Bird People (film)

Bird People
Film poster
Directed byPascale Ferran
Written byGuillaume Bréaud
Pascale Ferran
Produced byDenis Freyd
StarringAnaïs Demoustier
Josh Charles
Roschdy Zem
Camélia Jordana
Taklyt Vongdara
Geoffrey Cantor
Clark Johnson
Radha Mitchell
CinematographyJulien Hirsch
Edited byMathilde Muyard
Music byBéatrice Thiriet
Production
companies
Archipel 35
France 2 Cinéma
Titre et Structure Production
Distributed byDiaphana Distribution
Release dates
  • 19 May 2014 (2014-05-19) (Cannes)
  • 4 June 2014 (2014-06-04) (France)
Running time
128 minutes
CountryFrance[1]
LanguagesFrench
English
Budget$7.9 million [2]
Box office$866.000 [3]

Bird People is a 2014 French drama film directed by Pascale Ferran and starring Josh Charles and Anaïs Demoustier. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[4] It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[5]

Plot

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University student Audrey Camuzet works in Paris as a hotel maid where Gary Newman, an American businessman from Silicon Valley, is staying. The night after his meeting, Gary has difficulty sleeping and suffers a panic attack. When morning arrives, he stays in his room, deliberately misses his flight to Dubai where he had further business. He decides to quit his job, divorce his wife Elizabeth, leave his family and remain in the hotel indefinitely.

Audrey tidies Gary's room after initially being surprised to find that he had not yet departed and discovers he was supposed to already be in Dubai. When the hotel experiences an electrical blackout, she goes to the roof to investigate and transforms into a sparrow. She glides down to the ground, overhears other people's conversations, practices her new found flying abilities and peeps into various hotel rooms. After checking on Gary, she returns to the hotel roof and finds herself unable to return to her human form.

That night, she follows coworker Simon in his car to a park where he sleeps. After escaping attacks by a cat and an owl, she returns to the hotel roof. In the morning, she awakens in her original form once again. Later, Audrey literally bumps into Gary as he checks out of the hotel. They share an elevator ride and a conversation.

Cast

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Reception

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 61% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10.[6]  At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[7]  

References

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  1. ^ "Bird People". Cannes. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Bird People". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  3. ^ "Bird People (2014) - International Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  4. ^ "2014 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  5. ^ "TIFF Adds 'Clouds of Sils Maria' and 'Two Days, One Night,' Reveals 5 More Lineups". Indiewire. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Bird People". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Bird People". Metacritic. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
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