Nick Hammond
Un Monde sans Femmes
Men with andWithout Women Sylvain gets a respite from his lonely life while frolicking with two visiting Parisians. French cinema tends to be overpopulated with dreadful movies set at the seaside in which improbably ugly men pursue and conquer improbably … Read More
Ce qu’Il Restera de Nous
The Longest 40-Minute Film Ever The lipstick smear: how to tell a woman is losing it in a French film. Always on the lookout for films that do not quite fit the mold, I recently saw the 40-minute Ce qu’Il … Read More
Au Bout du Conte
A Modern Fairytale Lacking in Adventure Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui in “Au Bout du Conte.” Ever since being blown away by the warmth, humor and humanity of Le Goût des Autres (2000), I must admit to approaching each new … Read More
Le Cid
Grand Themes,Intimate Singing Court scene. Photo © Agathe Poupeney. The appearance of Pierre Corneille’s play Le Cid in 1637 had a long-lasting effect on French cultural life. Not only did its subject matter – the young hero Rodrigue is forced to … Read More
De Rouille et d’Os
Extreme Tragedy MeetsEveryday Tragedy Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), takes Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) for her liberating first swim since her accident. Photo: Roger Arpajou Why Not Productions Jacques Audiard’s reputation as one of France’s most original, hard-hitting movie directors is sure to … Read More
De Rouille et d’Os (Rust and Bone)
Extreme Tragedy Meets Everyday Tragedy
Jacques Audiard’s reputation as one of France’s most original, hard-hitting movie directors is sure to be enhanced by his latest offering, De Rouille et d’Os (Rust and Bone), which was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This new film shares … Read More
Laurence Anyways
Time for Precocious Talent to Grow Up and Knuckle Down Melvil Poupaud as Laurence. Photo © Shayne Laverdière When reviewing director Xavier Dolan’s last film, Les Amours Imaginaires, I wrote that his best was yet to come, just as long … Read More
Tuer le Père (2)
On the right: real-life Amélie Nothomb. On the left: book-jacket Amélie Nothomb. Certain aspects of novelist Amélie Nothomb’s work are utterly predictable: for example, every fall a new novel (usually around 150 pages long) appears without fail, with a portrait … Read More
Dans la Maison
Risky Game of Seduction in Ozon’s Best Film Yet Left to right: Fabrice Luchini, Emmanuelle Seigner and Ernst Umhauer Dans la Maison (In the House), prolific filmmaker François Ozon’s latest offering, may well be his most accomplished movie to date. Combining … Read More
Alceste à Bicyclette
Great Idea for a Film Veers off Course Fabrice Luchini, playing actor Serge Tanneur, wears his Alceste costume to a party. It is easy to imagine actor Fabrice Luchini and director Philippe Le Guay sitting down to hatch a brilliant idea … Read More