Skip to main content

New York's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema · 2012

New York's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema 2012

Full slate

Programme

24 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

17 Women (17 filles)

A group of girls in a small town decide to get pregnant at the same time.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin; Writer: Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin; Stars: Louise Grinberg, Juliette Darche, Roxane Duran, Carlo Brandt, Esther Garrel, Noémie Lvovsky, Yara Pilartz, Solène Rigot, Florence Thomassin) , Official site

18 Years Old And Rising (J'aime regarder les filles)

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Fred Louf; Writer: Régis Jaulin, Fred Louf; Stars: Pierre Niney, Audrey Bastien, Lou de Laâge, Ali Marhyar, Victor Bessière, Michel Vuillermoz, Catherine Chevallier, Hervé Pierre, Johan Libéreau, Thomas Chabrol, Odile Vuillemin, Rachid Benbouchta, Veronique Mensch, Vincent Magescas, Jean-Baptiste Marcenac) , Official site

38 Witnesses (38 témoins)

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Lucas Belvaux; Writer: Didier Decoin; Stars: Yvan Attal, Sophie Quinton, Nicole Garcia, François Feroleto, Natacha Régnier, Patrick Descamps, Didier Sandre, Bernard Mazzinghi, Laurent Fernandez, Pierre Rochefort, Philippe Résimont, Sébastien Libessart, Dimitri Rataud, Vincent Lebodo, Anne-Sophie Pauchet)

Americano

The Mexican adventures of a young Frenchman on the trail of a mysterious woman who was a friend of his dead mother.

(Country: France, Mexico; Year: 2011; Director: Mathieu Demy; Writer: Mathieu Demy; Stars: Salma Hayek, Geraldine Chaplin, Chiara Mastroianni, Carlos Bardem, Mathieu Demy, Phillipe Simon, James Gerard, Cokey Falkow, Jean-Pierre Mocky, André Wilms, Fabio Zenoni, Octavio Maya, Romanö)

Les chants de Mandrin

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche; Writer: Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche; Stars: Jacques Nolot, Christian Milia-Darmezin, Kenji Levan, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, Salim Ameur-Zaïmeche, Sylvain Roume, Nicolas Bancilhon, Abel Jafri, Sylvain Rifflet, Sylvia Albaret, Xavier Pons, Jean-Luc Nancy, Yann-Yvon Pennec)

Delicacy (La délicatesse)

Review preview for Delicacy

A stagey, fast-food version of romance.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 2 out of 5
A woman struggles to find love again after she is widowed

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: David Foenkinos, Stéphane Foenkinos; Writer: David Foenkinos; Stars: Audrey Tautou, François Damiens, Bruno Todeschini, Mélanie Bernier, Joséphine de Meaux, Pio Marmaï, Monique Chaumette, Marc Citti, Alexandre Pavloff, Vittoria Scognamiglio, Olivier Cruveiller, Ariane Ascaride, Christophe Malavoy, Audrey Fleurot, Bénédicte Ernoult)

Full review

Les Enfants du Paradis (Children Of Paradise)

Review preview for Les Enfants du Paradis

Breathtakingly ambitious, exquisitely realised and performed and made under extreme circumstances, Les Enfants Du Paradis is an absolute joy to behold and a monument to the power of the arts to transcend opressive social and political climates.

Neil Mitchell · 5 out of 5
Four men compete for the affections of Garance, a free spirited courtesan.

(Country: France; Year: 1945; Director: Marcel Carne; Writer: Jacques Prvert; Stars: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Maria Casars, Marcel Herrand)

Full review

Farewell, My Queen (Les adieux à la Reine)

Review preview for Farewell, My Queen

Diane Kruger has only four days, all at the Petit Trianon, to leave her mark. And she does - a fervent and poignant, half-aware queen.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
The early days of the French Revolution as seen through the eyes of the servants at Versailles.

(Country: France / Spain; Year: 2012; Director: Benoït Jacquot; Writer: Benoît Jacquot, Gilles Taurand, Chantal Thomas; Stars: Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Virginie Ledoyen, Xavier Beauvois, Noemie Lvovsky)

Full review See: Introduction to Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema

Free Men (Les Hommes Libres)

Review preview for Free Men

Rahim shows here that A Prophet was no fluke.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In 1940s Paris, a young Algerian is blackmailed by the police into spying on a mosque and finds his life changing forever.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Ismaël Ferroukhi; Writer: Alain-Michel Blanc, Ismaël Ferroukhi; Stars: Tahar Rahim, Michael Lonsdale, Mahmud Shalaby, Lubna Azabal, Christopher Buchholz, Farid Larbi, Stéphane Rideau, Bruno Fleury, François Delaive, Jean-Pierre Becker, Marie Berto, Zakariya Gouram, Slimane Dazi, Aïcha Sokrane, Djemel Barek)

Full review

A Gang Story (Les Lyonnais)

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Olivier Marchal; Writer: Olivier Marchal, Edgar Marie, Edmond Vidal; Stars: Gérard Lanvin, Tchéky Karyo, Daniel Duval, Dimitri Storoge, Patrick Catalifo, François Levantal, Francis Renaud, Lionnel Astier, Valeria Cavalli, Estelle Skornik, Olivier Chantreau, Stéphane Caillard, Florent Bigot de Nesles, Nicolas Gerout, Olivier Rabourdin) , Official site

Guilty

Philippe Torreton gives a superb performance in Vincent Garenq's no-holds-barred docu-drama about a man unjustly accused in a notorious paedophilia trial.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Vincent Garenq; Writer: Vincent Garenq; Stars: Philippe Torreton, Wladimir Yordanoff, Nomie Lvovsky, Raphal Ferret)

Headwinds (Des vents contraires)

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2011; Director: Jalil Lespert; Writer: Olivier Adam, Marie-Pierre Huster, Marion Laine, Jalil Lespert; Stars: Benoît Magimel, Isabelle Carré, Antoine Duléry, Ramzy Bedia, Bouli Lanners, Marie-Ange Casta, Audrey Tautou, Daniel Duval, Lubna Azabal, Aurore Clément, Hugo Fernandes, Cassiopée Mayance, Nicolas Briançon, Mélanie Leray, Azzedine Bouabba) , Official site

Here Below (Ici-bas)

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Jean-Pierre Denis; Writer: Richard Boidin, Jean-Pierre Denis, Yvon Rouvé; Stars: Céline Sallette, Eric Caravaca, François Loriquet, Maud Rayer, Adeline D'Hermy, Jacques Spiesser, Nelly Antignac, Yves Beneyton, Aladin Reibel, Jean-Pierre Bagot, Oscar Copp, Patrick Authier, Pierre Tissot)

Last Screening

Review preview for Last Screening

The implausibilities pile up to a ludicrous extent and by the time the climax arrived I’m afraid I’d ceased to care what happened to any of them.

Jeff Robson · 2.5 out of 5
The projectionist of a small-town French cinema leads a murderous double life.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Laurent Achard; Writer: Laurent Achard, Frdrique Moreau; Stars: Pascal Cervo, Charlotte Van Kemmel, Karole Rocher, Austin Morel, Brigitte Sy)

Full review

Low Life

The latest collaboration between Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval is a politically engaged portrait of youth that avoids condescension and hand-wringing, managing to be intensely romantic and sincere.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Nicolas Klotz, Elisabeth Perceval; Writer: Nicolas Klotz, Elisabeth Perceval; Stars: Arash Naimian, Camille Rutherford, Michal Evans, Maud Wyler, Luc Chessel)

The Painting (Le Tableau)

Characters escape from a painting and travel through other works of art.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Jean-François Laguionie; Writer: Jean-François Laguionie, Anik Leray) , Official site

Paris By Night (Une nuit)

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Philippe Lefebvre; Writer: Philippe Isard, Philippe Lefebvre, Simon Michaël; Stars: Roschdy Zem, Sara Forestier, Samuel Le Bihan, Grégory Fitoussi, Jean-Pierre Martins, Jean-Paul Muel, Sophie Broustal, Gérald Laroche, Hélène Seuzaret, Kamel Labroudi, Michel Ferracci, Frédéric Graziani, Renorives, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Laurine Sabban) , Official site

Pater

Alain Cavalier and actor Vincent Lindon, film themselves as they pretend to be businessmen politicians campaigning for office.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Alain Cavalier; Writer: Alain Cavalier, Vincent Lindon; Stars: Vincent Lindon, Alain Cavalier, Bernard Bureau, Jonathan Duong, Hubert-Ange Fumey, Jean-Pierre Lindon, Manuel Marty, Claude Uzan, Alexandre Grégory, Jean Widhoff, Régis d'Audeville, Josette Baron, Thibault de Châteauvieux, Jérémy Flament, Olivier Mallet)

The Screen Illusion

Mathieu Amalric gives classic French theatre a twist by wittily updating Corneille's play as a modern intrigue set in the CCTV present.

(Country: France; Year: 2010; Director: Mathieu Amalric; Writer: Mathieu Amalric; Stars: Loc Corbery, Suliane Brahim, Herv Pierre, Alain Lenglet, Denis Podalyd's)

The Snows Of Kilimanjaro

Review preview for The Snows Of Kilimanjaro

Guediguian takes a subtle and even-handed approach, well aware that the selflessness of the central characters will be construed as weakness and misplaced guilt.

Jeff Robson · 3.5 out of 5
Director Robert Guediguian returns to his old Marseilles stamping ground for an entertaining, politically passionate drama starring the director's ensemble regulars.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Robert Guediguian; Writer: Robert Guediguian, Jean-Louis Milsi; Stars: Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre, Darroussin, Grard Meylan)

Full review

Unforgivable (Impardonnables)

A dense fast-moving narrative around a famous, old, womanising author in Venice.

(Year: 2011; Director: André Téchiné; Writer: André Téchiné, Mehdi Ben Attia, Philippe Djian; Stars: André Dussollier, Carole Bouquet, Mélanie Thierry, Adriana Asti, Mauro Conte, Alexis Loret, Zoé Duthion, Sandra Toffolatti, Andrea Pergolesi, Stefano Scandaletti, Niccolò Palesa, Massimo Piovesan, Dominique Muller, Fabio Alessandrini, Gloria Naletto)

Untouchable (Intouchables)

The relationship between a wealthy Parisian quadriplegic and his carer who comes from the slums of the banlieu.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano; Writer: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano; Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot, Clotilde Mollet, Alba Gaïa Kraghede Bellugi, Cyril Mendy, Christian Ameri, Grégoire Oestermann, Joséphine de Meaux, Dominique Daguier, François Caron, Thomas Solivéres, Dorothée Brière, Marie-Laure Descoureaux) , Official site

The Well-Digger's Daughter (La Fille Du Puisatier)

The tribulations of an unmarried woman who finds herself pregnant in the 1940s.

(Year: 2011; Director: Daniel Auteuil; Writer: Daniel Auteuil, Marcel Pagnol; Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad, Sabine Azéma, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Emilie Cazenave, Marie-Anne Chazel, Coline Bosso, Chloé Malarde, Brune Coustellier, Ilona Porte, Jean-Louis Barcelona, Patrick Bosso, François-Eric Gendron)

Zarafa

Review preview for Zarafa

The animated characters have a detailed, Disney-friendly feel, but there is little of the sentimentality that tends to fur the teeth of US animation.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A young boy, a prince and a balloonist escort a young giraffe halfway across the world, having adventures on the way.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2012; Director: Rémi Bezançon, Jean-Christophe Lie; Writer: Alexander Abela, Rémi Bezançon; Stars: Max Renaudin, Simon Abkarian, François-Xavier Demaison, Vernon Dobtcheff, Roger Dumas, Ronit Elkabetz, Mohamed Fellag, Déborah François, Thierry Frémont, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Clara Quilichini, Mostéfa Stiti)

Full review