French

  • Jean-Marie Straub – Un héritier (2011)

    Jean-Marie Straub2011-2020ArthouseFrance
    Un héritier (2011)
    Un héritier (2011)

    It is about a text pulled from the book In service to Germany, written by Barrès in 1903 on the mount Saint-Odile. With as main actor Joseph Rottner, the director will follow the tracks of the young country doctor in walk in the mount Saint-Odile, through the roads which knew Barrès, up to the forest house of Ratsamhausen and around the famous heathen, unique wall in the region. Jean-Marie Straub will play himself the role of the inhabitant of Lorraine to which the young Alsatian speaks.Read More »

  • Guy Gilles – Au pan coupé aka Wall Engravings (1968)

    1961-1970DramaFranceGuy Gilles
    Au pan coupé (1968)
    Au pan coupé (1968)

    mk2 (a bit revised) wrote:
    Jeanne and Jean, a sensitive young man, have one last rendez-vous at the “Pan Coupé”, the little café where they always meet. A few weeks later Jean flees, disappears… Jeanne confides in her friend Pierre and his father. They all begin an investigation of their own into the young man’s disappearance. Disillusionment, poetry and dark romanticism combine to create a compelling film in urgent need of rediscovery.Read More »

  • Damien Manivel – Un dimanche matin (2012)

    2011-2020Damien ManivelFranceShort Film
    Un dimanche matin (2012)
    Un dimanche matin (2012)

    A man takes his dog for an early morning walk around the streets and alleyways of a Parisian suburb. On returning home, he decides instead to continue to a secluded hill to sit with his dog and think.Read More »

  • Ursula Meier – La ligne AKA The Line (2022)

    Ursula Meier2021-2030BelgiumDrama
    La ligne (2022)
    La ligne (2022)

    Margaret is charged with a three-month restraining order for having hit her mother. But the 100 meters that now separate her from her home only exacerbate Margaret’s desire to come closer to her family.Read More »

  • Gustave de Kervern & Benoît Delépine – Mammuth (2010)

    Benoît Delépine2001-2010ArthouseDramaFranceGustave de Kervern
    Mammuth (2010)
    Mammuth (2010)

    Serge Pilardosse has just turned 60 and is about to retire from his job in a slaughterhouse. He has always worked from the age of sixteen, never been on sick leave. So, how will this man fill his days? He does not like reading; doing odd jobs about the house is not his cup of tea; shopping is not his passion … To make matters worse, his wife Catherine, who still works in a supermarket, notices that her husband will not get full retirement benefits since some of his former employers failed to do the requisite paperwork. So off goes Serge, riding his old Munch “Mammut” bike, in search of the missing documents … (IMDb)Read More »

  • Luc de Heusch – Dotremont-les-logogrammes AKA Dotremont – the Logograms (1972)

    Luc de Heusch1971-1980BelgiumDocumentaryShort Film
    Dotremont les logogrammes (1972)
    Dotremont les logogrammes (1972)

    From DVD booklet:
    Right from the opening credits we come into contact with logograms, starting with the place where this desire to write was fantastically formed, inspired by the love Dotremont has for Gloria, the woman of his life for whom he invented this new poetic form. Throughout the film the camera records the position of the body, the hands, the progress of the ink, the birth of his visual poems, right up to the burning that awaits those that are not perfect. With the fictional reconstruction of a morning’s work, ‘Pension pluie de roses, Tervueren, Belgique’, the film also gives an account of a morning like any other, one that summarises all of them: the confinement of an ill man, connected to the world by a huge amount of correspondence, infinite telephone calls, an accumulation of papers, books, souvenirs from travels, with Lapland, a mythical place, ever present. A Lapp song, Dotremont’s gravelly voice, that of a correspondent, Gloria maybe, emphasize what the image shows, the creative effort during ‘Proust-like’ declining years that are confined and feverish.Read More »

  • Julien Duvivier – Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (1932)

    Julien Duvivier1931-1940ComedyFrance
    Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (1932)
    Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (1932)

    Synopsis
    Lily and Erich, telephone operators in Paris and Berlin, respectively, fall in love over the telephone wires and resolve to meet in Paris. Their simple plan is confounded by Erich’s unexpected travel delay and the subterfuge of their friends Annette and Max. Two cases of mistaken romantic identity result and play out against the streets, bistros and beds of Paris. True love triumphs in the end.Read More »

  • Anne Fontaine – La fille de Monaco AKA The Girl from Monaco (2008)

    Anne Fontaine2001-2010ComedyDramaFrance
    La fille de Monaco (2008)
    La fille de Monaco (2008)

    Synopsis:
    Bertrand Beauvois, a well-known attorney, is in Monte Carlo to defend a businessman’s mother who murdered a gigolo with ties to gangsters. The businessman provides a bodyguard, Christophe, who is thorough and unsmiling. The middle-aged Beauvois is drawn to Audrey, in her 20s, free spirited, a local TV weather girl who once dated Christophe. Although Christophe warns Beauvois to stay away from Audrey, he’s hooked and spends every moment with her he’s not in court. What’s her angle: is she a plant who’ll ruin the case; is Beauvois her toy; is she digging for gold; or, is she genuine? Beauvois loves the wild sex but not her promiscuity. Has Christophe failed to protect him?Read More »

  • André Téchiné – Les voleurs AKA Thieves (1996)

    André Téchiné1991-2000CrimeFranceQueer Cinema(s)Romance
    Les voleurs (1996)
    Les voleurs (1996)

    Quote:
    Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, and director André Téchiné collaborate for the second time (following their outstanding My Favorite Season) in a powerful story about a Paris cop (Auteuil) who comes from a criminal family. When his father and brother are murdered, suspicion shifts to his lover (actress Laurence Côté), who then disappears. Auteuil’s character reluctantly teams up with her lesbian girlfriend (Catherine Deneuve) both to find her and clear her name. The gripping story is told in a nonlinear series of overlapping chapters taking place before, during, and after the killing. Time bends and shifts, forcing the action to ripple through an ever-widening pool of neuroses and tragedy. The best part of the film, however, is the always- mesmerizing cold-fusion chemistry between Deneuve and Auteuil, two great actors who never wear their hearts on their sleeves.Read More »

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