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| Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche under Claire Denis’s direction in Both Sides of the Blade (aka Fire) Photo: Courtesy of Curiosa Films. An IFC Films release. |
Both Sides Of The Blade, streaming on Curzon@Home
If you can't make it to a cinema then this is just one of several films you can catch at home courtesy of Curzon in a selection that also includes Casablanca Beats and Paris, 13th District. By using the code FFF30 at Curzon from now until December 15 viewers can get 15 per cent off the price. Clair Denis crafts an intelligent love triangle in this film starring Juliet Binoche and Vincent Lindon. They played married couple Sara and Jean who find tensions in their relationship begin to bloom after Sara encounters the man (Grégoire Colin) she was with when she originally met Jean. There's a fine balance struck in the relationships here as Denis and co-writer Christine Angot avoid easy sentiment regarding adultery to push things into more intellectual territory. Binoche plays Sara with sincerity and commitment as she tries both relationships on for size and Denis also doesn't miss an opportunity for eroticism while remaining resolutely non-judgemental about the choices being made. Speaking about the film - and Between Two Worlds, which is also available to screen on Curzon - Binoche said: "It transformed us, shook us, we didn’t remain the same."
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| Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be? Photo: Bidibul Productions |
This animation is a family-friendly charmer that brings the life stories of René Goscinny (voiced by Alain Chabat) and Jean-Jacques Sempé (Laurent Lafitte) to life using one of their most famous creations. The mischievous and inquisitive Little Nicholas (Simon Faliu) steps off the page to interrogate the men who brought him to life. Amandine Fredon, Benjamin Massoubre slip us effortlessly into the early influences and well-travelled life of Goscinny along with something about Sempé's often difficult childhood, as some of the stories about Nicholas - including a trip to summer camp - also unfold. Massoubre told us: “It’s not about a narrative and emotional arc of one character, it’s a movie about resilience. It’s a movie about two people who were robbed of their childhood – one because he lost most of his family during the Holocaust and the other because he was abused by an alcoholic stepfather – and who created this perfect childhood for Nicholas, maybe because they were robbed of theirs.”
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| Jane By Charlotte Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival |
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Taking a good, hard look at your mother is a dangerous endeavor for anyone. Charlotte Gainsbourg expresses it this way: “The idea is to look at you how I never dared look at you before.” The Jane Birkin who emerges is different from the one known from stage and screen, different from the one profiled by Agnès Varda in Jane B. Par Agnès V. The difference lies in the intimacy and daring in Gainsbourg’s questioning and in her desire to capture the fleeting and preserve what cannot be preserved. During a concert tour in Japan, with fans asking for autographs and a tea ceremony being completed, a startling confession sets the tone for the entire film. “We both have a shyness when we’re together,” mother and daughter agree. Other than her sisters Kate and Lou, we learn that Charlotte was “intimidating,” even as a young child. “Much more mysterious to me,” says Birkin, as “you were so private.” The discrepancy is breathtaking; shyness and exposure are invited to dance. Life and death, illness and Jane’s insomnia since early childhood are on the table, as are family films and photos. And stories, always stories. “We make up stories and start to think they are the truth and start to fear real stories.”
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| Full Time Photo: Courtesy of Venice Film Festival |
Eric Gravel doesn't let the pace slacken for a minute as he whisks us into the life of single mum Julie (Laure Calamy), who is pretty much running from dawn to dusk. While this might be manageable generally, Julie is about to face a series of minor crises that mount into a major headache. She's living in the countryside with two young children but heads into Paris daily for her job as head chambermaid at a high-end hotel, while hoping an interview for a job more suited to her skills will come off. Everything is complicated by logistical problems caused by a transport strike and strained further by cash flow problems because her ex has missed his alimony payments. Calamy brings a controlled intensity to the performance that suggests a lack of time for any sort of emotional outburst, while Gravel ratchetts the tension by degrees and serves up a perfect ending. Gravel told us: "I knew exactly from the script, the kind of stress I wanted at the right moment so I knew I had to follow my plan."
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| Patrice Leconte will present Maigret Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival |
Jennie Kermode:The antithesis of the detective film as we generally see it today, Patrice Leconte's take on one of Georges Simenon's classic stories begins with the death of a beautiful young woman but goes in a direction which is at once startlingly different and a reference point for present day concerns. It's a film weighed down by melancholy, yet narratively light on its feet, recalling the form of the great detective himself as embodied by Gérard Depardieu in what may very well be the finest performance of his career. Quiet, contemplative, keenly concerned with the value of life and the protection of the vulnerable, he drifts through a rain-soaked Paris pursuing not criminals but truth. The sets are stripped down, minimal, but every detail tells a story. The technical work is superb. The result is poetry where we are used to shouting, empathy in place of ego, and a film which will linger for a long time in your mind.
France, screenings across the country
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| France |
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| The Consequences Of Feminism |
Jennie Kermode writes: A pioneer of cinema who was the first to explore its potential for telling fictional stories and who shaped much of the visual language still in use today, Alice Guy-Blaché produced and directed dozens of short films during her lifetime. Although many have sadly not survived, the collection assembled for this year's French Film Festival provides a great overview of her favourite themes and interests, from sly observational comedy to raucous action, often with a hint of fantasy. The brilliance of her staging means that they have lost none of their audience appeal. Viewers will get a glimpse of another world, before the century in which cinema was the preserve of men, when its possibilities were opening up for the first time. Many viewers would then have been illiterate, so this was a still more important means of sharing stories. It's also a chance to see aspects of daily life at the time which have not been well preserved elsewhere, and to gain insights into prevailing social attitudes. Among the films screening is The Consequences Of Feminism.
