Toronto Celebrates French Language Films

CINEFRANCO 2006

With spring arrives one of the best other (besides the Toronto International Film Festival) film festival, Cinefranco – a celebration of French language films.  This year, the ever enthusiastic and joyful Marcelle Lean and her team bring 40 films from various countries, the main ones being France and Canada (Quebec).  But the spotlight is Morocco with a very enlightening film THE SLEEPING CHILD that captures both the beauty and hardship of its people. 

Two outstanding French films that I saw last were INNOCENCE and THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED.  The latter which also won the Cesar for Best Film and the BAFTA (British Academy Award) for Best Foreign Film is on this year’s list.  So are the latest films from Gerard Jugnot (BOUDU), Bertrand Blier (COMBIEN TY M’AIMES?), festival favorite Josiane Balasko (THE EX-LOVE OF MY LIFE) and Brigitte Rouan (HOUSEWARMING).  What more can a film enthusiast ask?

Last year saw the loss of Jacques Villeret, one of France’s most beloved and versatile actors.  Those outside France will remember him in his most famous role as the idiot in LE DINER DE CONS (THE DINNER GAME).  Cinefranco 2006 pays homage to Villeret by screening three of his latest films including his 1998 comedy, LE DINER DE CONS.  His latest films, THE ANTIDOTE establishes Villeret as a master comedian while GREY SOULS displays his talent in a more serious role as a merciless judge.

Again, Cinefranco has drama, comedy, romance and the best of the commercial films released last year, particularly in France.  As always, Cinefranco is sheer delight. 

BON CINEMA!

For show times, film schedule and ticket bookings, check the website at:
http://www.cinefranco.om

Below are capsule reviews of the films that I have seen that are screened during the festival:-

LES AMES GRISES (GREY SOULS) (France 2005) ****
Directed by Yves Angelo
Disguised as a whodunit set in the small northern French town of Arras during the World War 1, GREY SOULS is an ambiguous murder mystery that studies twisted passion, madness and class cruelty.  Directed by Yves Angelo (of LA COLONEL CHABERT; Angelo also did the cinematography for LES MOTS BLEUS screened at the festival), the film begins with a girl’s body found by the canal.  “The world has gone mad!” as one character says.  The story flashes back 3 months earlier to relate to the people and events that had led to the tragedy.  It becomes apparent that GREY SOULS pits the higher class against the others.  Veteran Jean-Pierre Marielle plays the town prosecutor (irony here, perhaps?) suspected of the murder, investigated by a vicious Judge (Jacques Villeret in a dead serious role) who will stop at nothing to torment the weaker race.  While not indulging in his gourmet meals, he is torturing his suspects.  Angelo uses the town cop (Denis Podalydes) to make sense of the entire situation.  Initially slow at the start, Angelo’s film eventually intrigues and shocks.  Marielle, Villeret and Podalydes deliver riveting performances.  Brutal, ghastly and occasionally ironical (the judge gets kicked in by a horse), LES AMES GRISES is Angelo’s best film to date!

L’ANTIDOTE (France 2005) ***1/2
Directed by Vincent de Brus
L’ANTIDOTE is traditional French comedy.  High profile CEO, JAM (Christian Clavier) is at the peak of his career except that he falls victim to anxiety attacks.  He becomes a sweaty, bumbling mess, confusing words and phrases like saying ‘betting on your verbs’ while meaning ‘getting on your nerves’.  (Because L’ANTIDOTE is in French, a lot of the hilarity due to the word play is lost in translation.) His antidote is of the form of a social misfit, Morin (the late Jacques Villeret).  Raison d’etre?  Has to be seen to be believed!  Anyway, Morin has to be close to JAM at all times, driving him crazy, but curing him at the same time.  But there is a twist.  Morin is also a minor but knowledgeable accountant with a heart of gold.  Director De Brus’ film takes its time to find its footing, but once there, the assured piece is funny, entertaining and often clever.  Clavier and Villeret make good comedic pairing.  Thierry Llermitte (who stars quite often with Villeret) has a cameo as JAM’s therapist.  More assured and inventive than LE DINER DE CONS, L’ANTIDOTE is a worthy film to remember as the late Jacques Villeret’s final outing.

THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED (DE BATTRE MON COUER S’EST ARRETE)
(France 2005) ***** Year’s Top 10
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Bravo to the Cinefranco team for bringing this latest work from French director Jacques Audiard (READ MY LIPS).  An improved remake of James Toback’s 1977 film FINGERS with Roman Duris in the Harvey Kietel role, Audiard’s male hero, Tom (like Vincent Cassel in READ MY LIPS) is pretty much the troubled protagonist stuck on the wrong side of the law.  Re-set in Paris, Tom is in real estate.  He plants rats and destroys fixtures to evict tenants from buildings.  But his inner desire to better himself and to be a concert pianist takes him to (humorously) train with a, yes, Vietnamese Beijing student, Mao Lin (Linh Dan Pham) studying in Paris.  The film’s best scenes have him playing the piano under her supervision.  THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED is a character study of a man, bound by family and duty, eager to seek redemption and a better life, which he finally attains after a difficult struggle.  Though set in a primarily male world of bar fights, drinking and womanizing, a strong feminine point of view is maintained through the character of Lin.  Audiard films often using hand-held camera and jumpy frames, which create an edgy feel to the scenes.  He elicits fine performances from all his cast, especially his young lead Duris.  Audiard’s film is a disturbing, violent but compelling film that is better on a second viewing.  (I first caught this film in London last November).  Yet Audiard is not without his sense of wit and humor.  Example: Tom plays classical piano but listens to electro on his Walkman; his Chinese student is named Jean-Pierre.  THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED won the BAFTA (British Academy Award) for Best foreign Film and Cesar (French Oscar) for Best film.  Well-deserved!

CACHE-CACHE (PEEKABOO) (France 2006) ***
Directed by Yves Cauman
CACHE-CACHE is the known children’s game which involves someone hiding behind a hanky and popping up with a ‘peek-a-boo’.  Yves Cauman’s odd film concerns an expropriated farmer, Raymond (mime artist Bernard Blancan looking like a sultrier version of Mr. Bean) who takes to living in a well when his farmhouse is bought by a family.  The film’s humor and human behavioural study lies largely with poor Raymond dodging in and out of the family’s activities.  He kidnaps the dog, re-arranges ornaments and creates minor pandemonium for Frederic (Antoine Chappey) and wife Caroline (Lucia Sanchez).  Cauman’s film has keen observations of life in the country. His sets are as colourful -windows are purple, walls are bright yellow – as his characters.  Music is a mish mash of sounds and jingles.  CACHE CACHE, with minimal dialogue, aims at the family market.  A nice blend of comedy and drama!

COMBIEN TU M’AIMES? (France/It 2005) ***
Directed by Bertrand Blier
Bald men, prostitutes and Gerard Depardieu.  Bertrand Blier (MENAGE A TROIS, TROP BELLE POUR TOI and TAKE OUT YOUR HANKERCHIEFS) has stuck to his staple mould in his latest film about the prostitute, Daniela (Monica Belluci) with the heart of gold, who moves in with mild-mannered office worker, Francois (BERNARD CAMPAN) who has offered her a huge sum for staying with him.  (Francois has touched the lottery).  She is decent and feels uncomfortable.  She leaves to revert back to her old ways.  Perhaps the film could be called TROP DECENT POUR TOI!  Blier’s film is very funny in the start but the novelty slowly wears thin by the second half of his film.  Depardieu as Daniela’s pimp is hilarious!  The verbal catfight catfight argument scene between Daniela and the neighbour in the early hours of the morning sums up the theme for HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME.  Ironical, funny, non-sensical and hilarious at times, but sometimes a bit out of place as well.  Still Blier’s films are always a hoot and never boring!

DANS TES REVES (France 2005) **
Directed by Denis Thybaud
Denis Thybaud’s DANS TES REVES (IN YOUR DREAMS) begins as an energetic, violent and atmospheric piece.  A hip-hop star and his girlfriend (a really odd couple) talk sex and fight while discussing his show.  The protagonist Ixe’s (Disiz La Peste) nemesis, Gun (Tony Mpoudja) taunts him about his talent and the girlfriend.  Ixe’s sister bursts into his room with a broken arm.  Though all signs point toward an all-out no rules barred even refreshing maverick movie, Tybaud’s film slowly descends into a clichéd plotted piece of artist-coming-of-age film.  The familiar overworked mother advising Ixe to study and not dance, the neglected girlfriend, the talented best friend and the typical bad guys –are all there.  Though the rap sequences are adequately staged with the appropriate high energetic choreographed moves, we have all seen this done before in Curtis Hanson’s 8 MILE.  And done much better!  Beatrice Dalle, as Ava is fantastic as the show’s producer.

L’ENFANT ENDORMI” (THE SLEEPING CHILD) (Belgium/Morocco 2005) ***
Directed by Yasmine Kassari
SLEEPING CHILD is one and the most appropriate film in this year’s Cinefranco’s Moroccan series.  Winner of numerous awards including the Best Film in Tangiers, the film depicts not only the country’s customs, mores and life-style but also effectively conveys the feelings and plight of its people.  In Kassari’s film, the protagonist is Halima (Rachida Braki).  Her husband takes off to Spain as an illegal immigrant worker.  Halima is forced to stay with her in-laws while waiting eagerly for his return.  As Halima is as human as any other race, she gets in trouble for flirting with the local teacher and beaten up.  THE SLEEPING CHILD of the title refers to the unborn baby of Zeinab (Mounia Osfour), Halima’s best friend in the village.  After discovering her pregnancy, Zeinab uses white magic to keep the child ‘sleeping’ till her husband’s return.  Kassari fills his film with bright colours and photographs the fields and village well depicting optimism such as experienced by the waiting women.  Kassari also delves into the raison d’etre why the dilemma occurs.  SLEEPING CHILD is brimming with emotions and drama.

LE DINER DE CONS (France 1998) **
Directed by Francis Weber
The plot is simple, typical of the 70’s and 80’s Weber comedies with Pierre Richard, Depardieu and the like. Thierry Lhermitte needs an ‘idiot’ for his idiot dinner. Whoever in the dinner circle comes up with the best idiot goes back triumphant. As it goes, because of an injury, Lhermitte gets stuck with the idiot as an unwanted guest in his home. Jacques Villeret (the idiot), causes Lhermitte to lose his wife, his mistress and his best friend, not to mention his sanity.  Basically a play adapted for the screen by Veber, the film is stagey. And the bits of location filming on the golf course or on the street seem awkward. There are a few laughs though, mostly provided by Villeret. “Le Diner” is passable old-fashioned entertainment for the non-discerning.  Being remade by Dreamworks as DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS for 2007.

LITTORAL (Canada/France 2004) ***
Directed by Wajdi Mouawad
LITTORAL – English title TIDELINE – traces a young Lebanese Montrealer, Wahab’s (Steve Laplante) journey of discovery as he leaves comfortable Canada for Lebanon to bury his suddenly deceased father.  The shock comes from the fact that he only just discovers he had a father and so he guiltily decides to do the burial duty.  LITTORAL is written by the Governor General Award winning playwright Mouawad who also directed his own play.  There are problems with the play’s adaptation.  Wahab’s occupation is never mentioned.  One also wonders how he could leave Canada for this long period of time.  And the risk of casting a non Lebanese actor (Laplante) in the main role barely pays off.  But Mouawad’s keen cinematic eye more than makes up for the film’s flaws.  The haunting music, handsome photography and carefully tracked and framed shots together with some genuinely suspenseful (the characters caught in a mine field) are some of the film’s pleasures. 

LES MOTS BLEUS (France 2005) ***
Directed by Alain Corneau
Alain Corneau’s (TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE, NOCTURNE INDIEN) latest entry LES MOTS BLEUS (English title - SOME KIND OF BLUE) is the sparsest but no less simplistic of his films.  It centres on characters dealing with words of the lack of them.  There is the illiterate mother, Clara (Sylvie Testud), refusing to learn to read/write as her grandmother died while reading to her, her non-speaking but not mute daughter, Anna (Camille Gauthier) and Anna’s teacher, Vincent (Sergi Lopez).  The film’s interest lies in the film’s lack of dialogue.  LES MOTS BLEUS might move at a slow pace but much can be interpreted and understood by the viewer.  Corneau offer no easy explanations.  This fact, together with the rather predictable ending might infuriate certain viewers.

LE NEUVAINE (Canada 2005) ***
Directed by Bernard Emond
Director Bernard Emond returns to the festival with this entry of two strangers, Jeanne and Francois who meet in the little Quebec town of St. Anne-de-Beaupre, home of the famous Catholic shrine.  They have one thing in common - despair and hopelessness and a need of redemption.  The unlikely couple (this is not a love story) learns from each other and slowly comes to terms with their inner demons.  Emond films Francois’ story straight but Jeanne’s more artistically.  For example, Jeanne speaks to the audience mainly through a voice-over when she is seen meditating or pondering over her troubles.  Emond is an effectively enough story-teller who keeps his film moving at an effective pace to keep his viewers interested.  This kind of film will most likely only be seen on the big screen outside French speaking Canada during festivals of this sort.

PAPA (France 2005) **
Directed by Maurice Bartelemy
This odd entry is a road trip taken by father and son (Alain Chabat and Martin Combes) as they travel south in their car.  Starting off as a comedy and moving towards an emotional dramatic awakening, Bartelemy’s film moves slowly but surely towards its goal.  Nothing much is revealed at the start – why is the trip taken; what has happened in the past; where is maman – and that is the main trouble of PAPA.  Bartelemy’s film is overly manipulative, annoying like an overlong family trip to nowhere and the humour is repetitive and often juvenile.  Bartelemy never reveals where exactly the pair is at, though the scenery and costume (one segment has an Alascian top won by the boy) offer a few hints.  Everything is eventually revealed (trop tard) by the film’s last frame but boredom has already set in by that time.  The obscenities frequently uttered by PAPA in front of the boy suggest an adult film despite the theme.

LA RAVISSEUSE (France 2005) ****
Directed by Antoine Santana
Looking very much the same in style as Eric Rohmer’s THE LADY AND THE DUKE, this period piece set in the late 1880’s is a tale of a class struggle hidden under the story of a servant serving as a wet nurse for a rich master and wife.  A shepherd girl, Angele-Marie (Isild Le Besco) is hired to breast feed the infant child of Charlotte (Emile Dequenne) and Julien (Gregoire Colin).  Things do not work out that well when Julien neglects Charlotte for work and Charlotte forms an uneasy bond with Marie, who is below their class.  Director Santana builds the tension very carefully, relating the problems initially to Julien wanting a boy child.  Gregoire Colin, superb as the quiet and brooding Master, looking so prim and proper and different from his previous roles (SADE and LE BEAU TRAVAIL), proves that good help is both hard to appreciate and hard to get rid of.  LA RAVISSEUSE, though sparse in its settings, accomplishes much in its costumes and décor to affect a thoroughly engaging period drama.  A wonderfully understated and incredibly sexual film!