Film-Forward

French

Stranger by the Lake

Directed by Alain Guiraudie Produced by Sylvie Pialat Released by Strand Releasing French with English subtitles France. 97 min. Not rated With Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou & Patrick D’Assumçao Tense, erotic, and coolly transfixing, Stranger by the Lake captivates through its slow-burning intensity and its brazen exhibition of sexuality. Its components are a bit unconventional, […]

What’s in a Name?

Written & Directed by Alexandre de la Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte, based on their play Produced by Dimitri Rassam & Jérôme Seydoux Released by Under the Milky Way, now available on iTunes French with English subtitles French. 109 min. Not rated With Patrick Bruel, Valérie Benguigui, Charles Berling, Judith El Zein, Guillaume de Tonquédec & […]

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche Written by Kechiche & Ghalya Lacroix, adapted from Le Bleu Est une Couleur Chaude by Julie Maroh Produced by Alcatraz Films, Olivier Thery Lapiney & Laurence Clerc Released by Sundance Selects. French with English subtitles France. 179 min. Rated NC-17 With Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Mona Walravens, Jérémie Laheurte […]

Toronto 2013 Highlights

An Indian father accompanies his young—and only—son, Siddharth, to an outdoor bus station. He waves goodbye to his smiling boy as the packed bus drives off 200 miles north, where Siddharth has been sent to work in a trolley factory. The boy, nicknamed Siddhu, is supposed to come back a month later for Diwali, but […]

Camille Claudel 1915

Written & Directed by Bruno Dumont Produced by Jean Brehat, Rachid Bouchareb & Muriel Merlin Released by Kino Lorber French with English subtitles France. 97 min. Not Rated With Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent, Robert Leroy, Emmanuel Kauffman & Marion Keller Writer/director Bruno Dumont gives a strongly feminist interpretation to the tragic story of the thwarted […]

Haute Cuisine

Directed by Christian Vincent Produced by Étiene Comar & Philipe Rousselet Written by Comar & Vincent, freely inspired by the life of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch Released by the Weinstein Company French with English subtitles. France. 95 min. Rated PG-13 With Catherine Frot, Jean d’Ormesson, Hippolyte Girardot, Arthur Dupont & Jean-Marc Roulot When Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot) […]

You Will Be My Son

Directed by Gilles Legrand Produced by Legrand & Frédéric Brillon Written by Legrand & Delphine de Vigan Released by Cohen Media Group France. 101 min. Rated R With Niels Arestrup, Loránt Deutsch, Patrick Chesnais, Nicolas Bridet, Anne Marivin & Valérie Mairesse You Will Be My Son isn’t just a dramatic vacation to the wine country […]

Aliyah

Directed by Elie Wajeman Produced by Lola Gans Written by Gaëlle Macé & Wajeman Released by Film Movement French & Hebrew with English subtitles France. 90 min. Not rated With Pio Marmaï, Adèle Haenel, Cédric Kahn, Guillaume Gouix & Sarah Le Picard Gritty Aliyah plays ironically on the meaning of the Hebrew word for “to […]

Three Worlds

Directed by Catherine Corsini Produced by Fabienne Vonier Written by Corsini & Benoît Graffin Released by Film Movement French & Moldovan with English subtitles France. 101 min. Not rated With Raphaël Personnaz, Clotilde Hesme, Arta Dobroshi, Reda Ketab, Alban Aumard & Adèle Haenel As you might expect from the rather portentous title, Three Worlds is […]