SFFS 'French Cinema Now' series, Oct 8-Nov 3, 2010

[Chris Knipp]

SFFS 'French Cinema Now' series, Oct 8-Nov 3, 2010

The Film Society of San Francisco is showing a series of ten recent French films screening at the Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco.

For more details and reviews go to the Festival Coverage thread here.

Index to links to my reviews:

Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami 2010)
Copacabana (Marc Fitoussi 2009)
Princess of Montpensier, The (Bertrand Tavernier 2010)
Rapt (Lucas Belvaux 2009)
Real Life, A (Sarah Leonor 2009)
Two in the Wave (Emmanuel Laurent 2009)

The films in the series are:

Copacabana
Marc Fitoussi (France 2010)
Thursday, October 28, 6:45 pm & Friday, October 29, 9:30 pm

Rapt
Lucas Belvaux (France 2009)Thursday, October 28, 9:30 pm & Monday, November 1, 9:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema -- seen and reviewed. (Rendez-Vous, Lincoln Center, Feb. 2010.)

Sisters
Éléonore Faucher (Gamines, France 2009)
Saturday, October 30, 3:45 pm & Sunday, October 31, 6:45 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Irene
Alain Cavalier (France 2009)
Friday, October 29, 5:00 pm & Saturday, October 30, 1:45 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Love Like Poison
Katell Quillévéré (Un poison violent, France 2010)
Friday, October 29, 7:00 pm & Sunday, October 31, 9:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

The Princess of Menpensier
Bertrand Tavernier (La Princesse de Montpensier, France 2010)
Saturday, October 30, 6:30 pm & Sunday, October 31, 3:45 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

A Real Life
Sarah Leonor (Au voleur, France 2009)
Saturday, October 30, 9:30 pm & Tuesday, November 2, 6:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Two in the Wave
Emmanuel Laurent (Deux de la vague, France 2009)
Sunday, October 31, 1:30 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema -- seen and reviewed. (Film Forum, NYC, May 2010.)

Hidden Diary
Julie Lopes-Curval (Mères et filles, France 2009)
Monday, November 1, 6:30 pm & Tuesday, November 2, 9:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema

Certified Copy
Abbas Kiarostami [Closing Night]
Wednesday, November 3, 7:00 & 9:15 pm
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema -- seen and reviewed. (NYF, Lincoln Center, Sept. 2010)

[Chris Knipp]

Marc Fitoussi: COPACABANA (2010)


Copacabana, a dry feel-good comedy about a ditsy, colorful mom with a serious daughter starring Isabelle Huppert and real-life offspring Lolita Chammah, debuted at Cannes in May and opened theatrically in France July 7, 2010, receiving generally very enthusiastic reviews but with some strong dissenters. My sympathies are with the dissenters. Seen and reviewed as part of the French Cinema Now series of the San Francisco Film Society in Oct. 2010, where it was the Opening Night film, Oct. 28.

[Chris Knipp]

Sarah Leonor: A REAL LIFE (2009)

Leonor's love-on-the-run feature debut focuses on a petty thief and the German teacher who falls for him. The agreeably unpredictable and relaxed opening section isn't quite matched by the romantic windup, but his tragic premature death at 37 and increasingly seasoned, convincing performances in appealing, seedy roles make anything Guillaume Depardieu was ever in worth watching, especially in his last few years.

[Chris Knipp]

Lucas Belvaux: RAPT (2009)


Belvaux's film of the brutal kidnapping of a playboy industrialist and the ironic aftermath is based on true events. Like Giannoli's In the Beginning, it's a genre film that's both a work of art and an edge-of-your-seat popcorn movie (with subtitles though). In the San Francisco Film Society's French Cinema Now series, shown Thursday, October 28, 9:30 pm & Monday, November 1, 9:15 pm at Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco.

[Chris Knipp]

Emmanuel Laurent: TWO IN THE WAVE (2009)

A chatty documentary about the two of the chief figures of the French "Nouvelle Vague" (New Wave) film movement of the 1950's and 1960's, Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Debuted in the US at Film Forum (NYC) May 19, 2010; still no French release date announced. The film has as much about Truiffaut's on-screen alter ego Jean-Pierre Léaud as about the two filmmakers.

French Cinema Now showing: Sunday, October 31, 1:30 pm at Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco.

[Chris Knipp]

Bertrand Tavernier: THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER (2010)

Tavernier is in fine form in this costume drama from the long story by Madame de Lafayette sometimes calle the first French novel. Lambert Wilson and Raphael Personnaz excel as an infatuated tutor and a future king, and they are well backed up by Mélanie Thierry, Gaspard Ulliel, and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, as the beautiful young princess, her rakish first love, and her absent young husband.

Shown in the San Francisco Film Society's New French Cinema series Saturday, October 30, 6:30 pm & Sunday, October 31, 3:45 pm at Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco.

[Chris Knipp]

The closing night film of the series is Kiarostami's CERTIFIED COPY. I viewed this the first time at the NYFF. We'll see if there is a reassessment in order. Stay tuned.

[Chris Knipp]

Abbas Kiarostami: CERTIFIED COPY (2010)

The distinguished Iranian director’s first film shot in Europe is a puzzler about a man and woman who play at being a married couple. Or are they really married? In French, English, and Italian.

New review. Previously reviewed as part of the NYFF.