''The New Girlfriend'' (french: link=no, Une nouvelle amie) is a 2014 French

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film written and directed by

François Ozon François Ozon (; born 15 November 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. Ozon is considered one of the most important modern French filmmakers. His films are characterized by aesthetic beauty, sharp satirical humor and a free-wheeli ...

, based on the short story of the same name by

Ruth Rendell Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, (; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.The Oxford Companion ...

. It had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

on 6 September 2014.

Cast

Romain Duris Romain Duris (; born 28 May 1974) is a French actor. He is known for his role in Cédric Klapisch's ''Spanish Apartment'' trilogy, which consists of ''L'Auberge Espagnole'' (2002), '' Russian Dolls'' (2005), and ''Chinese Puzzle'' (2013). He also ...

as David / Virginia *

Anaïs Demoustier Anaïs Demoustier (; born Anaïs Aude Marie Michèle Demoustier; 29 September 1987) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films since 2000. Personal life During the filming of ''Marguerite & Julien'', Demoustier began dating ...

as Claire *

Raphaël Personnaz Raphaël Personnaz (born 23 July 1981) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than fifty films since 1998. He was awarded the Prix Patrick Dewaere in 2013. Personal life Born 23 July 1981 in France, his father was a furniture designer and hi ...

as Gilles *

Isild Le Besco Isild Le Besco (born 22 November 1982) is a French actress and filmmaker. She is of French and Algerian descent on her mother's side, and Vietnamese and Breton on her father's. She has starred in many films, including ''Sade'' (2000), a French ...

as Laura *

Aurore Clément Aurore Clément (born 12 October 1945) is a French actress who has appeared in French and English language movies and television productions. Early life She was born Marie-Thérèse Aurore Louise Clément in Soissons. Following the death of her ...

as Liz * Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat as Robert * Bruno Perard as Eva Carlton * Claudine Chatel as nanny * Anita Gillier as nurse * Alex Fondja as caregiver *

Zita Hanrot Zita Hanrot (born 7 December 1989) is a French actress. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2016 for her role in the film ''Fatima''. Life and career Zita Hanrot was born in 1989, to a Jamaican mother and a French father. She ...

as restaurant waitress

Release

''The New Girlfriend'' premiered at the

2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...

on 6 September. The film was later screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival on 20 September 2014, where it won the

Sebastiane Award Sebastiane Award is a prize delivered in September, since 2000, to a film or documentary screened during the San Sebastián International Film Festival that best reflects the values and reality of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people. ...

. The jury commented, "

zon NOS, SGPS S.A. is a Portuguese telecommunications and media company who provides mobile and fixed telephony, cable television, satellite television and internet. The company resulted from the merger in 2013 of two of the country's major telecom ...

calls into question the labels and roles of masculinity and femininity" and the jury "appreciates the contribution of this film to move towards a personal liberation, that could reaffirm the identity of every person". The film was also presented at the

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...

on 2 October and the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

on 11 October. It was released theatrically in France on 5 November 2014 by Mars Distribution and in the United States on 18 September 2015 by

Cohen Media Group Charles S. Cohen (born February 8, 1952) is an American real estate developer and film distributor. Early life and education Cohen was raised in a Jewish family in Harrison, New York. He is the son of Gloria and Sherman Cohen and nephew to Eddi ...

Critical response

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a score of 80% based on 84 reviews, with an average score of 6.8 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "While flirting with camp, François Ozon's ''The New Girlfriend'' offers thoughtful – and humorous – commentary on sexual and gender identity." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 74 out of 100 from 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', David Rooney expressed his compliments on ''The New Girlfriend'': "a delectable riff on transformation, desire and sexuality that blends the heightened reality of melodrama with mischievous humor and an understated strain of Hitchcockian suspense". At ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'',

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

said, "even as

heads down any number of tantalizing if borderline-nonsensical alleyways, Ozon maintains his diabolical wit, his infectious sense of play and his essential affection for his characters" and the film was "powered by beautifully controlled performances from Anaïs Demoustier and Romain Duris".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''The New Girlfriend'' was released on November 3, 2014. The song "

Hot n Cold "Hot n Cold" is a song by American singer Katy Perry. The song was written by Perry, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin and produced by Luke and Benny Blanco for her second studio album, ''One of the Boys'' (2008). It was released as the album's second si ...

" by

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

is played in the film but it is not available in the official soundtrack.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:New Girlfriend, The (film) 2014 drama films 2014 LGBT-related films 2010s erotic drama films 2010s French-language films Cross-dressing in film Films about gender Films based on short fiction Films directed by François Ozon French erotic drama films French LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films Transgender-related films 2010s French films