CINEFRANCO 2024
CineFranco, a celebration of French Cinema, one of my favourite Film Festivals returns to Toronto on November the 1st with a wide range of French films from all over the world, including the latest film QUAND VIENT L’AUTOMNE from Francois Ozone currently playing in Paris. Under the leadership and auspices of its directrice Marcelle Lean, this year’s films will be screened right in the heart of downtown Toronto at the Carton Cinemas.
The festival highlights new films from Masters including Lea Pool, Robert Guédiguian, Yvan Attal and Francois Ozon.
Please check the Cinefranco website at
cinefranco.com
for the entire program and screening times.
BonCinema!
Capsule Review of Select Films:
BRISE GLACE (BROKEN WATERS) (Canada 2022) ***
Directed by Karolyne Natasha
Karolyne Natasha does double duty in this film shot in Ottawa in both French and English as a mental patient, Isabelle who steals babies. She comes under the watchful eye of a psychiatrist who goes out of her way to help her despite her pregnancy. The film attempts to send a message on the plight of miscarriages, as Isabelle suffers mentally from a lost baby. The anti-pharma psychiatrist's unconventional methods and unexpected pregnancy combine to unravel every part of both their lives. The film is set in the cold in winter with the frigid air and ice and snow reflecting the isolation of illness.. The film is over serious in its delivery a few injected light-hearted moments would help. The film is a woman’s film with the males playing an insignificant part in the story,
CHASSE GARDEE (Guest Place)(France 2023) ***
Directed by Frédéric Forestier and Antonin Fourlon
The comedy centres on a war between a Parisian family and the country folk. When a couple with two kids buys a house in the country to escape the pitfalls of city life, they get more than they bargained for when hunting season begins. The hunters use their farmland as their hunting grounds. The family fears for their safety and wage a war with the whole village, comprising many hunters. The film has a few keen observations of the country folk with a few good ideas like the very young mayor (because they cannot find anyone else to hold office) who is so young that he is still taking driving lessons and living with his mother and the switch in prices at the daily farmers market for city and country folk. But most of the jokes could have been funnier. Still, one can learn a few things from the film, like the French country cuisine of ceps (of the mushroom family), which enhances the film’s interest. The best thing about the movie is the cameo by Thierry Lermitte, who steals the show as the hilarious lawyer father of the wife.
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UN COUP DE DES (Breaking Point) (France 2023) ***
Directed by Yvan Attal
A strange modern noir thriller, actor/director Yvan Attal’s (MA FEMME EST UNE ACTRICE) follows two toxic men of different personalities who despite falling for the same femme fatale work and play together. Ever since Vincent saved his life years ago (shown at the beginning of the film), Mathieu has been in debt and in his shadow. Mathieu is now used and tired of covering his friend’s business. When he meets Elsa, Vincent’s rejected mistress who threatens to reveal everything, Mathieu also falls under the spell of the young woman. The quiet innocent friend and loving husband soon gets caught up in a web of lies and deception. The rot has set in. And death awaits around the corner… One wonders about the purpose or message of the stator - probably there is none - which also dampers the entertaining element.
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D’AVOUE JAMAIS (France 2024) ****
Directed by Ivan Calberac
A surprisingly good film, hilarious, insightful, and extremely well performed by veteran actors Sabine Azema and Andre Dussollier. When ex-military Francois discovers 40-year-old love letters in the attic from his wife’s admirer, he goes ballistic and decides to go to Nice to beat him up. But after 40 years, he cannot recall what the admirer, an old acquaintance of theirs looks like. As Annie remembers, she tags along hoping to quell her husband’s anger. The best surprise is the admirer, who turns out to be played by Thierry Lhermitte, who is a heartthrob in his younger acting days. Annie treats the trip as a second honeymoon. But things take a turn with twists in the story that include Francois finding out that his daughter living in Nice is a lesbian and that he himself has an admirer. The film contains perhaps the funniest segment in a film this year - the one in Andre’s daughter’s bedroom where he discovers her lover under the sheets. D’AVOUE JAMAIS is pure delight and is the type of comedy CineFranco is famous for.
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ET LA FETE CONTINUE! (And the {party Goes On!) (France 2023) ***½
Directed by Robert Guédiguian
Robert Guédiguian veteran of cinema, a majority of them set in his birthplace of Marseille, returns with his wife and muse Ariane Ascaride starring in AND THE PARTY GOES ON, a melancholic, reflection of times past full of nostalgia and good intentions. The film is full of repeatable quotations and every character in the story has a good heart in Marseille, France. Rosa (Ascaride) divides her energy between her close-knit family, her nursing work and her political commitment. But as she approaches retirement, her illusions begin to waver. When meeting Henri (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), she realizes that it's never too late to achieve her own dreams, both political and personal. Robsinso Stevenin also has a role-playing Rosa’s Armenian son, Sarkis. The film also contains beautiful shots of Marielle and the surrounding sea. Fans of Robert Guédiguian should be delighted. Quite a few of Guédiguian’s films, except this one, have been picked up by TIFF and it is good that CineFranco can get this title.
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HOTEL SILENCE (Switzerland/Canada 2023)***
Directed by Lea Pool
Lea Pool is an established Swiss director with more than a dozen films many of them Swiss/Canadian co-productions like HOTEL SILENCE, her latest one. My fav and her arguably best, is the 1999 SET ME FREE or EMPRTE MOI, a remarkable film covering half a dozen different genres in a is gel film. A psychological drama follows a man suicidal at times, as he leaves home to discover himself. At the age of 52 Jean is divorced and depressed. He decides to set off on a one-way journey of no return to an unnamed country destroyed by war. But nothing goes exactly as planned. His despair soon seems minor in the face of the fate of those who welcome him, clinging to the slightest hope of reconstruction. As he comes into contact with them, the urgency to end the war becomes less pressing, to the point where Jean gradually rediscovers the meaning of his existence. Pool demonstrates once again her expertise in covering tough subjects. She manages to hit all the right nerves to move her audience Slow but never dull, and beautifully shot in the war-torn country and stark wintry Canadian landscape, Pool’s film is matched by an extraordinary performance by Sébastien Ricard as the troubled man, Jean. The only complaint is that in the unknown country, everyone speaks perfect French.
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QUAND VIENT L’AUTOMNE (France 2024) ***** Top 10
Directed by Francois Ozone
QUAND VIENT L’AUTOMNE follows a senior lady Michelle (Hélène Vincent) living a peaceful retirement in a charming Burgundy village near her longtime friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balansko). She eagerly anticipates her grandson Lucas spending the school vacation with her, but things don’t go as planned with tensions arising from her daughter who takes Lucas back from her vacation with Michelle. Feeling lonely, Michelle loses her sense of purpose, until Marie-Claude’s son gets out of prison. Described as the idiot son, fate then plays a twist in the story of Michelle’s life. Director Ozone proves a superb storyteller with the twists and turns in his tale effortlessly unfolding surprises and twists to utter delight. Though not a comedy, this charming drama of life is nevertheless lighter than his wicked comedies like SITCOM and LES AMANTS CRIMINELS. His mark of excellence is everywhere in the film. Though not a gay film, the gay element is beautifully brought into the picture in one scene where Lucas is asked by Marie-Claude’s son if he has a girlfriend. When the answer is no, Marie Claude’s son gives him a look that girls have nothing to do with their lives. Arguably Ozon’s career-best film.
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ROSALIE (France/Belgium 20230 ***
Directed by Stéphanie Di Giusto
ROSALIE is a handsomely mounted period piece complete with costumes, sets, props, and of course, drama. In 1870s France, Rosalie is a young woman unlike any other, she hides a secret. She was born with a face and body covered in hair. She’s concealed her peculiarity all her life to stay safe, shaving to fit in. Until Abel, an indebted bar owner unaware of her secret marries her for her dowry. Rosalie’s only wish is to be truly seen as the woman she is despite a difference she no longer wishes to hide. By letting her beard grow, she will finally set herself free. This is not taken lightly by a village unkind to things little known. Director Stéphanie Di Giusto captures Rosalie’s affliction in great detail showing how her bravery affects not only her husband but everyone around her. Nadia Tereszkiewicz is marvellous as ROSALIE.
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SAGE-HOMME (France 2023) ***
Directed by Jennifer Devoldère
SAGE-HOMME means aid-wife and the mid-wife in the film is a male, the only male in his medical class of females. The film shows what it is like to be a male minority for a change in what can be described as an amusing coming-of-age story with a different slant. After failing the entrance exam to become a doctor, Léopold is relegated to midwifery. Clearly, delivering babies is a challenging profession for a young man who comes from a hyper male background of three younger brothers and a macho father, and gets a baptism of fire in a world dominated by women, and particularly his boss Nathalie. Katrin Viard as Nathalie, absolutely steals the show in every scene she is in. Though predictable to an extent with a happy ending, of course, SAGE-HOMME still manages to be quite entertaining with a few surprises up the director’s sleeve as well.
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