Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center 2013

[Chris Knipp]

Rendez-Vous with French
Cinema 2013

To provide feedback to reviews and get day-to-day updates on screenings go to the Rendez-Vous Forums thread HERE.

Links to the reviews:

Augustine (Alice Winocour 2012)
The Atomic Age (Héléna Klotz 2012)
Bad Girl (Patrick Mille 2012) .
The Day of Crows (Jean-Christophe Dessaint 2012)
The Girl from Nowhere (Jean-Claude Brisseau 2012)
Granny’s Funeral (Bruno Podalydès 2012)
In the House (François Ozon 2012)
Jappeloup (Christian Duguay 2013)
Journal de France (Raymond Depardon, Claudine Nougaret 2012)
A Lady in Paris (Ilmar Raag 2012)
La Maison de la radio (Nicolas Philibert 2013)--CANCELLED
My Blue-Eyed Girl (Shalimar Preuss 2012)
The Nun (Guillaume Nicloux 2013)
Populaire (Régis Roinsard 2012)--NO FSLC PRESS SCREENING
Renoir (Gilles Bourdos 2012)
Rich is the Wolf (Damien Odoul 2012)
The Suicide Shop (Patrice Leconte 2012)
Thérèse Desqueyroux (Claude Miller 2012)
Three Worlds (Catherine Corsini 2012)
You, Me and Us (Jacques Doillon 2012)
You Will Be my Son (Gilles Legrand 2012)

The Rendez-Vous with French Cinema presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance has been announced for 2013. Public screenings will run from Feb. 28 to March 10. The Rendez-Vous site is here.

Augustine
Director: Alice Winocour
Screenplay: Alice Winocour Cast: Vincent Lindon, Soko, Chiara Mastroianni, Olivier Rabourdin
Synopsis:
Paris, winter 1885. At the Pitié-Salpêtriere Hospital, Professor Charcot is studying a mysterious illness: hysteria. Augustine, 19 years old, becomes his favorite guinea pig, the star of his demonstrations of hypnosis. The object of his studies will soon become the object of his desire… Based on a true case, writer-director Winocour has adapted the story of a progressive 19th century doctor/therapist and his unusual patient into a study of personal wills, hidden desires and reversals of fate. A maid who suffers from seizures is sent to a mental hospital, where it seems she’ll be condemned for life until Professor Charcot finds in her the possibilities of testing his advanced notions of the sources of so-called “hysteria.” Soko as Augustine and Vincent Lindon as Charcot deliver astonishing performances. A Music Box Films release.

The Atomic Age
Director: Héléna Klotz
Screenplay: Héléna Klotz, Elisabeth Perceval Cast: Eliott Paquet, Dominik Wojcik, Niels Schneider, Mathilde Bisson
Synopsis:
The Atomic Age follows what begins as a pleasure-seeking journey into Parisian night life and ends in abandonment and disillusionment in a remote forest at dawn. What are Victor and Rainer looking for when they take a train into the seemingly claustrophobic centre of Paris at night? The artificial paradise of a night club, amusement, sex, drugs, but also oblivion. Full of profound sadness and gloom, this is not the Paris of rationality and light, but a latently dangerous place where tedium, frustration and boredom, ephemeral flirtations and chance encounters can suddenly turn into aggression, violence and emotional breakdown. We follow the friends on their trip through the night which becomes increasingly charged with an unexpressed eroticism through gay gestures and prolonged eye contact. Thematically as well as formally, The Atomic Age is reminiscent of films by Robert Bresson, or even Gus Van Sant. Throughout all this, the director, Héléna Klotz, does not pretend to fully understand her characters – something fundamental and mysterious remains which defies explanation – but invites us to take a closer look at objects and people.
Bande annonce AVEC ST anglais

Bad Girl
Director: Patrick Mille
Screenplay: Patrick Mille, Justine Lévy Cast: Izia Higelin, Carole Bouquet, Arthur Dupont, Bob Geldof,...
Synopsis:
Louise simultaneously discovers that she is pregnant and that her mother is seriously ill. Happiness and guilt, euphoria and sadness, filial love and love, period. She’ll need a good nine months to cope with all this.

The Day of Crows
Director: Jean-Christophe Dessaint
Screenplay: Amandine Taffin Cast: Jean Reno, Lorànt Deutsch, Isabelle Carré, Claude Chabrol
Synopsis:
Courge lives in the heart of the forest, raised by his father, a tyrannical giant who reigns triumphant and prevents his son from exploring beyond limited boundaries. Ignorant about the ways of men, the boy grows up wild, with the placid ghosts who haunt the forest his only company. That is until the day that he is forced to go to the nearest village, where he mets young Manon…

The Girl from Nowhere
Director: Jean-Claude Brisseau
Screenplay: Jean-Claude Brisseau Cast: Virginie Legeay, Claude Morel, Jean-Claude Brisseau, Lise Bellynck… Synopsis: Michel
Synopsis:
Michel, a retired math teacher, lives alone since his wife died. He spends his time writing an essay about human illusions. One day he comes across Dora, a young homeless woman, who shows up injured on his doorstep, and puts her up until she recovers. Her presence brings something new to Michel’s life, but gradually the apartment becomes the site of mysterious happenings.

Granny’s Funeral
Director: Bruno Podalydès
Screenplay: Bruno Podalydès, Denis Podalydès Cast: Denis Podalydès, Valérie Lemercier, Isabelle Candelier, Bruno Podalydès
Synopsis:
Gran’s dead. Berthe is no longer. Armand had “vaguely” forgotten his dear old grandmother…
A druggist, he works with his wife Hélène in Chatou. Armand hides his magician’s props in a medicine draw because he is secretely preparing a show for the birthday of… his mistress’s daughter. And now there’s dear and dead gran? Should she be buried or should she be incinerated? Who exactly was Berthe?

In the House
Director: François Ozon
Screenplay: François Ozon Cast: RFabrice Luchini, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Ernst Umhauer
Synopsis:
A 16-year-old teenager sneaks into the house of one of the pupils in his class and writes about in one of the pieces of writing he gives to his French teacher. Confronted by this talented and different student, the teacher finds renewed joy in teaching. However, the teenager’s home invasion will set off a series of uncontrollable events.

Jappeloup
Director: Christian Duguay
Screenplay: Guillaume Canet Cast: Guillaume Canet, Marina Hands, Daniel Auteuil, Lou de Laâge, Tcheky...

Journal de France
Directors: Raymond Depardon & Claudine Nougaret
Screenplay: Raymond Depardon & Claudine Nougaret Cast: Raymond Depardon & Claudine...
Synopsis:
A journal, a voyage through time. He photographs France, she rediscovers the unseen footage he has so carefully kept: his first steps behind the camera, his TV reports from around the world, snatches of their memories and of our history.

A Lady in Paris
Director: Ilmar Raag
Screenplay: Ilmar Raag, Agnès Feuvre, Lise Macheboeuf Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Laine Mägi, Patrick Pineau…..
Anne leaves Estonia to come to Paris as a caretaker for Frida, an elderly Estonian lady who emigrated to France long ago. Anne soon realizes that she is not wanted. All Frida wants from life is the attention of Stéphane, her younger former lover. Stéphane, however, is desperate for Anne to stay and look after Frida, even against the old lady’s will. In this conflict of strangers, Anne will find her own way

La Maison de la radio
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Screenplay: Nicolas Philibert
Synopsis:
A journey into the heart of Radio France during which Nicolas Philibert shall attempt to capture the mysteries of a media whose very matter, sound, is invisible

My Blue-Eyed Girl
Director: Shalimar Preuss
Screenplay: Shalimar Preuss Cast: Lou Aziosmanoff, Jocelyn Lagarrigue, Victor Laforge
Synopsis:
Maden, 17 years old. Summer holidays on the island. She is waiting for the mail. Between her room and the beach, between her father and cousins, the house, and, very close, the prison.

The Nun
Director: Guillaume Nicloux
Screenplay: Guillaume Nicloux, Jérôme Beaujour Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Louise Bourgoin, Martina Gedeck, Pauline Etienne
Synopsis:
Adapted from Diderot’s eponymous novel, The Nun tells the trajectory of a woman trying to resist imposed religious values, unveiling the dehumanization of cloistered life.

Populaire
Director: Régis Roinsard
Screenplay: Régis Roinsard, Daniel Presley, Romain Compingt Cast: Romain Duris, Déborah François, Bérénice Bejo
Synopsis:
1958. Rose is a terrible secretary but a demon typist. Her handsome boss resolves to turn her into the fastest girl in the world.

Renoir
Director: Gilles Bourdos
Screenplay: Jérôme Tonnerre, Gilles Bourdos Cast: Michel Bouquet, Vincent Rottiers, Christa Theret, Thomas Doret
The Côte d’Azur. 1915. In his twilight years, Pierre-Auguste Renoir is tormented by the loss of his wife, the pains of arthritic old age and the terrible news that his son Jean has been wounded in action.
But when a young girl miraculously enters his world, the old painter is filled with a new, wholly unexpected energy. Blazing with life, radiantly beautiful, Andrée will become his last model, and the wellspring of a remarkable rejuvenation.
Back at the family home to convalesce, Jean too falls under the spell of the new, redheaded star in the Renoir firmament. In their Mediterranean Eden – and in the face of his father’s fierce opposition – he falls in love with this wild, untameable spirit… and as he does so, within weak-willed, battle-shaken Jean, a filmmaker begins to grow.

Rich is the Wolf
Director: Damien Odoul
Screenplay: Damien Odoul Cast: Marie-Eve Nadeau, Damien Odoul
Synopsis:
Olaf is missing. He only left his lover Marie with a box of tapes with hundreds of hours of rushes (the last seven years of his life), together with a notebook. Marie decides to investigate. Day in day out, she views these pictures, these fragments of a life, and attempts to reconstruct the journey of the man she loves so as to better understand his departure.

The Suicide Shop
Director: Patrice Leconte
Screenplay: Patrice Leconte Cast: Bernard Alane, Isabelle Spade, Kacey Mottet-Klein
Synopsis:
Imagine a city where people no longer have a taste for anything, to the point that the most flourishing store in town is the one that sells poisons and hanging ropes. But the store owner has just given birth to a child who is joy incarnate. In the Magasin des Suicides, the rot has set in.

Thérèse Desqueyroux
Director: Claude Miller
Screenplay: Claude Miller, Natalie Carter Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Catherine Arditi
Synopsis:
A woman trapped in a disappointing marriage tries to reclaim her freedom by any means. Claude Miller’s new film, starring Audrey Tautou in an extraordinary role..

Three Worlds
Director: Catherine Corsini
Screenplay: Catherine Corsini, Benoît Graffin Cast: Clotilde Hesme, Raphaël Personnaz, Arta Dobroshi, Reda Kateb
Synopsis:
Al, a young man from a modest background is about to marry his boss’ daughter, along with succeeding him as the head of a car dealership. One night, while coming back from his bachelor party, he is guilty of a hit-and-run accident, urged by his two childhood friends present in the car. The next day, gnawed with guilt, Al decides to inquire about his victim. What he does not know is that Juliette, a young woman, has witnessed the entire accident from her balcony. She is the one who had called 911 and helped the victim’s wife Véra, a Moldavian illegal-immigrant. But when Juliette recognizes Al as the reckless driver in the Hospital corridor, she is unable to denounce him…

You, Me and Us
Director: Jacques Doillon
Screenplay: Jacques Doillon Cast: Lou Doillon, Samuel Benchetrit, Malik Zidi
Synopsis:
Seven-year-old Lina has a thing on her mind: are her beloved parents, now separated, secretly spending time together? She soon has the proof. It’s nuts! And then her mother tells her that she wants another baby, as though she, Lina, is not enough. And who will she have this child with? Yes, it’s totally nuts!

You Will Be my Son
Director: Gilles Legrand
Screenplay: Gilles Legrand, Delphine de Vigan Cast: Niels Arestrup, Lorànt Deutsch, Patrick Chesnais, Anne...
Synopsis:
You can’t choose your parents or your children! Paul de Marseul, proprietor of a prestigious vineyard in Saint Emilion, has a son, Martin, who works with him on the family estate. But Paul, a demanding and passionate winegrower, can’t stand the idea that his son will one day take over from him. He dreams of a more talented, more charismatic son… a son who conforms more to his father fantasies. The arrival of Philippe, the son of his steward, will turn life at the estate upside down. Paul becomes fascinated by this ideal son. Thus begins a game of chess played by four: two fathers, two sons, under the powerless gaze of the women who surround them. And at least one of the men no longer has anything to lose.

[Chris Knipp]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Films, Descriptions & Public Screenings Schedule

Here is the full FSLC press release for the 2013 Rendez-Vous, received today (Feb. 5, 2013). It describes the offerings and gives the public screenings schedule. To the FSLC blurbs I have added information about French releases of these and Allociné press ratings, as usual and will give the Press & Industry screenings schedule when it's available.

Main Venues: BAMcinématek (BAM)/Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (EBM)/IFC Center (IFC)/Walter Reade Theater (WRT)
Opening Night: The Paris Theater (PARIS)


Déborah François, Romain Duris in Populaire

OPENING NIGHT!
US PREMIERE
Populaire
Régis Roinsard, 2012, France, 111m
Stuck in the provinces of 1950s France, Rose (Deborah François) is taken under the wing of her handsome boss (Romain Duris) and develops astonishing skills as a high-speed typist, leading to unexpected fame. In the grand tradition of French social comedy, Régis Roinsard has concocted a scintillating entertainment lovingly looking back on an idealized and innocent decade. Starring Deborah François, Romain Duris. The Weinstein Company will release the movie in July 2013.
Thurs., Feb. 28, 7:30pm – PARIS; Fri. Mar. 1, 7:00pm - BAM; Sat., Mar. 2, 7:00pm - IFC
In person: Romain Duris, Régis Roinsard, Deborah François
French release: 28 novembre 2012 (1h 51min) Allocinè press: 3.8 (based on 24 reviews). Now available on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray in France.
Weinstein will release this movie in the US in July.


NEW YORK PREMIERE
The Atomic Age/L’age atomique
Héléna Klotz, 2012, France, DCP; 68m
Arriving from the Paris outskirts for a round of weekend clubbing, good-looking Victor (Eliott Paquet) and his Central European friend Rainer (Dominik Wojcik) are full of self-confidence and a youthfully self-conscious hipness. But across the span of one night, their impulsive adventure tests emotional and physical limits the lads never before knew in Klotz’s impressively mesmerizing feature debut. Winner of the 2012 Prix Jean Vigo. A TLA Releasing film.
Wed. Mar. 6, 9:30pm – IFC; Thurs. Mar. 7, 4pm – WRT; Fri. Mar. 8, 9:00pm - WRT
French release: 28 novembre 2012 (1h 8min). Allociné press: 3.4

NEW YORK PREMIERE
AUGUSTINE
Alice Winocour, 2012, France, 102m
Based on a true case, writer-director Winocour has adapted the story of a progressive 19th century doctor/therapist and his unusual patient into a study of personal wills, hidden desires and reversals of fate. A maid who suffers from seizures is sent to a mental hospital, where it seems she’ll be condemned for life until Professor Charcot finds in her the possibilities of testing his advanced notions of the sources of so-called “hysteria.” Soko as Augustine and Vincent Lindon as Charcot deliver astonishing performances. A Music Box Films release.
Sun. Mar. 3, 6pm – WRT (no talent); Tues. Mar. 5, 9:00pm – WRT; Wed. Mar. 6, 7:00pm – BAM; Thurs. Mar. 7, 7:00pm – IFC
In person: Alice Winocour
French release: 7 novembre 2012 (1h 42min). Allociné press rating: 3.9


NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Bad Girl/Mauvaise fille
Patrick Mille, 2012, France, 108m
25-year-old Louise is suddenly hit with a double dose of life-altering reality: She learns that she’s pregnant and that her mother has had a relapse of advanced cancer. Justine Lévy has adapted her own novel with spiky humor and brilliance, and director Mille mines the complex family material for an amazingly wide range of tones from poignant to irreverent. Izïa Higelin, Carole Bouquet, Bob Geldof and Arthur Dupont co-star.
Tues. Mar. 5, 7:00pm – IFC; Wed. Mar. 6, 9:00PM – WRT; Thur. Mar. 7, 6pm – WRT;
In person: Patrick Mille
French release: 28 novembre 2012 (1h 48min). Allociné press rating: 3.1
Available on DVD and Blu-ray in France.

BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING/BOUDU SAUVÉ DES EAUX
Jean Renoir, 1932, France, 84 min.
Boudu (the irrepressible and unforgettable Michel Simon), a Parisian tramp, tries to end it all with a plunge into the river, only to be saved by a well-meaning bookseller. But when his rescuer offers him shelter, Boudu’s anarchic charms rock the household to its foundations. Shot largely on location along the quays of the Seine, Renoir’s freewheeling satire of bourgeois respectability is one of the master’s most innovative early works; it remains, in the words of critic Dave Kehr, “as informal, beguiling, and subversive as its eponymous hero.” Screening in a digital restoration.
Sat. Mar. 2, 1:00pm – IFC


The Day of the Crows / Le jour des corneilles
Jean-Christophe Dessaint, 2012, France, 96m
Raised like a wild child in the woods by his bitter and fearsome father, a boy finds himself discovering the world beyond the forest in director Dessaint’s enchanting visualization of Jean-Francois Beauchemin’s novel. The sensitively rendered hand-drawn animation and depth of characterization seem like a tribute to the films of Hayao Miyazaki, and yet, this movie for all ages stands very much on its own. Featuring the voices of Jean Reno, Lorànt Deutsch, Isabelle Carré and the late Claude Chabrol in his final film credit.
Sat., Mar. 9, 1:00pm – WRT
In person: Jean-Christophe Dessaint
French release: 24 octobre 2012 (1h 36min) . Allocine press rating: 3.9 This is an animated film. Available in France on DVD and Blu-ray.

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Virginie Legeay, Jean-Claude Brisseau in The Girl from Nowhere

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Girl From Nowhere/La fille de nulle part
Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2012, France, 91m
Lost in a maze of his philosophizing while trying to write a book, a retired math teacher is forced to deal with the real world when he must rescue a young woman from the clutches of a thug outside his Paris apartment. What the teacher doesn’t know is that this woman may be his muse, a mystical agent or an angel of death. Stars director Brisseau and Virginie Legeay. Winner of the Golden Leopard, Locarno Film Festival 2012.
Sat. Mar. 2, 2:45pm – IFC; Sun. Mar. 10, 2:30pm - WRT
French release: 6 Feb. 2013. Allociné press: 4.0 (7 reviews)

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Granny’s Funeral/Adieu Berthe: L’enterrement de mémé
Bruno Podalydès, 2012, France, 100m
Although he made no effort to see his grandmother in her waning years, pharmacist Armand (director Podalydès’ brother and co-writer Denis) must now deal with her funeral arrangements. This is awkward enough, but nothing like his emotional swings between a wife he can’t quite part from and a lover he can’t quite commit to, in a comedy stamped with the Podalydès brand of caustic, Gallic wit. With Valérie Lemercier, Isabelle Candelier, Catherine Hiegel and Benoît Hamon.
Fri. Mar. 1, 9:45pm – IFC; Sun. Mar. 3, 8:15pm – WRT; Mon. Mar. 4, 3:45pm – WRT
French release: 20 June 2012 (1h 40min). Allociné press rating: 3.9 (26 reviews)


Ernst Umhauer, Fabrice Luchini in In the House

NEW YORK PREMIERE
In the House/Dans la maison
François Ozon, 2012, France, 105m
Swept up in the increasingly dazzling and inventive fiction writing of a precocious student, a high school literature teacher and frustrated author (Fabrice Luchini) married to a gallerist (Kristin Scott Thomas) sees real life overtake the fiction. Ozon is at the height of his powers in this ironic, cautionary tale on the dangers of mentoring gone too far. With Emmanuelle Seigner and Ernst Umhauer. A Cohen Media Group release.
Fri. Mar. 1, 9:00pm – WRT; Sat. Mar. 2, 9:00pm - BAM; Sun. Mar. 3, 6:15pm – IFC
In person: François Ozon
French release: 10 octobre 2012 (1h 45min). Allociné press rating: 3.5 (25 reviews) Now available in France on DVD and Blu-ray. (There has been some buzz around this film.)


Actor-director (Tell No One) Guillaume Canet in Jappeloup

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Jappeloup
Christian Duguay, 2013, France, 130m
A true sports story that utterly defies the odds, Duguay’s film captures the wild ups and downs of the Olympics-bound career of legendary equine star Jappeloup and his troubled rider, locked in a tense relationship with his horseman father and forever uncertain of his own skills as an equestrian. Stars Guillaume Canet, Daniel Auteuil, Marina Hands and Tchéky Karyo.
Sat. Mar. 2, 9:40pm – IFC; Wed. Mar. 6, 3:30pm – WRT; Sat. Mar. 9, 5:30pm - WRT
French release: 13 March 2013 (2h 10min)

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Journal de France
Raymond Depardon & Claudine Nougaret, 2012, France, 100m
Depardon’s brilliant self-portrait (co-directed by his longtime collaborator and sound engineer Claudine Nougaret) takes a surprising point of view on the great documentarian’s life—not only as a filmmaker, but as a photographer of expressive precision, capturing the entirety of French society over the decades. The patience of this imagemaker’s practice is testament to an alternative to the hyper-fast, instant delivery of digital images that now dominates the culture.
Mon. Mar. 4, 8:30pm – IFC; Fri. Mar. 8, 4:15pm – WRT; Sun. Mar. 10, 12:15pm - WRT
French release: 13 June 2012 (1h 40min). Allociné press rating: 3.9 (20 reviews).


Laine Mägi IN A Lady in Paris

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
A Lady in Paris/Une Estonienne À Paris
Ilmar Raag, 2012, France/Belgium/Estonia, 94m
Offered a job in Paris to look after a fellow Estonian-born woman, Anne leaves her homeland and finds herself in an emotional hornet’s nest. Frida, the elderly Estonian, gives new meaning to the word prickly and won’t be tended to, even though that’s exactly what Frida’s younger ex-lover wants. Stars a stunning, flinty and memorable Jeanne Moreau, Laine Magi and Patrick Pineau.
Sat. Mar. 2, 4:30PM – IFC; Sun. Mar. 3, 3:15pm – WRT; Mon. Mar. 4, 9:15pm – WRT
In person: Ilmar Raag
French release: 26 décembre 2012 (1h 34min). Allociné press rating: 3.1 (from 20 reviews). Still showing in three small cinemas in the Paris area (5 Feb. 2013).


North american premiere
La maison de la radio
Nicolas Philibert, 2013, France, 103m
Radio France is a massive 24/7 operation, a national network which explores every aspect of life from breaking news to live cultural events. Applying his attuned senses to the mega-complex that is Radio France, non-fiction film master Philibert reveals the vast, rich and unexpected world of radio production and the imaginative power of sound.
Fri. Mar. 1, 3:30pm – WRT; Sat. Mar. 2, 3:15pm – WRT; Sun. Mar. 3, 1:00pm - IFC
In person: Nicolas Philibert
French release: 3 April 2013

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
My Blue-Eyed Girl/Ma belle gosse
Shalimar Preuss, 2012, France, 80m
Preuss’ uncommonly sensitive and nuanced debut follows the eldest daughter of a family on holiday as she navigates her growing desires for a prison inmate with her heartfelt but fraying familial love. Under the film’s placid surface is a teenage, and very human, restlessness that suggests impulsive curiosity, yet also wisdom. Stars Lou Aziosmanoff, Jocelyn Lagarrigue, Victor Laforge.
Mon. Mar. 4, 10:20pm – IFC; Tues. Mar. 5, 4pm – WRT; Sun. Mar. 10, 4:40pm - WRT
French release date: 26 November 2012, 80 min. No reviews listed on Allociné. VOD release.


NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Nun/La religieuse
Guillaume Nicloux, 2013, France/Germany/Belgium, 114m
Drawing on the same Denis Diderot classic as Jacques Rivette’s 1966 film, Nicloux’s version provides a fresh take on the 18th-century story of a young woman’s (a stunning Pauline Etienne) harrowing experiences in nunneries, one run by a too-loving Mother Superior (Isabelle Huppert). Young Suzanne’s discovery that she’s an illegitimate child compels her to a life in the convent, where inhumanity rules and battles of wills ensue. With Louise Bourgoin, Martina Gedeck, Françoise Lebrun.
Fri. Mar. 1, 7:00pm – IFC; Sat. Mar. 2, 9pm – WRT; Sun. Mar. 3, 8pm – BAM
In person: Guillaume Nicloux
French release: ; 20 march 2013 (1h 54min)

NEW YORK PREMIERE
PERSECUTION
Patrice Chéreau, 2009, France, 100min
A brutally intimate close-up of the moment-to-moment dissolution of a love affair, this psychological drama stars Romain Duris as a brooding, bestubbled Parisian juggling a hot-and-cold relationship with a jet-setting careerist (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and the intrusions of a middle-aged male stalker who has claimed him as the love of his life. Fueled by emotionally charged dialogue and nervy, passionate performances, Persecution continues Chéreau’s masterful observation of human desire in all its intricacies and contradictions. With Jean-Hugues Anglade.
Fri. Mar. 1, 9:40pm – BAM
In person: Romain Duris
French release: 9 décembre 2009 (1h 40min). Allocine: 3.0.
This film was actually shown as part of Film Comment Selects in 2010 and I reviewed it at that time, not very favorably: I said Chéreau "is running on empty here." It would be interesting to see the popular and prolific Romain Duris in person though, and his current film the Fifties gender roles comedy Populaire, this series' opener, is a hit.


NEW YORK PREMIERE
RENOIR
Gilles Bourdos, 2012, France, 111m
Set in 1915, a pivotal time in the lives of master painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his war-wounded son Jean (who’d become one of cinema’s great masters), Bourdos’ atmospheric drama explores the ways in which creative powers wax and wane as one generation gives way to the next. Key to the changes that father and son experience is a female model who’s the elder painter’s last inspiration, and the figure who may turn Jean’s life around. Stars Michel Bouquet, Christa Théret, Vincent Rottiers, Thomas Doret, Romane Bohringer. A Samuel Goldwyn Films release.
Sat. Mar. 2, 6pm – WRT; Sun. Mar. 3, 5:00pm – BAM; Wed. Mar. 6, 7:00pm – IFC
In person: Gilles Bourdos
French release:
2 January 2013 (1h 41min) . Allociné: 3.4 (19 reviews).

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Rich Is The Wolf/La richesse du loup
Damien Odoul, 2012, France, 82m
Perplexed at the sudden disappearance of her husband, a wife watches hours of videotape that he’s recorded over the previous seven years to piece together some clues. Odoul’s most daring feature, whose color and black-and-white images are culled from his own videotaping, confirms his place as one of France’s genuinely exploratory filmmakers. Stars Marie-Eve Nadeau, Damien Odoul.
Mon. Mar. 4, 6:45pm – IFC; Sat. Mar. 9, 3:30pm – WRT
Damien Odoul is the director of Le souffle/Deep Breath, reviewed by Howard Schumann \ and one of his favorite films of the decade.
No French release listed. IMDb. Variety review (Jay Weissberg). Debuted at Locarno 20 August 2012. 86min.


New French DVD of The River

THE RIVER (LE FLEUVE)
Jean Renoir, 1951, France/India/US, 99 min.
One of a British upper middle-class family of eight living on the banks of the Ganges River, teenage Harriet grows up in a tolerant and loving atmosphere that blends East and West. But when a dashing captain arrives at a neighbor’s home, the girl’s passions are ignited in ways she can barely fathom or control. Renoir’s classic, first color film, presented in a gorgeously restored print, remains a special and deeply emotional work in the master filmmaker’s oeuvre. Stars Patricia Walters, Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight. Restored by The Academy Film Archive in cooperation with The British Film Institute and Janus Films. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Sun. Mar. 3, 1:00pm - WRT

THE RULES OF THE GAME/LA RÈGLE DU JEU
Jean Renoir, 1939, France 106m
Renoir’s finest achievement and consistently praised as one of the best films ever made, The Rules of the Game is essential cinema; entire styles of filmmaking (Altman’s for one) are unthinkable without it. As a cast of characters from all classes assembles at a country house, the farce and melodrama commence, giving occasion for everything from hunting parties and gala balls to extramarital affairs and finally even murder.
Sun. Mar. 3, 2:30pm – BAM
In person: Introduction by RENOIR director Gilles Bourdos

NEW YORK PREMIERE
The Suicide Shop/Le magasin des suicides
Patrice Leconte, 2012, France, 105m
Master filmmaker Leconte makes a startling and unforgettable departure from his previous work with this whimsical animated 3D musical about a family business offering certain special "end-of-life" services. Rather than succumbing to a purely mordant perspective, the movie switches course and mood, driven by the family’s perpetually happy child whom they can’t control. Based on the novel by Jean Teulé and with the voices of Bernard Alane, Isabelle Space, Kacey Mottet Klein, Isabelle Giami, Laurent Gendron.
Thurs. Mar. 7, 9:30pm – IFC; Fri. Mar. 8, 6:30pm – WRT; Sat. Mar. 9, 8:15pm - WRT
French release: 26 septembre 2012 (1h 25min). Allociné press rating: 3.1 (23 reviews).



US PREMIERE
Thérèse Desqueyroux (2012)
Claude Miller, 2012, France, 110m
The late Miller’s final film elegantly adapts François Mauriac’s modern classic of a woman’s growing resistance to her suffocating marriage, and showcases a remarkable Audrey Tautou as the disturbed titular heroine. With Gilles Lelouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Catherine Arditi. An MPI Pictures release.
Fri. Mar. 1, 6:15pm – WRT; Sat. Mar. 2, 6:00pm – BAM; Sun. Mar. 3, 3:30pm – IFC
In person: Annie Miller (producing partner and widow of director Claude Miller), Audrey Tautou
French release:
21 November 2012 (1h 50min). Allociné critic rating: 3.4 (based on 17 reviews). Still showing, coming on DVD and Blu-ray in March.

Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962)
Georges Franju, 1962, France, 109m
Franju’s adaptation of François Mauriac’s novel adheres closely to the source’s flashback structure, while set in a somewhat more contemporary setting, thus providing fascinating contrast to Claude Miller’s new version. Continuing to tap into the extremities of human behavior that engrossed him as an artist, Franju crucially assembled a brilliant cast, including Emmanuelle Riva, Philippe Noiret and Edith Scob, with a magnificent Maurice Jarre score.
Sat. Mar. 2, 1pm - WRT
French release: 21 novembre 2012 (1h 50min). Allociné press rating: 3.4 (17 reviews).



Clotilde Hesme, Raphaël Personnaz in Three Worlds
NEW YORK PREMIERE
Three Worlds/Trois Mondes
Catherine Corsini, 2012, France, 101m
A hit-and-run accident involving a hotshot car salesman and an émigré worker from Moldavia triggers a chain of dramatic events with life-altering consequences. Corsini’s complex narrative traces the small yet crucial events that expose a character’s true self, and the rottenness at the core of certain nouveau riche. A Film Movement release.
Tues. Mar. 5, 9:30pm – IFC; Wed. Mar. 6, 6:15pm – WRT; Thur. Mar. 7, 9pm – WRT;
In person: Catherine Corsini, Raphaël Personnaz


NEW YORK PREMIERE
You, Me and Us/Un enfant de toi
Jacques Doillon, 2012, France, 136m
The tentative nature of relationships is explored in dazzling, three-dimensional fashion in this cleverly written and directed roundelay between current and former lovers. Aya, the mother of a bright young daughter, struggles to come to terms with the end of her marriage, while hoping to have a child with her new lover. Stars Lou Doillon, Samuel Benchetrit, Malik Zidi, Olga Milshtein.
Sun. Mar. 3, 8:45pm – IFC; Mon. Mar. 4, 6pm – WRT; Tues. Mar. 5, 6:00pm – WRT
In person: Jacques Doillon


NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
YOU WILL BE MY SON/TU SERAS MON FILS
Gilles Legrand, 2012, France, 102m
Instead of grooming his son to inherit his lucrative wine-growing business, an imperious vintner (Niels Arestrup) looks to a talented California-based grower, rendering a harvest of jealousy and worse. Legrand’s narrative takes on Shakespearean qualities, driven by a titanic performance by Arestrup, while the film’s observations on the wine-growing business are thoroughly engrossing. A Cohen Media Group release.
Sun. Mar. 10, 6:30pm – WRT
In person: Gilles Legrand, Niels Arestrup
French release: 24 Aug. 2011 (1h 42min). Allociné press: 2.8 (17 reviews); online audience vote: 3.9.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CONVERGENCE

ALT-MINDS AND THE ART OF FRENCH TRANSMEDIA
Some of the most exciting advances in storytelling are taking place in France, with independent creators, corporations, and game companies reshaping how audiences consume stories. At the forefront of this transmedia revolution is the epic pan-European immersive experience ALT-MINDS. When six scientists disappear while on assignment their kidnapping sparks a multinational manhunt. Mysterious online videos, mind-bending puzzles, and clues that point to a dark conspiracy of vast proportions threaten to ensnare the investigators charged with unraveling the mystery. The trick is that in this interactive experience the part of investigator is not played by an actor but assumed by the audience. Game designer, Eric Viennot of Lexis Numérique, will discuss this genre-bending project and the future of storytelling.
Sat. Mar. 2, 5:00pm– EBM (Free)
In person: Eric Viennot



Axe-Apollo interactive online space travel game.

Visit http://en.unifrance.org/

[Chris Knipp]

The following press screenings of the Rendez-Vous have now been scheduled. As last year some are missing but maybe they're available on screeners as last year they were. Some of the old films being presented for comparison or relevancy (Renoir's THE RIVER and RULES OF THE GAME) in the public series are omitted.

The new titles missing from P&I screenings are THE NUN/LA RELIGIEUSE and the opening night film, POPULAIRE. There will be no press screening of THE NUN, and screeners are not available. The Weinstein company is setting up a separate screening of POPULAIRE.


Press Screening Schedule

UPDATES BELOW IN RED

Tuesday, February 19
12:10PM – LA MAISON DE LA RADIO (90m)
2:00PM – RENOIR (111m)

Wednesday, February 20
10:00AM - Therese Desqueyroux (105m)
12PM – IN THE HOUSE (105m)
2PM – GRANNY’S FUNERAL (100m)

Thursday, February 21
10AM – THE GIRL FROM NOWHERE (91m)
11:45AM – JAPPELOUP (130m)

Friday, February 22
10AM – JOURNAL DE FRANCE (100m)
12PM – A LADY IN PARIS (94m)
1:45PM – AUGUSTINE (102m)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25
NO SCREENINGS

Tuesday, February 26
10AM – THE DAY OF THE CROWS (96m)
11:50AM – RICH IS THE WOLF (82m)
1:30PM – BAD GIRL (108m)

Wednesday, February 27
10AM – YOU, ME AND US (136m)
12:30PM – MY BLUE-EYED GIRL (80m)
2:10PM – THREE WORLDS (101m)

Thursday, February 28
10AM – THE ATOMIC AGE (68m)
11:20AM –THE SUICIDE SHOP (79m)
12:50PM - YOU WILL BE MY SON (102m)

[Chris Knipp]

GILLES BOURDOS: RENOIR (2012)


VINCENT ROTTIERS AND MICHEL BOUQUET IN RENOIR

Partial beginnings and endings in the golden South of France

An aging father tormented by arthritis and his son wounded in WWI are both charmed by young feminine beauty in the new French film Renoir. It's a beautifully shot tour of the last days of the great painter Auguste and of a youthful and an uncertain moment in the life of his celebrated filmmaker son Jean -- a more conventional film for director Gilles Bourdos as well as his strongest thus far. His continued use of the Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing and the composer Alexandre Desplat contribute to a languidly paced but visually pleasing and atmospheric period film that will appeal to the mature art-house patron for whom the film was bought up by Samuel Goldwyn Films for US distribution at Cannes' Un Certain Regard series. This is not a great film, but it's visually and almost tactilely voluptuous in ways only a French film about these two Renoirs could dare to be.

Renoir generally works quite well, if you accept the languidness, but it sends us contradictory signals. Since it centers on the quintessential painter of voluptuous women and joie de vire, it is appropriately suffused with the warm gold of the French Midi caressing the creamy skin and voluptuous but perky breasts of young women. But this beauty becomes irrelevant when we realize that its three men, ailing, 70-something Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), his 21-year-old son and future filmmaker Jean (Vincent Rottiers) and his very young son and future cinematographer Claude (Thomas Doret) are cool and cheerless types. They are withdrawn in the case of Jean, angry and stubborn when comes to young Claude -- while meanness and curmugeonliness dominate Auguste, who, though in a wheelchair, is still "Patron," the boss and withholding taskmaster everyone wants to please but fears. The worlds of both the painter and the director as we know them are full of warmth and action, but that of Bourdos's film, if not as dormant and patience-straining as Jacques Rivette's La belle noiseuse, is largely a static one. The film is not so much a train of events as a period of waiting, a series of tableaux vivants.

This is, perhaps, because the film is set at a moment that, though war is raging off somewhere, here by the Mediterranean and for this particular family, floats between events. It is both "too early and too late," as its titular protagonist, the now feeble but constantly painting artist, says as he looks over at his lovely and spirited new model, "Dédé," Andrée Heuschling (Christa Theret). Not only is Auguste at last too old to sleep with his models as he formerly was very much wont to do, but when Jean arrives, a lieutenant convalescing from a serious wound in the leg, it may be too early for him and Dédé, even though they do become lovers. Once he's recovered, Jean feels he must go back to help his "comrades" who have died beside him by reenlisting in the air force, and he leaves her behind. He was to return to her, the final titles tell us, and she to become his chief actress for years. But at this point though he's made a film he still thinks he's nobody, and doesn't have any commitment other than to the war. Maybe Claude, or Coco, makes the most progress: before the movie ends, he seems to have won the friendship and recognition of his aging dad.

Most viewers will focus on the beautiful women, who hover around Auguste -- he keeps doing paintings in which they "float" in the landscape, and he just likes to have his pretty young nude models around, painting them in different poses from the ones they're actually in. But take a look at the men. If you have seen him in films like In the Beginninig, Last Winter, or I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive, you know that Vincent Rottiers, who is Belgian, has an austere, chiseled face, a haunting manner, and hypnotic eyes. As for Thomas Doret, also Belgian, who plays little Claude, or Coco, Augueste's youngest son, he was the intensely driven boy in the Dardennes' The Kid with the Bike and he is a riveting presence, despite his small size. "I'm nobody," he tells Dédé when she arrives. "I'm an orphan." The subtext of this film, a tremendous one alas left undeveloped by the screenwriter, is that it's not easy being the son of a famous father. Coco is even confused in filmographies with Claude the younger, son of Pierre, and therefore Jean's nephew, because both worked in the cinema. This screennplay does not clarify such issues or even tell us anything about what became of this headstrong boy. As for the 85-year-old Michel Bouquet, as Auguste, he has great assurance -- all the acting here is fine-- but he is also opaque, without being especially interesting. His characterization (as written) is a string of gruff remarks, pontifications about art and life, howling nightmares, and shots of swollen hands doused with healing liquids or tied with strips of cloth. Nothing goes very deep here, though we're not quite sure how it could with this material.

If this meandering, undramatic film has a center it must be Dédé and the sweet but sad Jean. Dédé disappears for a while when Jean declares his decision to join the airforce. Jean goes looking for her after a while, but from here on the transitions become weak and the action stumbles. Dédé, who wants to be an actress, is sprightly but unformed, though two things are clear: her affection for the old man and her love of Jean. But where is the ebullient Jean who made The Rules of the Game and The River? Inside this thin man there is a fat man gesturing to be let out.

Renoir debuted in May 2012 at Cannes and opened in France 2 January 2013 to good reviews (3.4 press from 19 sources), but critics noted a leaning toward the bland and pretty. Cahiers du Cinéma's critic Charlotte Garson quotes Auguste's declaration "Moi, il me faut du vivant," "As for me, I need something alive," and adds "so do we, and we don't find it in this uselesss overindulgence in Provençal landscape and milky skin." US release date as yet uknown.

Screened for this review as a part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center in collaboration with UniFrance, which runs Feb. 28-Mar. 10, 2013.

[Chris Knipp]

CLAUDE MILLER: THÉRÈSE DESQUEROUX (2012)


AUDREY TATOU IN THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX

Marriage trap

Stephen Dalton of Hollywoor Reporter wrote, Miller's "swansong feature has the glossy, well-dressed, slightly staid feel of a middlebrow TV miniseries. But it still packs enough dramatic weight and literary pedigree to make a box office splash outside France, especially with Audrey Tautou as the story’s iconic anti-heroine." Partly to honor Miller, who died after completion of this film, it was the closing night film at Cannes last year. It got a reasonable reception after its 21 November French release -- the Allociné rating was 3.4 out of five. This adaptation of the 1927 François Mauriac novel, one of his most famous, of a woman gradually unable to endure an oppressive marriage is the second: Georges Franju did one in 1962 with Emmanuelle Riva (currently back in the public eye from Michael Haneke's Amour) and Philippe Noiret. I have not seen this 1962 version, which is included for reference during the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center, and if I do see it, this review may have to be revised or amended.

Here we have the very successful casting of Gilles Lellouche as Bernard Desqueroux, the man Thérèse marries, uniting their two families' considerable land holdings in the Landes region forested with pines. Lellouche is one of those warmly macho characters, with a punch to him, even if he isn't terribly distinctive. He is perfect for the part of the simple bird and dog countryman Thérèse will tire of and want to stun, whom she approves of in theory but hates in practice. Lellouche feels right in this part, a mixture of brutish and sympathetic. He's a little Hemingwayesque; in fact he even looks like Hemingway himself. But as Thérèse we have Audrey Tatou, and herein lies the central problem of an otherwise polished, well modulated, and interesting film. We all knew Tatou as the charming gamine of Amélie, the twee, but splendidly and intricately twee, movie that made her famous. But in Claude Miller's care she is a sad and dreary little wisp of a woman, and remains that from first moment to last in Thérèse Desqueyroux. Though the action takes her character through increibile changes, Tatou accompanies them limply, several steps behind. It is intriguing to imagine someone formidable, like Isabelle Huppert, reach the desperation of Thérèe; or someone young, vibrant, and beautiful, like Cécile de France, who breathed life into Miller's 2007 A Secret. Then the changes might be really alarming and thought-provoking. Here they are simply inexplicable -- especially since it's an aspect of the plot that the protagonist herself can't explain what she's doing.

Even Lellouche suffers from a plot that loses its subtlety and abandons its own best interests at several turns. First this happens when Thérèse somehow betrays both her own desire for independence and the needs of her new bosom friend, Bernard's sister Anne (the vibrant Anaïs Demoustier), after Anne has become enamored of a young man (Stanley Weber) the family doesn't approve of. Then this happens again when the action devolves into into a legal struggle to save the family, leading to Bernard and Thérèse's estrangement. The best moments come when we're dealing with the idea of the story, which is the conflict between economics and human psychology. The way things end is ambiguous. It's a sad outcome for Thérèse that doesn't seem so very sad at all. One longs for some bold strokes. But though this is polished and watchable, Miller once rarely shows a flair for storytelling here. Miller had luck in his choice of actors from time to time -- Patrick Delawaere in his feature debut A Best Way to Walk, Charlotte Gainsbourg in L'Efronté and The Little Thief, Vincent Rottier in his collaboration with his son Nathan I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive Claude Miller had a cracking good story with Class Trip and A Secret. But his films always fall a bit short of first rate.

Thérèse Desqueyoux debuted at Cannes and showed at other festivals, then was released in France and other French-speaking locales in November. It was screened for this review as a part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center in collaboration with UniFrance, which runs Feb. 28-Mar. 10, 2013.


The Rendez-Vous also included a one-time screening of Georges Franju's 1962 version of François Maurois's Thérèse Desqueroux starring Emanuelle Riva, Philippe Noiret, and Édith Scob (of Franju's famous Eyes Without a Face) as Bernard's sister. Franju's film is a grand black and white early Sixties French art film, closer to Maurois in its flashback frame structure, some literary references exchanged between Thérèse and Jean Azevedo, and in more liberal use of Thérèse's voiceover, which can come at any moment, in any scene, and more stylish in every way, though the style is interchangeable in some ways with the work of several Nouvelle Vague directors of the period. Sami Frey as Jean seems less a pretty boy, more intelligent. Above all instead of Tautou's pathetic, limp quality, there is the poetic sadness of Riva so memorably displayed in Alain Resnais's Hiroshima Mon Amour. Franju's version is set in the present, so it makes its points about the tyrannies of provincial ignorance and materialism with more immediacy. Franju's film has more notable actors and is more stylish. Certain aspects of the narrative -- Thérèse's original motivation for marrying Bernard, the gradual process by which she falls into poisoning him with arsenic -- are more embroidered by Miller, but in "explaining" things he may only weaken the force of Maurois's stark story, whose surreal "horror movie" aspects Franju seized upon so neatly half a century ago. Maurice Jarre's music for Franju's film is as distinctive as everything else, though a jazzy passage during the honeymoon dinner shot feels obtrusive. The writer for the French daily L'Express compares the two films, finds the new one "insipid," and concludes we'd do best to remember Claude Miller for his 1976 feature debut, The Best Way to Walk.

[Chris Knipp]

FRANÇOIS OZON: IN THE HOUSE (2012)


FABRICE LUCHINI, EMMANUELLE SEIGNER AND ERNST UMHAUER IN IN THE HOUSE

Voyeur auteur: Ozon gets his edge back

François Ozon's new film, not unusual for him, has elements of titillation and button-pushing. It focuses on the relationship between a teacher and his student, and the stir caused by the student's sneaking into a classmate's house and writing about what he sees there. According to Variety's Peter Debruge, the tale is "more inspired by than adapted from Juan Mayorga's play The Boy in the Last Row and is a "low-key thriller" that constitutes something of a "return to form" for the director, whose films had "lost their psychosexual edge" (Debruge again) when he discontinued his collaboration with Emmanuele Bernheim (with whom he did his big Statesisde success, Swimming Pool). He's got it back here, and this film deserves to be as much of a hit in US arthouses as Swimming Pool was.

In the House is smart, mildly intellectual, a little sexy, and full of surprises. The surprises are the best part, and they come out of the basic premise, which is amusing and ingenious and thought provoking. If they're worked out a little more superficially and repetitively and less profoundly than they might have been, that's not the end of the world, and should not surprise us. Even at his best, Ozon has his limitations. But when he's at his best, we share his giddy sense of fun.

The two chief characters could not be better. As the student, Claude Garcia, we have the suave, pretty young actor Ernst Umhauer, who has a rich, confident voice. As the French teacher of the lycée Gustave Flaubert, Germain, there is Fabrice Lucchini, a self-referential role since Lucchini himself is known for stage performances of French literary classics, such as Germain gives to Claude to read. If this doesn't give Lucchini a chance to show off his usual flash and brio, this is still material that must have seemed more inward and personal to him than most. The secondary casting is unsurprising but right: Kristin Scott Thomas as Germain's art gallery manager wife Jeanne Germain, Emmanuelle Seigner as Esther Artole, the wife and mother, the "woman of the middle class" whose home Claude invades by befriending her son and whom he lusts after. The movie descends into comedy with Claude's "best friend," Rapha Artole fils (Bastien Ughetto), who is a little too goofy to take seriously, and the stocky, boyish Denis Ménochet, as Rapha Artole père, almost an appendage of Rapha junior.

Claude charms and transfixes Germain by submitting a paper about how he spent his weekend. Every other paper from the class is vapid and idiotic, but Claude's describes with a cunning irony how he gained admission into Rapha's house and observed his family by helping him with his math. The description is vivid, provocative, and tantalizing: it ends with "(to be continued)". From here on Germain is in thrall to Claude, ostensibly his instructor, but really his admirer (he published a mediocre romantic novel earlier in his life, but admits he lacks the talent to be a writer that he thinks Claude possesses).

In the House is playful and self-referential, a story about storytelling. As Germain gives Claude classics like Tolstoy and Flaubert to read, Claude keeps giving him his two-page narratives of voyeuristic scenes from life in the Artole house. Though Claude says his is not inventing and we see the stories enacted as they're told in Germain's or Claude's voice, there are also variations that come about when Germain says a certain incident isn't believable (even if it happened), and Claude's ability to walk in and out of scenes in the Artole house seems supernatural. Eventually Germain participates (see still).

As has happened before so often with Ozon some of the edge around this movie is made fuzzy because he doesn't take his material quite seriously enough, but this does nothing to undermine the "conceptual" feel of the action. And this feel is enhanced by the fact that Germain's wife Jeanne -- her Labyrinth of the Minataur Gallery owners (both played by Jana Bittnerova) themselves very high-concept -- deals in discreetly absurd conceptual art. All of which gets a further edge when a sexual element enters Claude's relations with not only Esther but Rapha junior.

If the incidents/actions recounted in Claude's succession of compositions become a little repetitive and redundant after a while and if Ozon doesn't seem to care all that much about where things end up, this is nonetheless delightful material, and it's a pleasure to see this filmmaker returned to form.

In the House/Dans la maison, 105 min., debuted at Toronto in Sept. 2012 and was in other festivals, including London, opening in France Oct. 10 (Allociné press rating 3.5 from 25 reviews, public rating 3.9). It was screened for this review as a part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center in collaboration with UniFrance, which runs Feb. 28-Mar. 10, 2013.

Limited US release began April 19, 2013.