The RENDEZ VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA 2009 is coming to Lincoln Center on March 5 (thru March 15).
Here is a quick preview of some of the films on the way! Following that is a detailed program from the Film Society...
Eighteen Premieres!
On Stage: Christopher Barratier, Claire Denis, Costa-Gavras,
Benoît Jacquot, Agnès Varda, and more...
The 14th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance’s celebrated annual showcase of the best in contemporary French film, arrives at The Film Society and the IFC Center, March 5-15.
Eighteen titles will premiere in the series, including new work by Claude Chabrol, Claire Denis, Costa-Gavras, Benoît Jacquot, Agnès Varda, the world premiere of André Téchiné’s social drama “The Girl on the Train,” and Jean-François Richet’s multiple prizewinner “Mesrine,” an energetic biography of French criminal mastermind Jacques Mesrine.
Opening Night features the U.S. premiere of Christophe Barratier’s “Paris 36,” a period charmer starring veteran comedian Gérard Jugnot as a high-strung theater manager leading a movement to bring his music hall back into prominence. The screening has the double honor of marking The Film Society’s return to the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall, home of the New York Film Festival, Thursday, March 5, at 8:00 p.m. Barratier, lauded newcomer Nora Arnezeder, and producer (and sometimes actor) Jacques Perrin will attend the screening.
Other filmmakers and guests who will attend screenings during the series include directors Claire Denis, Samuel Collardey, Patrick Mario Bernard, Pierre Trividic, Danièle Thompson, Costa-Gavras, Anne Fontaine, Jean-François Richet, Ilan Duran Cohen, Agnès Varda, Sylvie Verheyde, Martin Provost, Pierre Schoeller, Benoît Jacquot, and prizewinning actress Félicité Wouassi (“With a Little Help from Myself”).
Several of this year’s Rendez-Vous directors continue with the much-discussed style established in New York Film Festival Opening Night selection “The Class” with enterprising mixtures of documentary and fiction filmmaking. Frequent Rendez-Vous director Agnès Varda will present “The Beaches of Agnès,” a fascinating personal take on the beaches and cities that have influenced her creative life. Other long-time cinematic favorites complement newer voices, as Costa-Gavras tackles the economic hardships faced by illegal immigrants to Europe in his newest social critique, “Eden Is West,” and Samuel Collardey makes a lively directorial debut with “The Apprentice,” about the growth and family life of a young student in rural France.
Following similar social themes through more traditional methods, Pierre Schoeller’s lauded debut “Versailles” stars the late Guillaume Depardieu as a vagrant seeking redemption while caring for a five-year-old boy in the woods outside of France’s most opulent palace. Catherine Deneuve and Émilie Dequenne provide the emotional heart of André Téchiné’s harrowing drama about class and racial identity in France, “The Girl on the Train,” receiving its world premiere in the series. And Vincent Cassel leads a dynamic cast that includes Cécile De France, Olivier Gourmet, Mathieu Amalric, and Ludivine Sagnier in Jean-François Richet’s whirlwind, two-part crime story “Mesrine,” already a winner of multiple honors at this year’s Lumière Awards and Globes de Cristal.
Richet’s film also offers the first of two appearances in the series by France’s most illustrious actor, Gérard Depardieu, who stars as the title police commissioner in legendary filmmaker Claude Chabrol’s latest thriller “Bellamy.” “Avenue Montaigne” director Danièle Thompson also guides some of France’s finest actors through an appealing mix of social commentary and black comedy in “Change of Plans”—Karin Viard, Patrick Bruel, Patrick Chesnais, Marina Hands, Dany Boon, Emmanuelle Seigner, Pierre Arditi, and Marina Foïs.
Anchoring a slate full of strong women’s roles, Foïs also appears in Ilan Duran Cohen’s Rendez-Vous debut “The Joy of Singing,” a delicious spy thriller/comedy that takes a secret service couple into the world of amateur opera. Isabelle Huppert re-teams with Benoît Jacquot for the romantic tale “Villa Amalia,” based on Pascal Quignard’s Goncourt Prize-winning novel, and Yolande Moreau returns to Rendez-Vous as outsider artist Séraphine de Senlis in first-time director Martin Provost’s ambitious biopic “Séraphine.”
Moreau, Provost, and several “Séraphine” artists are currently nominated for top honors—including best picture—at this year’s César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Academy Awards. The film is one of several Rendez-Vous features and filmmakers to receive their country’s highest cinematic praise. Other notably honored titles in the series include “Mesrine” (best picture, best actor Vincent Cassel, and best director Jean-François Richet), “Versailles” (best first film and best actor Guillaume Depardieu), “Paris 36” (best cinematography), “The Girl from Monaco” (best supporting actor Roschdy Zem and best female newcomer Louise Bourgoin), “With a Little Help from Myself” (best supporting actor Claude Rich and best male newcomer Ralph Amoussou), and “The Beaches of Agnès” (best documentary feature).
Claude Chabrol, whose “Bellamy” will receive its North American premiere during Rendez-Vous, will be honored with the prestigious Berlinale Camera during this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
Finally, new this year to Rendez-Vous, a program of prizewinning short films by emerging filmmakers will provide “an exclusive introduction to the next generation of French cinema,” says Peña. The seven titles in Tout Court: New French Shorts will screen together, Friday, March 13, at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 15, at 3:15 p.m.
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2009 is sponsored by Unifrance, Société Générale Private Banking, Maison de la France, agnès b., and LVT Laser Subtitling.
Regular tickets for Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2009 screenings at The Film Society of Lincoln Center (Walter Reade Theater) are $12.50; $8.50 for Film Society members, students, and children (6-12, accompanied by an adult); and $9.50 for seniors (62+).
Tickets for screenings at the IFC Center are $12.50; $9.50 for IFC Center members; and $8.50 for children and seniors. They are available online at www.filmlinc.com and www.ifccenter.com, and at the box offices at The Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater and the IFC Center.
Tickets for the Opening Night screening of “Paris 36” at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall are $20; $15 for Film Society members.
Tickets will go on sale Thursday, Feb. 19.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, The Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals—The New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films—as well as the annual Gala Tribute, and a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater. It also offers definitive examinations of essential films and artists to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine.
Founded in 1949, Unifrance is a government-sponsored association of French film industry professionals dedicated to the international promotion of French films. With offices in Paris, New York, Toyko and Beijing, Unifrance provides financial and logistical support to theatrical distributors and major film festivals showcasing new and recent French cinema throughout the world.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is located at 165 West 65th St. between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.
The IFC Center is located at 323 Sixth Ave. at West 3rd Street.
SCREENING SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 5
8:00 Paris 36 (at Alice Tully Hall)
WALTER READE THEATER (Film Society Of Lincoln Center = FSLC)
Friday, March 6
1:00 The Girl from Monaco
3:30 Versailles
6:20 Change of Plans
8:45 Séraphine
Saturday, March 7
1:30 The Beaches of Agnès
4:10 With a Little Help from Myself
6:35 The Girl from Monaco
9:00 Eden Is West
Sunday, March 8
12:30 Séraphine
3:30 The Joy of Singing
6:00 Versailles
8:45 Change of Plans
Monday, March 9
1:00 With a Little Help from Myself
3:30 Change of Plans
6:15 With a Little Help from Myself
8:45 The Beaches of Agnès
Tuesday, March 10
1:00 The Joy of Singing
3:30 The Girl on the Train
6:15 Mesrine Part 1
9:10 The Girl on the Train
Wednesday, March 11
1:30 Eden Is West
3:45 The Apprentice
6:00 Mesrine Part 2
9:00 The Other One
Thursday, March 12
1:00 Stella
3:45 Bellamy
6:15 Stella
8:45 The Apprentice
Friday, March 13
1:30 35 Shots of Rum
4:00 Tout Court: New French Shorts
6:15 35 Shots of Rum
8:45 Villa Amalia
Saturday, March 14
1:30 Mesrine Part 1
3:50 Mesrine Part 2
6:45 Villa Amalia
9:10 Bellamy
Sunday, March 15
1:00 Bellamy
3:15 Tout Court: New French Shorts
5:30 The Other One
8:00 35 Shots of Rum
THE IFC CENTER
323 Sixth Ave., at West Third Street
Friday, March 6
7:00 With a Little Help from Myself
9:30 Bellamy
Saturday, March 7
1:30 Versailles
4:00 Séraphine
7:00 Change of Plans
9:30 TBA
Sunday, March 8
1:30 The Girl from Monaco
4:00 Eden Is West
6:45 The Girl on the Train
9:00 TBA
Monday, March 9
7:00 The Apprentice
9:00 TBA
Tuesday, March 10
7:00 The Other One
9:00 TBA
Wednesday, March 11
7:00 The Joy of Singing
9:30 Stella
Thursday, March 12
7:00 35 Shots of Rum
9:30 Villa Amalia
all times p.m.
Detailed Program and Schedule Information:
OPENING NIGHT
Thursday, March 5, 8:00 p.m.
U.S. PREMIERE
Paris 36 / Faubourg 36
Christophe Barratier, France/Germany/Czech Republic, 2008; 120m
Encouraged by the electoral victories of The Popular Front, Pigoil (comedian Gérard Jugnot) leads a movement to turn his threadbare ’30s music hall into a cooperative in which everyone, from the actors to the stagehands, has a stake. His success hinges on a new act, the velvet-voiced chanteuse Douce (Nora Arnezeder). Filled with stunning camera movements and magnificent sets, Paris 36 is a loving, knowing homage to the pre-war cinema of Jean Renoir, Jacques Becker, and Marcel Pagnol. Newcomer Arnezeder is surely the French revelation of the year. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Tickets: $15 member; $20 public
Alice Tully Hall: Thu Mar 5: 8:00pm
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U.S. PREMIERE
35 Shots of Rum / 35 Rhums
Claire Denis, France/Germany, 2008; 100m
Claire Denis’s delicate and graceful new film begins in the territory of Renoir’s La Bête humaine and develops into an unlikely and enchanted evocation of Ozu’s Late Spring. Denis regular Alex Descas is Lionel, a Parisian train driver who lives in peace and contentment with his “marriageable” daughter Joséphine (Mati Diop), until she notices the stirrings of love from the boy across the hall (Grégoire Colin). Shot by frequent Denis collaborator Agnès Godard, with a score by Tindersticks.
Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC - Walter Reade Theater): Fri Mar 13: 1:30pm
FSLC: Fri Mar 13: 6:15pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 15: 8:00pm
IFC Center: Thu Mar 12: 7:00pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Apprentice / L’apprenti
Samuel Collardey, France, 2008; 82m
On the boundary of fiction and documentary, Samuel Collardey’s marvelous The Apprentice, winner of the prestigious Louis Delluc Prize for best first film, follows 15-year-old student Mathieu (Mathieu Bulle) as he develops a warm, close relationship with farm owner and mentor Paul (Paul Barbier) that provides a partial refuge from the emotional chaos of his parents’ failed marriage. The Apprentice offers a rich portrait of a young man facing his own limitations while discovering new possibilities.
FSLC: Wed Mar 11: 3:45pm
FSLC: Thu Mar 12: 8:45pm
IFC: Mon Mar 9: 7:00pm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
The Beaches of Agnès / Les Plages d’Agnès
Agnès Varda, France, 2008; 110m
“If you open people, you’ll find landscapes. If you open me, you’ll find beaches.” –Agnès Varda
For her 80th birthday, Agnès Varda offers us a gift: this gorgeous, affecting, revealing autobiographical reflection filtered through the many beaches that, in their way, have shaped her life. The cultural explosion that included the French New Wave; her life with her late husband, filmmaker Jacques Demy, and children, Rosalie and Mathieu; her long sojourn in the U.S., where she knew everybody from the Black Panthers to Jim Morrison—all are part of this extraordinary voyage through a most remarkable life. A Cinema Guild release.
FSLC: Sat Mar 7: 1:30pm
FSLC: Mon Mar 9: 8:45pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Bellamy
Claude Chabrol, France, 2009; 110m
Two of the indisputable giants of French cinema—Claude Chabrol and Gérard Depardieu—team up for the first time in this wry, engaging thriller about police commissioner Paul Bellamy’s attempts to draw the line between professional instinct and his duty to perennially troubled younger brother Jacques (Clovis Cornillac). Chabrol acknowledged his long-time desire to work with Depardieu by co-writing the screenplay with Odile Barski for the actor, creating what Chabrol called “a kind of portrait of Gérard Depardieu, or at least a vision of one of his many aspects.”
FSLC: Thu Mar 12: 3:45pm
FSLC: Sat Mar 14: 9:10pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 15: 1:00pm
IFC: Fri Mar 6: 9:30pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Change of Plans / Le code a changé
Danièle Thompson, France, 2009; 100m
A group of friends and acquaintances gather for dinner, and the atmosphere couldn’t be friendlier, with great food, wine, and conversation. Slowly the masks of civility drop and suspicions, jealousies, and fears emerge. Darker in tone than Danièle Thompson’s earlier work, Change of Plans still features her knowing and generous wit. As always, she has gathered a first-rate cast: Karin Viard, Patrick Bruel, Patrick Chesnais, Marina Hands, Dany Boon, Marina Foïs, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Pierre Arditi.
FSLC: Fri Mar 6: 6:20pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 8: 8:45pm
FSLC: Mon Mar 9: 3:30pm
IFC: Sat Mar 7: 7:00pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Eden Is West / Eden à l’ouest
Costa-Gavras, France/Greece/Italy, 2009; 110m
Costa-Gavras’s new film is the story of an illegal immigrant, Elias (Italian actor Riccardo Scarmarcio), for whom the West will literally be Eden, the name of the resort at which he lands. Costa-Gavras never shrinks away from showing the almost casual cruelty Elias continually experiences. The film also captures the magical nature of the world he encounters, in which every new experience is full of both promise and threat. The sense of social engagement in Costa-Gavras’s cinema has never been stronger or rendered more inventively.
FSLC: Sat Mar 7: 9:00pm
FSLC: Wed Mar 11: 1:30pm
IFC: Sun Mar 8: 4:00pm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
The Girl from Monaco / La Fille de Monaco
Anne Fontaine, France, 2008; 95m
High-priced Parisian lawyer Bertrand (Fabrice Luchini) travels to Monaco to defend a wealthy woman accused of murder. He discovers that his bodyguard, the scowling Christophe (Roschdy Zem), can be useful in a variety of ways, but the danger posed by the case is nothing to that posed by stunning TV weathergirl Audrey (Louise Bourgoin). Where, exactly, does a bodyguard’s job end? The latest work from Nathalie director Anne Fontaine confirms her role as an intrepid explorer of the seamier side of desire, where nothing is what we had first imagined. A Magnolia Pictures release.
FSLC: Fri Mar 6: 1:00pm
FSLC: Sat Mar 7: 6:35pm
IFC: Sun Mar 8: 1:30pm
WORLD PREMIERE
The Girl on the Train / La Fille du RER
André Téchiné, France, 2009; 110m
A young woman, Jeanne (Émilie Dequenne), reports that skinheads attacked her, seemingly for being a Jew. The incident becomes a media sensation, and attorney Samuel Bleistein (Michel Blanc), an old friend of Jeanne’s mother Louise (Catherine Deneuve), takes the case. Based on the play by Jean-Marie Besset, André Téchiné’s new film explores notions of class, ethnicity, and who’s in and who’s out in contemporary France, offering a provocative reflection on the creation of identity at a time of ever-increasing social tension.
FSLC: Tue Mar 10: 3:30pm
FSLC: Tue Mar 10: 9:10pm
IFC: Sun Mar 8: 6:45pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Joy of Singing / Le Plaisir de chanter
Ilan Duran Cohen, France, 2008; 99m
Secret service agents Muriel (Marina Foïs) and Philippe (Lorànt Deutsch) form an unlikely couple even before they are assigned to track down Constance (Jeanne Balibar), widow of a uranium trafficker and star pupil in a class for amateur opera singers. Muriel and Philippe enroll and discover their vocal chops, physical attraction, and the other students, who are also interested in what Constance may be concealing. Novelist and filmmaker Ilan Duran Cohen creates a delicious comedy thriller full of surprising characters and delightful and delirious plot twists.
FSLC: Sun Mar 8: 3:30pm
FSLC: Tue Mar 10: 1:00pm
IFC: Wed Mar 11: 7:00pm
U.S. PREMIERE
Mesrine Part 1 / Mesrine, L’instinct de mort
Jean-François Richet, France/Canada/Italy, 2008; 113m
Jean-François Richet, aided by a sensational performance by Vincent Cassel, spotlights the life and adventures of post-war France’s most notorious criminal, Jacques Mesrine. Part one begins in the ’60s, when Mesrine falls in with petty mobsters led by Guido (Gérard Depardieu). He quickly moves up the ranks, hooks up with the ruthless and cold-blooded Jeanne Schneider (Cécile de France), and masterminds ever more risky jobs. Based on Mesrine’s writings, the film is a vibrant relay of this extraordinary whirlwind of a life. A Senator Entertainment release.
FSLC: Tue Mar 10: 6:15pm
FSLC: Sat Mar 14: 1:30pm
U.S. PREMIERE
Mesrine Part 2 / Mesrine, L’ennemi public n° 1
Jean-François Richet, France/Canada, 2008; 132m
The second part of Jean-François Richet’s epic study of master criminal Jacques Mesrine is a completely separate film and can be readily understood and enjoyed without having seen its predecessor. The story begins where part one ends: with Mesrine’s escape from a Canadian prison and return to France. Already an enigmatic media celebrity, Mesrine becomes a master of disguise, but his increasing daring soon exacts its toll. Part two portrays a man whose world is inexorably spinning out of control, and who’s thrilled by every minute of it. A Senator Entertainment release.
FSLC: Wed Mar 11: 6:00pm
FSLC: Sat Mar 14: 3:50pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Other One / L’Autre
Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic, France, 2008; 97m
When Anne-Marie (Dominique Blanc) discovers that her one-time lover Alex (Cyril Guei) is seeing someone else, awkwardness evolves into jealousy and obsession. Based on Annie Ernaux’s novel L’Occupation, Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic’s second film depicts Anne-Marie in constant motion—walking, running, in cars, buses, and trains—with no fixed place in her life. Part of the greatness of Blanc’s award-winning performance is that she continually pulls herself and the film back just when it appears that everything has finally gone over the edge.
FSLC: Wed Mar 11: 9:00pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 15: 5:30pm
IFC: Tue Mar 10: 7:00pm
TOUT COURT: NEW FRENCH SHORTS
France, 2008; 90m
This new feature of Rendez-Vous offers you an exclusive introduction to the next generation of French cinema with a program of prizewinning short films: Baby (Bébé, Clément Michel); New Skin (Peau neuve, Clara Elalouf); Good Night Malik (Bonne nuit Malik, Bruno Danan); The Fire, The Blood, The Stars (Le feu, le sang, les étoiles, Caroline Deruas); My Little Brother from the Moon (Mon petit frère est de la lune, Frédéric Philibert); and My Name Is Dominic (Tous les enfants s’appellent Dominique, Nicolas Silhol).
FSLC: Fri Mar 13: 4:00pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 15: 3:15pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Stella
Sylvie Verheyde, France, 2008; 103m
With her first film A Brother, Sylvie Verheyde established herself as one of the most distinctive filmmakers of her generation. With Stella, shown to great acclaim at this year’s Venice Film Festival, she returns to the subject of modern family life: An 11-year-old girl (Léora Barbara) comes into her own while coping with her working-class family’s meltdown. Verheyde avoids easy clichés or stark heroes and villains, creating the sense of a warm, embracing atmosphere for Stella even as she drifts away from her parents’ world.
FSLC: Thu Mar 12: 1:00pm
FSLC: Thu Mar 12: 6:15pm
IFC: Wed Mar 11: 9:30pm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
Séraphine
Martin Provost, France/Belgium, 2008; 125m
Quiet, small-town eccentric Séraphine (Yolande Moreau) pursues her secret passion for painting by mixing soil, animal blood, and oil into pigments for her lush, sensual canvases of flowers. When a new arrival, German art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur), arranges an exhibition, Séraphine is ushered into a new and unsettling world. Martin Provost has created a touching portrait of fascinating outsider artist Séraphine de Senlis, as well as a provocative reflection on the dichotomy between art as self-expression and art as commodity. A Music Box release.
FSLC: Fri Mar 6: 8:45pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 8: 12:30pm
IFC: Sat Mar 7: 4:00pm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
Versailles
Pierre Schoeller, France, 2008; 102m
This impressive debut feature by The Dreamlife of Angels screenwriter Pierre Schoeller is a subtle, perceptive look at poverty in contemporary France, which can be found even in the shadow of the nation’s grandest symbol of opulence. Nina (Judith Chemla) leaves her five-year-old son Enzo (Max Baissette de Malglaive) with a stranger, Damien (Guillaume Depardieu), in the woods beside the palace of Versailles. Schoeller examines the creation of a bond between Enzo and Damien, who discovers in his caring for the boy a possible road back to society.
FSLC: Fri Mar 6: 3:30pm
FSLC: Sun Mar 8: 6:00pm
IFC: Sat Mar 7: 1:30pm
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Villa Amalia
Benoît Jacquot, France, 2009; 94m
Ann (Isabelle Huppert) leaves Paris after seeing her long-time partner in the arms of another woman. She winds up on Ischia, off the coast of Naples, at an old house known as the Villa Amalia, where she is quite literally rescued by Giulia (Maya Sansa). Rendez-Vous veteran Benoît Jacquot perfectly captures the sparse, hard-edged feel of Pascal Quignard’s prize-winning novel. Locations change abruptly, and characters often embark on unexpected courses of action, creating a portrait of a world in which nothing is certain and every moment is ripe with possibility.
FSLC: Fri Mar 13: 8:45pm
FSLC: Sat Mar 14: 6:45pm
IFC: Thu Mar 12: 9:30pm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
With a Little Help from Myself / Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera
François Dupeyron, France, 2008; 94m
Sonia (Félicité Wouassi), an African immigrant struggling to get by in a Paris housing project, conspires with her elderly white neighbor Robert (Claude Rich) to hide the body of Sonia’s husband and keep receiving the dead man’s pension. Thus begins an unlikely relationship between members of two of contemporary France’s most marginalized groups, immigrants and the elderly, in this dark and pointed social satire. Wouassi, winner of the Best Actress Award at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, is a major discovery.
FSLC: Sat Mar 7: 4:10pm
FSLC: Mon Mar 9: 1:00pm
FLSC: Mon Mar 9: 6:15pm
IFC: Fri Mar 6: 7:00pm
