“Grips your heart, and leaves it shivering, smiling, and full of love”
BILD
Norbert Körzdörfer
“A film that shows what life is all about: humanity”
CINEMAN
Irene Genhart
“The drama delights with a good mix of humor and seriousness”
CINEMA MAGAZINE
Lisa Schwarz

An Arthur Cohn Production

Based on the bestselling novel by José Luis Sampedro

The Etruscan Smile stars acclaimed British actor Brian Cox as Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman who reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment.
Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through a newly found bond with his baby grandson.

Press

Reviews following the German release of the film:

“….Stirs the audience to tears....Countless sons all over the world are likely to feel addressed by this film. Perhaps they’ll manage to imagine their fathers with a smile.”
RND - Matthias Halbig
“When leaving the cinema, one smiles - with a tear. This tear reflects the heartbreaking plot of the international bestseller "The Etruscan Smile. It's a beautiful old-fashioned film about the primal issues of humanity - family, understanding, love and misunderstandings. It's a love movie that makes you want to live again.”
Bild - Norbert Körzdörfer
“The feature film debut of director-duo Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun is a charming, touching drama….
The Scottish actor Brian Cox is the soul of this heartwarming drama about a late family reunification, based on the novel by José Luis Sampedro…
….The clash of seemingly incompatible mentalities and Rory's growing grandfather pride give the feel-good story a good mix of excitement and grin humor.”
SpielFilm - Bianka Piringer
“A charming crowd pleaser”
Indiekino - Lars Tuncay
“"The Etruscan smile" is beautiful, tragic, amusing, sometimes funny, and always emotional….has simple but beautiful wisdom about life, but also about dying.”
Cine Preview - Peter Osteried
“The directors Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun tell the moving drama with a great dose of humor. Ultimately, this is about the most important journey: from life to death. Brian Cox does not let the grumpy old man degenerate into a joker, but equips him with dignity. What a demanding, difficult father he was, becomes clear in credible arguments he has with his son Ian - the emotional scars are still noticeable. The unusual title explains itself at the end of the story. Viewers should go home with a smile on their face.”
WDR - Andrea Burtz
“Based on the novel by José Luis Sampedro, the family drama portrays the arduous path of a man who only realizes at the end of his life what is really important. Against the background of the father-son conflict, especially the deep attachment to the little grandson stirs tears. But also cheerful moments find their place here.
Balanced mix of humor and seriousness”
Tvspielfilm.de
“Extremely amusing movie! The character of Rory MacNeil (more than magnificently portrayed by Brian Cox) evolves over the course of nearly two hours and shows a multi-layered man who is not only grumpy and misanthropic, but who can be charming, carrying his heart in the right place and In addition to the whole macho showcased also has a soft side in itself. Cameraman Javier Aguirresarobe captures his love of his home country in visually stunning landscape shots and contrasts this with the remote natural concrete desert and permanently illuminated city of San Francisco.”
Kino-zeit.de
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Cast

BRIAN COX

Brian Cox is an Emmy Award winning actor and a Golden Globe Nominee, and one of Scotland’s most celebrated actors in film and Shakespearean theatre. Some of his credits include Braveheart, Troy, Bourne, Woody Allen’s Match Point and portraying the first Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter.

ROSANNA ARQUETTE

Rosanna Arquette’s admirable career includes some of cinema’s most legendary films, from Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Martin Scorsese's After Hours and Luc Besson’s The Big Blue. For her role in Desperately Seeking Susan she won a BAFTA award and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

JJ FEILD

JJ Feild’s notable credits include Last Orders starring opposite Helen Mirren and Michael Caine, Marvel’s Captain America as well as the critically acclaimed Third Star starring opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.

THORA BIRCH

Thora Birch rose to prominence as a child star in the Patriot Games, and saw her breakthrough in the Oscar winning film American Beauty and Ghost World, for which she received a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination.

PETER COYOTE

Peter Coyote’s carreer spans over 120 films, with leading roles for celebrated directors such as Roman Polanski (Bitter Moon), Pedro Almodóvar (Kika), Diane Kurys (A Man in Love) and Steven Spielberg (E.T).

TREAT WILLIAMS

Treat Williams is a Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominated American actor, who rose to fame for his leading role in Milos Forman's Hair.

FILMMAKERS

ARTHUR COHN
Producer
Eleanor Roosevelt once observed that “...the world belongs to the person brave enough to believe in the beauty of his dreams“. She could easily have been talking about the Swiss born, international filmmaker, Arthur Cohn, who has come to realize his dreams on screen for a worldwide audience over nearly four decades. All this while accumulating an astonishing six Academy Awards in recognition of his work – more than any other independent producer - and giving us film classics such as "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", "Central Station", "One Day in September" and "The Chorus". Interestingly, and unlike many filmmakers whose best work is mostly concentrated within a particularly fertile period of their careers, Cohn’s projects have earned him time and again Oscar recognition and top prizes in the most respectable film festivals, reflecting over five decades of virtuosity and continuous quality filmmaking.
MIHAL BREZIS & ODED BINNUN
Directors
Mihal Brezis & Oded Binnun are Academy Awards Nominees for their short film AYA (nominated for “Best Live Action Short” in 2015). Aya has garnered exceptional recognition when being released commercially in theaters, stand-alone as a short, to audience and critical success. Their previous short films won over 40 international awards in festivals worldwide and were acquired by leading international broadcasters. The Etruscan Smile is their first full length feature film.
JAVIER AGUIRRESAROBE
Cinematographer
Javier Aguirresarobe is a master of light. In his extensive and acclaimed career he has worked with the world’s most recognized directors turning their films into magical visual feasts. His wide range of credits include celebrated titles such as Almodovar’s Talk to Her, Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine and Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Alejandro Amenabar’s Oscar winning film The Sea Inside. Javier is a six time recipient of the Goya Awards for Best Cinematography, as well as winner of outstanding artistic achievement at the Berlin Film Festival.

Contact

Arthur Cohn Productions

Gellertstrasse 18 4052, Basel, Switzerland
   Tel +41 (0)61 312 12 42       Fax +41 (0)61 312 07 17   
Email: acohn@bluewin.ch