Where Do We Go Now? 13 Feb 2013 Director: Nadine Labaki France, Lebanon 2011 110 min A Lebanese comedy-drama about religious conflict may not seem an obvious recipe for success, but this film manages to pull off the tricky balancing act with wit and aplomb. Director Labaki also stars, as one of a group of… Continue reading Et maintenant on vaou?
Tag: France
Dialogue avec mon jardinier
Conversations With My Gardener 25 Sept 2013 Director: Jean Becker France 2007 109 min In this beautifully crafted celebration of the pleasures and value of friendship, Daniel Auteuil plays a successful and affable painter who decides to leave Paris and return to his rural hometown in the throes of a mid-life crisis. At first he… Continue reading Dialogue avec mon jardinier
Amour
06 Nov 2013 Director: Michael Haneke France 2012 127 min With his unflinching script, Michael Haneke directs this honest, heart-wrenching depiction of deep love and responsibility. With exceptionally powerful performances from Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, the film is an intimate account of an elderly couple facing their greatest challenge in the twilight years of… Continue reading Amour
L’llusionniste
The Illusionist 18 Dec 2013 Director: Sylvain Chomet UK, France 2010 80 min Monsieur Tatischeff is an artisan illusionist trying to eke out a living at the end of the dying vaudeville era. While performing at a pub in the Scottish Highlands, he meets a simple young woman who is enthralled by his magic. She… Continue reading L’llusionniste
Dans la maison
In The House 08 Jan 2014 Director: François Ozon France 2012 105 min In Ozon’s teasing comedy, Germain teaches literature. He despises most of his fellow teachers for their conventional thinking and despairs of his pupils for their uniformity and lack of imagination. Germain discovers a gifted pupil, the 16-year-old Claude, who turns in an… Continue reading Dans la maison
Holy Motors
05 Feb 2014 Director: Leos Carax France 2012 115 min A bizarre surrealist odyssey whose magic ingredient is comedy, Holy Motors is preposterous and filled with secrets. Apparently inspired by the director’s fascination with the after hours life of stretch limousines, the film is centred around Monsieur Oscar who, over the course of a single… Continue reading Holy Motors
La téte en friche
My afternoons with Margueritte 21 Sep 2011 Director: Jean Becker France 2010 82 min An intelligent, sensitive, heart warming, comedy in which Gérard Depardieu plays a simple man in a small village in South Western France, who is befriended by an elderly lady (Giséle Casadesus) who reads to him in the park. A touching, light… Continue reading La téte en friche
Les Plages d’Agnés
The Beaches of Agnés 19 Oct 2011 Director: Agnés Varda France 2008 110 min It would be easy – but misleading – to describe this simply as an autobiography of the French artist and film-maker. It is more like a tour through her memory, represented in diverse and fascinating ways. Varda and her late husband… Continue reading Les Plages d’Agnés
Le Concert
The Concert 14 Mar 2012 Director: Radu Mihaileanu France 2009 119 min A film about music but you don’t have to be a classical music aficionado to appreciate this gem of a film; similarly you shouldn’t be put off that it has been described as a commentary on 20 years of post-communist Eastern Europe. What… Continue reading Le Concert
L’affaire farewell
Farewell 16 Nov 2011 France 2009 113 min Director: Christian Carion Based on a true story, this cold war thriller boasts a light touch and understated performances that make for a very exciting film experience. Soviet intelligence agent Sergei Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica), torn between his communist ideals and the recognition of his state’s inevitable failings,… Continue reading L’affaire farewell