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French Film Festival · 2009

French Film Festival 2009

Panorama

Films featuring the shiniest stars in the French cinematic fermament.

Programme

12 films · 5 reviews

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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.

(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Claude Chabrol; Writer: Odile Barski, Claude Chabrol; Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Vahina Giocante, Jacques Gamblin, Marie Bunel, Yves Verhoeven, Adrienne Pauly, Rodolphe Pauly, Marie Matheron)

Full review

La Belle Personne

Romantic shenanigans in a Parisian high school.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Christophe Honoré; Writer: Christophe Honoré, Madame de La Fayette, Gilles Taurand; Stars: Louis Garrel, Léa Seydoux, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Esteban Carvajal-Alegria, Simon Truxillo, Agathe Bonitzer, Anaïs Demoustier, Valerie Lang, Jacob Lyon, Jean-Michel Portal, Martin Siméon)

Crime Is Our Business (Le crime est notre affaire)

Based primarily on Christie's short story The House of Lurking Death, Belisaire and Prudence Beresford find themselves drawn into a mystery after their aunt arrives and claims to have witnessed a murder on a train.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Pascal Thomas; Writer: François Caviglioli, Pascal Thomas, based on the story by Agatha Christie; Stars: Catherine Frot, André Dussollier, Claude Rich, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Alexandre Lafaurie, Christian Vadim, Hippolyte Girardot, Yves Afonso, Annie Cordy, Valériane de Villeneuve, Marie-Lorna Vaconsin, Laura Benson, Florence Maury, Agathe Hazard)

A French Gigolo (Cliente)

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.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Josiane Balasko; Writer: Josiane Balasko, Josiane Balasko; Stars: Nathalie Baye, Eric Caravaca, Isabelle Carré, Josiane Balasko, Catherine Hiegel, Marilou Berry, Félicité Wouassi, George Aguilar, Sandrine Le Berre, David Rousseau) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

The Girl From Monaco (La Fille De Monaco)

Review preview for The Girl From Monaco

Anne Fontaine and co-scribe Benoît Graffin simply cannot make up their minds.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A lawyer in a high-profile trial falls for a local weathergirl... much to the concern of the bodyguard who has been hired to protect him.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Anne Fontaine; Writer: Anne Fontaine, Benoît Graffin; Stars: Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zem, Louise Bourgoin, Stéphane Audran)

Full review See: French Film Festival preview

I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster (J'ai Toujours Rêvé D'être Un Gangster)

Review preview for I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster

Benchetrit keeps a firm hand on the tiller, despite some of the film's more wild flights of fancy - including a perfectly pitched homage to silent film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Existential comedy told in four vignettes linked by a roadside cafe.

(Country: France; Year: 2007; Director: Samuel Benchetrit; Writer: Samuel Benchetrit; Stars: Sergi López, Jean Rochefort, Alain Bashung, Anna Mouglalis) , Trailer

Full review See: French Film Festival preview

The Joy Of Singing (Le Plaisir De Chanter)

Spy-caper musical about a pair of secret agents sent to recover a USB key.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Ilan Duran Cohen; Writer: Ilan Duran Cohen, Philippe Lasry; Stars: Marina Foïs, Lorànt Deutsch, Jeanne Balibar, Julien Baumgartner, Nathalie Richard, Caroline Ducey, Guillaume Quatravaux, Evelyne Kirschenbaum, Frédéric Karakozian, Dominique Reymond, Antoine Gouy, Pierre Maillet, Vernon Dobtcheff, Pierre Palmade, Nicolas Pignon)

Lady Jane

Three childhood friends - and erstwhile partners in crime - reunite after one of their sons is kidnapped.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Robert Guédiguian; Writer: Jean-Louis Milesi, Robert Guédiguian; Stars: Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan, Yann Trégouët, Frédérique Bonnal, Pascale Roberts, Jacques Boudet, Pascal Cervo, Giuseppe Selimo, Anna Ostby, Pierre Banderet, Jacques Reboud, Christine Brücher, François Agali, Tom Alexanian)

Louise Michel

Odd-couple comedy about a factory worker out for revenge and the inept hitman she bonds with.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Gustave de Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Writer: Gustave Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Stars: Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners, Robert Dehoux, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Katerine, Kafka, Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Hosmalin, Christophe Salengro, Pierre Renverseau, Siné)

Please, Please Me! (Fais-moi plaisir!)

Comedy sees a woman who, believing her partner is fantasising about another femme, urges him to have an affair with her to break his obssession... the only catch being, she is the French president's daughter.

(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Emmanuel Mouret; Writer: Emmanuel Mouret; Stars: Emmanuel Mouret, Judith Godrèche, Déborah François, Frédérique Bel, Jacques Weber, Dany Brillant, Mikaël Gaudin-Lech, Frédéric Epaud, Frédéric Niedermayer, Karine Ventalon, Olivier Galfione, Jean-François Fagour, Yongsou Cho, Akihiko Nishida, Philippe Sol)

Public Benches (Bancs publics (Versailles rive droite))

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.

(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Bruno Podalydès; Writer: Bruno Podalydès; Stars: Sabine Azema, Emmanuelle Devos, Pierre Arditi, Chiara Mastroianni, Josiane Balasko, Bruno Podalydès, Denis Podalydès Olivier Gourmet, Hippolyte Girardot, Thierry Lhermitte, Julie Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Elbaz, Amira Casar, Michael Lonsdale, Florence Muller, Claude Rich, Catherine Deneuve, Benoît Poelvoorde) , Official site

Full review

Special Correspondents (Envoyés très spéciaux)

A pair of journalists bound for Iraq lose their plane tickets... but rather than admit to it they hole up in Paris while pretending to report from Baghdad.

(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Frédéric Auburtin; Writer: Jacques Labib, Simon Michaël; Stars: Gérard Lanvin, Gérard Jugnot, Omar Sy, Valérie Kaprisky, Anne Marivin, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Gerra, Eric Naggar, Frédérique Tirmont, Guillaume Durand, Bertrand Lacy, Farouk Benalleg, Niddal El Mellouhi, Matthew Géczy, Jean-Louis Tilburg)