Wide House takes on Marcel Ophüls Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyageur) 

Documentary specialist Wide House has acquired international sales on Marcel Ophüls’ documentary Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyageur) ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.

The film spans Ophüls’ childhood in Berlin and Paris and adolescence in Hollywood as the son of legendary director Max Ophüls. It then tracks his own life and career as the award-winning maker of documentary classics such as The Sorrow and the Pity and Hotel Terminus.

“It’s a lot of fun, light-hearted, candid,” says Wide House chief Anais Clanet.

“Clearly the figure of his father Max Ophüls looms large – he was a huge influence. Ophüls grew up in Hollywood in a very particular time in its history– he transports you back there.”

Beyond his father, Ophüls talks about friends and acquaintances Jeanne Moreau, Bertold Brecht, Ernst Lubitsch, Otto Preminger, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick and François Truffaut.

“He’s a memorabilia store if you like,” says Clanet.

“It’s very candid and irreverent too. There’s one scene where he quizzes friends, such as Jeanne Moreau, over Truffaut’s sex life and another where he recalls how he told her not to go to Italy to work with Antonioni…” 

The documentary is the first work from the director in 18 years. He was last in Cannes in 1994 with The Troubles We’ve Seen: A History of Journalism in Wartime, revolving around war correspondents.

Ain’t Misbehavin was produced by Frank Eskenazi of French creative documentary production house The Factory with the support of Arte, Inthemood… production, state French audiovisual institution Ina and Switzerland broadcaster RTS.

Other films on Wide House’s slate include Brazilian director Petra Costa’s award-winning Elena, about a woman who moves to New York to pursue her dream to be an actress; Beth B’s exploration of nudity Exposed; and Jonathan Holiff’s My Father and the Man in Black about his father Saul Holiff’s life as the manager of singer Johnny Cash.