LES ACTEURS
(Bertrand Blier, 2000, 104 mins)
Release date: 21 September 2026
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK and US premiere)
An astonishing ensemble cast, which includes such legends as Jean-Paul Belmondo (Stavisky...), Alain Delon (Diabolically Yours), and Maria Schneider (The Passenger), populates Les Acteurs, a surreal comedy from provocative director Bertrand Blier (Femmes fatales).
A group of legendary French actors, playing exaggerated versions of themselves, discuss the intricacies of their craft and become involved in a series of bizarre adventures when the distinction between real life and artistic representation gets increasingly blurred.
Filled with allusions to many classics of French cinema, Les Acteurs is a playful, reflexive delight for lovers of cinema history and film craft.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• 4K restoration
• Original 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio tracks
• Qui sont les acteurs? (2026): a video essay guide by Jonathan Bygraves to the many French actors providing cameo appearances, often as themselves, in Les Acteurs
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English translation subtitles
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Sue Harris, excerpts from archival interviews with director Bertrand Blier, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 4,000 copies for the UK and US
• More to be announced
• All features subject to change
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BBFC cert: TBC
REGION A/B
EAN: 5060697925524
domino harvey wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 4:29 amLes acteurs is a 100 minute Jimmy Kimmel Oscar skit where the fun is mostly being amazed at who Blier got to show up for a rather pointless and indulgent comedy about actors playing themselves that has precious few laughs and ends with an appeal to sincerity and emotion that it does not earn. The hit (Josiane Balasko replaces Andre Dussollier playing himself as an enormous asshole after he walks out of the film) to miss (Pierre Arditi tells Michael Lonsdale he's now "a fag" and in a relationship with Jean-Claude Brialy, who "fucks [him] up the ass" -- are you laughing yet?) ratio is rough on this one. I did like that at about the point I had about given up on the film's indulgences and head-up-its-own-assery, the movie meets me half-way and moves away from actors being seen (by themselves, mostly) as important people by having Sami Frey maniacally steal a wheelchair from someone without legs and then roll himself back and forth in it across the Champs-Élysées while making faces like he's mentally retarded... but I should note this happens like 20 minutes in and there's still a lot more movie to go. This is a film like the Player (which I like about as much as this, which is to say not much) where if you don't already know a lot about the actors trotting themselves out, you're going to get even less than the already meager offerings (An easy test: Do you know what affect Claude Rich is best known for? If not, or you had to Google who Claude Rich even is, you're not the audience for this). I can sort of admire how hostile this film is to any viewer that paid to see it (literally-- several actors poll average joes coming up an escalator on what they thought of Patrick Dewaere until they find one with a negative opinion so that Jean-Pierre Marielle can push him head-first into an electric fan as a surrogate murder against all audiences), but I assure you that none of this is as amusing as it sounds in practice.
