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I'd been holding out hope for you to reply as the only other person on this board likely to actually have seen the movie.

View original postWord is the director is about to sue the actress for defamation (libelle diffamatoire) and damages for having undermined the movie's international career.

I just read <a href="http://www.rue89.com/rue89-culture/2013/10/23/abdellatif-kechiche-a-ceux-voulaient-detruire-vie-dadele-246826">Kechiche's diatribe</a> on all the accusations against him... and I'm inclined to agree with the editor of the website who warned him beforehand that his diatribe might lead some to view him as paranoid. Though he may still have some good points - it's a long piece, much of it not really relating to this movie as such, but making some interesting accusations against certain journalists about having slandered other Cannes winners or jury members besides himself.

As for "undermined the movie's international career", though, let's be serious - as I wrote in my review, this kind of controversy can only increase the movie's box office.

View original postWith the other actress who has distanced herself from her partner's criticism or at least severely nuanced them, this could be costly...

I would hope that Kechiche has friends who will dissuade him from a move as foolish as suing Seydoux. But if your source for that rumour is no more than the vague threat in Kechice's piece, I think there is not much danger of a real suit being brought.

I don't know. When he came here (or talked over the phone from Paris, I'm not sure) to promote the movie he didn't sound all that paranoid or excessive in his interviews (far less than I expected, that's for sure). He sounded quite hurt by the controversy, though.

I don't know what effects the controversy has produced on the BO. The movie worked well in France. Here the movie has performed not quite as well as anticipated (for a movie in that category) despite the unanimous raving reviews. Things like what happened in Iowa are more likely to draw in audience attracted by the sex, but complaints about the director being abusive/unethical in his treatment of the actress aren't crowd pleasers.

It wouldn't stop me from going to see the movie but I know it's stopped my mom and her friends from going to see it, and they're pretty much in the target audience for this sort of French movies.

As for the question: I haven't seen it. Too busy with work. The only movie I've seen in a theater (except at work, anyway) this year was Gondry's L'Écume des Jours (which with a few minor reservations I've loved).