Theme of the Month Archives - The American French Film Festival in Los Angeles

MEMOIR OF WAR

Bruno Rony — Tue, 25 May 2021 23:14:40 +0000

MEMOIR OF WAR

| 2018 – 126′ – Drama / War –
Written and Directed by Emmanuel Finkiel.
Based on a Novel by Marguerite Duras.
Starring Mélanie Thierry, Benoît Magimel, Benjamin Biolay, Shulamit Adar, Emmanuel Bourdieu, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet.
France’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Oscars. 8 César Awards nominations including Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film. Official Competitions: COLCOA French Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival.
In French with English subtitles.
A Music Box Films release. |

Trailer

Mélanie Thierry is riveting as a distraught Marguerite Duras in Emmanuel Finkiel’s ambitious adaptation of the legendary writer’s semi-autobiographical collection of writings, The War: A Memoir. The setting is 1944 Nazi-occupied France. Duras and her husband, Robert Antelme, are working for the Resistance. When he’s taken prisoner by the Gestapo and deported, she agonizes over his fate and does everything in her power to hasten his release. Enter Vichy collaborator Rabier (a chilling Benoît Magimel) who plays a sinister, flirtatious game with Duras, setting up a series of clandestine meetings and promising information on Robert’s whereabouts. But is he sincere or just trying to dig up dirt on the Resistance underground. The film’s evocative French title, La Douleur — literally translated as “the pain” — perhaps best captures the film’s theme and harrowing depiction of waiting, grief and inner torment in wartime.

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THE GUARDIANS

Bruno Rony — Wed, 05 May 2021 04:17:27 +0000

THE GUARDIANS

| 2018 – 135′ – Drama / History-,
Co-Written & Directed by Xavier Beauvois.
Starring Nathalie Baye, Laura Smet, Iris Bry, Olivier Rabourdin, Cyril Descours.
Official Selection COLCOA French Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival.
In French with English subtitles.
A Music Box Films release.|

Trailer

An affecting human drama of love, loss, and resilience unfolds against the backdrop of World War I. The women of the Paridier farm, under the deft hand of Hortense, the family’s matriarch (Nathalie Baye,) must grapple with the workload while the men, including two sons, are off at the front. Hortense reluctantly brings on an outsider, the hard-scrabble teenage orphan, Francine (played by radiant newcomer and Cesar nominated Iris Bry), to help her daughter Solange (Laura Smet). New tools allow the women to triumph over the land, newfound independence is acquired, yet emotions are stirred especially when the men return from the front on short leaves. Acclaimed filmmaker Xavier Beauvois (OF GODS AND MEN) revels in the mysteries and beauties of the French countryside, here unravaged by war, with painterly images bathed in natural light, yet keeps his focus on the intricate drama that plays out against the upheaval of the Great War.

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FAREWELL MY QUEEN

Bruno Rony — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 20:10:37 +0000

FAREWELL MY QUEEN

| 2012 – 100′ – Romance / History / Drama –
Co-Written and Directed by Benoît Jacquot
Based on Chantal Thomas’ novel.
Starring Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Virginie Ledoyen, Xavier Beauvois, Noémie Lvovsky, Michel Robin.
Official selection COLCOA French Film Festival. Opening Film Berlin International Film Festival. Winner 3 César Awards.
In French with English subtitles.
A Cohen Media Group release.|

Trailer

FAREWELL MY QUEEN marks the return of acclaimed director Benoît Jacquot (A SINGLE GIRL, SEVENTH HEAVEN , IN THE WOODS) and brilliantly captures the passions, debauchery, occasional glimpses of nobility and ultimately the chaos that engulfed the court of Marie Antoinette in the final days before the full-scale outbreak of the Revolution. Based on the best-selling novel by Chantal Thomas, the film stars Léa Seydoux as one of Marie’s ladies-in-waiting, seemingly innocent but quietly working her way into her mistress’s special favors, until history tosses her fate onto a decidedly different path. With the action moving effortlessly from the gilded drawing rooms of the nobles to the back quarters of those who serve them, this is a period film at once accurate and sumptuous in its visual details and modern in its emotions. Diane Kruger gives her best performance to date as the ill-fated Queen and Virginie Ledoyen is the Queen’s special friend Gabrielle de Polignac.

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QUEEN MARGOT

Bruno Rony — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 20:06:42 +0000

QUEEN MARGOT

| 1994/ 2014 – 159′ – Classic – Digitally Restored – Director’s cut – History / Drama –
Written by Danièle Thompson and Patrice Chéreau.
Directed by Patrice Chéreau.
Based on Alexandre Dumas’ novel.
Starring Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Vincent Perez, Virna Lisi, Dominique Blanc, Asia Argento, Pascal Greggory.
Official selection COLCOA French Film Festival (restored version), Cannes International Film Festivals (Jury’s Prize), 12 César Awards nominations & 5 César Awards winner, including Best Actress (Isabelle Adjani).
In French with English subtitles.
A Cohen Media Group release.|

Trailer

Sister of King Charles IX, Margot is young, beautiful, and Catholic. She is to be sacrificed on the altar – the wedding altar – to the coarse, petulant, and Protestant Henri, King of Navarre. The marriage has been arranged to help end the interminable religious wars that plagued 16th century France. Disgusted by Henri, Margot seeks solace in the form of love from someone well outside a court infested with intrigues, betrayals, and royal poisoners. But as Protestant aristocrats pack the city to attend the wedding, an assassination attempt triggers a bloody chain of events that will lead to wholesale slaughter. Sprawling, savage, fearless, sensual, and ingenious, this restless retelling of a grisly chapter in French history is stacked with career-defining performances, including Isabelle Adjani’s insatiable yet vulnerable Margot, and Virna Lisi’s rapacious and unrepentant Catherine de’ Medici. COLCOA is proud to present with Cohen Media Group the 20th anniversary digitally restored director’s cut version of Patrice Chereau’s masterpiece.

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Augustine

Bruno Rony — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 23:15:06 +0000

AUGUSTINE

| 2013 – 102′ – Biopic / Drama –
Written and Directed by Alice Winocour.
Starring Vincent Lindon, Soko, Chiara Mastroianni, Olivier Rabourdin, Grégoire Colin.
Official Selection COLCOA French Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Critics Week Cannes Film Festival.
Three César Awards nominations including Best First Feature.
In French with English subtitles.
A Music Box Films release.|

Trailer

The powerful and darkly sensual drama AUGUSTINE is based on the true story of the unusual relationship that developed between Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, the pioneering 19th century French neurologist and mentor to Sigmund Freud, and his star teenage patient. In Belle Epoque Paris, 19-year-old kitchen maid Augustine suffers an inexplicable seizure that leaves her partially paralyzed and is shipped off to an all-female psychiatric hospital specializing in the then-fashionable ailment of ‘hysteria’. Augustine captures the attention of renowned neurologist Dr. Charcot (Vincent Lindon) after she has another attack that appears to give her intense physical pleasure. Intrigued, he begins using her as his principal subject, hypnotizing her in front of his fellow doctors. As Augustine displays her spectacular fits in lecture halls, the lines between doctor and patient become blurred, radically impacting the course of both of their lives. Chronicling one woman’s sexual awakening against the backdrop of Victorian psychology and social repression, director Alice Winocour’s auspicious feature film debut stars 27 year-old French recording artist Soko in a breakout performance.

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CHICHINETTE, THE ACCIDENTAL SPY

Bruno Rony — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 07:44:55 +0000

CHICHINETTE, THE ACCIDENTAL SPY

| 2020 – 86′ – Documentary – French, Germany
Written and Directed by Nicola Hens.
Starring Marthe Cohn.
In English and French with English subtitles.
A Kino Lorber release.|

Trailer

The untold story of Marthe Cohn, a feisty young woman who joined the French resistance during WWII. After keeping silent for almost 60 years, Marthe now shares the extraordinary story of how she managed to beat the odds and fight the Nazis as a spy. At the age of 98, she still tours the world, showing off her medals and promoting her message to people of all generations. Her harrowing journey is told with reverence, while her joie de vivre shines through, filling the film with hope for the future. – JCC Manhattan.

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