French

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A therapist’s client, a young auditioning actress, a guru’s disciple, a secretary, a wife: five short rape stories before the start of the main story. Suzanne, a nurse, returns home at midnight after her work. She is attacked by a man who forces her into his truck, beats her, insults her, rapes her. The following medical examination and statements at the police station are felt as an extension of the rape. Library documents broaden the subject to all those women who, during the Vietnam War among others, serve as distractions to the warriors, to this barbaric practice still current in Africa, clitoridectomy, “the most absolute rape, that of the woman within the woman.”Read More »

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Ninon (Rosette) and Vincent (Emmanuel Salinger), two draughtsmen crunchy Parisian tourists, intersect and intertwine in the CapitalRead More »

A 2008 French language short film directed by Annie Balkarash. The film screened at Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films in 2022.Read More »

Agnès Varda has become a source of inspiration for a whole new generation of young filmmakers. For the first time ever, this documentary provides a counter-shot through interviews and previously unseen archives materials.Read More »

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Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy doesn’t defy you to understand it, and yet it feels almost inappropriate, tasteless even, to do so—as if you were eavesdropping on a private conversation. This resplendently heady yet nimble essay film is effervescently structured around a man and woman’s thoughts about art, life, landscape, and love. The man, James Miller (William Shimell), is an author, in Tuscany to tout his new book, Certified Copy; his female companion and guide, “She” (Juliette Bionche), a fan, maybe even his wife, sells art both real and forged from an underground storefront that suggests a portal into Italy’s ancient past. Their flair for self-reflection matches the film’s own: From coyness to resentment, the voluptuously see-sawing tenor of their conversations becomes a commentary on the entwined relationship between art and life—how a painting or movie, like a kiss or a touch, can either woo us or repulse us depending on the perspective.Read More »

Jeanne Bécu, was born as the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished seamstress in 1743 and being a young working-class woman, she was hungry for culture and pleasure, accordingly used her intelligence and allure to rise step by step to the highest levels of society. She became the favourite of King Louis XV who regained through her his appetite for life and fell madly in love. They went to the extreme on the verge of their love to each other and, against all propriety, etiquette and convention, Jeanne moves to Versailles where her relationship with the king scandalizes the Court. Afterwards, she, by the verdict of the Court, became his last official mistress.Read More »

A woman pushes a man. They argue. Later, in the station corridors, the two strangers awkwardly make love in a photo booth. Finally, on the surface, they say goodbye.Read More »

Helene Regnier’s husband Charles, who is mentally ill, injures their son Michel in a rage. Charles moves back in with his wealthy and manipulative parents, who blame Helene for their son’s condition and vow to win custody of Michel. While the boy is in hospital, Helene rents a room in a boarding house nearby. The Regniers hire Paul Thomas, a family acquaintance who needs money, to find dirt on Helene before the court hearing on custody. Paul moves into the boarding house and, with the help of his girlfriend Sonia, who rarely wears clothes, plots to ruin Helene’s reputation and then her very life.Read More »

Synopsis
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Someone we hear but don’t see talks of a project entitled Eloge de l’amour, which deals with the four key moments of love: the meeting, the physical passion, the quarrels and separation, the reconciliation. These moments are seen through three couples: young, adult and elderly. Is the project to be a play, a film, or even an opera? A sort of servant or assistant always accompanies the author of the project.

Adults pose a real problem. Unlike old people or young people, an adult is hard to define without telling a story. The author of the project finally meets an extraordinary young woman. In fact, they had already met three years earlier when Edgar had by chance been present during a discussion between some Americans and the young woman’s grandparents. When he comes to tell the young woman that his project is on, Edgar learns that she has died.Read More »