Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center 2014

[Chris Knipp]

. . . . March 6 – 16, 2014



Rendez-Vous with French
Cinema 2014

March 6 – 16

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:

2 Autumns, 3 Winters /2 autunnes 3 hivers(Sébastien Betbeder 2013)
Age of Panic, The/La bataille de Solférino (Justine Triet 2013)
Apaches/Apaches, Les (Thierry de Peretti 2013)
Castle in Italy, A/Un chateau en Italie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi 2013)
French Minister, The/Quay d'Orsay (Bertrand Tavernier 2013)
Eastern Boys (Robin Campillo 2013)
Gilded Cage, The/La cage dorée (Ruben Alves 2013)
Going Away/Un beau dimanche (Nicole Garcia 2013)
Grand Central (Rebecca Zlotkowski 2013)
His Wife/Son épouse (Michel Spinosa 2014)
If You Don't, I Will/Arrête ou je continue (Sophie Fillières 2014)
Love Battles/Mes séances de lutte (Jacques Doillon 2013)
Love Is the Perfect Crime/L'amour est un crime parfait (Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu 2013)
Marchers, The/La Marche (Nacir Ben Yadir 2013)
Miss and the Doctors/Tirez la langue, mademoiselle (Axelle Ropert 2013)
Mood Indigo/L'Écume des jours (Michel Gondry 2013)
On My Way/Elle s'en va (Emmanuelle Bercot 2013)
Playing Dead/Je fais le mort (Jean-Paul Salomé (2013)
School of Babel, The/La cour de Babel (Julie Bertuccelli 2013)
Suzanne (Katell Quillévéré 2013)
Tip Top (Serge Bozon 2013)
Tonnerre (Guillaume Brac 2013)
Under the Rainbow/Au bout du conte (Agnès Jaoui 2013)
Young and Beautiful/Jeune et jolie (François Ozon 2013)


Tavernier directing THE FRENCH MINISTER/QUAY D'ORSAY

Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2014 complete lineup announced

[Film Society of Lincoln Center press release.]

SERIES LAUNCHES WITH EMMANUELLE BERCOT’S ON MY WAY, WITH STAR CATHERINE DENEUVE IN PERSON ON OPENING NIGHT. CLOSING NIGHTSELECTION IS BERTRAND TAVERNIER’S THE FRENCH MINISTER

IN-PERSON APPEARANCES ALSO INCLUDE BERTRAND TAVERNIER, SÉBASTIEN BETBEDER, SERGE BOZON, GUILLAUME BRAC, JACQUES DOILLON, MICHEL GONDRY,FRANÇOIS OZON, THIERRY DE PERETTI, KATELL QUILLÉVÉRÉ, AXELLE ROPERT, JEAN-PAUL SALOMÉ, JUSTINE TRIET, NABIL BEN YADIR, REBECCA ZLOTOWSKI

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

(Following are the Film Society of Lincoln Center blurbs.)



OPENING NIGHT
ON MY WAY (ELLE S'EN VA)
Emmanuelle Bercot, France, 2014, 113m
In French with English subtitles
Catherine Deneuve plays against type and delivers a performance unlike any other in her legendary career as Bettie, a former Breton beauty queen turned bistro owner, in Emmanuelle Bercot’s fourth feature. When her mother (Claude Gensac) tells her that her married lover has ditched her for a 25-year-old beautician’s assistant, Bettie takes to the road with no particular destination in mind and eventually winds up at a dive bar named Le Ranch, where an evening of drunken revelry sets the stage for much tomfoolery to come. Bettie’s resentful daughter Muriel (French pop musician Camille) then asks her mother to chauffeur her son Charly (Nemo Schiffman) to his grandfather’s, and the pair sets out on a trip that will ultimately lead Bettie to revisit her past even as she travels further away from it. Nominated for two 2014 César Awards: Catherine Deneuve (Best Actress) and Nemo Schiffman (Most Promising Actor). A Cohen Media Group release. 18 Sept. 2013 French relesase. Allociné: 4.0
Thursday, March 6, 7:30pm – PARIS; Friday, March 7, 6:45pm – BAM; Saturday, March 8, 7:00pm - IFC
In Person: Catherine Deneuve



CLOSING NIGHT
THE FRENCH MINISTER (QUAI D’ORSAY)
Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2013, 113m
In French with English subtitles
The veteran auteur Bertrand Tavernier returns to Rendez-Vous with a sly, energetic film about the daily grind of diplomacy. Arthur (Raphaël Personnaz), a graduate of all the right schools, is the new speechwriter for the Minister of Foreign Affairs (a hilarious Thierry Lhermitte). While he tries to navigate internal politics, the various strong personalities around him (such as a ruthless policy advisor played by Julie Gayet), and the stress of finding the Minister’s “voice,” Arthur must also write a speech for the Minister that will hopefully put them both in the history books. Based on co-screenwriter Antonin Baudry’s own graphic novels about his experience working in the Foreign Ministry under former Foreign (and Prime) Minister Dominique de Villepin, The French Minister takes us for a breathless ride through the halls of French government. Nominated for three 2014 César Awards: Julie Gayet (Best Supporting Actress), Niels Arestrup (Best Supporting Actor), and Antonin Baudry, Christophe Blain and Bertrand Tavernier (Best Adapted Screenplay). A Sundance Selects release. 6 November 2013 French release. Allociné: 3.4
Sunday, March 16, 3:40pm, 9:00pm - WRT
In Person: Bertrand Tavernier

2 AUTUMNS, 3 WINTERS (2 AUTOMNES, 3 HIVERS) Filmleaf review
Sébastien Betbeder, France, 2013, 90m
In French with English subtitles
Director Sébastien Betbeder follows his acclaimed debut, Nights With Theodore, with an endearing, inventive romantic comedy, steeped in offbeat charm and an offhand cinephilia. Sad-sack Arman (Vincent Macaigne) first meets Amélie (Maud Wyler) when he bumps into her while jogging; his attempts at connecting with her fail one after the other, until circumstances grant him the opportunity to rescue her from would-be muggers. Thus begins the story of a relationship by turns breezy and momentous. Alongside his longtime friend from art school, Benjamin (Bastien Bouillon), Arman navigates life with his newfound love. Directly addressing the camera and in monologues that comment on their respective situations, these winning characters describe the trajectory of old-fashioned relationships in this millennial age. A Film Movement release. 25 Dec. 2013 French release. Allociné: 3.2
Saturday, March 8, 4:00pm – WRT; Sunday, March 9, 5:30pm - IFC
In Person: Sébastien Betbeder



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
AGE OF PANIC (LA BATAILLE DE SOLFÉRINO)
Justine Triet, France, 2013, 90m
In French with English subtitles
During a time of great political change, a frazzled young mother tries to keep it together on the home front. Laetitia (Laetitia Dosch), a cable news reporter off to cover the 2012 French presidential elections, leaves her daughters in the care of a hapless babysitter (Marc-Antoine Vaugeois) with strict instructions to keep them away from Vincent (Vincent Macaigne), her ex-husband and their father. But Vincent, determined to see his kids, disrupts the already chaotic household by enlisting a neighbor to negotiate a divorce agreement with Laetitia – while she’s out reporting amid election crowds in front of Socialist Party headquarters. In her enormously promising first feature, a very funny comedy of discomfort infused with documentary-style energy, director Justine Triet pits micro social problems against the macro body politic of France, all within the frame of one manic day in Paris. Nominated for Best First Film in the 2014 César Awards. 18 Sept. 2013 French release. Allociné: 3.8
Friday, March 7, 6:30pm – WRT; Saturday, March 8, 3:00pm – BAM; Sunday, March 9, 7:30pm – IFC; Monday, March 10, 1:00pm - WRT
In Person: Justine Triet



LES APACHES
Thierry de Peretti, France, 2013, 82m
In French with English subtitles
On the island of Corsica, a tension constantly simmers between the wealthy tourists and the working class locals. Aziz and his friends aren’t considering any of this when they break into an empty seaside house, looking for some illicit fun and a pool to lounge beside. But when the owners arrive for their vacation, there are dire consequences for the teenagers, who prove exceedingly easy to track down. Unbeknownst to Aziz, his pals also stole a pair of hunting rifles during the break-in, and might not be as loyal to him as he is to them. An atmospheric thriller simmering with adolescent sexuality, Les Apaches explores aspects of French culture that the mainstream cinema often ignores. The title refers to the slang term used by Paris police for juvenile delinquents, and the film, whose young characters are of Arab and Moroccan descent, narrows in on the subject of racial tension with considerable intelligence and nuance. 14 Aug. 2013 French release. Allociné: 3.4.
Monday, March 10, 12:00pm – EBM; Tuesday, March 11, 6:30pm – WRT; Wednesday, March 12, 7:00pm - IFC
In Person: Thierry de Peretti



A CASTLE IN ITALY (UN CHÂTEAU EN ITALIE) Filmleaf review
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, France, 2013, 104m
In English, French and Italian with English subtitles
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s semi-autobiographical third feature — her first film since the acclaimed Actresses (2007) — is as restless as the character she plays in it. The actress-director-screenwriter (she co-wrote the film with Noémie Lvovsky and Agnès de Sacy) crafts a sad, whimsical and tender portrait of a family whose glory days are over, and who must confront some ugly facts about their present reality: financial troubles, a younger brother dying of AIDS, a sprawling estate they can no longer maintain. Louise (Bruni Tedeschi) herself is approaching her mid 40s, and wants desperately to have a child and find enduring love. This boldly self-revealing, possibly cathartic work draws both directly and obliquely from Bruni Tedeschi’s real life: Louis Garrel, her former partner, plays Nathan, her young French lover; Nathan's father in the film is a renowned filmmaker who directs his son, as does Garrel’s father, Philippe; and Valeria’s own mother, pianist Marisa Borini, simply plays herself. Marisa Borini is nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 César Awards. 30 October 2013 French release. Allociné press rating: 3.3.
Monday, March 10, 6:00pm – IFC; Thursday, March 13, 9:00pm – WRT; Sunday, March 16, 6:30pm - WRT



EASTERN BOYS
Robin Campillo, France, 2013, 128m
In English, French and Russian with English subtitles
Arriving from all over the Eastern Bloc, the men who loiter around the Gare du Nord train station in Paris are scraping by however they can, forming gangs for support and protection, ever fearful of being caught by the police and deported. When the middle-aged, bourgeois Daniel (Olivier Rabourdin) approaches a boyishly handsome Ukrainian who calls himself Marek for a date, he learns the young man is willing to do anything for some cash. What Daniel intends only as sex-for-hire begets a home invasion and then an unexpectedly profound relationship. The drastically different circumstances of the two men’s lives reveal hidden facets of the city they share. Presented in four parts, this absorbing, continually surprising film by Robin Campillo (director of Les Revenants and a frequent collaborator of Laurent Cantet’s) is centered around relationships that defy easy categorization, in which motivations and desires are poorly understood even by those to whom they belong. 9 April 2014 coming French release. This won best film in the 70th Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti section
Tuesday, March 11, 9:00pm – WRT; Wednesday, March 12, 1:00pm – WRT; Wednesday, March 12, 9:00pm - IFC



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
THE GILDED CAGE (LA CAGE DORÉE)
Ruben Alves, France/Portugal, 2013, 95m
In French and Portuguese with English subtitles
José (Joaquim de Alameida) and Maria (Rita Blanco), a middle-aged Portuguese couple, have been living in Paris for 30 years. He is a respected construction foreman and she is the concierge at the ritzy apartment building where they live in a cramped ground-floor flat. Their life has been a fulfilling one, with a grown daughter and a teenage son who have spent their lives in France. But when José inherits the family winery and the opportunity to finally return home becomes tantalizingly within reach, they begin to question the level of comfort they’ve achieved and whether it all has been worth the cost. Alves’s immensely likable semi-autobiographical comedy-drama features a sprawling cast of oddballs and mixes farcical situations with razor-sharp observations about class and generational differences and the difficulty of balancing family and work. Nominated for Best First Film at the 2014 César Awards. 24 April 2013 French release. Allociné press rating: 3.5.
Sunday, March 9, 9:30pm - WRT; Tuesday, March 11, 6:00pm – IFC; Saturday, March 15, 7:15pm - WRT



US PREMIERE
GOING AWAY (UN BEAU DIMANCHE)
Nicole Garcia, France, 2013, 95m
In French with English subtitles
Veteran director-actress Nicole Garcia’s refreshingly understated seventh feature follows the formation of an improbable bond between Baptiste (Pierre Rochefort), a commitment-averse substitute teacher, and Mathias (Mathias Brezot), a young student emotionally neglected by his separated parents. Filling in as a temporary surrogate father for Mathias, Baptiste soon finds himself entangled with Mathias’s hard-working, hard-partying mother, Sandra (Louise Bourgoin). When a couple of thugs show up to collect an outstanding debt, the chivalrous Baptiste takes it upon himself to resolve the conflict. Full of sharply and empathetically drawn characters (embodied by an excellent cast, including Dominique Sanda as Baptiste’s mother), Garcia’s intimate film also speaks profoundly about the responsibilities bound up in the connections people forge. 5 February 2014 release. Allociné press rating: 3.6.
Friday, March 7, 6:00pm – IFC; Monday, March 10, 4:00pm – EBM; Saturday, March 15, 9:30pm - WRT



GRAND CENTRAL
Rebecca Zlotowski, France/Austria, 2013, 94m
In French with English subtitles
A nuclear power plant serves as the setting for a forbidden romance as volatile as the facility itself in the intense, brilliantly acted second feature from Rebecca Zlotowski (Belle Epine). Gary (A Prophet's Tahar Rahim) is a poor, unskilled laborer looking for easy money and a place to fit in. Karole (Léa Seydoux) is the fiancée of longtime plant employee Toni (Denis Ménochet), one of the many underpaid men and women who daily brave illness and possible death from radiation poisoning. Soon Gary and Karole fall rapturously in love, and their moonlit trysts in the bucolic surrounding countryside pose a growing threat to the staff's tight-knit bonds. Zlotowski focuses both on the everyday routines of the workers and on the swooning passions of the love triangle at the film’s heart, with electronica pulsating on the soundtrack as her characters gamble ever more perilously in work and love. Olivier Gourmet is nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2014 César Awards. 28 August 2013 French relese (Cannes competition). Allocine press rating: 3.9.
Friday, March 7, 9:00pm – WRT; Saturday, March 8, 4:45pm – IFC; Sunday, March 9, 4:30pm – BAM; Monday, March 10, 3:30pm - WRT
In Person: Rebecca Zlotowski



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
HIS WIFE (SON ÉPOUSE)
Michel Spinosa, France/India/Belgium, 2014, 108m
In English, French and Tamil with English subtitles
In Michel Spinosa’s emotional, superbly acted drama, a widower named Joseph (Yvan Attal) travels to India to meet Gracie (Janagi), a young Tamil newlywed who knew his late wife, Catherine (Attal's real life longtime partner Charlotte Gainsbourg), and whose erratic behavior suggests that she may be possessed by the dead woman. Soon enough, Joseph’s journey to the small village near Pondicherry where Gracie lives unveils itself to be not only a form of tribute to Catherine but also a bid for forgiveness. Spinosa (who co-wrote Rendez-Vous 2013 selection Renoir) coaxes magnetic, complex performances from Attal and especially Janagi, who is a revelation as a woman under the influence – of grief and even more mysterious forces. French release coming 12 March 2014.
Friday, March 7, 10:15pm – IFC; Wednesday, March 12, 1:00pm – EBM; 6:30pm – WRT



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
IF YOU DON'T, I WILL (ARRÊTE OU JE CONTINUE)
Sophie Fillières, France, 2014, 102m
In French with English subtitles
Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos are Pierre and Pomme, a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapsing. As Pierre goes through the motions of his daily routine while hardly disguising his anger, a bewildered Pomme slowly absorbs all the signs of impending crisis, searching for ways to reconnect with her partner. “We don’t dance anymore, we grow old,” she complains, before pulling Pierre onto the dance floor at a party. But their attempts to rekindle the passion are inevitably, sometimes comically, thwarted. Can they redefine their relationship or will they end up going their separate ways? During one of their weekend hikes, Pomme reaches a breaking point and decides, quite literally, to get lost. With wry humor and great delicacy, director Sophie Fillières (Gentille) crafts an intimate portrait of a pivotal moment in a long-term relationship. Fillières has worked before with Emmanuelle Devos (Ouch, Gentille [R-V 2006]). French release coming 5 March 2014.
Friday, March 7, 3:45pm – WRT; Monday, March 10, 10:15pm – IFC; Saturday, March 15, 5:00pm - WRT



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
LOVE BATTLES (MES SÉANCES DE LUTTE)
Jacques Doillon, France, 2013, 99m
In French with English subtitles
“All my strength, all the force of my love… if I heaped it on you, I’d demolish you”: Jacques Doillon’s latest is a bruising investigation into the fault lines that both separate and connect eroticism and violence. James Thiérrée (an acrobat and performance artist, and also Charlie Chaplin’s grandson) and Sara Forestier play Lui and Elle (“Him and Her”), almost-lovers unable to get on the same page, psychosexually speaking. In regular meetings they strive to resolve the impasse (or perhaps, just to expend pent-up energy) through no-holds-barred wrestling matches. Their “battles” grow in frequency and force, testing the lovers’ bodies as much as their souls. Doillon’s camera captures the astonishing physicality of their lengthy struggles less as a voyeur than as a third, invisible combatant. And as the film intensifies, it evolves from a metaphoric exploration of the nature of human sexuality into something far more visceral and affecting. An Adopt Films release. 6 November 2013 French release. Allociné press rating: 3.5.
Sunday, March 9, 7:30pm – BAM; Monday, March 10, 6:30pm – WRT; Tuesday, March 11, 8:00pm - IFC
In Person: Jacques Doillon



US PREMIERE
LOVE IS THE PERFECT CRIME (L’AMOUR EST UN CRIME PARFAIT)
Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, France/Switzerland, 2013, 110m
In French with English subtitles
It’s good to be Marc. Played by the reliably terrific Mathieu Amalric, he holds a prestigious teaching position at what must be the world’s most beautiful university and is desired by seemingly every comely coed in the Swiss Alps. But this idyllic existence goes awry the morning after, when his latest undergraduate conquest vanishes. Suddenly, it’s not so good to be Marc. A detective begins snooping around and asking questions. Marc’s supervisor, who has a thing for Marc’s sister (whose affections for Marc appear more than familial), informs him that his position may no longer be secure. A sexy student from a prominent family wishes to supplement her education with some extracurricular instruction. And then there’s the matter of the missing coed’s gorgeous stepmother… Everything comes together in this darkly funny thriller with an explosive finale from Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu. 15 January 2014 French release. Allociné press rating: 3.2.
Friday, March 7, 1:00pm – WRT; Sunday, March 9, 9:30pm – IFC; Monday, March 10, 9:15pm - WRT



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
THE MARCHERS (LA MARCHE)
Nabil Ben Yadir, France/Belgium, 2013, 120m
In French and Arabic with English subtitles
Nabil Ben Yadir’s rousing sophomore feature reconstructs a decisive event in the history of French racial politics: a Mitterand-era demonstration in which nine people marched 930 miles for equality and against racism from Marseilles to Paris, where they were met by more than 100,000 supporters. Compelled to undertake their cross-country trek when Mohamed (Tewfik Jallab) and Hassan (Jamel Debbouze) are victimized by the police, the band of protestors—inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi—have their resolve tested, but are obliged to soldier on when a Maghrebi teenager is brutally murdered and as they encounter ever more prejudice en route. The Marchers is a monument to the courage of a handful of activists as well as an edifying account of how a small group can bring about enormous shifts in the national consciousness. 27 November 2013 French release. Allociné press rating: 3.4.] With Olivier Gourmet.
Saturday, March 8, 9:45pm – IFC; Sunday, March 9, 1:30pm – WRT; Friday, March 14, 3:30pm - EBM
In Person: Nabil Ben Yadir



MISS AND THE DOCTORS (TIREZ LA LANGUE, MADEMOISELLE) Filmleaf review
Axelle Ropert, France, 2013,100m
In French with English subtitles
Sibling doctors Boris (filmmaker Cédric Kahn, in a revelatory performance) and Dimitri (Laurent Stocker) share a pediatric practice in a working-class Paris arrondissement. But their fraternal bonds and professional relationship are tested when they take on a young diabetic patient and both fall for the girl’s lovely mother (Louise Bourgoin), who tends bar at a local watering hole. The possibility of sharing a life with this woman and her daughter represents something quite different for each brother, and director Axelle Ropert (The Wolberg Family) places their burgeoning rivalry at the heart of this witty, passionate, beautifully observed drama. The cinematography by Céline Bozon (the sister of Tip Top director Serge) gives the urban setting, with its high-rise apartment blocks and Chinese restaurants, a sense of everyday magic, as does Benjamin Esdraffo’s lilting score. 4 Sept/ 2013 French release. Allociné press rating 3.6.
Saturday, March 8, 1:00pm – WRT; Sunday, March 9, 1:00pm – IFC; Monday, March 10, 1:50pm - EBM
In Person: Axelle Ropert



MOOD INDIGO (L’ÉCUME DES JOURS)
Michel Gondry, France/Belgium, 2013, 95m
In English and French with English subtitles
Eminently inventive Michel Gondry finds an ideal counterpart in Boris Vian, whose novel Foam of the Daze provides the foundation for this manic, visionary love story. Romain Duris plays wealthy bachelor Colin, whose hobbies include developing his pianocktail (a cocktail-making piano) and devouring otherworldly dishes prepared by his trusty chef Nicolas (Omar Sy). When Colin learns that his best friend Chick (Gad Elmaleh), a fellow acolyte of the philosopher Jean-Sol Partre, has a new American girlfriend, our lonely hero attends a friend’s party in hopes of falling in love himself. He soon meets Chloé (Audrey Tautou) and, before they know it, they’re dancing to Duke Ellington and plunging headfirst into a romance that Gondry rapturously depicts as only he can. Nominated for three 2014 César Aw 24 April 2013ards: Étienne Charry (Best Original Music), Florence Fontaine (Best Costume) and Stéphane Rozenbaum (Best Production Design). A Drafthouse Films release. [B]Frenh release , Allociné press rating: 3.0.
Sunday, March 9, 7:00pm - WRT; Monday, March 10, 8:00pm – IFC; Monday, March 10, 9:30pm - BAM
In Person: Michel Gondry



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
PLAYING DEAD (JE FAIS LE MORT)
Jean-Paul Salomé, France/Belgium, 2013, 104m
In French with English subtitles
In Jean-Paul Salomé’s seventh feature, the hilarious François Damiens plays Jean, a down-and-out and underemployed actor (not to mention a former César winner!) who, after years of playing tiny roles on canceled TV shows and starring in embarrassing commercials, takes a gig as a performer in a homicide reenactment “produced” by the police at a ski resort in the French Alps. Being an expert at unnecessarily complicating or otherwise ruining any situation in which he finds himself, Jean quickly gets in the way of the case’s chief investigator (Géraldine Nakache), sparking an antagonism-turned-romance as well as a suspenseful whodunit rich with twists, turns and amusing instances of Jean taking himself much too seriously. Filming the reenactment as though it were a movie shoot, Salomé slyly juxtaposes the worlds of forensics and filmmaking, and the result is a rare, uproarious murder mystery. 11 December 2013 French release. Allociné press rating: 2.9.
Saturday, March 8, 6:00pm – BAM; Saturday, March 8, 9:00pm – WRT; Sunday, March 9, 3:15pm – IFC; Friday, March 14, 1:00pm - EBM
In Person: Jean-Paul Salomé



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
SCHOOL OF BABEL (LA COUR DE BABEL)
Julie Bertuccelli, France, 2013, 89m
In French with English subtitles
At a secondary school in Paris’s 10th arrondissement there is a “reception class,” where students between the ages of 11 and 15 are taught their first lessons in French. Some of these immigrant children, newly arrived, know a few phrases in the language of their adopted country; others can’t speak a word. Their families have come from all across the globe, from Ireland, Senegal, Morocco, Brazil, and China, fleeing persecution or just looking for a fresh start. Shot over a year, this observational documentary by Julie Bertuccelli (Since Otar Left, The Tree) is a kind of non-fiction counterpart to Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or-winning The Class, staying within the confines of the school and recording the children’s candid, sometimes heated discussions and interactions between parents and teachers. The result is both illuminating and extremely touching, a multifaceted look at the French melting pot, its frustrations and its hopes for the future. French release 12 March 2014.
Saturday, March 8, 12:45pm – IFC; Sunday, March 16, 1:30pm - WRT Coming March 12 release in France.

SUZANNE (2013) Filmleaf review
Katell Quillévéré, France, 2013, 94m
In French with English subtitles
A coming-of-age story takes on epic proportions in Katell Quillévéré’s follow-up to her lauded debut, Love Like Poison. Suzanne (first played by Apollonia Luisetti and then by Sara Forestier) is a wild child who becomes a mother at 15 and takes up with a local bad boy not long after. Through it all, her widowed father (comic actor François Damiens, in a rare dramatic role) and older sister (Fanie Zanini and Adèle Haenel) try their best to keep the family together. Brilliantly acted, especially by Forestier, Damiens and Haenel, Quillévéré’s film, which compresses some 25 years into an hour and a half, proceeds at a furious pace, episodically and elliptically. What sounds melodramatic on paper is never less than urgent and compelling on screen: each decisive moment in this family saga lands with tremendous emotional force. Nominated for five 2014 César Awards: Sara Forestier (Best Actress), Adele Haenel (Best Supporting Actress), François Damiens (Best Supporting Actor), Paul Hamy (Most Promising Actor), and Katell Quillévéré and Mariette Désert (Best Original Screenplay). French release 18 December 2013, Allociné press rating: 4.1.
Saturday, March 8, 2:30pm – IFC; Sunday, March 9, 4:30pm – WRT; Wednesday, March 12, 4:00pm - EBM
In Person: Katell Quillévéré



NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
TIP TOP Filmleaf review
Serge Bozon, France/Luxembourg/Belgium, 2013, 106m
In French and Arabic with English subtitles
Co-written with Axelle Ropert (also featured in this year’s Rendez-Vous with Miss and the Doctors), Bozon’s much-anticipated follow-up to 2007’s La France is a one-of-a-kind screwball procedural adapted from a pulp novel by Welsh writer Bill James. Meticulous and eccentric internal-affairs investigator Esther (Isabelle Huppert) and her mousy new partner Sally (Sandrine Kiberlain), recently demoted due to a mysterious ethics violation, are summoned to look into the Villeneuve police department after the murder of an Algerian informant. As entanglements ensue with belligerent local detective Mendès (a very funny François Damiens), Bozon throws together seemingly mismatched elements with aplomb: exploring the women detectives’ sexual kinks even as he comments on racism and postcolonial tensions. In keeping with its director’s background in criticism, Tip Top is an exploration of policier tropes but also a bold, strange, often delightful film that looks, sounds and moves like nothing else in its genre(s). A Kino Lorber release. French release date 11 Sept. 2013, Allociné press rating: 3.1.
Thursday, March 13, 9:30pm – IFC; Friday, March 14, 1:00pm, 9:00pm - WRT
In Person: Serge Bozon

TONNERRE
Guillaume Brac, France, 2013, 100m
In French with English subtitles
Struggling musician Maxime (Vincent Macaigne) moves back to the titular provincial town (which means thunder in French) to live with his father and work on some new songs. But soon he meets Mélodie (Solène Rigot), a beautiful journalist more than a decade his junior. As their fling progresses to full-on enthrallment in a matter of days, all Maxime’s interests become secondary to spending time with Mélodie. Just as suddenly as their relationship began, she texts him a farewell and cuts off all contact. The quaint pleasures and understated tone of the early scenes slowly morph into something resembling a thriller, and as Maxime's longing transforms into obsession, a palpable dread sets in. Director Guillaume Brac previously collaborated with Macaigne on the acclaimed medium-length film A World Without Women (2011). Tonnerre, Brac’s feature-length debut, is darker and more troubling, a complex and engrossing character study with a brilliantly modulated performance by Macaigne at its center. French release date 29 January 2014, Allociné press rating: 3.6.
Wednesday, March 12, 4:00pm – WRT; Thursday, March 13, 7:00pm – IFC; Friday, March 14, 6:30pm - WRT
In Person: Guillaume Brac



UNDER THE RAINBOW (AU BOUT DU CONTE)
Agnès Jaoui, 2013, France, 112 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Twenty-four-year-old Laura (Agathe Bonitzer) has faith that someday her Prince Charming will suddenly appear. But when such a man does turn up, so does another one — charming in a different way, but equally alluring. In a flash, all of Laura’s assumptions about life and the future become fairy dust. Under the Rainbow is a contemporary fairy tale with more than its share of twists, imbued with the sharp existentialist humor we have come to expect from the duo of Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri (The Taste of Others, Look at Me). Both once again collaborate on the script and co-star as Pierre and Marian, a comically neurotic middle-aged pair [they aren’t a romantic couple in the film] who, despite being a generation older than Laura, face a similar predicament: how to lead their lives in relation to their sometimes wild dreams and expectations. 6 March French release. Allociné: 3.5
Tuesday, March 11, 10:15pm – IFC; Wednesday, March 12, 9:00pm – WRT; Friday, March 14, 3:45pm - FSLC



YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL (JEUNE ET JOLIE)
François Ozon, France, 2013, 95m
In French and German with English subtitles
“No one’s serious at 17,” wrote Arthur Rimbaud. For Isabelle (Géraldine Pailhas), the 17-year-old at the center of François Ozon’s Young & Beautiful, this sentiment may justify the choices she makes over the course of a pivotal year. Divided into four seasons, Isabelle’s foray into prostitution is motivated not by a need for money or control, but rather by an overwhelming desire for self-discovery. Ozon observes her journey without judgment, reflecting on the emotions and insecurities that saturate a young person’s entrance into adulthood. One year removed from In the House (Rendez-Vous ’13), Ozon again proves a master at coaxing strong performances from young actors; Marine Vacth, in her first leading role, is a revelation. Nominated for two 2014 César Awards: Géraldine Pailhas (Best Supporting Actress) and Marine Vacth (Most Promising Actress). A Sundance Selects release. 21 August 2013 French release. Allociné: 3.7
Friday, March 7, 8:00pm – IFC; Saturday, March 8, 6:30pm – WRT; Saturday, March 8, 9:00pm - BAM
In Person: François Ozon