RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA 2011
MARCH 3-13
This year, the RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA, more than any I can recall for years, is filled with "love;" just what we expect, I guess, from French Cinema. It comes in strange ways in Breillat's version of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale (ultimately reconciled to a modern world) , and in even more over-heated ways Deep in the Woods. Claude Lelouch, in a brilliant epic spanning generations tells many, many love stories all integrated into a history of our times, and our wars, and our music, and our movies.
And there are many more variations on stories of love, this year. Four of the films even have "Love" in the title!
In addition to love, the French excel at stories set in the woods, in rural areas, in castles, and of course at tables, picnics (and other places) set with food.
Many of the French actors and filmmakers, both young newbies and established superstars, will attend their screenings, and there are several special events with extended conversations. Catherine Deneuve, Bertrand Tavernier, Catherine Breillat and Claude Lelouche are among the expected visitors.
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
POTICHE, François Ozon, 103m
Set in 1977 in a provincial French town, POTICHE is an adaptation of the 1970s eponymous hit play. Catherine Deneuve delivers a glorious, career-crowning performance as a submissive, housebound ‘trophy housewife’ (or "potiche") who steps in to manage her wealthy and tyrannical husband’s umbrella factory after the workers go on strike and take him hostage. Gérard Depardieu plays a former union leader and Suzanne's ex-beau who still holds a flame for her. POTICHE is a Music Box Films release.
OPENING NIGHT -- Thurs, March 3, 7pm - Paris Theatre;
Fri. March 4,7pm - BAM;
Sat. March 5, 7pm - IFC;
*Catherine Deneuve will be in attendance for all screenings
FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS
THE BIG PICTURE (L’HOMME QUI VOULAIT VIVRE SA VIE),
A frustrated lawyer and family man (played by one of France’s hottest young stars, Romain Duris) makes the most out of one moment of violence, which forces him to assume a new identity. Adapted from Douglas Kennedy’s acclaimed novel, the film also stars Niels Arestrup and Catherine Deneuve.
Fri. March 4, 1pm - WRT;
Sat. March 5, 3:45pm - IFC;
Sun. March 6, 6:15pm - WRT;
*Eric Lartigau in attendance for all screenings.
DEEP IN THE WOODS (AU FOND DES BOIS), Benoît Jacquot, 102m
Jacquot’s jaw-dropping, feverish tale concerns a young villager (Isild Le Besco) who literally falls under the spell of a fierce, Svengali-like vagabond (Nahuel Perez Biscayart).
Fri. March 4, 7pm - IFC;
Sat. March 5, 6:15pm - WRT;
Mon. March 7, 3:45pm - WRT;
*Benoît Jacquot in attendance for all screenings
FREE HANDS (LES MAINS LIBRES), Brigitte Sy, 100m
Barbara is a filmmaker who is in the process of making a film about prison life. Twice a week, she visits a prison in the suburbs of Paris to interview inmates who will both write and act in the film. It is through these meetings that Barbara meets Michel, one of the prisoners who will help her prepare the film. Their love for one another will lead them to break the law...
Wed. March 9, 3:45pm - WRT;
Wed. March 9, 8:45pm - WRT;
Thurs. March 10, 9:30pm - IFC Center;
FROM ONE FILM TO ANOTHER (D’UN FILM À L’AUTRE), Claude Lelouch, 104m
On the occasion of his 50th year in cinema, Oscar-winning A MAN AND A WOMAN director Claude Lelouch turns his famously swooping, pirouetting camera on himself for this uncommonly revealing self-portrait.
Followed by:
A Conversation with Claude Lelouch
Where FROM ONE FILM TO ANOTHER leaves off, Lelouch will continue in person in this career-spanning dialogue with the Film Society’s Scott Foundas, featuring clips and a Q&A.
Sat. March 5, 3:30pm - WRT; Followed by a conversation with Claude Lelouch
Sun. March 6, 11:00am - IFC;
HANDS UP (LES MAINS EN L'AIR), Romain Goupil, 90m
A tender, engaging and bracingly militant drama from director Romain Goupil: a story of youth, solidarity and contemporary France, with Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and a terrific cast of children. A Chechen woman named Milana, recalls the story of her near-deportation from France at the age of ten and the plan her young classmates hatched to save her.
Tues. March 8, 6pm - IFC;
Fri. March 11, 2pm - WRT;
Sun. March 13, 6:45pm - WRT;
HAPPY FEW, Antony Cordier, 103m
Two Parisian couples agree to swap partners in Cordier’s psychologically sharp and slyly sexy take on changing the rules. The film stars Élodie Bouchez (THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS) and Marina Foïs.
Sun. March 6, 6:50pm - BAM;
Tues. March 8, 9:40pm - IFC;
Fri. March 11, 6:15pm - WRT;
Sun. March 13, 2pm - WRT;
L.627 (1992), Bernard Tavernier, 145m
This gritty police drama shows us the underbelly of the Parisian drug trade. Lulu (Didier Bezace) is a tough, streetwise narcotics cop who, like a Frank Serpico or a Dirty Harry Callahan, doesn't play by the rules. Lulu thrives in this violent world, where sheer guts can overcome his squad's deficiencies of money and equipment. Despite the ruthless environment in which he lives and works every day, he still manages somehow to maintain his humanity.
Fri. March, 4 7pm - FIAF;
*Followed by a discussion with director Bertrand Tavernier and film critic Kent Jones.
LA CAMPAGNE DE CICERON (1990), Jacques Davila, 111m
Fresh from last year’s Cannes Classics, a restored print of Avila’s quirky, Rohmerian story about a playwright staying with his friend in the provinces.
Tues. March 8, 6pm - WRT;
LA CRISE (THE CRISES), Coline Serreau (1992) 145m
High-powered businessman Victor (Vincent Lindon) loses both his wife and his job on the same day. It’s the worst day of his life, but who can he turn to? Every one of his friends is too wrapped up in his or her own personal crisis to lend him a moment’s sympathy. The only person who can empathize with Victor is Michou, a friendless but amiable down-and-out…
Sat, March 5, 7:30 PM - FIAF
*Coline Serreau will be in attendance.
LEILA (TOI, MOI, LES AUTRES), Audrey Estrougo, 87m
With clever, color-saturated numbers, this catchy musical love story about a pampered slacker and an ambitious Arab law student is a West Side Story for the 21st century set to the songs of the 60s and 70s in France and against the backdrop of the “sans papiers” protests that end with the occupation of Saint Bernard Church in Paris.
Tues. March 8, 7:50pm - IFC;
Wed. March 9, 1:30pm - WRT;
Thurs. March 10, 6:15pm - WRT;
LIVING ON LOVE ALONE
Shooting Star at the Hamptons International Film Festival 2010
Photo by Eric Roffman
LIVING ON LOVE ALONE (D’AMOUR ET D’EAU FRAÎCHE), Isabelle Czajka, 89m
One of French cinema's vital new voices delivers an outlaw romance and social critique starring terrific newcomer, Anaïs Demoustier as a smart, bored twentysomething who finds an alternative to lackey work and high rents—running off with a guy and a gun.
Wed. March 9, 7:50pm - IFC;
Thurs. March 10, 4pm - WRT;
Sat. March 12, 6:15pm - WRT;
THE LONG FALLING (OÙ VA LA NUIT), Martin Provost, 105m
Martin Provost re-teams with SERAPHINE star Yolande Moreau for this heartfelt drama, based on Keith Ridgway’s novel. The film follows the story of a long-suffering wife who takes revenge and bonds with her gay son in this suspenseful one-of-a-kind story of sin and salvation.
Sat. March 5, 1pm - WRT;
Sun. March 6, 9pm - IFC;
Mon. March 7, 9:15pm - WRT;
*Martin Provost in attendance at all screenings
LOVE CRIME (CRIME D'AMOUR), Alain Corneau, 106m
Corneau’s final film, LOVE CRIME is a delicious thriller of rivalry, seduction and humiliation set against office politics starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier as mentor and ingénue that results in murder. LOVE CRIME is a Sundance Selects release.
Sat. March 5, 9:30pm - IFC;
Sun. March 6, 9pm - WRT;
*Ludivine Sagnier in attendance at all screenings
LOVE LIKE POISON (UN POISON VIOLENT), Katell Quillévéré, 92m
This award-winning debut from young French director, Katell Quillévéré, is a true discovery with a title taken from a Gainsbourg song. Fourteen-year-old Anna comes home from Catholic boarding school to family turmoil and becomes caught between her own religious belief and sexual stirrings, awakened by a precocious choirboy friend.
Wed. March 9, 9:40pm - IFC;
Fri. March 11, 9pm - WRT;
Sat. March 12, 2pm - WRT;
MOZART’S SISTER (NANNERL, LA SOEUR DE MOZART), René Féret, 120m
MOZART’S SISTER is a dynamic biopic centering on the other musical prodigy in the Mozart family.14-year-old Nannerl lives in the shadow of her famous younger brother as they travel throughout Europe performing for royalty. However, with the encouragement of the handsome French Dauphin, she finds her own ways of challenging the established sexual and social order. MOZART’S SISTER is a Music Box Films release.
Fri. March 4, 3:30pm - WRT;
Sat. March 5, 1pm - IFC;
Mon. March 7, 6:15pm - WRT;
*René Féret in attendance at screenings on March 4th and 5th
THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER (LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER), Bertrand Tavernier, 139m
Master director Bertrand Tavernier makes a grand return to large-scale period filmmaking with this sexy, powerful saga of unrequited love and diabolical intrigue in the French religious wars of the 16th century, based on a short story by Madame de La Fayette. PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER is a Sundance Selects release.
Fri. March 4, 6pm - WRT;
Sat. March 5, 7PM - BAM;
Sun. March 6, 6pm - IFC;
*Above screenings on March 4, 5 and 6 followed by a Q&A with Bertrand Tavernier and Gaspard Ulliel
Mon. March 7, 1pm - WRT
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (LA REINE DES POMMES), Valérie Donzelli, 84m
Donzelli directs, writes and also stars in THE QUEEN OF HEARTS, a quintessentially French screwball romantic comedy about a freshly dumped hopeless romantic juggling three suitors (all played by Jérémie Elkaïm!). With Béatrice de Staël.
Wed. March 9, 6pm - IFC;
Fri. March 11, 4:15pm - WRT;
Sun. March 13, 4:30pm - WRT;
SÉRIE NOIRE (1979), Alain Corneau, 111m
SÉRIE NOIRE follows a slightly neurotic door-to-door salesman (extraordinary, wild-eyed Patrick Dewaere) in a sinister part of Paris' suburbs. He meets a teenager, who's been made a prostitute by her own aunt. Wanting to change his life and also save the girl from her aunt, he arrives at murder as the only solution.
Sat. March 5, 10:50am - IFC;
Tues. March 8, 8:30pm - WRT;
*Ludivine Sagnier will Q&A following the March 8 screening
SERVICE ENTRANCE (LES FEMMES DU SIXIÈME ÉTAGE), Philippe Le Guay, 104m
A stockbroker (the marvelous Fabrice Luchini) lives a peaceful, boring existence in 1960s Paris with his socialite wife (Sandrine Kiberlain)—until some exuberant Spanish maids move in upstairs. With Carmen Maura and Lola Dueñas.
Tues. March 8, 3:45pm - WRT;
Wed. March 9, 6pm - WRT;
Thurs. March 10, 7pm - IFC;
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (LA BELLE ENDORMIE), Catherine Breillat, 82m
In Catherine Breillat’s continually surprising take on the classic fairy tale, three scatterbrained fairies manage to alter a curse of death placed upon a little girl. Now fated to fall asleep for 100 years after the girl’s hand is pierced in her sixteenth year, the fairies further bestow upon her the possibility of wandering far and wide in her dreams during those 100 years of sleep. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY is a Strand Releasing release.
Fri. March 4, 9:15pm - WRT;
Sun. March 6, 1pm - IFC;
Tues. March 8, 1:30pm - WRT;
*Catherine Breillat will attend all screenings
THINK GLOBAL, ACT RURAL (SOLUTIONS LOCALES POUR UN DESORDRE GLOBAL), Coline Serreau, 113m
In what’s already been called a “radical and exhilarating” documentary manifesto, the unstoppable Serreau digs into the problem of industrialized agriculture, quizzing farmers and philosophers alike, across the globe.
Fri. March 4, 9:30pm - IFC;
Sun. March 6, 3:15pm - WRT;
*Coline Serreau in attendance for all screenings
TOP FLOOR, LEFT WING (DERNIER ÉTAGE, GAUCHE, GAUCHE), Angelo Clanci , 110m
A state prosecutor (Hippolyte Girardot) gets sucked into a hostage crisis involving a Berber neighbor in this deft balance of the comedy of mistaken identity and the politics of terror.
Mon. March 7, 9:30pm - IFC;
Thurs. March 10, 1:30pm - WRT;
Sat. March 12, 8:45pm - WRT;
WHAT LOVE MAY BRING (CES AMOURS-LÀ), Claude Lelouch, 120m
A woman reflects on her turbulent youth and all the men she has ever loved in her life in this inimitable romantic epic, which Lelouch calls “a remake of my 41 films,” spanning decades in the love life of a cinema usherette. With “cameos” from Belmondo et al.
Sat. March 5, 9pm - WRT;
Sun. March 6, 3:15pm - IFC;
*Claude Lelouch in attendance at all screenings
SPECIAL PROGRAMS:
New French Short Films
Wonderful things can sometimes come in very small packages, as this prize-winning selection of provocative short films from France amply demonstrates. See tomorrow’s auteurs today!
Tues., March 10, 8:30pm - WRT;
French Experimental Cinema 2010-2011, Curated by Nicole Brenez
Experimental Program One: Redeploying Classical Images:
An “Oum Kalthoum”/Kama Sutra mash-up, Lech Kowalski on Robert Flaherty’s glorious Louisiana Story, Eisenstein reflecting on the beating of cineaste Joachim Gatti, and more. 81m
Sat. March 12, 4:15pm - WRT;
Experimental Program Two: The Enchanted Fiction, Nuit bleue Ange Leccia, 86m
A lovelorn young woman returns to her island home after losing a relative at sea, in Corsican artist Ange Leccia’s spectacular song-driven saga without words.
Sun. March 13, 8:45pm - WRT;
A Conversation with Bertrand Tavernier
THE CINEMA INSIDE ME: BERTRAND TAVERNIER
In an onstage conversation, Mr. Tavernier (A SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY, THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER) will offer a personal guided tour of key moments in his own history of cinema.
Sun. March 6, 1pm - WRT;
Movie Night with Catherine Breillat: BABY DOLL
IFC Center gives “carte blanche” to the groundbreaking, always-provocative Breillat to screen and discuss one of her personal favorites—Elia Kazan’s BABY DOLL (1956), a steamy tale of a child bride (Carroll Baker), her middle-aged husband (Karl Malden) and their neighbor’s (Eli Wallach) plan for revenge. Shown as part of IFC Center’s ongoing “Movie Night” program.
Mon. March 7, 7pm - IFC;
WRT >> The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater’s address is 165 West 65th St. (between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway).
IFC >> The IFC Center is located at 323 Sixth Ave. at West 3rd Street.
FIAF >> The French Institute Alliance Francaise, FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall address is 55 East 59th Street.
BAM >> The BAMcinématek at BAM Rose Cinemas is located at 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn.
Tickets are available online for each participating venue
WRT at http://www.filmlinc.com/
IFC at http://www.ifccenter.com/
BAM at http://www.bam.org/ and
FIAF at http://www.fiaf.org/
as well as directly from the box offices.
For more information, call
The Film Society at (212) 875-5601,
The IFC Center at (212) 924-7771, or
BAMcinématek at (718) 636-4100 x2
or please visit:
http://www.rendezvouswithfrenchcinema.com/
*Scheduled attendance is, of course, always subject to change.
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