The adjective “cult” seems to have been invented for them. Since their first feature, Blood Simple (1984), Joel and Ethan Coen have built an immense body of work, probing films noirs, comedies, westerns, thrillers, crime dramas, or even musical themes with joyful and unbridled freedom – genres they love to subvert, blend and reinvent. Extraordinary storytellers and masterful screenwriters, they immediately deploy the hallmarks of their craft: dark humor, narrative finesse, razor-sharp dialogue, musical acuity and visionary mise en scène, culminating in a cinematographic style both generous and singular.
Having built a loyal relationship with trusted actors, including Frances McDormand, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Josh Brolin Javier Bardem or Tilda Swinton, they create a universe brimming with rare richness and coherence. After a historic triple triumph for Barton Fink (1991) at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d’Or, and a Best Director award at Cannes for Fargo (1996), the brothers also took home Academy Awards for the latter, winning Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for Frances McDormand, while No Country for Old Men (2007) swept four Oscars. However, beyond all their critical accolades, the enduring impact of films like The Big Lebowski (1998 – a true cultural phenomenon – has secured their place among the pantheon of world cinema.
Our thanks to Les Acacias, Apple TV, Netflix, Studiocanal, Tamasa, The Walt Disney Company France, Park Circus, Universal Pictures France, Universal Pictures US
Friday, October 16, at 3pm at the Théâtre des Célestins
An exceptional encounter with the Coen brothers on the stage of the magnificent Italian-style theater of the Célestins.
> Ticket sales are suspended.
Friday, October 16 at 7:45pm at the Centre de Congrès
A gala evening featuring images and song, attended by many special guests, followed by a screening of one of the Coen brothers' films.
Inside Llewyn Davis by Joel and Ethan Coen (2013, 1h45)
> Ticket sales are suspended.
Saturday, 17 October
Four Coen films in a row, introduced by them in person, a makeshift dorm behind the screen, coffee and sweet treats at dawn: COME ONE, COME ALL!
Fargo by Joel and Ethan Coen (1996, 1h38, int -12ans)
No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen (2007, 2h02, int -12ans)
Raising Arizona by Joel and Ethan Coen (1987, 1h34)
Burn After Reading by Joel and Ethan Coen (2008, 1h36)
> Purchase online
During the festival, the Coen brothers will be accompanied by Frances McDormand
In Texas, a jealous husband hires a detective to eliminate his wife (Frances McDormand) and her lover… The Coen brothers’ first foray into directing, this virtuoso work reinvents the film noir, filled with corrosive humor. Their uncanny talent was already on display.
A couple unable to have children decide to kidnap one of the quintuplets of a rich furniture tycoon… The runaway chase is on, giving way to a wild, zany, overhyped ride, led by the fabulous duo Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter.
With Prohibition in full swing, the right-hand man of a mafia boss (Gabriel Byrne) finds himself in the eye of the storm of a gang war... A sophisticated approach to the gangster flick, where the lines between manipulation and moral fortitude are purposely vague. John Turturro also stars.
After being discovered on Broadway, a young playwright sets up in Hollywood to work as a screenwriter. Isolated in a shabby hotel, he gets underway when the unexpected occurs… A work carried by the Turturro/Goodman pair, impossible to categorize. At Cannes it won the Best Director and Best Actor Award, as well as the Palme d’or.
A car salesman swimming in debt concocts the idea to stage the kidnapping of his own wife to negotiate with her wealthy family... Fargo won two Oscars (Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress - Frances McDormand) and Best Director at Cannes. It’s the Coen brothers’ genius in a nutshell!
Mistaken for a wealthy man who has the same name, Jeffrey Lebowski finds himself dragged into a ludicrous kidnapping scheme... This madcap comedy gave Jeff Bridges a character to play that became a cult figure: the Dude.
Three escaped convicts traverse 1930s Mississippi in search of treasure... An irresistible retelling of The Odyssey set to country music, starring George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, John Turturro and John Goodman.
An unhappy barber blackmails his wife's lover... The Coen brothers' first film in black-and-white, deployed with astonishing aesthetic skill, received the Best Director award at Cannes. The top-tier cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand and Scarlett Johansson.
After discovering a two-million-dollar stash at the scene of a massacre, a man (Josh Brolin) becomes the target of a merciless killer (Javier Bardem)... The film won four Academy Awards including Best Picture: a master class in mise-en-scène!
A disk containing the memoirs of a former CIA agent falls into the hands of two staff members of a gym who try to take advantage of it… George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich star in this spy comedy that is absurd and jubilatory in equal measure.
Fighting to find some balance in his life, a professor asks three rabbis for advice… A bittersweet comedy inspired by the Coen brothers' own childhood. A real gem!
Determined to seek revenge on her father's death, a young girl engages a one-eyed, alcoholic marshal... A groundbreaking interpretation of the western, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld.
In Greenwich Village of the 1960s, a folk musician drifts from one gig and disappointment to the next... A tender, melancholic elegy on missed opportunities and dreams that resist reality. Served by a first-rate cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman and Justin Timberlake.
Six stories, six fates, six variations on a theme, namely the myth of the American West. A sketch-based Western with parabolic dimensions, at times funny, at others cruel and poetic. Screened for the first time in a cinema!
After the prophecy of three witches, Macbeth is consumed by ambition, leading to his own demise and the fall of his kingdom... This dark and wild adaptation of Shakespeare’s œuvre, starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, is Joel Coen's first foray into solo directing.
Private investigator Honey O'Donahue is probing a series of deaths in California... A neo-noir queer comedy that is both delightful and absurd, starring Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans.
