French Film Festival — A–Z of films

Another sumptuously realised and animated film that will be creeping onto lists of “films you probably haven’t seen” in a decade or so.

Question: how can attractive women fall for someone as dull and useless as Clement? Answer: who knows.

It is the two world-famous guys Thompson tries to pin down like butterflies, as if she were a lepidopterist. They escape, of course, because their works are still alive.

Role play becomes droll play for writer/directors Emma Luchini and Nicolas Rey.

Cotillard's face oscillates mysteriously between the past depicted on the screen and a woman of the present who tries to understand.

Lifts the film into realms of comic genius

I like that this film includes a good deal of interesting, amusing gender role reversal

This film is not an encyclopedia entry but a living, breathing adventure ride into French cinema through the eyes and ears of the filmmaker.

By simplifying the shapes and the colour palette, textures such as fog and steam have a tactile feel, while specific items, such as a treasured pair of earrings, are lent extra weight.

The film’s structure is on the loose side but the performances keep things on track.

Some of the art is truly breathtaking, especially the star-filled skies, and the movement of the various animals we meet is beautifully observed.

The absurd exaggerations and the wild parishes of humor are completely original, never cruel, and attached to a physicality that is pure cinema.

Ruffin may bring a lot of laughs to this subject but there is no mistaking the tangible heartache underlying the humour.

A fiercely intellectual film, Lafosse shears away any shred of sentimentality, although humanism remains.