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Festival coverage

French Film Festival

11 November – 15 December 2021

The French Film Festival returns for its 29th edition with a mixture of screenings across the UK and an online streaming selection. It opens on November 3 with Emmanuel Corcoul's The Big Hit and closes on December 15. In addition to the features listed below, there will also be a short film showcase.

Other years (19)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Between Two Worlds
    Review preview for Between Two Worlds

    Binoche gives her all, stripping away any vestiges of actressy pretence to assimilate herself in the community while at the same time investing her performance with an authentic conviction.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    Marianne Winckler, a well-known author, goes to live in northern France to research for her new book on the subject of job insecurity. Without revealing her true identity, she gets hired as a cleaner, working with a group of other women.
  • A Tale Of Love And Desire
    Review preview for A Tale Of Love And Desire

    A film that celebrates the joy and fears associated with youthful lust, while exploring ideas of internal cultural conflict, without making it feel tacky or like a diatribe.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Ahmed’s world is thrown off-balance when he encounters Farah, newly-arrived from Tunis, who challenges everything he thought he knew.
  • Deception
    Review preview for Deception

    Desplechin eases us into the goings-on without sacrificing any of Roth’s complicated and thorny subject matter.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
    An American novelist living for a time in London converses with his wife, his mistress, and other female characters he may have dreamed up.
  • Paris, 13th District
    Review preview for Paris, 13th District

    Audiard captures the fluid nature of relationships for a younger generation navigating both on and offline opportunities and, because this is French, it also features plenty of gracefully worked sexual encounters.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Émilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy - They're friends, sometimes lovers and often both.
  • Margaux Hartmann
    Review preview for Margaux Hartmann

    Bergery crafts an intimate portrait of loneliness and rediscovery, and of particular insecurities pertaining to a certain age.

    Dora Leu · 3.5 out of 5
    Margaux, who just lost her older husband, starts a new life.
  • French Tech
    Review preview for French Tech

    This is satire. Sharp, observant, but unlike British films in similar vein, never cutting.

    Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
    An unemployed man has two months while his wife is away to prove he can take care of the kids and find a job.
  • Petite Maman
    Review preview for Petite Maman

    The autumn setting fits it perfectly, because although this is the change of the year as things die back for winter, it is also blazing with colour and hopefulness.

    Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
    Something magical happens to a young girl after the death of her grandma.
  • Titane
    Review preview for Titane

    The audience laughed at times that were not meant to be that kind of funny, a primate exhalation of surprise and relief.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    A dancer becomes pregnant after having sex with a car.
  • France
    Review preview for France

    France is a supremely sad film, maybe the saddest Dumont has made in its interplay of the true and the fake.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
    A TV journalist's career, home life, and psychological stability are shaken after a driving accident.
  • Playground
    Review preview for Playground

    This is the playground as a warzone, where the sandpit might, indeed, be as deep as the sea and hold dead bodies and where adult authority might only make things worse.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    A little girl faces a moral dilemma after she sees her brother being bullied.

A–Z of French Film Festival 2021 reviews

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