''The Benefactor'' (originally titled ''Franny'') is a 2015 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Andrew Renzi. Starring Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning,

Theo James Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis (born 16 December 1984) is an English actor. He gained recognition for playing Tobias Eaton in '' The Divergent Series'' film trilogy (2014–2016). He has starred in the horror films '' Underworld: Awak ...

, and Clarke Peters, the film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 17, 2015. It was released in the United States on January 15, 2016, in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films, LLC is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. Th ...

Synopsis

A wealthy man (Richard Gere) feels responsible for the deaths of two married friends, leading him to ingratiate himself into the lives of their daughter (Dakota Fanning) and her husband (Theo James). But their friendship takes a dark turn when he grows obsessed with the couple.

Cast

* Richard Gere as Francis "Franny" Watts * Dakota Fanning as Olivia *

as Luke * Clarke Peters as Dr. Romano * Brian Anthony Wilson as Jesse * Dylan Baker as Bobby * Cheryl Hines as Mia * Dennisha Pratt as Sharon * Lyssa Roberts as Molly * Roy James Wilson as Charlie * Tibor Feldman as Dr. Sam * Matthew and Michael Daisher as Toby

Production

Andrew Renzi developed the script at the 2013 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. In August 2013, it was announced that it would be produced by Treehouse Pictures, TideRock Media, and Big Shoes Media, with Richard Gere cast to portray the role of Franny, and Andrew Renzi directing. Treehouse Pictures had produced Gere's 2012 film ''

Arbitrage Arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more marketsstriking a combination of matching deals to capitalize on the difference, the profit being the difference between the market prices at which th ...

''. In September 2013, it was announced that Dakota Fanning and

had joined, portraying the roles of Olivia and Luke respectively.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on October 21, 2013, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Release

''The Benefactor'' premiered at the

on April 17, 2015. On May 1, 2015,

acquired U.S. distribution rights. It went onto screen at the Champs-Élysées Film Festival on June 13, 2015. The film was released in Italy on December 23, 2015, under its original name ''Franny''. It was released in the United States on January 15, 2016, in a

and through

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

it achieves a score of 26%, an average rating of 4.2/10, sampled from 54 reviews. The consensus states: "''The Benefactor'' has Richard Gere and Dakota Fanning, but no clear idea of what to do with either of them, resulting in a drama that never comes anywhere near its intriguing potential."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, gives a rating of 39 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benefactor 2015 films 2015 drama films American drama films Films shot in Philadelphia Samuel Goldwyn Films films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films