Adapted from François Mauriac’s novel of the same name, Claude Miller’s final film retells the story of provincial French life in the late 1920s with sombre beauty. Capturing the painterly quality of the vast pine forests of the Landes region the southwest, France, Thérèse Desqueyroux is a well-crafted drama of subtle charm.
The yellow brick road might look better than ever, but there’s no charm or substance here. The 3D facto does not add much to the experience and you will find yourself fidgeting and looking at your watches not long after we touch down in Oz.
Very minimalistic and understated, Barbara is definitely a slow burn with a somewhat predictable ending, but is well worth the wait.
As the 19th Century’s most accomplished writer of soap fiction, one of the keys to Charles Dickens’ longevity has been his ability to create a likeable hero. More impressively, he also possessed an uncanny ability to weave almost every aspect of society into a coherent storyline, gentlemen’s clubs, gaolers, average Joes and all.
Swamps, sweat, humidity and crime are the focus of Lee Daniels’ third directorial effort, which takes a curious look at Southern USA in the late…
The French auteur Francois Ozon has crafted a deftly intelligent character drama interwoven with a psychological thriller that works extremely well in the first two thirds before collapsing under the weight of expectation in its finale.
Damien Hauer (an unkempt Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a down-trodden Parisian professor whose relationship with long-time companion and playwright Iva (Kristin Scott-Thomas) is falling apart….
Those who are familiar with Les Miserables will know that Victor Hugo was not the most cheerful of chaps. The Man Who Laughs, one of his less well known works, might sound merry but where pre-revolutionary France is concerned, there is not a great deal to laugh about.
Showing as part of the section of “Women’s Stories” this year in the French Film Festival is On Air, a character driven drama that follows an emotionally damaged women’s search for closure with the mother who gave her up to an orphanage as a child.
What’s a French film festival without an unabashedly full-blown, over the top romance? Serving that purpose this year is Happiness Never Comes Alone, a movie that is to cinema what a ridiculously large lollipop is to confectionary: it starts off with a pleasant enough sweetness, but goes on way too long and by the end, it just hurts your teeth.