An exclusive Czech pre-premiere at Variations 2023 – variace.kviff­.com.

Sat 25 November 2023 / 11am + 7pm / Kino Čas

Coup de chance
(d. Woody Allen, France, USA 2023, 93 min., in French with Czech and English subtitles)

To what extent do we determine our own luck, and to what extent are we just passive recipients of grace from the goddess Fortuna? In his fiftieth feature-length film, living legend Woody Allen asks just this question. Forget about Manhattan, this time around Allen filmed in Paris with a French cast. His usual mischievousness is still there as he spins his tale of a young, affluent couple – Jean and Fanny, who seemingly have it all – and the sudden appearance of the charming wife’s former classmate Alain. A dark crime comedy recalling his older masterpieces Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point, Coup de Chance shows that, despite pushing ninety, Allen has lost none of his panache.

Woody Allen (1935)

Woody Allen is one of the most award-winning American filmmakers, especially outside the United States. He made a name for himself in the 1970s as a distinctive director of original comedies in which he usually played the main character – an insecure and slightly neurotic protagonist. Annie Hall (1977 – Oscar for Best Director and Screenplay) called attention to the more serious side of his talent, as later confirmed by his relationship dramas Manhattan (1979), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986 – Oscar for Best Screenplay), and Husbands and Wives (1992). Over the past several decades, Allen has alternated between psychological dramas such as Match Point (2005) and more light-hearted tragicomedies such as Scoop (2006), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Whatever Works (2009), or Midnight in Paris(2011 – Oscar for Best Screenplay). His more recent work includes Magic in the Moonlight (2014), Café Society (2016), and A Rainy Day in New York (2020).