With 41 French (co-)productions debuting at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the event has evolved into an important platform for the country’s film industry, offering premieres that outnumber French debuts at Cannes. Just as Toronto kicks off the awards season in North America, it also serves the same purpose for the French films. Many […]
Written and Directed by Sophie Fillières Produced by Maurice Tinchant and Martine Marignac Released by Film Movement French with English subtitles France. 102 min. Not rated With Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Brochet, Joséphine de La Baume, and Nelson Delapalme French writer and director Sophie Fillières examines a married couple’s descent into separation, embodied by […]
The Beast (1975). 93 min. Immoral Tales (1974). 103 min. Written & Directed by Walerian Borowcyk French with English subtitles Back in the early 1970s, as porn was poking it’s way into the mainstream, a few daring filmmakers raised on arty fare like Bergman and Fellini tried to incorporate some deep ideas with blatant erotica, […]
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff Produced by Marc de Bayser, Frank Le Wita, Sidonie Dumas, and Francis Boespflug Written by Cyril Gely and Schlöndorff, based on the play Diplomatie by Gely Released by Zeitgeist Films Release French and German with English subtitles France. 88 min. Not rated With André Dussollier, Niels Arestrup, Burghart Klaussner and Robert […]
Directed by Mathieu Amalric Produced by Paulo Branco, Olivier Père and Rémi Burah Written by Mathieu Amalric and Stéphanie Cléau, based on a book by Georges Simenon Released by Sundance Selects French with English subtitles France. 75 min. Not rated With Mathieu Almaric, Léa Drucker, Stéphanie Cléau, Laurent Poitrenaux, and Serge Bozon Mystery/suspense films are […]
Written and Directed by Israel Horovitz, based on his play Produced by Rachael Horovitz and Gary Foster Released by Cohen Media Group USA/France. 104 min. Rated PG-13 With Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Dominique Pinon, Noémie Lvovsky and Stéphane De Groodt My Old Lady puts a sophisticated Parisian spin on the movie genre […]
My last screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the 34th in eight days, was a rewarding way to wind down, ending the festival on a rich, resonating note. Director and writer Olivier Assayas smoothly makes his first (mostly) English language foray, buoyed by the strong performance of Juliette Binoche. While Assayas’s new film has […]
Written and Directed by Philippe Le Guay, based on an original idea by Fabrice Luchini and Le Guay Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint Released by Strand Releasing. French with English subtitles France. 104 min. Not rated With Fabrice Luchini, Lambert Wilson, Maya Sansa, and Laurie Bordesoules I have had only a little experience with the plays […]
In the awards competition at the Cannes Film Festival, two films rejuvenated the often clunky genre of the biopic. Mike Leigh, whose films have won many honors here, offered something of a departure from his previous output. Mr. Turner, appropriately his most picturesque film yet, explores the later years of pre-Impressionistic, pre-rebel chic painter J.M.W. […]