Film-Forward

French

Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2012

You can talk all you want about the director as the film’s main auteur, but casting remains paramount to a film’s success in most of the entries in New York’s annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance. A film series like this offers a glimpse into a […]

Mozart’s Sister

Written, Produced, & Directed by Réne Féret Released by Music Box Films French with English subtitles France. 120 min. Not rated With Marie Féret, Marc Barbé, Delphine Chuillot, David Moreau, Clovis Fouin & Lisa Féret Mozart’s Sister delicately explores how the soon-to-be-immortal composer’s sister lived in the wrong era— and in the wrong gender. Director […]

Declaration of War

Directed by Valérie Donzelli Produced by Edouard Weil Written by Donzelli & Jérémie Elkaïm Released by Sundance Selects. French with English subtitles. France. 100 min. Not rated With Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm, César Desseix, Brigitte Sy, Elina Lowensohn, Michèle Moretti & Philippe Laudenbach Whatever direction Valérie Donzelli takes in her second feature film, she goes […]

Domain

Written & Directed by Patric Chiha Produced by Charlotte Vincent & Aurora Films Released by Strand Releasing French with English subtitles. France/Austria. 110 min. Not rated. With Béatrice Dalle, Isaïe Sultan, Alaine Libolt, Raphaël Bouvet, Sylvia Rohrer, Manuel Marmier & Udo Samel A suggestive relationship between Pierre (Isaïe Sultan), a handsome teenage boy, and Nadia […]

My Piece of the Pie

Written & Directed by Cédric Klapisch Produced by Bruno Levy Released by Sundance Selects English & French with English subtitles France. 109 min. Not rated With Karin Viard & Gilles Lellouche Cédric Klapisch’s boisterous films cram many characters and storylines into two (or so) hours. His last effort, Paris, was even more kaleidoscopic than usual, […]

The Artist

Written & Directed by Michel Hazanavicius Produced by Thomas Langmann Released by the Weinstein Company France/USA. 100 min. Rated PG-13 With Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Beth Grant & John Goodman Studded with easy-to-spot film references, the black-and-white silent film The Artist is the type of film that […]

House of Pleasures

Written & Directed by Bertrand Bonello Produced by Bonello & Kristina Larsen Released by Sundance Selects French with English subtitles France. 125 min. Not rated With Hafsia Herzi, Céline Sallette, Jasmine Trinca, Adèle Haenel, Noémie Lvovsky, Alice Barnole & Iliana Zabeth Set in a brothel at the turn of the 20th century Paris, this methodical […]

Tomboy

Written & Directed by Céline Sciamma Produced by Bénédicte Couvreur Released by Rocket Releasing French with English subtitles France. 82 min. Not rated With Zoé Heran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani & Mathieu Demy When a kid moves to a new town, the past can be left behind for a fresh start. In Tomboy, […]

The Conquest

Directed by Xavier Durringer Produced by Eric & Nicholas Altmayer Written by Patrick Rotman & Durringer Released by Music Box Films French with English subtitles France. 105 min. Not rated With Denis Podalydès, Florence Pernel, Bernard Le Coq, Hippolyte Girardot & Samuel Labarthe Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election as French president was a triumph for the […]