Adolescentes
Five Years of Teen Trauma
Director Sébastien Lifshitz is a brave man. For five years he embedded himself and his camera in the lives of two adolescent girls in the French provincial town of Brive, recording the traumas and joys of that fraught stage of … Read More
Été 85
Summer Love
Director François Ozon’s Été 85, originally scheduled to be part of the official Cannes Film Festival lineup this year before the coronavirus crisis forced the festival’s cancellation, is the first major movie to be released in France post-lockdown. It also … Read More
Mythomaniac
Madame Giannini, C’est Moi!
In the 2019 French Netflix show Mythomaniac (Mytho in the original French), creator Fabrice Gobert, who brought us the neo-zombies of Les Revenants, focuses on the zombification of contemporary suburban lifestyles. Most horror takes place in suburbia, as if to … Read More
Science Fiction: Fantastic Planet
Brave New World?
One of the main functions – and values – of science fiction is its ability to critique today’s society. Although a story may deal with vastly different cultures and be set in the future, an alien world or an alternate-history … Read More
Ad Vitam
Happily Ever After?
In the 1980s, a chance discovery revealed that a species of small jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, which self-regenerates and never reaches maturity, is biologically immortal. This process is currently being studied by many groups of scientists around the world with a … Read More
The Returned (Les Revenants)
Revitalizing the Undead, French Style
The zombie – once the domain of cult-movie fans – has only recently become a mainstay of popular culture. In the past decade, much has changed thanks to TV shows that garner record ratings, offering everything from the apocalyptic scenario … Read More
Osmosis
Future Fairy Tale
Although they don’t get much credit for it, the French were pioneers in the literature of science fiction, and they are now excelling in the genre on cinema and television screens as well. In the past few years, several original … Read More
Call My Agent
The Cutthroat Chase for French Stars
We all have to admit, some of us a little reluctantly, that Netflix has changed our viewing habits immeasurably. Yet, for all the wonderful range of series and movies it offers, it can sometimes be difficult to discover good programs, … Read More
L’État Sauvage
Calamity Jeanne Rides Again
A feminist French Western? Well, why not? Just about every other imaginable kind of Western has already been made, so not much else is left. L’État Sauvage (Savage State), directed by David Perrault, takes place in 1861 during the American … Read More
Les Misérables
Hugo in the Projects
In the midst of the furor surrounding Roman Polanski’s award as best director for J’Accuse at last week’s Césars (the French Oscars), Les Misérables, the movie that won for best film, has undeservedly gone under the radar. Those hoping for another … Read More