JOHN MALKOVICH’s latest feel-good film to open the VIIIth Ramsgate International Film Festival

 

Mr. Blake at your service! (Complètement cramé) with John Malkovich in the lead, is Gilles Legardinier’s directing début. It will open the forthcoming Ramsgate International Film Festival and be presented ‘Out of Competition’ as a UK Première.

Gilles Legardinier is better known as a prolific French writer, who penned several best-selling novels. His 2009 novel, L’exil des anges, received the 2010 Prix SNCF du polar. His 2011 novel, Demain j’arrête!, was a best-seller. By 2014, he was the third best-selling author in France after Guillaume Musso and Marc Levy, having sold 1.9 million books. His work has been translated into 20 languages.

In French, with English subtitles, the film stars two veterans of the international film world, John Malkovich, showing off his fluency in the language and Fanny Ardant, a French actress and film director with numerous accolades, including two César Awards and a Lumières Award. Fluent in English and Italian, Ardant has starred in several Hollywood and British films. One of her English-language films was the Franco Zeffirelli production Callas Forever, in which she portrayed opera diva, Maria Callas. The film opened the 14th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. Ardant also directed the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Greek National Opera.

Entrepreneur Andrew Blake (John Malkovich) decides on a trip to the place in France, where he met his late wife, to reconnect with old memories. Due to a quid pro quo he’s soon hired as a butler in a French castle where he meets the landlady, Nathalie Beauvilliers (Fanny Ardant), who can no longer afford to maintain the property. Mr. Blake begins to turn the life of the estate around.

Screening
25 June 2024 at 18.00
Palace Cinema
Harbour St, Broadstairs CT10 1ET

Tickets
www.ramsgateiffest.org

MR. BLAKE AT YOUR SERVICE!

A film directed by Gilles Legardinier (2023 – 1h 40m)
With John Malkovich, Fanny Ardant, Emily Dequenne and Philippe Bas.

Synopsis
A widowed British businessman takes the job as a butler of a manor house in France to keep the memories of his late French wife. His life takes a turn as he navigates the eccentric behaviour of the lady of the manor and the household staff.

Production Bidibul Productions
Sales Representative France TV Distribution