Skip to main content

Festival coverage

French Film Festival

2009

Now in its 17th year, this annual festival celebrates the best of contemporary cinema from over the Channel, as well as celebrating older film legends.

This year's festival will run from November 8 to December 20 and will this year feature tributes to Jacques Tati and Jean Eustache. There will also be a number of events, which will be announced nearer the time.

Other years (19)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Playtime
    Review preview for Playtime

    There are moments of brilliance but also points where Tati simply lays on everything too thick.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Monsieur Hulot becomes caught up in an American tourist invasion of Paris.
  • Jour De Fête
    Review preview for Jour De Fête

    The film is at its best when Tati is on his own with a simple prop like the bike, when his distinctive personality comes to the fore.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Tati's debut about a postman who sees a newsreel about the US mail system and decides to upgrade his deliveries, with comic consequences.
  • Bellamy
    Review preview for Bellamy

    Though well executed, there isn’t a great deal to elevate the story beyond a solid genre piece.

    Adam Micklethwaite · 3 out of 5
    A detective enjoying a quiet holiday in southern France finds himself caught up in an intriguing mystery.
  • Father Of My Children
    Review preview for Father Of My Children

    Hansen-Love prefers to make her points through gesture and nuance and the film is all the better for it.

    Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
    A French producer struggles to balance completing his roster of films with the demands of his young family.
  • A Prophet
    Review preview for A Prophet

    An unlikely, but highly effective, marriage of arthouse and mainstream sensibilities.

    Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
    An illiterate teenager struggles when he is sent to jail, but after embarking on a series of "missions" for a gang leader, he begins to hatch plans of his own.
  • Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes
    Review preview for Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes

    There is a sense of creeping change rather than glorious revolution - even as Daniel begins to have a growing self-awareness, this need not necessarily lead to an immediate alteration of attitude towards life.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    A skint young man takes a job dressing as santa to raise cash to by a duffle coat.
  • Another Man
    Review preview for Another Man

    Trots, sometimes quite outrageously, along the thin line between the pretentious and the profound and never really falls into either camp.

    James Benefield · 3 out of 5
    Psychological drama about a young, inexperienced film reviewer who falls for the charms of a well-established female colleague.
  • A French Gigolo
    Review preview for A French Gigolo

    A low-key gem.

    James Benefield · 3.5 out of 5
    A fiftysomething woman who hires a gigolo finds their relationship becomes unexpectedly complex.
  • Public Benches
    Review preview for Public Benches

    The juxtaposition between comedy and meditation on contemporary life does throw the viewer off-guard a little bit, but it is no the less effective for doing so.

    Adam Micklethwaite · 3.5 out of 5
    Ensemble film that sees a regular day at the office shattered when the staff notice a banner on the building opposite reading: Man Alone.
  • Robinson's Place
    Review preview for Robinson's Place

    The most striking thing about Robinson's Place is how much energy it has considering it is, for the most part, a study of ennui.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Two penniless young men try to pick up young women and after one agrees to go with them to a dancehall things turn sour.

A–Z of French Film Festival 2009 reviews

Features

  • Vive le France
    As the French Film Festival kicks off across the UK, we take a look at the line-up