The French comedy/drama Normandy Nude tells of a town of struggling farmers who prepare to pose nude for a photo shoot. If this brief synopsis makes it seem like a Gallic variation on both The Full Monty and Calendar Girls, you wouldn’t be far off the mark. The film is set in a small farming community….
Custody is built on fear – the fear inspired by a man prepared to do anything to get back a woman who wants nothing to do with him in a bid to escape his violent behaviour. Miriam (Léa Drucker) and Antoine (Denis Ménochet) Besson have divorced. Antoine is seen as a permanent threat to those…
Although it’s almost as long as a reception, C’est la Vie will put a smile on your face. This lighthearted French comedy looks at weddings from a harried wedding planners’ perspective. Max (Jean-Pierre Bacri) has been a planner for 30 years. Having organised hundreds of events, he’s close to throwing in the towel. Today however,…
Jean (Pio Marmaï) left his family, and his birthplace in Burgundy, 10 years ago. His father and his grandfather before him produced high quality wine. The eldest of three siblings, Jean was constantly fighting with his dad and couldn’t take it anymore, so he set off to tour the world. Now, years later, he’s back…
This heart-warming film is the third – and final – film in the popular series about the adventures of a boy and his dog in the beautiful Pyrenees. Belle & Sebastian was based on the popular book by actress Cecile Aubry. The first film in this series was released in 2013. It introduced us to…
Omar Sy (The Intouchables) charms as the world’s greatest, most understanding dad in Two is a Family. He’s aided by the equally effervescent Gloria Coulson, who makes her feature film debut. Samuel (Sy) enjoys a hedonistic lifestyle on the sun-drenched beaches of the French Riviera, where he uses his boss’ boat for his own pleasure….
The sad later life of French painter Paul Gauguin is brought into sharp focus in this slow-moving biopic. The year is 1891. Gauguin (Vincent Cassel) is already well known in Parisian artistic circles. But he’s tired of the so-called civilised world and its conventions. Leaving his wife Mette and five children behind, he ventures alone…
Aurore is an unobtrusive little charmer of a French comedy. Aurore (Agnes Jaoui) is a middle-aged woman with two adult children. She muddles through life as best she can. She’s a fighter, not a victim, although she experiences discrimination. Then she unexpectedly bumps into an old high school flame, Totoche (Thibault De Montalembert). She hasn’t…
Happy End is another typically downbeat drama from misanthropic Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon). Set in the coastal French town of Calais, the film follows the affluent but dysfunctional Laurent family. Haneke works in heavy themes of death, power, the refugee crisis, social media and class. And despite the title, there is no…
Diminutive 88-year old filmmaker Agnes Varda (The Gleaners and I) returns to the screen with the whimsical road-trip documentary Faces Places; her first feature film in nine years. Here she teams up with 33-year old French visual artist and film director who goes by simply JR. He’s known for his large scale photographic murals, and…
