There is a stereotype that the British view the French as over-sexed. So far in the French Film Festival I’m realising that is not a stereotype. The Comparative Literature lecturer in this hands out the course text of poetry and tells the class to really “savour the eroticism”. You do that in Glasgow, the whole…
Playground is a film about a brother and sister surviving primary school. The opening scene is of Nora’s first day, being reassured by her big brother Abel, and torn away from her father. I just watched this and was like, yup, that’s what it’s like. The synopsis of this film will say it’s about bullying,…
This is a wonderful and warm film about Irene, a 16-year-old girl, bursting with life, who is practicing for her audition to get into drama college. A Radiant Girl follows her as she annoys her brother, has her first crush, shares her secrets with her grandma, and embarks on the journey into the bright world…
This is such a Sunday afternoon movie. Lying on your granny’s carpet listening to her tell you what everyone on screen died of. Summer Light reminds me of nothing so much as an episode of Frasier. There’s everyone chasing each other, a ludicrous and precarious party, and disaster always looming. While ostensibly a romantic drama,…
Overlong and tedious film. It focuses on France de Meurs, a tv personality who starts taking crying jags. France is a rich, privileged, white woman who has everything, but is still somehow sad. It’s the Anna Karenina conundrum. And I give zero fucks. There is barely the wisp of a plot to this. Whole scenes…
Set almost entirely within an A&E on a night of Yellow Vest protests, The Divide follows the collision of a number of characters as tensions run high. Reminiscent of something like Clash, the political situation in France is boiled down to this one place. There are four main characters, a lesbian couple on the verge…
Lingui, meaning The Sacred Bonds, is a film about a woman seeking an abortion for her daughter in Chad where it is illegal. A real feminist film about throwing off what’s been handed down from on high as the misogynistic status quo, and prioritising women’s wellbeing and relationships. Amina is a devout Muslim, going to…
Hello World is a beautiful little children’s film, mixing paper mache stop-gap animation with a traditional 2D animation, to bring to life the wildlife of a forest pond. Each animal starts off being born and discovering the world, the beaver, the pike, the dragonfly, the salamander, the owl, the bittern, the tortoise, the kingfisher, the…
This movie is so French. It’s about a cook who is fired from the service of an evil Duke, and opens the first restaurant in France. It’s basically about the first Frenchman to French. It’s great. Delicious is a feast for the eyes, even with its almost fable-like plot. Every shot is sumptuous, tracing light…
Based on George Orwell’s The Road To Wigan Pier, Juliette Binoche stars as an undercover journalist reporting on work instability and poverty in France. The first half of the film shows the realities of work on the tenuous end of the breadline in 21st century France, while the latter half of the film deals with…