Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2022

[Chris Knipp]

OUR MEN/MON LEGIONAIRE (Rachel Lang 2021)

Louis Garrel stars as a zealous second lieutenant in the French Foreign Legion in a film thhat's nice=looking but a bit thin. The film where Garrels wears a uniform that I'd rather have seen is Roman Polanski's much-praised elucidation of the Dreyfus Case, J'Accuse/An Officer and a Spy.

[Chris Knipp]

MADELEINE COLLINS (Antoine Barraud 2021)

The brilliant and beautiful comedienne Virginie Efira stars in this excellent psychological thriller about a woman attempting to live two lives who starts getting confused and arousing the suspicions of her duel sets of children. After her star turn in Verhoeven's lurid Benedetta, Efira is on a roll.

[Chris Knipp]

MAGNETIC BEATS/LES MAGNETIQUES (Vincent Maël Cardona 2021)

The striking young newcomer Thimotée Robart makes a compelling lead in this period homage to the late-70's-early-80's era of post punk and pirate radio that is also a coming of age story. This film has a nice look, style, and flow.

[Chris Knipp]

GUERMANTES (Christophe Honoré 2021)

The premise of this pseudo-documentary about a group of Comédie-Francaise actors twists reality. It says (which isn't quite true) that Honoré's play based on Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu was not put on due to the pandemic, and the cast decided to go on rehearsing it anyway. Lots of fun and frolic and attractive people, but it's messy and a bit long. Honoré is one of the characters, as himself.

[Chris Knipp]

SECRET NAME/LA PLACE D'UNE AUTRE (Aurélia Georges 2021)

Adapted from a Wilkie Colins novel, this is a classic costume adventure of a young woman with nothing whose picaresque adventures lead her to assume the identify of a well-born but penniless woman she thinks has died in WWI. Cozy, involving stuff, this owes a lot to its two leads, the supple Lyna Khoudri as the young adventuress and the great Sabine Azéma as the posh lady who enjoys being deceived.

[Chris Knipp]

ROBUST/ROBUSTE (Constance Meyer 2021)

The physically imposing and utterly confident young Déborah Lukumuena plays a wrestler and security guard who does a stint as the aide-protector of Georges, a blowsy and burnt-out actor of former renown, who just happens to be played by Gérard Depardieu. Constance Meyer has created an engaging two-hander that draws you in by seeming to have nothing to prove.

[Chris Knipp]

PETITE SOLANGE (Allexe Ropert 2021)

The girlfriend of lively French cinema figure - critic, talker, actor, writer, director - Serge Bozon, whose sister has done handsome cinematography for Ropert before but doesn't here - Ropert, also more a writer than director, has crafted a misfire here. Formerly she did several oddball dramas and a comedy. This appears to be a familial melodrama to show how a couple's breakup can be emotionally devastating on their teenage daughter. Underneath everything is airless and surreal.