Taglines: Some call it organized crime. Others call it family.
The Family (released as Malavita and Cosa Nostra in some foreign markets) is a crime comedy film directed by Luc Besson, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, and John D’Leo. The film follows a Mafia family under the witness protection program that want to change their lives. The film is based on the French novel Malavita (Badfellas in the 2010 English translation) by Tonino Benacquista.
Principal photography began 8 August 2012 and completed on 27 October 2012. In May 2013, it was revealed that the film, originally titled Malavita, would be re-titled The Family in the United States and some English-speaking countries. In countries, including France, the Malavita title was retained.
Filming took place in the locations of both Gacé and Le Sap in Normandy, and in New York City. Some of the filming also took place L’Aigle and at Cité du Cinéma in Saint-Denis for 1 month. The Family (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released on 13 September 2013, the same day of the film’s premiere. It includes original compositions by Evgueni Galperine and Sacha Galperine.
About the Story (2013)
A mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of CIA Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo) can’t help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the “family” way, enabling their former mafia cronies to track them down. Chaos ensues as old scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings.
The Family, also known as Malavita, is an English-language French action crime comedy film co-written by Tonino Benacquista and directed by Luc Besson, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones. The film follows a Mafia family under the witness protection program that want to change their lives. The film is based on Benacquista’s novel Malavita.
Six years ago, mafia boss Giovanni Maznoni was believed to have performed some unspecified negative activity to a Don Luchese, a crime kingpin in the Brooklyn community. After a failed hit attempt against him and his family at a barbecue, he snitches on the Don Luchese (sending him to prison, where his influence allows him to live well) and enters the witness protection program under the supervision of FBI Agent Stansfield. The family is once again re-locating, to a small town near Normandy after their mafia tendencies alert the kingpin to their location.
As the family adjusts to life in the small city, each family member breaks off into their own stories occurring in parallel. Giovanni runs into trouble when he claims to be a history author writing a novel on the Normandy landings, which is problematic as many citizens in the area are much more familiar with the event than himself. He also begins a quest to track down why the water in his house is brown, becoming irritated when no one he talks to will take responsibility. He beats a plumber who tries to shake him down and a local fertilizer factory owner who interrupts him while talking.
Daughter Belle falls in love with a college student who is substitute teaching a math class. She fakes needing math lessons in order to start a relationship with him, which he rebuffs, but they eventually have sex. Wife Maggie blows up a small grocery store when its owner spews stereotypical American comments. She spends a lot of time at a church, and she and the local priest have a good relationship.
This ends when she confesses the numerous sins her family committed, and he tells her never to come back. Son Warren develops intel on his local school. On the first day, he is beaten up by a small gang, but uses his intel to buy favor with most of the school’s influential students, creating a mini-mafia within the school. He uses this sway to beat up the gang, but also inadvertently alerts Don Luchese to their location when he quotes one of the kingpin’s sayings in a school paper that makes its way back to Don Luchese through a series of strange events.
The family’s individual storylines come to a conclusion as a team of nine hitmen enter the town; the team kills the local police and firemen. Warren decides to leave town with fake passports after the school detects his activities, afraid that the FBI will drop the family’s protection. He returns to the house after seeing the hitmen leaving the train he was about to board. Belle decides to commit suicide after the college student rejects her, but stops when she sees the hitmen team entering the police station.
The Family – Malavita (2013)
Directed by: Luc Besson
Starring: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Tommy Lee Jones
Screenplay by: Luc Besson, Michael Caleo, Tonino Benacquista
Production Design by: Hugues Tissandier
Cinematography by: Thierry Arbogast
Film Editing by: Julien Rey
Costume Design by: Aude Bronson-Howard, Olivier Bériot
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language and brief sexuality.
Studio: Relativity Media
Release Date: September 13, 2013
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