Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has reportedly capped a late flurry of Cannes acquisitions by taking all North American rights to FilmFour's Crush, one of the market's most talked about UK titles.

The $6.5m picture, which stars Andie MacDowell, follows the relationship between three middle-aged single women and a younger man. Cannes buyers saw Crush as an auspicious debut from commercially-oriented director-producer team John McKay and Lee Thomas, but some were disappointed that it was not a fluffier affair.

The film has already gone to international buyers including Scanbox for Scandinavia, Vision Africa for South Africa and Tube Entertainment for South Korea. FilmFour's regular German distribution partner, Senator Film, which committed to 25% of the production's budget at financing stage, is particularly bullish about the film's prospects.

FilmFour has already committed to McKay and Thomas' follow-up, Knickers, a widely-liked script about a female German spy working in Selfridges' lingerie department during WW2.

SPC's acquisitions at the end of and just after Cannes now include Jacques Rivette's Va Savoir!, TF1 International's Directors' Fortnight title Pauline Et Paulette, Eric Rohmer's L'Anglaise Et Le Duc and Zhang Yang's Quitting. The specialist division also bought Argentinian title Nine Queens outside the event.

The shopping spree puts SPC amongst the most aggressive Cannes buyers, arguably second only to Miramax Films. Fine Line, normally in contention with the most active buyers, was conspicuous by its absence from the Cannes headlines. The New Line division had its staff slashed in January as part of a sweeping cost-cutting programme at parent AOL Time Warner.