French Cinema

[NormanH]

I regret not having noticed before that L'été meutrier was on Arte this evening.

I watched it, but would have liked to give notice to others, as it is a tense and engrossing thriller with a superb performance from Isabelle Adjani.

[Clair]

[quote user="NormanH"]I regret not having noticed before that L'été meutrier was on Arte this evening.

I watched it, but would have liked to give notice to others, as it is a tense and engrossing thriller with a superb performance from Isabelle Adjani.[/quote]

The film is shown again on Friday 21/08 at 00:05 and Monday 24/08 at 00;15.

Details: http://www.arte.tv/fr/semaine/244,broadcastingNum=1019045,day=4,week=34,year=2009.html (translation)

Adjani is just excellent...

[NormanH]

L'Auberge Espagnole is in France 2 at 20:35 on Sunday Evening.

I recommend it.

[Tom]

[quote user="NormanH"]I regret not having noticed before that L'été meutrier was on Arte this evening.

I watched it, but would have liked to give notice to others, as it is a tense and engrossing thriller with a superb performance from Isabelle Adjani.[/quote]

Thanks for the recommendation. I susbscribe to Lovefilm in the UK and have added it to my rental list.

I guess there are similar postal DVD services in France?

Some I've rented from them and enjoyed  were:  I've loved you so long (Kristin Scott-Thomas is brilliant), Harry he's here to help ( a black comedy thriller), and Couscous.

[Clair]

Some weeks ago, I recorded a French film in VO with English subtitles shown on BBC4.

I recommend it:

Mon meilleur ami (My best friend), with Daniel Auteuil .

[NormanH]

Daniel Auteuil is almost always a sign that the film will be good...

[NormanH]

Not really cinema, but I posted this in the 'History' thread, and there is certainly enough original footage to interest:

I watched the first two instalments on Tuesday of 'Apocalypse' a series of documentaries about WW2.

I was a bit unsure because the publicity before was rather

sensationalist, but in fact it is a compilation of original footage

from the period delicately coloured to make it look astonishingly

recent , with a sober voice-over commentary in French which seemed

balanced to me, who am not a professional Historian.

I would strongly recommend the rest of the series which is being shown on Tuesday nights at 20:35 on France 2

There is a site to accompany the series which gives background information and several clips from the programmes:

http://programmes.france2.fr/apocalypse-seconde-guerre-mondiale/

[Frenchie]

I also recommend Apocalypse , excellent programme.

Hope it will be released on DVDs .

 

[Tom]

Film 4 have a French season on at the moment. District 13 is on tonight at 10.45 UK time,  and Ils tomorrow night.

On their website they have 20 French films to see before you die. Never heard of some of the films and directors.

http://www.channel4.com/film/gallery/index.jsp?id=27301#picturepane

 

[Clair]

[quote user="Tom"]Film 4 have a French season on at the moment. District 13 is on tonight at 10.45 UK time,  and Ils tomorrow night.

On their website they have 20 French films to see before you die. Never heard of some of the films and directors.

http://www.channel4.com/film/gallery/index.jsp?id=27301#picturepane

[/quote]

Quite a few old classics... Le salaire de la peur is gripping.

As for Delon, these are probably his best films. I still remember his Mr Klein. I had to double-check the release date, as I remember watching it on TV when they used to have a programme called "Les Dossiers de l'écran" movie followed by a topical debate lasting all evening.

I don't know Alphaville nor Pickpocket and I did not like Brotherhood of the wolf.

I strongly recommend La reine Margot and Un cœur en hiver. Anything with Isabelle Adjani or Daniel Auteuil is worth seeing in my book!

[NormanH]

Typical UK TV "Dumbing down".

[:(]

[Tom]

[quote user="Clair"]Quite a few old classics... Le salaire de la peur is gripping.

As for Delon, these are probably his best films. I still remember his Mr Klein. I had to double-check the release date, as I remember watching it on TV when they used to have a programme called "Les Dossiers de l'écran" movie followed by a topical debate lasting all evening.

I don't know Alphaville nor Pickpocket and I did not like Brotherhood of the wolf.

I strongly recommend La reine Margot and Un cœur en hiver. Anything with Isabelle Adjani or Daniel Auteuil is worth seeing in my book!

[/quote]

Wouldn't mind seeing Brotherhood of the Wolf because it sounds like a non typical French film. Also Plein Soleil because the Ripley books are so good and  Klein. 

Don't think British TV has ever had  film programmes like Les Dossiers. Film 2009 with Jonathan Ross not quite comparable. 

[Chancer]

Did anyone see Diner de cons on TF1 on Sunday night?

I laughed my socks off, the principal character (the con) is played by a sort of French Danny DeVito, I can highly recomend it for anyone learning the language as the dialogue is clear and it is very visual and I reckon that you would follow it and get the humour even if it is the first French film that you watch. It would make a very good stage play as most of the scenes are shot in one Paris apartment.

And does anyone know who the actress is that played the cheated on wife? (I wanted to but cant say cuckolded), what a stunningly beautiful mature(ish) woman!

[Clair]

[quote user="Chancer"]Did anyone see Diner de cons on TF1 on Sunday night?

I laughed my socks off, the principal character (the con) is played by a sort of French Danny DeVito, I can highly recomend it for anyone learning the language as the dialogue is clear and it is very visual and I reckon that you would follow it and get the humour even if it is the first French film that you watch. It would make a very good stage play as most of the scenes are shot in one Paris apartment.

And does anyone know who the actress is that played the cheated on wife? (I wanted to but cant say cuckolded), what a stunningly beautiful mature(ish) woman!

[/quote]

It was a play originally: http://filmsdefrance.com/

There is a Hollywood re-make in the pipeline (cringe)...

I have not seen the film recently. Are you thinking of Alexandra Vandernoot?

[Clair]

The film Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (English title "I've loved you so long" ) has been mentioned before and I'd like to add my recommendation.

It is an exceptional film with a beautifully under-stated performance from Kristin Scott-Thomas (in French) and Elsa Zilberstein.

[Cendrillon]

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime That one is on my list of films to see.

Kristen Scott-Thomas was good in another recent film, Partir she played the part of and English woman married to French man.

Joueuse was another very good film I saw back in September though this one did not feature K. Scott-Thomas.

[Chancer]

Yes I guess she must be the one, her photo does not do her justice or she has improved with age.

From your link I have copied the Plot for those that might want to watch it if it comes around again, thankyou Clair.

Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte), a famous Parisian publisher, attends a weekly "idiots' dinner", where guests, who are prominent Parisian businessmen, must bring along an "idiot" of whom the other invitees can make fun. At the end of the dinner, the evening's champion idiot is selected.

Pierre Brochant manages, with the help of an "idiot scout", to find a "gem": François Pignon, a Finance Ministry employee who is crazy about building replicas with matchsticks. Things start to go haywire when Brochant's wife leaves him shortly before François Pignon arrives at his apartment. When Pignon arrives, he tries to help Brochant, but makes many bad mistakes. Eventually, he brings in his friend, a tax auditor, who makes an unpleasant discovery about his own wife. It is easy to pity both of the main characters, M. Pignon for being made fun of and used in such a cruel way, and M. Brochant, who has, in one night, lost his wife, suffered a wrenched back, reconciled with a former friend, been audited for tax evasion, called a raunchy sex addict named Pascal Meneaux and dumped his extra-marital girlfriend, all because of the badgering guest who won't leave.

M. Pignon eventually discovers the truth behind the dinner that Brochant wanted to take him to and tries to make up for all his wrongdoings by calling M. Brochant's wife, who got into a car accident after leaving the apartment, and makes no mistakes in this conversation, as well as making up almost perfect excuses on the spot and with no prompting. but after apparently remedying the problem, Pignon messes up yet again after he picks up the telephone when she calls to talk to Brochant despite having previously told her he was in a phone booth.

[Tony F Dordogne]

For those who may be interested, ACIP is showing 'La Regle du Jeu' as part of it's film appreciation series on Monday 14 December at it's room in Le Bugue (24), followed by a discussion on the film, neo-realism and Jean Renoir.

If you're intertested in modern or classic films and live within striking distance of Le Bugue, you can get details of membership etc from the web site at http://acip24.com

Hope it helps.

[NormanH]

A very strong prison/mafia film (not for those of a sensitive disposition)

which can be watched online is

Un prophète

[Clair]

Jacques Audiard, who directed Un prophète, also directed De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped), which won a BAFTA and Sur mes lèvres (Read my lips) with Vincent Cassel (of Mesrine fame), both of which are on my DVD wish list.

Happy New Year! [:D]

[Tom]

There's an article about Audiard and an interview with him in the links below.  Would like to see his earlier films.

He says he is  interested in style and likes his charcters to look great. The main character in The Beat That My Heart Skipped was based on  a Small Faces or  Kinks look.

Didn't know that Un prophète won best film at the London Film festival last year, or that Beat That My Heart Skipped  was a remake of 1978 American film called Fingers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/dec/06/jacques-audiard-interview-a-prophet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/07/jacques-audiard-david-thomson

[Clair]

[quote user="NormanH"]A very strong prison/mafia film (not for those of a sensitive disposition) which can be watched online is Un prophète[/quote]

Thanks for that Norman.

Loved that film. Gritty realism in all its awful truth. Loved the unexpected hope at the end.

(I had to look away a couple of times)

[NormanH]

Thanks Tom.

I hadn't seen the Guardian review.

[NormanH]

Following up Tom's post about Guardian articles:

There was an interesting article about Charlotte Gainsbourg in yesterday's Observer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jan/10/charlotte-gainsbourg-interview-beck

Although he doesn't mention one of my favorite films

'La petite voleuse' it does give a good resumé of some of her work.

It is also provides an interesting comparison to the interview with her at 17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Hg_cjQqr4

You can watch  l'Effrontée on google videos

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1686199382190849546#

and the César she got for this performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4FnAMf-Jnc&NR=1

The article speaks of a 'a soft, almost whispered French accent' in English, but one of the things that struck me from her performance in

'The Cement garden' is how convincing her English is (not surprising given her mother and grandmother!)

You can see parts of this on Daily Motion

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xar1u2_the-cement-garden-part-3_shortfilms

There are 10 parts, but don't watch if you are offended by bad language or controversial realationships.

[Tom]

[quote user="NormanH"]
The article speaks of a 'a soft, almost whispered French accent' in English, but one of the things that struck me from her performance in
'The Cement garden' is how convincing her English is (not surprising given her mother and grandmother!)

You can see parts of this on Daily Motion
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xar1u2_the-cement-garden-part-3_shortfilms

There are 10 parts, but don't watch if you are offended by bad language or controversial realationships.

[/quote]

Her half-sister Lou Doillon has a fantastic French accent in English as well.  They have been running an interview with her, I think as a trail for a programme on channel 4. Wow!