Continue reading “French domestic abuse thriller terrifying US audiences”
In “The Elephant and the Butterfly,” Antoine (Thomas Blanchard), mild and bearded, with a look of telegraphed regret, shows up at the home of his former partner, Camille (Judith Chemla), to ask how she’s doing. She laughs in his face, just about choking on her sarcastic chuckles. These two haven’t seen each other in five years, and she, for one, is fluent in the harsher dialect of post-divorce (that is, barely disguised loathing). Since they have a young daughter, Elsa (Lina Doillon), who lives with her mother, we’re curious to see how the hostility will play out. Continue reading “Fim Review: ‘The Elephant and the Butterfly’”
[ VARIETY FEBRUARY 19, 2018 ]
One year before her tragic death at the age of 43, Romy Schneider posed for photographs and gave an extensive interview to a German journalist while staying at a Breton spa hotel in Quiberon. Her magnetic personality and evanescent moods were memorably captured in the monochromatic images, and the interview turned into an unvarnished, emotional self-appraisal at a time when she was roiled in insecurities. That’s the setting of Emily Atef’s respectful, by-the-numbers semi-recreation “3 Days in Quiberon,” a fictionalized treatment inspired by those sessions. Marie Bäumer’s uncanny resemblance and fine central performance anchor what is ultimately a predictable treatment of a tortured actress, nicely lensed in black and white, that will find resonance in countries where Schneider remains a much-beloved star.
Schneider’s tremendous European popularity never made it across the ocean, largely because the “Sissi” films that made her a major celebrity at the age of 17 never achieved the cult status in the States that they did in Austria, Germany, and beyond. The film series was a highly romanticized concoction about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, and for many, Romy became the embodiment of that fiction. The teenage purity and sweetness worked against her as a woman, and her frustration at not being able to break free from the Sissi image led to her moving to France, where she chose ever more challenging roles designed to counter the studio’s anodyne construction. She also engaged in a series of well-publicized affairs, marriages, and divorces, making her major fodder for the tabloids. Continue reading “Film Review: 3 Days In Quiberon”
As rich and full-bodied as a fine French wine, Cédric Klapisch’s Burgundy-set family drama draws character from the soil on which it’s set.
[VARIETY] When I was 13 years old, my great-aunt arranged for me to visit a vineyard in France’s Loire valley, where I was allowed to spend an afternoon planting grape vines with the family who had worked those fields for centuries. Together, we visited the facilities where the harvest was crushed and fermented, and tasted the wine these artisans had produced from previous years. An experience like that forever changes one’s perspective on wine, from something that comes from a bottle to a living, breathing thing, originating from the earth, planted and harvested by hand, shaped by the attitudes and sensibility of those who cultivate it.
Cédric Klapisch’s “Back to Burgundy” is the closest any film has come to expressing that special symbiotic relationship between real people, the soil they tend, and the ineffably personal concoction that results from that connection.
Though not a documentary, this gorgeous French family saga benefits enormously from Klapisch’s natural curiosity, informed by research (he participated in a harvest in order to observe its nuances) and elevated by his insistence that they film over the course of a full year, so as to capture the impact of the seasons on both viticulture and its human stewards. Continue reading “Film Review: ‘Back to Burgundy’”
For this episode of Radio Vinyl, Rodolphe Burger will looks over the shelves of vinyl records electro, jazz, blues, rock or pop. Ornette Coleman, Kraftwerk, James Ulmer Blood and Iggy Pop are among his platinum choices. As a bonus, Rodolphe Burger offers us a cover of the song “Hard Times”, bluesman Skip James. | More Radio Vinyl,
The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled its official poster for this year’s 71st edition, featuring an image from Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film “Pierrot le Fou.”
The poster, designed by 27-year-old graphic designer Flore Maquin, is inspired by the work of French stills photographer Georges Pierre and features “Pierrot le Fou” stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina.
The new poster shows Belmondo and Karina leaning out of their cars to share a kiss. The two play lovers on the run who settle for a time on the French Riviera, which is also where the Cannes Film Festival takes place.
Pas De Merde 