Beloved

BELOVED, the latest film from French writer-director Christophe Honore (LOVE SONGS, DANS PARIS) is a sly and lovely romantic musical drama spanning three decades as it follows a mother and daughter's misadventures in love. Starring Catherine Deneuve and (her real-life daughter) Chiara Mastroianni - with an all-star supporting cast that includes Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel, Paul Schneider and Milos Forman - the film was the closing night selection of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and a special gala presentation of the Toronto Film Festival. In the freewheeling Paris of the '60s, young Madeleine (Ludivine Sagnier) - who has gone from selling shoes to sleeping with men for money - falls for a handsome Czech doctor, Jaromil (Rasha Bukvic), who she soon marries and joins in Prague. A baby daughter is born, but Jaromil's infidelities and the arrival of Russian tanks in Prague leaded Madeleine back to France - though the love between them still burns. Thirty years later in London, we follow Madeleine's daughter, Vera (Chiara Mastroianni), who has fallen in love with a musician (American actor Paul Schneider) who is incapable of devoting himself to her, while her ex (Honore regular Louis Garrel) still pines for her. Meanwhile, in Paris, a re-married Madeleine (Catherine Deneuve) has rekindled her love affair with Jaromil (Milos Forman). Frequent Honore collaborator Alex Beaupain (LOVE SONGS, DANS PARIS) composed the emotional, Cesar-nominated score for this light-hearted but ultimately moving exploration of the changing nature of relationships.