// Presented as part of October's French Art House II Series //

Bruno Dumont / 2017, Cannes, The Alliance Française French Film Festival, Festival du Film Francophone de Grèce, FICCI - Cartagena, Helvetia French Film Festival, Jerusalem, Karlovy Vary, Melbourne, Morelia, Moscow, Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, Rio de Janeiro, Seville / 122'

The bourgeois Van Peteghem family are no strangers to the bliss of upper-class existence. Perched atop the cliffs of Normandy, the eccentric clan of relatives have congregated in their family villa, where they will spend the summer overlooking resplendent Slack Bay. The blithe luxury of their days is interrupted, however, when two local inspectors arrive at their manse, seeking information on a series of disappearances in the area. Mysteries mount as ever more tourists go missing, and internal tensions soon send the stately aristocrats into a frenzy.

Blending Belle Époque-era period details with contemporary class critique, and starring French cinema titans Juliette Binoche, Fabrice Luchini, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Slack Bay is striated along lines of pitch-black, absurdist farce. Bruno Dumont's follow-up to Lil' Quinquin premiered at Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Melbourne, Jerusalem, and Seville, where it won Best Actress and Best Film.