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Danny Boyle's Millions opened the festival |
The new film from Trainspotting director Danny
Boyle opened the British Film Festival in Dinard, France, on Thursday
evening.
Millions is the story of two children who discover a bag
containing stolen cash - almost ￡250,000 - and must spend it days before
Britain's change over to the
Euro without raising suspicion.
It marks a change of direction for the 48-year-old film director, whose
first feature film Shallow Grave won the top prize, the Hitchcock award, at the film
festival 10 years ago, in 1994.
Mingling comedy with fantasy, it stars Cold Feet's James Nesbitt and
Daisy Donovan alongside the two young boys and seems deliberately targeted
at the Christmas market with its sentimental overtones, fuelled by the younger
boy's belief in miracles.
This year's festival, held under the banner of the Entente Cordiale, celebrating 100
years of Franco-British relations, is presided over by British actress
Charlotte Rampling.
In an introductory speech to the 15th festival
in the Breton town of Dinard, the actress, born in England but raised in
France, claimed a special place in her heart for the festival having
successfully divided her career between the two nations.
Best known for her role in Night
Porter, opposite Dirk Bogarde in 1974, and subsequent work
for directors including Woody Allen, Sydney Lumet and Claude Lelouch,
Rampling won critical acclaim with her comeback role in Francois Ozon's
Under the Sand in 2000, and more recently in Swimming Pool in 2003.
At Dinard, Rampling can be seen in the Mike Hodges film I'll Sleep When
I'm Dead, which is showing at the festival as part of a tribute to British
director Hodges whose classic gangster movie Get Carter recently topped a
magazine poll to find the best British film.
Also celebrated at the festival will be actor Christopher Lee, the
iconic British villain who has
starred in more than 200 films including The Lord of the Rings and the
recent Star Wars trilogy, and The Magic Roundabout.
Conceived by a French man, Serge Danot, the English version of the
Manege Enchante became cult viewing in Britain when it was adapted for UK
TV by Eric Thompson, father of actress Emma Thompson, in 1965.
Six films will features in competition at the festival over the
weekend, with the Hitchcock d'Or due to
be announced on Saturday prior to the
gala screening of Mike Leigh's Venice winner Vera Drake.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-10-09 16:05