Cohen Media Group has acquired all North American rights to Francois Ozon’s provocative erotic mystery “L’Amant Double,” one of the most buzzed-about films competing in Cannes.
“L’Amant Double” re-teams the versatile and prolific Ozon with Marine Vatch, the breakthrough star of “Young & Beautiful,” which competed at Cannes in 2013. Vatch stars in “L’Amant Double” opposite Jérémie Renier (“Summer Hours,” “La Promesse”) and Jacqueline Bisset (“Day for Night”).
Vatch stars as Chloé, a fragile young woman who falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Renier). She eventually moves in with Paul but soon discovers he is concealing a part of his identity.
The North America deal was negotiated by John Kochman, executive VP of Cohen Media Group, and Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, co-producer of the film and partner at Films Distribution, which is handling international rights for the picture.
“Ozon belongs to a rare breed of French auteurs who are beloved at home and have a loyal following among distributors worldwide,” Brigaud-Robert said.
Added Kochman: “Our ongoing relationship with the amazing Francois Ozon has been deeply rewarding, and we look forward to great success with ‘L’Amant Double’ and his films to come.”
Cohen Media will be releasing “L’Amant Double” in North America in early 2018.
Ozon previously helmed “Frantz,” a black-and-white period film that won big at this year’s Cesars, France’s equivalent of the Oscars. But where “Frantz” was rather chaste, Ozon told Variety that in “L’Amant Double” he wanted to “create a sexual thriller with strong psychological tension. The idea was not to shock but to depict the complexity of lust.”
He said the movie was inspired by a novel by American author Joyce Carol Oates.
“L’Amant Double” is the third Ozon film to be released in the U.S. by Cohen Media, following “The New Girlfriend” and “In the House.”
