Niki

From The Distrib Films Collection

Directed by Céline Sallette

99 minutes / Color
French; English / English subtitles
Closed Captioned
Release: 2025
Copyright: 2024

The debut feature of actor-turned-director Céline Sallette, Niki is a vibrant portrait of French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle (Charlotte Le Bon, star of The White Lotus), one of the most iconoclastic figures of the contemporary art world.

Fleeing the oppressive atmosphere of post-war America, Niki arrives in Paris in 1952 with her husband Harry (John Robinson) ready to leave the past behind. But as she embarks on her new bohemian life in Paris, she is haunted by flashbacks and lingering childhood trauma that pushes her towards mental illness. When this culminates in being institutionalized, she turns to art as a means of survival. Emerging from darkness with a fierce creative drive, she enters the avant-garde art scene of Montparnasse.

Blending emotional intimacy with striking visual invention, Niki offers a vivid look at the making of an icon—an artist who defied convention and transformed deep psychological wounds into creativity and artistic reinvention.

“An ordinary story about an extraordinary woman and that is meant as a compliment.” —Sarah Manvel, In Their Own League

“A raw, emotional performance from Charlotte Le Bon dominates a film that gradually reveals the way in which art becomes a way of conquering trauma and finding a voice for this ground-breaking mid-century sculptor.” —Allan Hunter, Screen International

“Charlotte Le Bon delivers a tour-de-force performance that does justice to the woman behind the art.” —Gazettely

Ways to Watch

Individuals

Home use DVD for $26.98

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Corporations

Purchase DVD for $245.00

Select Accolades

  • Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard
  • Shanghai International Film Festival
  • FIFF Namur
  • Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival
  • CINEMANIA Francophone Film Festival (Canada)
  • IFI French Film Festival (Dublin)

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