On Tour (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
On Tour is a 2010 French comedy film directed by Mathieu Amalric
. It stars Amalric himself as a producer who brings an American Neo-Burlesque
troupe to France, played by genuine performers Mimi Le Meaux, Kitten on the Keys, Dirty Martini
, Julie Atlas Muz
, Evie Lovelle and Roky Roulette. In a road movie
narrative, the plot follows the troupe as they tour French port cities with their show, which was performed for actual audiences during the production. The inspiration for the film was a book by Colette
about her experience from music halls in the early 20th century, and a part of Amalric's aim was to translate the sentiment of the book to a modern setting.
The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
where it won the FIPRESCI Award, the festival's main prize from film critics. Amalric also received the Best Director Award
.
Together they tour the French port cities, staying at cheap hotels and making success along the way. Old conflicts are however reignated upon the return to the French capital. Joachim is betrayed by people from his past, making him lose the venue where they were to perform, and the Paris finale comes to nothing.
, a collection of texts written for a newspaper about her life during a music hall tour in the French provinces. The project started around the same time as the suicide of independent film producer Humbert Balsan
, which also had made an impression on Amalric. "I'm fascinated by producers. I always wonder how they manage to keep going and take such responsibility. ... So these different themes came together and I invented a story about a French TV producer and the women who were courageous enough to come to France with him." In the early drafts of the screenplay, Amalric struggled with the context of the story, figuring whether he would be able to put early 20th century vaudeville
in a present-day setting, or attach the sentiment of Colette's book to modern striptease. Then he read an article in Libération
about the American Neo-Burlesque
movement, where performers mix striptease with comedy and a resistance to social pressures, and Amalric saw a connection to what Colette had been doing. The narrative was written before any further research was made, as Amalric did not want the film to be too much like a documentary. The first time he saw a Neo-Burlesque show was in 2007, in Nantes. He says that he did not mention the film project to the performers, but spent the following three days in their company. Later on he went to the United States to see as many shows as possible and study the movement in detail.
The film was produced by Les Films du Poisson
for a budget of 3.52 million Euro
, including co-production support from Arte France
, German company Neue Mediopolis and an advance on receipts from the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image. The director originally envisioned Portuguese producer Paulo Branco
in the role of Joachim, but decided to cast himself only weeks before filming started. Amalric still wore a moustache throughout the film that was based on Branco's facial hair.
Filming started in April 2009 and lasted two months. The troupe went on an actual tour along French port cities in order to provide the necessary footage. Hundreds of local extras performed as themselves as audiences. Locations were used in Le Havre
, La Rochelle
, Nantes
, Rochefort
, and Paris
. For the visual style Amalric drew inspiration from American cinema of the 1970s, and in particular The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
by John Cassavetes
.
as the first film to be screened in the main competition. At the press conference following the screening, Amalric talked about how excited the performers were about the festival: "It’s the opposite of what happens in our movie. In the story, they were promised Paris, and got nothing. But in this story, they were promised nothing, and they’re all at Cannes".
The French theatrical premiere followed on 30 June through Le Pacte, who launched it on 159 screens. On Tour had an attendance of 172,154 during the first week and thereby entered the French box office chart at number five. One week later the number of prints had been increased to 275 and the film climbed one position. After two months at the box office, the film had a total of 479,000 admissions in France. The U.S. premiere is scheduled for 5 May 2011 as the closing night film of the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival
.
, Jacques Mandelbaum called it "a joy for the eyes and the heart", and argued that "even in its randomness, its failure and imperfection, On Tour is a film that was desperately needed." Jonathan Romney of Screen
wrote that "this drama with comic touches doesn't live up to the brassiness misleadingly promised in the neon-styled opening credits", and continued: "On Tour doesn't suggest as strong a personality behind the camera as in front of it, and Amalric's appeal as a director — this is his fourth feature — is yet to prove itself commercially. But his own engaging lead performance will certainly be a selling point." "A few touching moments don't redeem this loose, baggy tale of redemption", Peter Brunette
summarized his verdict in The Hollywood Reporter
.
The film won two awards in Cannes. Amalric received the Best Director Award
, and the film won the FIPRESCI Award for best film in the main competition. The FIPRESCI Award is handed out by an international group of film critics, and with the mixed response from festival reviews, Variety
wrote that the win came as a surprise: "[On Tour] ranked second to last through Thursday on Cannes' main critics poll."
Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
. It stars Amalric himself as a producer who brings an American Neo-Burlesque
Neo-Burlesque
Neo-Burlesque is the revival and updating of the traditional burlesque performance. Though based on the traditional Burlesque art, the new form encompasses a wider range of performance styles; Neo-burlesque acts can be anything from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to...
troupe to France, played by genuine performers Mimi Le Meaux, Kitten on the Keys, Dirty Martini
Dirty Martini (burlesque)
Dirty Martini is a New York City-based Burlesque dancer, pin-up model and dance teacher.She is best-known for her over-the-top performance acts, which mostly incorporate various classic burlesque styles such as the fan dance, balloon strip tease, the Dance of Several Veils, and shadow stripping,...
, Julie Atlas Muz
Julie Atlas Muz
Julie Atlas Muz is a New York City-based performance artist, dancer, burlesque artist, stage director, and actress....
, Evie Lovelle and Roky Roulette. In a road movie
Road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main character or characters leave home to travel from place to place. They usually leave home to escape their current lives.-History:...
narrative, the plot follows the troupe as they tour French port cities with their show, which was performed for actual audiences during the production. The inspiration for the film was a book by Colette
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
about her experience from music halls in the early 20th century, and a part of Amalric's aim was to translate the sentiment of the book to a modern setting.
The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
where it won the FIPRESCI Award, the festival's main prize from film critics. Amalric also received the Best Director Award
Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....
.
Plot
Formerly successful television producer Joachim Zand returns from America to his native France, where he previously has left everything behind, including friends, enemies and his own children. In his company is a burlesque striptease troupe whom he has promised a grand performance in Paris.Together they tour the French port cities, staying at cheap hotels and making success along the way. Old conflicts are however reignated upon the return to the French capital. Joachim is betrayed by people from his past, making him lose the venue where they were to perform, and the Paris finale comes to nothing.
Cast
- Mathieu AmalricMathieu AmalricMathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
as Joachim Zand - Miranda Colclasure as Mimi Le Meaux
- Suzanne Ramsey as Kitten on the Keys
- Linda Maracini as Dirty Martini
- Julie Ann Muz as Julie Atlas MuzJulie Atlas MuzJulie Atlas Muz is a New York City-based performance artist, dancer, burlesque artist, stage director, and actress....
- Angela de Lorenzo as Evie Lovelle
- Alexander Craven as Roky Roulette
- Damien Odoul as François
- Ulysse Klotz as Ulysse
- Simon Roth as Baptiste
- Joseph Roth as Balthazar
- André S. LabartheAndré S. LabartheAndré S. Labarthe is a French actor, film producer and director. He starred alongside Anna Karina in the 1962 film Vivre sa vie.-Selected filmography:* Vivre sa vie * L'amour fou...
as cabaret manager - Pierre Grimblat as Chapuis
- Julie FerrierJulie Ferrier-Early life:Julie is in the eighth generation of actresses on the maternal side of her family. She was raised in a difficult housing project in the Seine-Saint-Denis town of Noisy Le Grand. In 1988 she entered the Conservatoire Municipal de Paris, then attended the École du cirque Fratellini...
as Julie Ferrier - Feriel Rodriguez
Production
The idea for the film came from the 1913 book The Other Side of Music-Hall by ColetteColette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
, a collection of texts written for a newspaper about her life during a music hall tour in the French provinces. The project started around the same time as the suicide of independent film producer Humbert Balsan
Humbert Balsan
Humbert Balsan, born Humbert Jean René Balsan was a French film producer and chairman of the European Film Academy. He was renowned for securing financing and distribution for diverse and often challenging films.In February 2005, Balsan was found dead in the offices of his production company,...
, which also had made an impression on Amalric. "I'm fascinated by producers. I always wonder how they manage to keep going and take such responsibility. ... So these different themes came together and I invented a story about a French TV producer and the women who were courageous enough to come to France with him." In the early drafts of the screenplay, Amalric struggled with the context of the story, figuring whether he would be able to put early 20th century vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
in a present-day setting, or attach the sentiment of Colette's book to modern striptease. Then he read an article in Libération
Libération
Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
about the American Neo-Burlesque
Neo-Burlesque
Neo-Burlesque is the revival and updating of the traditional burlesque performance. Though based on the traditional Burlesque art, the new form encompasses a wider range of performance styles; Neo-burlesque acts can be anything from classic striptease to modern dance to theatrical mini-dramas to...
movement, where performers mix striptease with comedy and a resistance to social pressures, and Amalric saw a connection to what Colette had been doing. The narrative was written before any further research was made, as Amalric did not want the film to be too much like a documentary. The first time he saw a Neo-Burlesque show was in 2007, in Nantes. He says that he did not mention the film project to the performers, but spent the following three days in their company. Later on he went to the United States to see as many shows as possible and study the movement in detail.
The film was produced by Les Films du Poisson
Les Films du Poisson
Les Films du Poisson is a French film production company founded in 1995 by Yael Fogiel and Laetitia Gonzalez.The company has produced more than hundred films: features, documentaries and shorts. Many have won awards in France and around the world...
for a budget of 3.52 million Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
, including co-production support from Arte France
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
, German company Neue Mediopolis and an advance on receipts from the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image. The director originally envisioned Portuguese producer Paulo Branco
Paulo Branco
Paulo Branco is a Portuguese film producer.-Selected filmography:* The Territory * Three Crowns of the Sailor * City of Pirates * Manoel's Destinies * Treasure Island...
in the role of Joachim, but decided to cast himself only weeks before filming started. Amalric still wore a moustache throughout the film that was based on Branco's facial hair.
Filming started in April 2009 and lasted two months. The troupe went on an actual tour along French port cities in order to provide the necessary footage. Hundreds of local extras performed as themselves as audiences. Locations were used in Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
, La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
, Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, Rochefort
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...
, and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. For the visual style Amalric drew inspiration from American cinema of the 1970s, and in particular The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
For the 1974 film of the same name see Dynamite BrothersThe Killing of a Chinese Bookie is a 1976 gangster film directed and written by John Cassavetes and starring Ben Gazzara....
by John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
.
Release
On Tour premiered on 13 May at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
as the first film to be screened in the main competition. At the press conference following the screening, Amalric talked about how excited the performers were about the festival: "It’s the opposite of what happens in our movie. In the story, they were promised Paris, and got nothing. But in this story, they were promised nothing, and they’re all at Cannes".
The French theatrical premiere followed on 30 June through Le Pacte, who launched it on 159 screens. On Tour had an attendance of 172,154 during the first week and thereby entered the French box office chart at number five. One week later the number of prints had been increased to 275 and the film climbed one position. After two months at the box office, the film had a total of 479,000 admissions in France. The U.S. premiere is scheduled for 5 May 2011 as the closing night film of the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
.
Reception
The immediate reception in Cannes was somewhat mixed. In Le MondeLe Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, Jacques Mandelbaum called it "a joy for the eyes and the heart", and argued that "even in its randomness, its failure and imperfection, On Tour is a film that was desperately needed." Jonathan Romney of Screen
Screen International
Screen International is a multimedia film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by EMAP, a British b2b media company.The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global movie business...
wrote that "this drama with comic touches doesn't live up to the brassiness misleadingly promised in the neon-styled opening credits", and continued: "On Tour doesn't suggest as strong a personality behind the camera as in front of it, and Amalric's appeal as a director — this is his fourth feature — is yet to prove itself commercially. But his own engaging lead performance will certainly be a selling point." "A few touching moments don't redeem this loose, baggy tale of redemption", Peter Brunette
Peter Brunette
Peter Brunette was a film critic and film historian. He was the author of several books, including biographies of Italian directors Roberto Rossellini and Michelangelo Antonioni...
summarized his verdict in The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
.
The film won two awards in Cannes. Amalric received the Best Director Award
Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....
, and the film won the FIPRESCI Award for best film in the main competition. The FIPRESCI Award is handed out by an international group of film critics, and with the mixed response from festival reviews, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote that the win came as a surprise: "[On Tour] ranked second to last through Thursday on Cannes' main critics poll."