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''The Family'' (released as ''Malavita'' and ''Cosa Nostra'' in some countries) is a 2013 American
black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
crime film co-written and directed by
Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...
, starring
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
,
Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and popular sex symbols during the 1980s a ...
,
Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' Th ...
,
Dianna Agron Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After primarily dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring charac ...
, and John D'Leo. It follows a
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
family in the
witness protection program Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
who want to change their lives. It is based on the French novel ''Malavita'' (''Badfellas'' in the 2010 English translation) by
Tonino Benacquista Tonino Benacquista (born in Choisy-le-Roi on 1 September 1961) is a French crime fiction author, comics writer, and screenwriter. He wrote the novel ''Malavita'' (''Badfellas'' for 2010 English translation), which was later adapted into a film b ...
.


Plot

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...
Giovanni Manzoni, who offended Don Lucchese, a rival mafia boss, survives an attempted hit on him and his family at a barbecue. He snitches on Lucchese, which sends him to prison. Manzoni and his immediate family enter an
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
witness protection Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
program under the supervision of Agent Robert Stansfield, and have been relocated various times, the latest being a small town in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
. In adjusting to life in the village, each family member runs into trouble. They are being watched by two FBI agents to ensure their safety. Giovanni claims to be an author writing a historical novel on the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, which is problematic as many citizens in the area are much more familiar with the event than he is. He finds ways to slip away to discover why the water in his house is brown. He beats a plumber who tries to unnecessarily change all the pipes in his house, and a local fertilizer factory owner who is responsible for the tainted water. Daughter Belle falls in love with Henri, a college student working as a substitute math teacher. She asks for private math lessons so she can spend time alone with him and seduce him. Giovanni's wife, Maggie, blows up a small grocery store when its owner spews
anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...
comments in French to the other customers and often visits the undercover FBI agents. She spends a lot of time at the church, where she and the local priest have an amicable relationship. However, their friendship ends when she confesses their crimes and he tells her never to come back. On the first day of class at the local school, son Warren, is beaten up by a small group, but he creates a mini-mafia within the school. This allows him to beat up the original small group that first bullied him. He inadvertently alerts Don Luchese to their location when he quotes one of the kingpin's sayings in the school paper, which makes its way to Luchese by chance. Giovanni is asked to attend an American film event due to his supposed historical expertise and he brings Agent Stansfield along, claiming to want to bond with him. It it is in fact an alibi for a timed explosive rigged to destroy the fertilizer causing his brown water. The film screening takes an unexpected turn when instead of ''
Some Came Running ''Some Came Running'' is a novel by James Jones, published in 1958. It was Jones's second published novel, following his award-winning debut ''From Here to Eternity''. It is the story of a war veteran with literary aspirations who returns in ...
'', the scheduled film, they instead watch ''
Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
''. Throughout the film, Giovanni expresses a desire to talk about his life as a mobster. The debate after the film prompts him to tell his story to the audience. Feeling the cover has been compromised, Agent Stansfield gives the order to relocate the family again. Meanwhile, the school detects Warren's activities so he decides to leave town with a fake passport to establish his own mafia family in Paris, afraid that the FBI will drop the family's protection. At the train station, he sees seven hitmen arrive and head for town. He returns home to warn the family. Henri breaks up with Belle, which causes her to contemplate suicide, but she stops when she sees the hitmen enter the police station and kill several officers. Maggie returns home and finds her children gone, so she goes to ask the FBI surveillance team for help. Giovanni returns home and Maggie goes to speak with him, but sees the hitmen. She returns to the FBI safe house across the street. The hitmen blow up the family's house and kill neighbors who leave their homes to investigate. Soon an intense gunfight ensues which involves all family members. Giovanni and Maggie strangle and stab a hitman after he raids the safe house and tries to sexually assault Maggie. Belle kills a hitman who went to look for weapons in his car's trunk. Using weapons she found in the trunk, she shoots one of the five hitmen near the burning house. Warren also gets guns from the car and shoots two of the hitmen while being given cover fire by Belle. One hitman is killed by the family dog. While chasing Belle, the lead hitman is killed by Stansfield's car. The family relocates again. Despite numerous innocent townspeople having been slaughtered, Giovanni expresses his happiness at having had the chance to tell his story, saying that it brought the family closer.


Cast

*
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
as Fred Blake / Giovanni Manzoni, the father. *
Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and popular sex symbols during the 1980s a ...
as Maggie Blake / Maggie Manzoni, the mother. *
Dianna Agron Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After primarily dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring charac ...
as Belle Blake / Belle Manzoni, the daughter. * John D'Leo as Warren Blake / Warren Manzoni, the son. *
Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' Th ...
as Robert Stansfield, the FBI agent. * Jimmy Palumbo as Di Cicco, an FBI agent *
Domenick Lombardozzi Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi (, ; born March 25, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Herc in ''The Wire'', and is also known for his roles in ''A Bronx Tale'' (1993), ''Entourage'', and ''The Irishman'' (2019). Care ...
as Caputo, an FBI agent * Stan Carp as Don Luchese, a mafia boss *
Vincent Pastore Vincent Pastore (; born July 14, 1946) is an American actor. Often cast as a mafioso, he is best known for his portrayal of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''. Early life Pastore was born to an Italian-America ...
as Willy "Fat Willy", a mafia Capo * Jonas Bloquet as André * Jon Freda as Rocco * Michael J. Panichelli Jr. as Billy "The Bug" * Paul Borghese as Albert * Anthony Desio as Bernie *
Ted Arcidi Theodore Arcidi (born June 16, 1958) is an American former professional wrestler, actor and powerlifter from the United States of America. He is known to be the first man in history to bench press over 700 pounds in competition, establishing an ...
as Tommy *
David Belle David Nicholas Williams Belle (born 29 April 1973) is a French actor, film choreographer and stunt coordinator. He is deemed the founder and leading pioneer of the physical discipline parkour, coining it based on his training and the teachings fr ...
as Mezzo *
Oisín Stack Oisín Stack is an Irish actor. He played Kat Moon's long-lost son, Dermott Dolan, in the ''EastEnders'' spin-off series '' Kat and Alfie: Redwater'' and Elliot in Absentia. Early life Stack was born to an Irish father and French mother, and ...
as Henri * Victoire Du Bois as Pink Ribbon Girl * Côme Levin as J.P.


Production


Development

EuropaCorp EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP.) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full service independent studios that both produces and distributes feature ...
and
Relativity Media Relativity Media is an American media company founded in 2004 by Lynwood Spinks and Ryan Kavanaugh. The company brokered film finance deals and later branched into film production and other entertainment ventures. The company was commercially s ...
signed during March 2012 to develop two films, including their distribution. ''The Family'' would become the first one, and the second one would be '' Three Days to Kill'' (2014). The script, written by
Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...
and Michael Caleo, is based on the novel ''Malavita'' by
Tonino Benacquista Tonino Benacquista (born in Choisy-le-Roi on 1 September 1961) is a French crime fiction author, comics writer, and screenwriter. He wrote the novel ''Malavita'' (''Badfellas'' for 2010 English translation), which was later adapted into a film b ...
, published in 2004. The author did not want to be very involved in the development of the film, he said: "I knew that EuropaCorp would be capable of producing a film that could be distributed, both in the United States and France, and it was a very tempting topic". The producer of the film, Virginie Besson-Silla, said that the film's storyline is nearly the same as the novel's. Originally, Besson would be only the producer. But after finding out that he was going to work with
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
and not finding a proper director, he decided to direct the film as well: "I thought that it was out of the question to entrust this project to any other person! I know the American and French cultures, so I decided to make me the director." De Niro asked Besson why he was not the director, and Besson told him: "Okay, you won."


Casting

The book's author wanted the cast to be "American actors that have their own legend, and when appearing on the big screen, they don't have to convince." When Besson asked him who he wanted to be the lead role, he proposed
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
. They sent him a letter, and later De Niro agreed to participate in the project. In June 2012, it was confirmed that
Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and popular sex symbols during the 1980s a ...
would join the cast of ''The Family'', as she was interested in working with De Niro. They had starred together in different films but never were able to film scenes with each other. Author Tonino Benacquista was very
Dianna_Agron_ Dianna_Elise_Agron_(_;_born_April_30,_1986)_is_an_American_actress_and_singer._After_primarily_dancing_and_starring_in_small_musical_theater_productions_in_her_youth,_Agron_made_her_screen_debut_in_2006,_and_in_2007,_she_played_recurring_charac_...
_while_writing_the_character_Belle_Blake._Despite_this,_Agron_had_to_attend_multiple_auditions._Agron_later_won_the_part._The_entire_''Glee_(TV_series).html" "title="leased with the casting of De Niro and Pfeiffer; Besson later said, "Tonino said it would be so perfect if Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer played the roles. It was like a dream." Besson always thought of
Dianna Agron Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After primarily dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring charac ...
while writing the character Belle Blake. Despite this, Agron had to attend multiple auditions. Agron later won the part. The entire ''Glee (TV series)">Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
'' cast and crew supported Agron's departure from the show to be part of the film. A dog named Emeron was chosen to be Malavita, the family's pet dog. Emeron was trained by a specialist, and De Niro was the only person, beside the dog trainer, to spend time with him during the workout. Besson auditioned more than 500 actors for the character of Warren Blake, before casting D'Leo. ''The Family'' was De Niro's 96th feature film.


Filming

Principal photography began 8 August 2012 and completed on 27 October 2012. Filming took place in the locations of both Gacé and Le Sap in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, and in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. Some of the filming also took place
L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction o ...
and at Cité du Cinéma in Saint-Denis for 1 month.


Title

In May 2013, it was revealed that the film, originally titled ''Malavita'', would be re-titled ''The Family'' in the United States and some English-speaking countries. In some countries, including France, the ''Malavita'' title was retained.


Music

''The Family (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' was released on 13 September 2013, the same day of the film's premiere. It includes original compositions by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. "
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Dolla ...
" and "To Binge" by
Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (character), 2-D (Singing, vocals, Musical keyboard, keyboards), Murd ...
are used in the film but does not appear on the soundtrack album. Another song that does not appear on the soundtrack, but appears in the film nonetheless, is "
Genius of Love "Genius of Love" is a 1981 hit song by Tom Tom Club from their 1981 eponymous debut album. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Disco Top 80 chart. Background "Genius of Love" is Tom Tom Club's second single. Although the album had not ...
" by
Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and as a side project from Talking Heads. Their best known songs include " Wordy Rappinghood", " Genius of Love", and a cover ...
. The song plays in the background during the barbeque scene.


Release

The first trailer of ''The Family'' was released on 4 June 2013. For France, the first trailer for ''Malavita'' was released in mid-July 2013. In August, some TV spots were released to promote the film. The film was initially set to be released, by
Relativity Media Relativity Media is an American media company founded in 2004 by Lynwood Spinks and Ryan Kavanaugh. The company brokered film finance deals and later branched into film production and other entertainment ventures. The company was commercially s ...
, on 18 October 2013, then changed to 20 September 2013. The film was eventually pushed up to 13 September 2013.


Home media

''The Family'' was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of stori ...
on 17 December 2013.


Reception


Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
shows that 29% of 127 reviews rated it positively; the average rating is 4.6/10. The site's consensus is: "Luc Besson's ''The Family'' suffers from an overly familiar setup and a number of jarring tonal shifts." Another review aggregator,
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...
, which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 42 based on 32 reviews. Ignatiy Vishnevetsky from ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...
'' gave the film a B−, and said: "Besson creates the impression that ''The Family'' is set in a world drawn from gangster movies and comic strips—an idea that culminates in De Niro participating, as the town’s token American, in a film club discussion of a certain Martin Scorsese movie." Stephanie Merry of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...
'' gave the film one out of four stars, stating: "There’s little to laugh about in the dark comedy ''The Family.''" Nick Schager of '' Time Out'' gave the film one out of five stars, saying that Besson "treats his protagonists as likable cartoons yet never provides a single reason to view them as anything less than remorseless, repugnant psychos."
MSN Entertainment MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...
gave the film three out of five stars, saying: "Sharper, smarter and slicker than it looks, there's a lot to like about ''The Family''." Linda Barnard from ''
The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...
'' gave the film two out of four stars, saying: "While Besson knows his way around an action film, he’s not as adept at comedy. The result is an often-violent, occasionally amusing fish-out-of-eau tale that plunks a family of wise guys in the French countryside with predictable results." Mack Rawden of ''CinemaBlend'' gave the film three out of five stars, saying: "It uses irregular De Niro voiceovers on occasion. It reads segments of a book on occasion. It even uses bad dreams and flashbacks, all of which, when used together, make the film seem disorganized and poorly put together. All of that, coupled with more than a few jokes that fall flat and a plot that’s windy and strangely paced keep ''The Family'' from being anything more than a likeable enough way to spend an hour and forty-five minutes."
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' summed up the mixed reaction to the film: "The movie has holes galore. It has abrupt tonal shifts, an incoherent back story and abandoned subplots.... But buoyed by hot performances, it sustains a zapping electrical energy." Although the film did not generate many positive reviews, the cast was praised by critics. '' THV11'' said: "The core actors of ''The Family'' were really solid and the whole film comes together to make a solid movie." ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' said that: "De Niro, Pfeiffer and Jones all brought 100% to their roles. ''
Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
'' actress
Dianna Agron Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After primarily dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring charac ...
was the stand-out here, shining as the daughter who was falling in love for the first time, while defending her family from total annihilation by the mafia." The film was nominated for one award: the Women Film Critics Circle Awards Best Young Actress for Agron.


Box office

''The Family'' debuted at number two in its first weekend, with $14 million, coming in behind '' Insidious: Chapter 2'', which made $40.3 million in its opening weekend.


References


External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Family, The 2013 films 2013 action comedy films 2013 black comedy films 2013 crime action films 2010s crime comedy films 2010s English-language films American action comedy films American black comedy films American crime action films American crime comedy films English-language French films EuropaCorp films Films about contract killing Films about dysfunctional families Films about witness protection Films based on crime novels Films based on French novels Films directed by Luc Besson Films produced by Luc Besson Films set in 1996 French films set in New York City Films set in Normandy Films set in Paris Films shot in New York City Films shot in Normandy Films shot in Paris French action comedy films French black comedy films French crime action films French crime comedy films Mafia comedy films Relativity Media films 2010s American films 2010s French films