Last night, spectators filed into the palais eagerly to see the premiere of Ira Sachs' new film "Frankie" featuring longtime French film star Isabelle Huppert. Huppert plays a role similar to her own life; an experienced French actress who takes some time off from the silver screen. But, unlike in real life, Huppert's character is dying from terminal cancer and decides to spend some of her final moments on a family vacation in the Portuguese countryside. From critics and others who saw the film last night, one thing could really be agreed upon. Any film can be a tragedy, but this one takes the aspect of sadness a bit differently, brought through with amazing performances alongside Huppert by Marisa Tomei, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, and Jérémy Renier. Sachs really made it clear this morning during a press conference that he allowed for the setting and the actors to create a lot of the sentiment in the film. "I built the film for Isabelle," mentioned Sachs when explaining how he explored this process of story development.

Director Ira Sachs

Actor Jérémy Renier

photos by Nicholas Leffel