Paris Police Blues Nathalie Baye plays a “super-flic.” Cop stories – we’ve seen a million of them on TV and in the movies. What new take on the theme could possibly be left? Director Xavier Beauvois’s Le Petit Lieutenant manages … Read More
Conscience-Impaired Youth Jérémie Renier plays the feckless Bruno. It’s difficult to understand why L’Enfant (The Child), written and directed by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, won them a second Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year – it’s … Read More
Bruno (Moritz Bleibtreu) rants at his dying mother while his half-brother Michel (Christian Ulmen) looks on. Les Particules Elémentaires, the controversial novel by French provocateur extraordinaire Michel Houellebecq, has been transformed into a German film, Elementareilchen, directed by Oskar Roehler. … Read More
L’Amour, Toujours L’Amour Steve Buscemi as a hapless tourist in the Coen brothers’ contribution to the collaborative film. Photo © Patrick Klein/Victoires International 2006 A love letter to Paris in the form of 18 five-minute short subjects strung together into … Read More
Perfect Friend, Imperfect Film The confused Julien gets some comfort from the person claiming to be his girlfriend. Director Francis Girod’s new film, Un Ami Parfait, is about a man trying to solve the mystery of his own life, or … Read More
Sentimental Song Depardieu is thoroughly convincing as a mildly successful dance hall singer. Gérard Depardieu, that workhorse of French cinema (and bull of a man), puts in yet another fine performance in Quand J’étais Chanteur, the story of Alain Moreau, … Read More
Nice Slice of Life Sabine (Florence Loiret), on the outside looking in. Photo: © Patrick Glaize. J’Attends Quelqu’un, a sweet little film written and directed by Jérôme Bonnell, proves that the classic prescription for good writing – show, don’t tell … Read More
Nice Slice of Life Angel (Romola Garai), accompanied by her publisher (Sam Neill) gazes longingly at Paradise House. It takes moxie to make an old-fashioned moralistic film about the consequences of hubris, but Francois Ozon has managed to pull it … Read More
Big Baby Alfred (Artus de Penguern), on the left, meets his adopted “child,” Jules K. (Darry Cowl). L’Homme qui Rêvait d’un Enfant is a weird fairytale with plenty of charm, fine performances, visual appeal and a great score, but it … Read More
Chain of Lovers The afterglow doesn’t last long. Here’s a film that does what the French do best onscreen: talk – about love and sex and relationships. And it does it simply and cleverly, with great charm. The film, inspired … Read More
