Minotaure, Le Corset, and Les Misérables Release in Theaters

Minotaure Adapts Chabrol Inside Wartime Russia

Director Andreï Zviaguintsev adapts Claude Chabrol’s La Femme infidèle into the martial setting of 2022 Russia for Minotaure, running two hours and twenty minutes. According to lefigaro.fr, the film secured the grand prix at the Festival de Cannes and serves as France’s official submission for the Academy Award for best international feature film. The narrative dissects a marriage while exposing systemic moral decay in contemporary Russia, where the war remains unnamed yet omnipresent in the landscape and public consciousness. Lesinrocks.com notes that Zviaguintsev tracks the steps of the protagonist Gleb’s crime with precise realism, utilizing long analytical takes, including a 360-degree panoramic shot. Lefigaro.fr rates the film 3.5 out of 4, praising its formalist approach where every prolonged, deliberate shot highlights cruelty and absurdity.

Le Corset Delivers a Personal Animated Coming-of-Age Tale

Louis Clichy directs Le Corset, a ninety-minute animated feature drawing on personal childhood memories to explore a young boy’s resilience against rural French patriarchal and Christian traditions. As reported by nouvelobs.com and lesinrocks.com, the film earned the special jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, alongside the jury prize and audience award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Lesinrocks.com highlights that the production sidesteps simple stereotypes by embedding contemporary touches—such as a father who is a fan of Stéphanie de Monaco and a priest voiced by Jean-Pascal Zadi—while utilizing the protagonist’s scoliosis as a core visual metaphor that warps the surrounding reality. Lefigaro.fr awards the film 3 out of 4, characterizing it as a universal fable on difference, family, and the necessity of imagination.

Les Misérables Re-enacts Victor Hugo on a Grand Scale

Fred Cavayé directs a new two-hour-and-fifty-six-minute film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, continuing a trend in French cinema that recently yielded large-scale versions of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. Lefigaro.fr notes that Cavayé brings strong pacing, scene staging, and lyricism to the barricades, earning a 2.5 out of 4 rating. Lesinrocks.com observes that while the cast—featuring Vincent Lindon as Valjean, Tahar Rahim as Javert, and Camille Cottin alongside Benjamin Lavernhe as the Thénardiers—delivers professional performances, the film’s polished mechanics ultimately subdue its political urgency and potential for social revolt.

Additional October 14 Releases Across French Cinemas

Alongside these three main titles, the weekly release schedule includes several other notable features arriving in theaters. Nouvelobs.com and lesinrocks.com list additional debuts such as Eivind Landsvik’s Low Expectations, focusing on a young woman named Maja navigating a transition from performance to the classroom, and Hong Sang-soo’s Le Jour de son retour, which examines the micro-dynamics of interview conversations and media scrutiny. Other titles premiering include Petite Casbah, Qui vit encore, Où vont les âmes, and the return of La Porte des dieux to the big screen, alongside animated projects like Mochy and video game adaptations like Street Fighter.