Alliance Française French Film Festival
We select the choice morsels of the annual feast of Gallic cinema. Bon appétit!
THE LATEST FRUITS of the vibrant French film industry screen this month, spanning comedy, biopics, drama, war stories, animation and romance. They include new movies from the Dardenne Brothers, Anne Fontaine and Bertrand Tavernier, and stars such as Isabelle Huppert, Daniel Auteuil, Omar Sy, Audrey Tautou and many, many more. Gender equality is especially strong, with 17 new movies from women directors. Here are Time Out’s 12 picks to look out for in the festival...
1The Jacques Cousteau story: The Odyssey The visually impressive opening night film stars Lambert Wilson as undersea explorer and inventor of the aqualung, Jacques Cousteau, with Audrey Tautou as his wife Simone. 2 A psychic in Paris: Planetarium
In this provocative drama Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp play American sisters travelling through 1930s Europe, the younger of whom performs a clairvoyant show. 3 A star-studded melodrama: It’s Only the End of the World Enfant terrible Xavier Dolan ( Mommy) won the Grand Prix of the Cannes Festival with this story of a playwright (Gaspard Ulliel) returning home after a 12-year absence to inform family members (including Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel and Marion Cotillard) of his terminal illness. 4 Backpacking misadventures: Lost in Paris A kooky Canadian (co-director Fiona Gordon) arrives in Paris to help her elderly aunt (the late Emmanuelle Riva), who promptly disappears, in a comedy paying homage to Jacques Tati. 5 Race politics and acrobatics: Monsieur Chocolat Omar Sy ( The Intouchables) stars as the former slave who became a huge circus star in 19th century France. Circus innovator James Thierrée (a grandchild of Charlie Chaplin) co-stars. 6 Veteran CinephilesFrench filmmaker Cinema rejoice: Bertrand A Tavernier Journey pinpoints Through 7 three uninhibited things morals,that make and French graceful movies pessimism.great: style, A The Dardenne Unknown BrothersGirl murder mystery: The Days, BelgianOne Night) masters have of a social doctor realism(Adèle Haenel)( Two investigatingpleas for help the she death ignored.of an African woman whose 8 A A Bag true of Holocaust Marbles survival story: A young Jewish sons Frenchmana map and (Patricksome cash Bruel) and gives sendshis two them off to escape Nazi-occupied Paris. 9 Non-immaculate conceptions: The Innocents The new film by Anne Fontaine ( Coco Avant Chanel) sees a French Red Cross worker (Lou de Laâge) in postwar Poland summoned to a convent where several sisters are in different stages of pregnancy. 10 Another great Isabelle Huppert performance: Things to Come Oscar-nominated for Elle, Huppert shines in the story of a philosophy teacher whose life is turned upside down after her husband leaves her. 11Daniel Auteuil in vengeful mode: Kalinka The great French actor plays André Bamberski, who spent 27 years proving the guilt of the Austrian doctor he believes raped and killed his daughter. 12Women soldiers coping with PTSD: The Stopover Ordered to relax at a resort in Cyprus after fighting in Afghanistan, two soldiers, Aurore and Marine, try to efface their trauma with parties, alcohol and drugs. àPalace Verona, Palace Norton Street, Chauvel & Hayden Orpheum. www.affrenchfilmfestival.org. Mar 7-30.