Amants
Where’s the Heat?
Act 1 of Nicole Garcia’s new film, Amants: It opens, fittingly for a movie called Lovers, with a couple in bed, her naked body pasted on top of his. She is Lisa (Stacy Martin), he is Simon (Pierre Niney). A small-time … Read More
Les Olympiades
Another Side of Paris
Les Olympiades is a place few visitors to Paris have ever seen or would probably ever want to see. A “city within a city” in the 13th arrondissement, the 1970s development consists of bland highrise apartment buildings, shops and offices, … Read More
Lost Illusions
The Corruptions of Paris
Adapting the sprawling novels of Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) for the screen is never a simple process, and from all accounts director Xavier Giannoli has been working on the screenplay for Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) for a number of years. … Read More
Le Daim
French Davy Crockett Goes Berserk
When a French movie is described as a “comedy” and has a July release date in Paris, it almost invariably means that (1) it’s a generic film about a chaotic summer holiday with families/groups of mature male friends/bands of teens … Read More
Into the Night
Timely Apocalyptic Drama
Flying has never been the same since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. That, together with decreasing seat sizes and the multiplication of extra fees, has taken the romance out of traveling. Like all thrillers, the TV series Into the Night … Read More
Lupin
Gentleman Thief and Avenger
France was long ridiculed for the poor quality of its TV series, but that has changed enormously in recent years, with more sophisticated and compelling works gaining worldwide respect, among them the dramas The Bureau and Spiral, and the brilliant … Read More
Call My Agent, Season 4
Too Parisian? Impossible!
After a seemingly endless wait, it feels an almost indecent joy to watch the fourth – and final – season of the French series Call My Agent (Dix Pour Cent) on Netflix. Not only do our favorite characters from the … Read More
Emily in Paris
Lost in Translation
It’s a classic yet ever-popular tale: a young American realizes her dream of moving to Paris. It’s also a natural for a Netflix series, especially when created by the man who brought us “Sex and the City,” the producer Darren … Read More
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