Boutique distributor 1-2 Special has acquired Emmanuel Marre’s French period drama A Man of His Time for North America, the company announced Tuesday.
A rare look at the Vichy regime and French collaboration with the Nazis, Marre’s movie is inspired by the story of his own great-grandfather. Set in 1940, it follows Henri Marre (played by Anatomy of a Fall actor Swann Arlaud) as he tries to ingratiate himself with the new regime.
A Man of His Time was well-received at its world premiere in Cannes, where it won the prize for best screenplay. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Jordan Mintzer called the film a “scathingly fresh look at wartime fascism.” He highlighted Marre’s modern-day approach to the material, which “is ostensibly a period piece but seems more contemporary, like a grungy indie flick in which everyone sports three-piece suits and vintage hairstyles yet behaves very much the way people do now. The film feels fresh and off-the-cuff, as if someone traveled back to 1940 with an iPhone and hit record, chronicling the dark years of far-right obedience and moral decadence.”
A Man of His Time Marre’s second feature following Zero Fucks Given, which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2021, winning the Gan Foundation Award.
