French Film Festival

Overview

You've got to admire the French love of cinema. It’s like a national sport, and their support for local fare is something that sorely needs translating to these shores. So it’s really no surprise that the Alliance Française is serving up another enviable cinematic celebration for its 22nd year.

For the big draw cards in 2011, you can’t go past the festival’s Opening Night film Potiche. Directed by national treasure François Ozon (Eight Women) and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu in a crowd pleasing comedy about a forgotten housewife forced to step up and run her husband’s company. Crowds will also flock to see Olivier Assayas’ (Summer Hours) critically acclaimed Carlos (Carlos, Le Chacal), which chronicles the twenty-year career of international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (played by Edgar Ramirez). Originally released as a five-and-a-half hour miniseries, this edited theatrical version may lack the exhaustive detail of its television counterpart, but the chance to see this masterpiece on the big screen should not be missed.

Similarly sought after is Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux), Marion Cotillard in Little White Lies (Les Petits mouchoirs), the equally delightful Audrey Tautou in Beautiful Lies (De vrais mensonges) and Francophile Kristin Scott Thomas in Love Crime (Crime d’Amour).

For some lesser known film recommendations, festival goers should keep an eye out for Clotide Hesme’s beautifully calibrated performance as a newly paroled young mother in Angèle and Tony. Hesme is coming to Australia to attend a series of Q&A screenings, one of which should definitely be on your to-do list. So too should a session of actor/director Mathieu Amalric’s (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly) superb portrait of burlesque in On Tour (Tournée).

If boys on tour are more your thing then check out the gorgeous selection on offer in Christopher Thompson’s rocking debut Bus Palladium. This film might include every wannabe rock band cliché in the playbook, but it does it with oh so much style and a scorching soundtrack. Another cracking debut comes in the form of Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran’s witty love letter to best friends in All That Glitters (Tout ce qui brille). Nakache also co-stars as one half of a BFF-duo who come unstuck when their fervent attempts at Parisian social mobility prove polarising.

A second fractious friendship is brought to the screen in the François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard documentary Two in the Wave (Deux de la vague), surely a must see for all cinephiles. Documentary fans might also want to check out Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud’s spellbinding Océans, which ventures into the deep blue to cast an eye over the extent of human impact, as well as simply to swim with the fishes.

As with years gone by, audiences are truly spoiled for choice when it comes to the French Film Festival. May these suggestions help you on your way to finding something new to love about French cinema. Bon voyage!

*The French Film Festival is screening at the Palace Verona, Palace Norton Street, Chauvel Cinema and Cremorne Orpheum.