Nov 3/5   French Film Series:  Purple Noon   (Plein soleil)

Tu:  Nov 3     7:30 pm    Robinson Film Center -- 2nd floor screening room    
Th:  Nov 5     7:30 pm    Jackson Hall 304  --  Centenary College 

·       France, 1959.  Dir. René Clément.  Cast:  Alain Delon,  Marie Laforet, Maurice Ronet, Bill Kearns.  118 minutes.  in French and Italian w/English subtitles.   

·       René Clément's psychological thriller Purple Noon is a chilling examination of decadence and madness amidst beautiful people in beautiful places.  Sent to Italy to retrieve Philip, an American industrialist's wayward son, Tom Ripley (Delon), a charming young man whose social skills allow him to insinuate himself into most any situation, finds his target and gets seduced by Philip and his decadent lifestyle. Deciding to take Philip's father's money as far as it will go, Tom begins to make himself a part of Philip's circle of privileged friends in Europe. However, when Tom's money is cut off and Philip begins to tire of his company, Tom resorts to desperate measures to retain his new lifestyle. An acclaimed adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley; later adapted by British director Anthony Minghella in 1999 starring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow. 

·       "Purple Noon is an autopsy of a near-perfect crime, and a compelling look at the man who commits it....There's nothing so engrossing as watching a truly intelligent thriller, and that makes this film a rare treat."   James Berardinelli,  ReelViews.com

Dec 1/3    French Film Series:  The Girl from Monaco     (La fille de Monaco)      

Tu:   Dec 1    7:30 pm    Robinson Film Center -- 2nd floor screening room  
Th:   Dec 3    7:30 pm    Jackson Hall 304  --  Centenary College

·       France, 2008.  Dir. Anne Fontaine.  Cast:  Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zem, Louise Bourgoin, Stephane Audran.   105 minutes.  in French w/English subtitles.  

·       The Girl from Monaco begins as easygoing farce before shifting into a more ominous and serious mood. A famous Parisian attorney (Fabrice Luchini) has traveled to Monaco to defend a woman accused of murder -- a crime of passion quite outside the lawyer's own tightly contained emotional sphere. Reluctantly, the lawyer spends every waking minute shadowed by a bodyguard-for-hire (Roschdy Zem), whose ex-lover, a sunny, carnally aggressive TV weathercaster (Louise Bourgoin), latches onto the lawyer.  Almost instantly the legal eagle's life becomes a sexual blur and the resulting story treads a fine line between playing for laughs and playing for keeps.

·       "Bourgoin—a former Canal+ weather girl making her screen debut—proves a force of nature unto herself. Bursting onto the screen and nearly out of her gaudy, cleavage-hugging couture, slurring her lines in what can best be described as a French equivalent of Valspeak, she moves through the film in a blissfully ditzy haze, leaving every man onscreen—and many in the audience—helpless in her wake."  Scott Foundas, The Village Voice  

Tues Jan 26    French Film Series:  Paris

• 7:30 pm   Robinson Film Center

• 2008; France. Dir. Cédric Klapish. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Melanie Laurent, Fabrice Luchini, Francois Cluzet, and Karin Viard. 130 mins. (in French w/subtitles).

• Cédric Klapish, the beloved director of L'Auberge Espanole, gathers together some of the biggest actors in French cinema for a valentine to the city of lights. While waiting for a heart transplant that could save his life, Pierre (Duris) grows close again with his sister (Binoche) and her lively children. This rediscovery of his family and observation of the teeming streets outside his window give Pierre a new, hopeful sense of how he might spend the time still left to him. A cinematic love letter to the city that seems to hide a story behind every shop window, small alley, street market or grand apartment building, the film explores the life and love possible only in PARIS.

• "Paris pulses with a contemporary version of the energy that animated Balzac's novels, or Colette's accounts of the life she observed from the window of her apartment in the Palais Royal."   Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Th Feb 4:     African Films in French  --  A Film Series Celebrating African-American History:     Pièces d'Identités  

• 7:00 pm – Jackson Hall 304  --  Centenary College

• 1998; Democratic Republic of the Congo/Belgium/France.  Dir.  Director: Mweze Ngangura.  In French w/subtitles. 93 mins.

• A modern comic fairy tale set in the vibrant African emigré demi-monde of contemporary Europe, Pièces d'Identités was the winner of the most prestigious award in African cinema the Etalon de Yennenga at FESPACO '99. At first glance the film is the timeless story of an old king, his beautiful if wayward daughter, a dragon of sorts and the prince charming who rescues them; it even has a happy ending. At the same time, Ngangura's simple fable raises some of the most troubling issues of identity facing people of African descent in the ever-widening Diaspora of the late 20th century. 

Tues Feb 23:     French Film Series:   The Beaches of Agnes  (Les plages d'Agnès)

• 7:30 pm   Robinson Film Center

• 2008; France.  Dir. Agnes Varda.  110 mins.  in French w/subtitles. 

• Celebrated filmmaker Agnes Varda (CLEO FROM 5 TO 7) turns the camera on herself for this autobiographical documentary. While roaming the beach, the beatific 80-year-old revisits her past--including...One of France's most respected filmmakers, Agnes Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7; Vagabond;  The Gleaners and I) turns the camera on herself for this autobiographical documentary. While roaming the beach, the beatific 80-year-old revisits her past--including memories of fellow Left Bank directors Jacques Demy (later her husband), Alain Resnais, and Chris Marker. Incorporating clips from Varda's work, animation, and photographs, the film plays like a fond scrapbook of a life well lived.

• "A wonderful, warm, witty and insightful cinematic memoir from the godmother of the French new wave."  Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

Th  Feb 25:   African Films in French  --  A Film Series Celebrating African-American History:   Daratt  

• 7:00 pm – Jackson Hall 304  --  Centenary College

• 2005; Chad/France/Belgium.  Dir.  Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.  In French and Arabic w/subtitles. 96 mins.

•        Chad, 2006. The government has granted amnesty to all war criminals. Atim, 16 years old, is given a revolver by his grandfather so that he may kill the man who killed his father... Atim leaves his village for N’djamena, seeking a man he does not know. He quickly locates him: former war criminal Nassara is now married and settled down as the owner of a small bakery... With the firm intention of killing him, Atim gets closer to Nassara under the guise of looking for work, and is hired as an apprentice baker… Intrigued by Atim's attitude toward him, Nassara takes him under his wing and teaches him the secrets of making bread... Over the weeks, a strange relationship evolves between the two. Despite his disgust, Atim seems to recognise in Nassara the father figure he has always needed, while Nassara sees the teenager as a potential son. One day, he suggests adoption...

Tues Mar 23:      French Film Series:  The Girl on the Train  (La Fille du RER)

• 7:30 pm   Robinson Film Center

• 2010; France.  Dir. André Téchiné.   Cast:  Catherine Deneuve, Emilie Dequenne, Nicolas Duvauchelle.  104 mins.  in French w/subtitles.)

• Based on a play by Jean-Marie Besset, The Girl on the Train is inspired by one of the most media-blitzed and polarizing events in recent French history: a young woman’s lie about being the victim of an anti-semitic attack on a Paris suburban train.   Jobless, soul-searching and rollerblading Jeanne (Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Winner Emilie Dequenne) lives in a Paris suburb with her widowed mother Louise (Catherine Deneuve), who makes a living as a baby-sitter. Louise helps her daughter get a job with her old flame Samuel Bleistein (Michel Blanc, Monsieur Hire, Grosse Fatigue), now a famous lawyer and Jewish activist. When Jeanne’s budding relationship with aspiring wrestler Franck (Nicolas Devauchelle) is shattered by a violent turn of events, Jeanne and Bleistein’s opposite worlds get set on a collision course, as the film becomes a complex psychological drama raising issues of race, religion and identity.  

• "Téchiné's unsettling The Girl on the Train is his best film in years and already one of 2009's highlights, freely inspired by a sensational real-life media furor."  Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com

Sat Apr 10:         French Film Weekend @ The Robinson Film Center

• 1:30 pm      M. Hulot's Holiday  (Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot)

• 1953;  France.  Dir. Jacques Tati.  Cast: Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Micheline Rolla.   83 mins.  in French w/subtitles. 

• Pipe-smoking Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s wildly funny satire of vacationers determined to enjoy themselves includes a series of precisely choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers. The first entry in the Hulot series is a masterpiece of gentle slapstick.

• "A great introduction to the work of Tati, who made only a few movies but is rightly recognized as one of the great visionary directors."  Stan Hall, Oregonian  

• 3:30 pm    A Town Called Panic  (Panique au Village)

• 2009; Belgium/Luxenbourg/France.  Dirs. Stephane Aubier and Vincent Pata.  75 mins.  in French w/subtitles.

• Audience Award Winner at Fantastic Fest 2009 and the first stop-motion animated feature selected to Cannes, A Town Called Panic follows the wacky, hilarious and often surreal adventures of three... Audience Award Winner at Fantastic Fest 2009 and the first stop-motion animated feature selected to Cannes, A Town Called Panic follows the wacky, hilarious and often surreal adventures of three plastic toys named Cowboy, Indian and Horse who share a rambling house in a rural town which never fails to attract the weirdest events. Each speedy character is voiced—and animated—as if they are filled with laughing gas. With hysteria a permanent feature of life in this papier-mâché burg, will Horse and his equine paramour—flame-tressed music teacher Madame Longray (Jeanne Balibar)—ever find a quiet moment alone? A sort of Gallic Monty Python crossed with the Marx Brothers, A Town Called Panic is zany, brainy and altogether insane-y!   

• "There's really very little to say about this film beyond that it's absolutely brilliant."  Peter Brunette, Hollywood Reporter

Sun Apr 11:           French Film Weekend @ The Robinson Film Center     

• 1:15pm        Playtime

• 1967;  France.  Dir. Jacques Tati.  Cast:  Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Rita Maïden.  124 mins.  in French w/subtitles. 

• Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in the age of technology reached their creative apex with Playtime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the endearingly clumsy, resolutely old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a bafflingly modernist Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting testament to a modern age tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.   

• "A film comedy directed with the grace of a ballet, the painstaking detail of an action painting and the affection of a love song."  Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online

• 3:30pm      Molière

• 2007;  France.  Dir. Laurent Tirard.  Cast:  Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Ludivine Sagnier.  120 mins.  in French w/subtitles.

• Molière has been released from prison by wealthy bourgeois, Monsieur Jourdain, who settled the young actor's debts on the understanding that he will teach him the craft of the stage. Hungry for recognition, Jourdain is infatuated with the lovely but poisonous Climene, whose salon gathers together suitors and great wits. Trapped in this untenable situation, Molière will experience all manner of events that will open his eyes and his mind, both to life itself and to his work as an artist.

• "An extravagant and thoroughly irresistible story of intrigue, romance, comedy and artistic inspiration."  Ann Hornaday, Washington Post