SFFS French Cinema Now Series November 7–10, 2013

[Chris Knipp]

The San Francisco Film Society French Cinema Now series
(http://www.sffs.org/Exhibition/Fall-Season/French-Cinema-Now) Nov. 7–10, 2013

[FCN 2012] (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3364-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Seeries-Oct-24-30-2012&p=28681#post28681)


Links to the reviews.
2 Autumns, 3 Winters (Sébastien Betbeder 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31163#post31163)
Bastards (Claire Denis 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3583-New-York-Film-Festival-2013&p=31041#post31041)--NYFF 2013
A Castle in Italy (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31173#post31173)
The House of Radio (Nicolas Philibert 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31187#post31187)
Michael Kohlhaas (Arnaud des Pallières 2013 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31188#post31188)
Miss and the Doctors (Axelle Ropert 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31205#post31205)
Rendezvous in Kiruna (Anna Novion 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31175#post31175)
Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3583-New-York-Film-Festival-2013&p=30971#post30971)-NYFF 2013
Suzanne (Katell Quilévéré 2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31207#post31207)
Vic+Flo Saw a Bear (Denis Côté 2013)

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/3726/79ca.jpg

"This year’s cinema à la Française traverses the globe, from the wilds of Lapland and rural Quebec to a stately family mansion in Italy. Returning French Cinema Now filmmakers including Axelle Ropert and Alain Guiraudie join SF International Film Festival brethren Nicolas Philibert and Sébastien Betbeder for a stellar line-up of the best in current Francophone films."

I will be reviewing most of these films and also a number of the films of the Italian film series that will follow it. Stay tuned for links to the reviews in Filmleaf's Festival Coverage section. I have reviewed nine of the films, all but one in the series.

To start:

Sébastien Betbeder: 2 Autumns, 3 Winters (2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31163#post31163)

Click above for a review of this charming, easily-digestable post-modern four-hander about 30-somethings in Paris, which opens in French theaters on Christmas Day.

[Chris Knipp]

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi: A Castle in Italy (2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31173#post31173)

The tumultuous frivolity of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi: enough already! The titular castle in Italy, an interrupted auction of a Bruegel, an in vitro fertilization, a breakup, a reunion, much drama, much improvisation combine to make this a very scattershot effort by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi - but arguably something a bit more involving than its predecessor, Actresses (NYFF 2007), which also featured her then main squeeze, Louis Garrel, playing an actor, this time called Nathan.

[Chris Knipp]

Anna Novion: Rendezvous in Kiruna (2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31175#post31175)

The French-Swedish director delivers a quiet, meditative film about a highly successful French architect who goes to Lapland to identify the body of a drowned 26-year-old son he never knew. The excellent Jean-Pierre Darroussin, a mainstay of the films of Robert Guédiguian, does much to make this subtle and worthwhile.

[Chris Knipp]

Nicolas Philibert: The House of Radio (2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31187#post31187)

In his deeply moving 2002 masterpiece TO BE AND TO HAVE (ETRE ET AVOIR) about a first grade class in the mountains, the great documentarian Nicolas Philibert found the perfect subject. He admitted in a Guardian article (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jun/28/nicolas-philibert-what-my-films-are-about) of his topic this time, the French public radio system and headquarters, "Who knows? Maybe it's not such a good idea after all." And he proves this by having made a brilliantly edited, but basically empty film.

[Chris Knipp]

Arnaud des Pallières: Michael Kohlhaas (2013 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31188#post31188)

A hell of a good story and a true one written up by Wilhelm von Kleist in the 19th century, filmed in 1969 by Volker Schlöndorff, now done with the great Mads Mikkelsen in a more complex and brooding version by the remarkable, austere director of Adieu in striking naturally lit Cinemascope. A horse trader is deeply wronged by a nobleman and after seeking redress repeatedly in vain he becomes an outlaw. His right is ultimately acknowledged by all but he must pay a terrible price for his own wrongs. There is a striking scene where the unique Denis Lavant (of Holy Motors) as a reformest theologian (in the Kleist tale he's Martin Luther) tries to persuade Kohlhaas to abandon his lawless revenge. This debuted in competition at Cannes but has not gotten many good reviews. I don't think des Pallières is a director many people can understand. I only partly understood Adieu but I loved it and I found this more conventional film also beautiful and memorable.

[Chris Knipp]

Axelle Ropert: Miss and the Doctors (2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31205#post31205)

Roper (of The Wolberg Family, R-V 2010) in this sophomore effort produces a smart, atmospheric, slightly implausible serious rom-com set in the 13th arrondissement of Paris about two doctors who are doctors with a joint practice who fall in love with the same woman, the beautiful mother of one of their patients who has diabetes.

[Chris Knipp]

Katell Quilévéré: Suzanne (2013) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3618-SFFS-French-Cinema-Now-Series-November-710-2013&p=31207#post31207)

In the Dardennes, two sisters grow up and one becomes a bad girl who falls passionately in love with an attractive petty criminal. The director's sophomore effort astonishes after a tame first film with this ninety minutes of emotional rollercoaster action.

[Johann]

Re: Nicolas Philibert

I saw some his films at the Pacific Cinematheque in 2004:

www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?744-The-Extraordinary-Ordinary&highlight=philibert