind the fast-changing times. More out of boredom than out of interest, he allows his wife ANGLIQUE (Christiane Millet) to drag him to a performance of Racine's /Brnice/. Much to his surprise, he is overwhelmed by the power and beauty of the lead actress, CLARA (Anne Alvaro), who plays the Queen. He becomes so infatuated with her that he goes back to the play night after night. Finally, these two polar opposites are forced together when Castella reluctantly tries to learn English for an important business deal and his English teacher turns out

to be Clara.

These are but two of the satellites revolving in writer-director Agns Jaouis universe. Around them gravitate others who perhaps should never have met, but their encounters reveal facets of their personalities they would never have suspected.

Among these characters are a pseudo-professional bodyguard, who turns out to be just a regular guy with an uninteresting job; a chauffeur who believes himself to be immune to sentimental mishaps but who ends up with a broken heart; a bistro owner who thinks she has all the answers but to whom no one actually listens; and a carefree bartender who stumbles into a real relationship.

THE TASTE OF OTHERS introduces us to characters the movies tend to forget: great actresses who /dont/ get the breaks, bored rich women with /no/ sense of style, and sexy bartenders who /can/ find love.

CAST

ANNE ALVARO /CLARA / JEAN-PIERRE BACRI /CASTELLA /

BRIGITTE CATILLON /BEATRICE / ALAIN CHABAT /DESCHAMPS / AGNES JAOUI /MANIE / GERARD LANVIN /MORENO / ANNE LE NY /VALERIE / CHRISTIANE MILLET /ANGELIQUE/ WLADIMIR YORDANOFF /ANTOINE / XAVIER DE GUILLEBON /WEBER / RAPHAEL DEFOUR /BENOT / BOB ZAREMBAR /FRED / SAM KARMANN /THE DIRECTOR / MARIE-AGNES BRIGOT /THE SECRETARY / ROBERT BACRI /CASTELLA'S FATHER / DESIR CARRE

/PASSER-BY / CELINE ARNAUD /VIRGINIE / REGINALD HUGUENIN /TITUS / JEAN-MARC TALBOT /ANTIOCHUS / JEAN-FRANOIS LEVISTRE /ARSACE / DIDIER MAHIEU /HEDDA'S HUSBAND / STANISLAS DE LA TOUSCHE THE JUDGE/ /

CREW

DIRECTOR SCREENPLAY BACRI PRODUCERS GASSOT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER LINE PRODUCER

AGNS JAOUI AGNS JAOUI JEAN-PIERRE CHRISTIAN BRARD CHARLES JACQUES HINSTIN DANIEL CHEVALIER

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY LAURENT DAILLAND CASTING PRODUCTION DESIGNER BRIGITTE MOIDON FRANOIS EMMANUELLI

EDITOR MUSICAL CONSULTANT & ARRANGEMENTS COSTUME DESIGN MAKE-UP ARTIST HAIRDRESSER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR LOCATION MANAGER CONTINUITY SUPERVISOR SOUND RE-RECORDING MIXER STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER

HERV DE LUZE JEAN-CHARLES JARRELL JACKIE STEPHENS-BUDIN JACKIE REYNAL SARAH GUETTA ANTOINE GARCEAU BRUNO VATIN BRIGITTE HEDOU-PRAT JEAN-PIERRE DURET DOMINIQUE GABORIAU JEAN-PAUL DUMAS GRILLET

A TELEMA / LES FILMS A4 AND FRANCE 2 CINEMA CO-PRODUCTION WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF CANAL +

FESTIVAL SELECTION
Montreal World Film Festival - Grand Prize Winner Official Selection, New York Film Festival Johannesburg French Film Festival San Sebastian Film Festival Hamburg Film Festival

European Film Festival (Singapore) Vienna Film Festival Carthage Film Festival (Tunisia) Haifas 16th International Film Festival (Israel) Florence Film Festival Warsaw Film Festival

INTERVIEW WITH : AGNS JAOUI: For how long have you wanted to direct a film? AGNS JAOUI - Since /Kitchen with Aparment/, I think. But I didn't feel ready. I still don't, actually, but I figured it was time to take the plunge. I really wanted to find out if the images I always have in my head would work or not. And I wanted to be in charge of the whole project, from the writing through the production.

Were there aspects of directing that you didn't expect? AGNS JAOUI - Yes. For example, I knew you had to make a certain number of choices, but I had no idea how many! Also, in spite of the fact that Jean-Pierre was very present and supportive, I have never felt so alone in my life. That's it. It went much deeper than I thought - the incredible number of choices I had to make and the loneliness of making those choices.

Do you make choices easily in life? AGNS JAOUI - No. Then it must have been an incredible ordeal! AGNS JAOUI - Yes! It was anguish and doubt, but there were moments I really loved. Still, when I looked around at the actors who were

"only" actors, I envied them!

What stage of direction did you like most? AGNS JAOUI - The beginning of the shoot, I think. I started feeling a bit more confident about what I had shot and, at the same time, I could rebuild, like in the writing, based on material that already existed. Toward the end of editing I started getting panicky again because things were becoming permanent. In my life, I don't like choices and I don't like permanent decisions!

Do you regret taking on such an ordeal? AGNS JAOUI - Absolutely not. I like the difficulty. And the idea of risk, of a new adventure. Otherwise, I'd have chosen another career.

What are your influences in film? AGNS JAOUI - When I started working on the shot list, I began seeing films differently - in fact I saw everything differently - and I screened all the Woody Allen movies I'd already seen. I learned a lot from that. I knew that I had no technical know-how, or very little, so I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I wanted to do my best for the script and for the actors who I trusted. That's why there are a lot of one-shot sequences. I felt that's what would best serve the actors and the film.

This is the first time you've directed actors. Do you have any particular method? AGNS JAOUI - My method was to do what I appreciate when I act. Reassurance and confidence. I also rehearsed for over a month, with each of the actors, first one-on-one, then many of the scenes together. That was a really crucial part of the preparation for me. We taped the rehearsals, with the director of photography (Laurent Dailland) and even the sound engineer (Jean-Pierre Duret).

Where does your collaboration with Jean-Pierre Bacri end? It must have been hard for him to give up his power of decision after co-writing the script with you. AGNS JAOUI - I kept consulting him all the way through. He was the first person I asked for advice and opinions... He directed me in my scenes and told me what he thought of the scenes with other actors. I needed him there.

And was it difficult for you to direct Jean-Pierre? AGNS JAOUI - No, because we're used to playing the stuff we write together. We start talking about it while we're still writing. But I had to make sure I wasn't too familiar with him, not to take him for granted or try to take shortcuts on the assumption that he would know what I was talking about in any case.

How did you choose the music? AGNS JAOUI - I had some of it in my head when I was writing the script. Others occurred to me while we were shooting. As soon as we started editing, I laid them in, just to see. For both me and Herv De Luze (Editor), there was no question about it. The music is very eclectic, very much in keeping with the main theme of the film.

Did you have any hesitation about acting in your directing dbut? AGNS JAOUI - I like to act. I can't pass up a chance. I knew it would surely be a lot of work, but I just couldn't say no. We arranged the schedule so I wouldn't have to act during the first two weeks. And the fact is, when I did start, it was about time. I was really starting to miss it.

INTERVIEW WITH : JEAN-PIERRE BACRI AND How would you define what the film is about?

AGNS JAOUI

AGNS JAOUI - Our starting point was the fact that all around us, our friends, our husbands were ninety-nine and nine tenths percent from the same social circles as we are - in spite of how open-minded we'd like to think we are or we'd like to be. In the film, there are different milieus which exist in parallel, but can't intermingle. You can try to cross the border from one to the other, but it gets complicated and difficult.

JEAN-PIERRE BACRI - It's pretty natural to stay within one's social peers. But we really wanted to talk about sectarianism and parochialism.

As well as about the dictatorship of tastes. Just because you hang around with a certain kind of person, doesn't mean you should be closed off from the world and never fairly and openly consider what others' tastes might be, how it is to participate in those tastes, to listen to another music.

AGNS JAOUI - While I was preparing the film, I came across a piece written by Philippe Berthier as preface to Balzac's /"Lost Illusion"/, and which applies perfectly to our theme. All you have to do is substitute the name of Castella for that of Lucien de Rubempr and here's how it sounds: "Between the different worlds of the world there is no fluidity, no interpenetration, only the outwardly tranquil but dully hostile juxtapositon of incompatible blocs. Moving from one milieu to another means crossing through invisible abyss which some immemorial law seems to hold agape - to each his little box. Heaven help the 'pariahs' - those who, finding themselves in a subservient position, aspire to be welcomed into the supreme sphere. This desire for elevation, which is also a desire for mixing, is opposed to nature and the "social organ" will soon teach them as much as casting them out as if by instinct for self-defence, eliminating foreign bodies and shoring up the immune system of a group whose identity is being threatened. Such is [Castella] who introduces an element of instability and disorganization, which is to say of life, risk and surprise."

You've already addressed prejudice in your previous writing, but not as the central theme. JEAN-PIERRE BACRI - We probably got closest to that theme in /Family Resemblances. /

AGNS JAOUI - It's a theme that's always got us going. In this film and the others.

The tone of this film seems graver than the others. BOTH - Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

JEAN-PIERRE BACRI - It's perhaps slightly more moving than the previous ones. But I always feel our stuff is very grave. There's humor in it because we just can't help ourselves, but the root of it is always deadly serious.

AGNS JAOUI - Especially this theme of exlusion... We all know about it, starting as kids in grade school when you're dying to be accepted by one clique or another and you don't even know why and you don't know why you're rejected. And this keeps up through high school and into adult life even when, as an adult, you manage to relativize a little. For me, it's something that makes me cry.

Which of the characters speaks for the authors? BOTH - Manie and Deschamps.

Do you feel like your way of working has changed?

AGNS JAOUI - I don't think so, exept for the fact that we've been working together more and more.

You mean like splitting up the work like you have until now, for example - and this is oversimplifying - Agns works more on the plot structure and Jean-Pierre the dialogue? AGNS JAOUI - Yes, but it was already less like that on /Family Resemblances /and much less on /Same Old Song/...

JEAN-PIERRE BACRI - Yeah, that's what's really changed. All that has melted away.

Did you make the casting decisions together? AGNS JAOUI - Yes. While we were still writing. We wrote for Alain Chabat, Grard Lanvin, Anne Alvaro, Christiane Millet, Wladimir Yordanoff, Anne Le Ny...

Why did you cast yourselves in the roles of Castella and Manie? AGNS JAOUI - For a long time, I wanted to play the role of Clara (Anne Alvaro), but for one thing it was a bigger part and, since I was directing the film, it wasn't a good idea and, for another thing, I think it was important that she be older than I am. Anyway, JeanPierre and I have been avoiding writing ourselves a love story for a long time now. And I, personally, knew that Jean-Pierre would be fabulous in the role of Catella. Anne Alvaro and Christiane Millet are newcomers in your firmament.

AGNS JAOUI - They are both extraordianary stage actresses who are absurdly unknown, and that, in fact, sort of hits on the theme of the film. Anne Alvaro has been playing the greatest roles in subsidized theater since the age of seventeen, and many people have never heard of her. Even people who go to the theater a lot but go to see private productions rather than subsidized, just as many people only go to subsidized theater and never to private. It's really crazy. There are superb productions in both, so why this compartmentalization? For me, Anne Alvaro's situation is analogous to music-lovers who never heard of Callas. They're both actresses who can make any script intelligent. As it happens, we go (horror of horrors!) to both subsidized and private theater. So we knew both of them and we've been wanting to work with them for a long time.

All of the characters in the film are fairly lonely. Do you think we are all alone in the world? AGNS JAOUI - Of course we're all alone in the world. And that's why it's very tempting to try, as Clara and Antoine (Wladimir Yordanoff) try in the film, to form a group, a parish, with very precise rules and codes... It's very reassuring. But the line between a crowd and being sectarian is very thin.

JEAN-PIERRE BACRI - Each of us is different, with different sensations, impressions, complexes, desires overt and repressed, frustrations, each his own personal existential anguish. But from another point of

view, living with other people is a chance to escape all that. Society which is not really a choice, but obligatory - even a small society, even a group of friends represents warmth and, at best, affinities, complicity.

AGNS JAOUI (MANIE)

A three-time Csar-winning actress and screnwriter in her native France, Agns Jaoui broke through on yet another front this year with her directorial debut, THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout Des Autres).

Agns Jaoui began her acting studies under renowned theater and film director Patrice Chreau (Queen Margot). In 1987 she met her future husband, actor Jean-Pierre Bacri, and wrote several plays with him that were later made into films, including KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (1991) (Cuisine et Dependances), and FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (1995) (Un Air de Famille).

Some of her best-known work as an actress includes roles in Alain Resnais SAME OLD SONG (On Connait La Chanson) for which she won the 1997 Csar for Best Supporting Actress; Patrice Chreaus HOTEL DE FRANCE; and Cdric Klapischs FAMILY RESEMBLANCES.

She also won two Csars for her work as a screenwriter with Bacri: for SAME OLD SONG in 1997, and FAMILY RESEMBLANCES in 1995.

THE TASTE OF OTHERS was released in France in March 2000 to tremendous critical and commercial acclaim, and was the winner of the Grand Prixe Award at the Montreal Film Festival this year. The film is scheduled to

open in the United States in February 2001. FILMOGRAPHY: As a Director:

1999 As an Actress:

THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout Des Autres)

1999

THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout Des Autres) Agns Jaoui

1999

UNE FEMME D'EXTRIEUR Christophe Blanc

1998

EM FUGA (On the Run) Bruno de Almeida

1997

LE COUSIN Alain Corneau

1997

SAME OLD SONG (On Connat La Chanson) Alain Resnais

1996

LE DMNAGEMENT Olivier Doran

1995

FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (Un Air de Famille) Cdric Klapisch

1992 KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (Cuisine et Dependances) Philippe Muyl

1991

CANTI Manuel Pradal

1987

HOTEL DE FRANCE Patrice Chreau

1983

LE FAUCON Paul Boujenah

As a Screenwriter:

1999

THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout Des Autres)

1997

SAME OLD SONG (On Connait La Chanson)

1996

FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (Un Air De Famille)

1993 KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (Cuisine et Dependances)

JEAN-PIERRE BACRI (CASTELLA)

FILMOGRAPHY: 1999 KENNEDY ET MOI Sam Karmann

1997

PLACE VENDOME Nicole Garcia

SAME OLD SONG (ON CONNAT LA CHANSON) Alain Resnais

1996

DIDIER Alain Chabat

1995

FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (UN AIR DE FAMILLE)

Cedric Klapisch

1993

FEAR CITY (LA CIT DE LA PEUR) Alain Berberian

1992

KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (CUISINE ET DPENDANCES) Philippe Muyl

1991

LE BAL DES CASSE-PIEDS Yves Robert

THE MAN OF MY LIFE (L'HOMME DE MA VIE) Jean-Charles Tachella

1990

LA TRIBU Yves Boisset

1985

SUBWAY Luc Besson

ALAIN CHABAT (DESCHAMPS)

FILMOGRAPHY:

1999

LA DBANDADE Claude Berri

1997

LE COUSIN Alain Corneau

1996

DIDIER Alain Chabat

1995

BEAUMARCHAIS Edouard Molinaro

1994

FRENCH TWIST (GAZON MAUDIT) Josiane Balasko

SIX DAYS, SIX NIGHTS ( LA FOLIE) Diane Kurys

1993

FEAR CITY (LA CIT DE LA PEUR)

Alain Berberian

1991 LES SECRETS PROFESSIONNELS DU PROFESSEUR APFELGLUCK Herv Palud

1989

BABY BLOOD Alain Robak

GRARD LANVIN (MORENO)

FILMOGRAPHY: 1998 LA FEMME DU COSMONAUTE Jacques Monnet

IN ALL INNOCENCE (EN PLEIN COEUR) Pierre Jolivet

PASSIONNMENT Bruno Nuytten

1995

MY MAN (MON HOMME) Bertrand Blier

ANNA OZ Eric Rochant

1994

THE FAVORITE SON (LE FILS PRFR) Nicole Garcia

1993

THE GROUNDHOGS (LES MARMOTTES) Elie Chouraqui

1991

THE BEAUTIFUL STORY (LA BELLE HISTOIRE) Claude Lelouch

1989

IL Y A DES JOURS ET DES LUNES Claude Lelouch

1988

MES MEILLEURS COPAINS Jean-Marie Poir

1987

SAXO

Ariel Zeitoun

1986

LES FRRES PTARD Herv Palud

1985

MOI VOULOIR TOI Patrick Dewolf

1984

LES SPCIALISTES Patrice Leconte

MARCHE L'OMBRE Michel Blanc

1983

RONDE DE NUIT Jean-Claude Missiaen

1979

EXTRIEUR NUIT Jacques Bral

TAPAGE NOCTURNE Catherine Breillat