Screening - Women on the 6th floor
 

Meet special guest and enjoy a Q & A session with Director, Philippe le Guay  who started out as a scriptwriter before turning his own scripts into successes as a director (The Cost Of Living, Nightshift).

An upstairs-downstairs comedy set in 1960s Paris, THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR took the French box office by storm when it premiered to local audiences in January. It went on to screen for over 6 months, amassing an outstanding 2.3 million admissions.

Outside of France, the film was an official selection (screening out of competition) of the Berlin International Film Festival and Seattle International Film Festival. It was also the recipient of the Audience Award at the City of Angels, City of Lights film festival in Los Angeles.

In Australia, THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR was the highest performing film this year at the wildly popular Alliance Francaise French Film Festival. The festival has also previously screened Le Guay’s THE COST OF LIVING (2003).

THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR will be released theatrically in Australia through Palace Films on December 15, 2011.

Synopsis:

It’s Paris, 1962. The marvellous Fabrice Luchini (Potiche) stars as wealthy stockbroker Jean-Louis Jouvert, who lives a staid bourgeois existence with his perfectly-presented socialite wife (Sandrine Kiberlain). But when the family’s maid abandons them, into the residence comes Maria (Natalia Verbeke): young, hardworking, and – quelle horreur - Spanish!

Remarkably, it doesn’t take long for the building to become enchanted by the new arrival; Maria rallies the friendship of the other servants on the sixth floor (fabulous turns contributed by two of Almodóvar’s favourite señoritas, Carmen Maura and Lola Dueñas) and soon, the balance of the household ruptures into wild, cross-cultural chaos…

Directed with verve and charm by the talented Le Guay, THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR is a warm-hearted delight, in any language. Luchini and Kiberlain are terrific as the austere couple brought to life and then – potentially - breaking point, when Jean-Louis literally discovers a room of his own.

After premiering at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival to a standing ovation, THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR became a massive hit at the French box office earlier this year - fuelled by enthusiastic word of mouth the film achieved over 2.5 million admissions.  Now it’s Australia’s turn!