A guide to French cinema in Brisbane
French cinema enjoys a strong following in Brisbane, on both the big screen and the small. While this popularity is most clearly demonstrated by the ongoing success of the Alliance Française French Film Festival, the films continue to attract devoted audiences throughout the year.
This site will be a constantly updated guide to French films showing in Brisbane.
Cinema
Now showing at Palace
An Old Mistress
[R 18+]
On the eve of the wedding of Ryno de Marigny to the virtuous Hermangarde, Ryno's mistress of 10 years, the tempestuous Vellini, refuses to accept that their passionate love affair has come to an end.
The film is really the story of their affair, as told to Hermangarde's grandmother the Marquise de Flers by Ryno, bookended by the events of the days leading up to and early days of the marriage.
Starring the darling of CANNES 2007, Asia Argento, Breillat regular Roxane Mesquida and newcomer, the immensely talented Fu'ad Aït Aattou, AN OLD MISTRESS (UNE VIEILLE MAÎTRESSE) marks a new type of film for Catherine Breillat. Following her series of 10 films concerned with female sexuality (including ROMANCE and A MA SOEUR! and ending in ANATOMY OF HELL) Breillat has made a film based upon the 19th Century novel of the same name by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly.
At the Movies | Internet Movie Database | Ourbrisbane.com
Now showing at Dendy and Palace
Paris
The hugely anticipated new film from one of French cinema's hottest directors, Cedric Klapisch (When The Cat's Away, The Spanish Apartment, Russian Dolls).
The cast is one of the most dazzling assembled in recent memory - Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, François Cluzet, Albert Dupontel, Karin Viard and Mélanie Laurent to name just a few.
The story begins with Pierre (Duris), a young man unexpectedly confronted with his own mortality. For the next 24 hours, his tour through the city will weave with those of his beloved sister, his neighbours (some known, some not), their friends and workmates, and their interconnected stories of love, familial bonds, loneliness and compassion come together in unexpected ways.
This emotional and inspiring ode to Paris will have you entranced.
Official site | Internet Movie Database | Ourbrisbane.com
Now showing at Dendy and Palace
The Dinner Guest
Fifty years old and unemployed for three years, Gérard is getting desperate when, out of the blue, he is offered a job in Indonesia. Determined to make a good impression on his new boss, Gérard invites him to dinner. A BIG mistake! Panic-stricken, Colette, Gérard's wife, calls in Alexandre, their PR guru neighbour. Alexandre resolves to give the couple the ultimate 24-hour makeover. Their apartment, interior design, lifestyle, taste buds, fashion sense, general knowledge... nothing is overlooked! After many dramas, mishaps, misunderstandings and general bungling, with frazzled nerves, Gérard and Colette open the door to welcome... their dinner guest.
Official site | Internet Movie Database | Ourbrisbane.com
Now showing at Dendy and Palace
Moliére
In the spirit of 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Ridicule' comes the sumptuous and ribald new comedy from Laurent Tirard (I Do) about a mysteriously blank period in the life of great French satirist Jean-Baptiste Poquelin - aka Molière.
In 1644, Molière (a brilliant Romain Duris) is an impetuous 22-year-old. He's an undeniably bad actor and is up to his eyes in debt. And then, after having been imprisoned by his impatient creditors, he disappears... His release, we discover, is funded by the wealthy Monsieur Jourdain. Brought into his chalet, Moliere is soon embroiled in a hotbed of romance, repartee, subterfuge and seduction.
Supported with star turns by Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Ludivine Sagnier and Fanny Valette, Moliere is a crowdpleasing treat.
Official site | Internet Movie Database | Ourbrisbane.com
Coming soon to Dendy
Un Secret
Based on a novel by author Philippe Grimbert, Un Secret tells the tragic childhood story of Francois (Amalric). As a sickly young child, Francois (Vigourt) instinctively knew that he was a disappointment to his physically robust parents, Tania (de France) and Maxime (Bruel). Though Francois does find some amount of solace in his friendship with kindly masseuse Louise (Depardieu), his discovery of a strange toy in the attic causes his parents to act more strangely towards him than ever before.
Official site | Internet Movie Database
Television
We will announce any upcoming French cinema that will be shown on the small screen.
Latest DVDs
Releasing 16 January 2008
Distributed in Australia by Hopscotch/Roadshow
Lady Chatterley
The French adaptation of a British literary classic by D.H. Lawrence.
Winner of 5 César Awards 2007 Best Film, Best Actress, Best Adaptation, Best Cinematography and Best Costumes
Awarded Best Actress (Marina Hands) at the Tribeca Film Festival 2007
"An intensely sensual film. This is simply exquisite filmmaking." Julie Rigg, ABC Radio National.
Winning 5 French César awards in 2007 and with a gracious break-through performance by Marina Hands, Lady Chatterley is an elegant, intoxicating, moving and romantic film, which also captures Lawrence’s vision of a society in transition. Drawing on the most scandalous summer romance in English literature (which was banned initially in most European countries due to its explicit nature), French director Pascale Ferran (Purely Coincidental; The Sentinel) has beautifully adapted Lady Jane & John Thomas, the second version of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Opening in 1921, Constance Chatterley (Marina Hand: The Barbarian Invasions; Fidelity) is a young wife not so much oppressed by convention as bored with her marriage and detached from her own feelings. Her husband, Clifford (Hippollyte Girardot: King & Queen), wheelchair-bound from a war wound, has moved them to his family’s estate, Wragby, where there is not much for Constance to do. Until, that is, she meets Oliver Parkin (Jean-Louis Coulloch), Wragby’s gamekeeper, with his muscular physique and sad boxer’s face. Lady Chatterley tells the story of their impossible love, an experience that transforms both their lives.
Director Pascale Ferran shows, with exemplary clarity and subtlety, the way sexual attraction and the connection it creates, alters both Constance’s and Parkin’s perceptions of themselves, each other and the world around them. It's a film of beauty and unbridled joys, that arrive as much as a surprise to the audience as they do to the characters.
In stripping Lady Chatterley’s Lover of some of its mystique, Ferran has rediscovered both the novel’s originality and the source of its durable appeal, which is not salaciousness but candour. She has made a love story that stands on its own, a film whose imaginative freedom perfectly matches the liberation experienced by its heroine. Passionate and delicately erotic, Lady Chatterley is sure to enthral audiences just as the book has for almost 80 years.
I Do (Prête-moi ta main)
Recently released.
“It’s a funny, heart-warming tale about love, commitment and family. An enjoyable film.”
MARGARET POMERANZ, AT THE MOVIES
Irresistibly charming, I Do is a whimsical and infectious French romantic comedy that will make any cynic believe in true love again. This delightful comedy has all the hallmarks of a French classic - smart, funny, original, unexpectedly moving and above all, romantic. Starring French ‘It girl’, Charlotte Gainsbourg, (The Science of Sleep; 21 Grams), I Do is a about a confirmed bachelor who doesn't want to get married.
Life is good for Luis, (Alain Chabat: French Twist; And They Lived Happily Ever After). He’s a soft-hearted 43-year-old Parisian, happily single, enjoys his job at a chic perfumery and is loved, cherished and pampered by his domineering mother and five sisters. The only problem with his adoring family is they want him to settle down and get married. Fed up with doing his laundry and shopping, they resolve to find him a wife whether he likes it or not.
To halt the match-making process, Luis hatches what he thinks is a fool-proof plan. He will find the perfect woman who will charm his family, exchange engagement rings and then stand him up on their wedding day. After that, he will be so bereft that nobody will dare mention the word marriage again. By happy coincidence, he meets Emmanuelle, his best friend’s sister – bohemian yet worldly and absolutely captivating – who has just arrived in Paris and is looking for a job. It seems like a win-win situation for both of them but of course the charade takes an unforeseen turn.
The wonderfully constructed I Do is a witty take on the great Hollywood romantic comedies of the thirties. With a great supporting cast (Luis’ family is hilarious) they deliver a triumphant mix of affectionate characters and impeccable timing.
Internet Movie Database
Allocine.com
Last update: 26th February, 2008