Nick Hammond
La Sapienza
A Meditative Film Starring The Beauties of Italy
La Sapienza, Eugène Green’s fifth feature-length film, is a significant and often profound meditation on the passage of time, art and architecture, wisdom and knowledge (as the movie’s title implies) and the nature of love. Works by Green that have … Read More
Le Dernier Coup de Marteau
Hammer Blows of Fate Strike Broken Nuclear Family
Following Alix Delaporte’s success with her first film, Angèle et Tony (2011), which won acting prizes at the Césars for Clotilde Hesme and Grégory Gadebois, the director has teamed up with the same actors for Le Dernier Coup de Marteau (The … Read More
The No-Smoking Law in France: When the Fire Went Out(side) (2)
Ah, For a Breath of Fresh Outdoor Air! This is an actual photo from the Tour de France in the 1920s. It’s surprising how few riders smoke during the race today — wouldn’t top-level bicycle racers want the benefits of … Read More
L’Affaire SK1
Stalking a Serial Killer
Most crime dramas thrive on ever-increasing tension, long car chases and bloody shoot-outs, so the fact that Frédéric Tellier’s new movie has very few of these elements makes it refreshingly distinctive. Focusing on the police investigations into the murders committed … Read More
Pas Pleurer
Intimate Tales Illuminate Historical Conflict
The novel Pas Pleurer (Don’t Cry) by Lydie Salvayre was the narrow winner of France’s premier literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, at the end of 2014, beating the favorite, Kamel Daoud Meursault’s Contre-Enquête, by five votes to four in the fifth … Read More
Une Nouvelle Amie
Ozon Puts Himself in Almodóvar’s Shoes
If anybody ever suspected that the extraordinarily prolific François Ozon wished to be viewed as the French Almodóvar, his latest film, Une Nouvelle Amie (The New Girlfriend), amply confirms those suspicions. Not only (like the Spanish director’s Live Flesh) is … Read More
Comédie Française
State Theater Stuck in the Past
There is no shortage of venerable institutions in France, but they don’t come much more venerable than the Comédie Française. Founded in 1680 under royal order by Louis XIV, the theater was created as a symbol of national prestige and … Read More
Dialogues des Carmélites
Searingly Simple Version of Unconventional Opera
Anyone who wants to hear great French opera this summer might consider going to London rather than Paris to catch Robert Carsen’s wonderful production (first staged in Amsterdam) of Francis Poulenc’s extraordinary opera, Dialogues des Carmélites, currently playing at the … Read More
Platée
For the Love of a God,Nymph Risks Parody Marcel Beekman as a forlorn Platée. Photo: Monika Rittershaus Tucked away behind the Grand Boulevards, the Opéra Comique is one of those Parisian gems that are all too easy to miss. Although … Read More
I Puritani
Bel Canto Version ofEnglish Civil War Maria Agresta as Elvira in “I Puritani.” Photo: Opéra National de Paris/Andrea Messana Vincenzo Bellini’s 11th and final opera, I Puritani, has strong Parisian roots, having been premiered at the city’s Théâtre-Italien in January … Read More