Kompromat is the name the KGB gave to the classic move of using damaging information, real or false, to destroy someone’s reputation. It has the desired effect of isolating them from any support, and ensuring no one will give a fuck about what happens to them after that point. This film is loosely based on…
Tonally disjointed murder-mystery comedy. It starts with an actor keeling over on stage, whispering into the ear of his friend, “I’ve been murdered . . . the green perfume”. Classic Agatha Christie shit. Good setup, I was eager to see where it went. But it then becomes overly complicated when the main character is then…
French Tech is a comedy set in the gig economy. Three middle-aged single parents have to stick together in the 24/7 availability world of bullshit work. Alexandre is a stay-at-home father whose submariner wife wants a separation after he had an affair with the woman at the unemployment office where he picks up his dole…
Adrien is asked to give a speech at his sister’s wedding while sat round family dinner, which sends him spiralling back through his love-life in a state of existential dread. Narrated directly to camera by the main character, The Speech has the theatrical feel of a one-man play. He introduces characters by their foibles, mutes…
There is something a bit contrary in me that whenever I hear something described as a classic, I am immediately skeptical I will like it. Maybe it’s the years in school being scolded with the most tedious tomes as examples. But with Vivre Sa Vie, I was dead wrong. They say it is a perfect…
My Father’s Stories is about Emile’s childhood growing up with his manic depressive, paranoid delusional father. Set in the 60s in France, the breakaway of Algeria triggers an obsession in his father that becomes dangerous. The film starts as kind of kiddie caper, as the pair of them play at spies for the anti-independence resistance,…
Sisters is a story about Zorah, who writes a play about her horrorshow of a childhood, to the dismay of the rest of her family. She claims it is an act of catharsis, but there is so much unresolved anger, it could as equally be an act of revenge. Sisters is about inherited national trauma.…
The title Robust refers to the character of its female lead as much as her physicality. Deborah Lukumuena plays Aissa, a security guard assigned to look after a famous movie star whose regular handler is on leave. The famous movie star in question is Gérard Depardieu, who plays (*checks notes*) George. Barely a pseudonym, George…
A beautifully satirical political drama focusing on the assassination of a pacifist politician. With the tone of something like Doctor Strangelove, it unfortunately remains strikingly relevant today. The film starts with the armed forces of the state sitting around talking about how to get rid of the corrupting influence of this increasingly popular politician who…
Nora is a middle-aged granny on an estate, staying in her small flat with her 20-something weans, and wee granweans. She works two jobs to keep a roof over their heads, getting up at the crack of dawn to take buses to the airport, then as a home help looking after an elderly neighbour who…