THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER TO HOST
AN EVENING WITH ISABELLE HUPPERT ON JULY 30

Moderated by filmmaker John Waters

New York, NY (July 16, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today An Evening with Isabelle Huppert, moderated by filmmaker John Waters, on Wednesday July 30 at 6:00pm. The evening will include a sneak-preview screening of the legendary French actress’s latest film and 51st New York Film Festival official selection, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, immediately followed by an extended conversation between Huppert and Waters. Huppert will then introduce Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, for which she won some of her best reviews and the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Abuse of Weakness will open theatrically for an exclusive one-week run at the Film Society on Friday, August 15.

In the December 2013 issue of Artforum, John Waters—director of the cult classics Pink Flamingos and Serial Mom, among others, and author of the current best seller Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America—cited Abuse of Weakness as his No. 3 film of the year and called Huppert his “favorite actress in the world.” Waters wrote of the film: Huppert “plays a crazy director (based on Breillat) who recovers from a massive brain injury by falling for the convict swindler she casts in her film. Their nonsexual, obsessive relationship is sheer perfection to watch, especially when Huppert keeps falling down in those weirdly glamorous orthopedic shoes.”

Huppert will appear in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Jean Genet’s The Maids, opposite Cate Blanchett and Elizabeth Debicki, August 6-16 at City Center as part of Lincoln Center Festival. The production is directed by Benedict Andrews in a new translation by Mr. Andrews and Andrew Upton.

One of the most respected actresses in French cinema, Huppert made her screen debut in 1972 and went on to become the most nominated actress for the César Awards and has starred in over 90 films. Huppert received her first César Award nomination for the 1975 film Aloïse, won the BAFTA Award for the Most Promising Newcomer for the 1977 film The Lacemaker and the César Award for Best Actress for the 1995 film La Cérémonie. She won Best Actress twice at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. At Cannes, Huppert won for Violette (1978) and The Piano Teacher (2001), while at Venice, she won for Story of Women (1988) and La Cérémonie (1995). Other film roles include performances in Every Man for Himself (1980), Loulou (1980), La Séparation (1994), 8 Women (2002), Gabrielle (2005), and the Oscar and Golden Globe winner Amour (2012). She made her U.S. debut playing a brothel madam in Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980) and also appeared in David O. Russell’s I ♥ Huckabees (2004).

Huppert began her career on stage and is a five-time Molière Award nominee. Her many stage performances include roles in Un Tramway (A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams) directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, Quartett (Müller) and Orlando (Woolf), both directed by Robert Wilson, Hedda Gabler (Ibsen) directed by Eric Lacascade, 4.48 Psychosis (Sarah Kane) and Jeanne Au Bucher (Claudel) directed by Claude Regy, Médée (Euripides) directed by Jacques Lassalle at the Festival d’Avignon, Mary Stuart (Schiller) directed by Howard Davies at the National Theatre London, On Ne Badine Pas Avec L’Amour (de Musset) directed by Caroline Huppert, and Measure for Measure (Shakespeare) directed by Peter Zadek. She was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1999 and was promoted to Officer in 2009.

An Evening with Isabelle Huppert will be held at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street on Wednesday, July 30 at 6:00pm. Tickets will go on sale at noon on Thursday, July 17. Tickets for the screening of Abuse of Weakness, including the conversation between Isabelle Huppert and John Waters, are $25; $20 for Students, Seniors and Film Society Members. Tickets for the screening of The Piano Teacher are $13; $8 for Students, Seniors, and Film Society Members. A discount package for tickets to the entire evening is $30; $25 for Students, Seniors and Film Society Members. Visit filmlinc.com to purchase tickets online and for additional information.

FILMS, SCHEDULE & DESCRIPTIONS

Abuse of Weakness
Catherine Breillat, France, 2013, DCP, 105m
French with English subtitles
In 2004, at the age of 56, Catherine Breillat suffered a serious stroke. Her left side was initially paralyzed and after five months in the hospital she worked like a demon to walk again. Not long after, she prepared a screenplay of her novel Bad Love and decided to cast the notorious “swindler of the stars,” Christophe Rocancourt, fresh from a jail term for fraud. Over the next several months, Rocancourt took advantage of Breillat’s condition and stood by her side as she wrote him checks amounting to €650,000. She later took him to court, won her case, and chronicled the experience in a book that she has now adapted into a haunting film, which features a bold, tough performance by Isabelle Huppert as the Breillat figure and French/Portuguese rapper Kool Shen as the con man. A selection at the 51st New York Film Festival. A Strand Releasing release. Abuse of Weakness opens theatrically at the Film Society for an exclusive one-week run on Friday, August 15.
*Wednesday, July 30, 6:00pm. Conversation to follow screening with Isabelle Huppert and moderator John Waters.

The Piano Teacher
Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany, 2001, 35mm, 131m
French and German with English subtitles
Isabelle Huppert rushes in where most movie stars fear to tread as Erika, a brilliant, middle-aged instructor at a Viennese music conservatory whose icy domination of her pupils belies desperate, masochistic urges. When she meets Walter (Benoît Magimel), a brash 17-year-old student, his infatuation leads Erika to explore her most dissolute fantasies. Adapted from Elfriede Jelinek’s novel, the film pairs Haneke’s rigorous formalism with Huppert’s singular blend of fire and ice for an unnerving treatise on cruelty, repression, and the kinky underside of elegance. Winner of the Grand Prix and both acting prizes at Cannes, The Piano Teacher was described by Manohla Dargis as “a harrowing story of sex, fascism, and the ties that bind and sometimes throttle.”
*Wednesday, July 30, 9:00pm. Introduction by Isabelle Huppert.

Film Society of Lincoln Center
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of the moving image. Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year's most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Latinbeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious “Chaplin Award.” The Film Society's state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stonehenge Partners, Stella Artois, illy café, the Kobal Collection, Trump International Hotel and Tower, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

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