Harvey Weinstein is a legend, not just for his prowess as a producer and executive, but also for his ability to keep a movie from being released. The history of The Weinstein Company sitting on movies and then quietly dumping them in limited releases is well known, and while we don’t know the exact behind-the-scenes story of the WWII drama “Suite Francaise,” the movie is finally coming off the Weinstein shelf and going straight to cable.
Reader Kat Strat has tipped us to the news that the film will be premiering on Lifetime in a matter of weeks, airing on May 22nd, marking the first stateside viewing of the film. Starring Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Riley, Ruth Wilson, and Margot Robbie, directed by Saul Dibb (“The Duchess“), and scored by Alexandre Desplat (yep, this movie is loaded with top-tier talent), the adaptation of Irene Nemirovsky‘s novel details the love affair between young French woman Lucille and the German officer assigned to watch her in Nazi-occupied France.
The film, which was shot all the way back in 2013, has already been released in several overseas territories, mostly to middling notices. The general consensus seems to be that it’s flawed, but not a complete disaster that demands that the film not receive a standard theatrical release in the U.S. However, when Weinstein loses interest in a project or it doesn’t turn out the way he or the studio intended, they can be ruthless, and this release plan for “Suite Francaise” is pretty much exactly what happened to “Grace Of Monaco,” which humbly went to Lifetime a year after faceplanting at Cannes.
So, if you’ve been waiting to see the movie, it’s on the way, and you might want to set up your DVR, because who knows if or when it’ll hit home video. One has to wonder if the frequently delayed “Tulip Fever” starring Alicia Vikander and Dane DeHaan, which is now slated to open on August 25th, will meet a similar fate. But as we know, anything can happen….