Update: Unfortunately this event has had to be cancelled as the distributors were unable to guarantee getting the DVDs to Ventnor in time. The Film Society deeply regret having to cancel, but thought it better than selling the tickets only to discover it couldn’t go ahead.
If you love French films, then you’re in for a treat next month, as the Ventnor Film Society host a very special one-day event.
We’ve managed to get hold of four modern French films which have never been shown on the Island before. Tickets are priced, very reasonably, at £12.50 for all four films.
The day kicks off at 9.45am with La Trahison (The Betrayal) followed by Les Soeurs Fachées (Me and My Sister) at 11.30am.
There will be a break before the next film at Le Couperet (The Axe) which starts at 2pm and finally, Voisins, Voisines (Neighbours) starts at 4.30pm.
La Trahison (The Betrayal)
Dir Phillippe Faucon Fr 2005 82m Cast Abdelkafar Abdallah, Doufi Abderezeke
Understated, tautly constructed war story “The Betrayal” takes a timely look back to the 1960 Algerian war of independence. The multi-referential title refers to divided loyalties that threaten to tear apart a French army unit made up of mutually suspicious European colonizers and Algerian Arabs. A smart script co-written by Moroccan-born French director Philippe Faucon (Samia) pulls off the difficult task of doing justice to opposing positions while withholding enough information to maintain suspense.
A less ambitious film might have stuck to watching events unfold from a single point of view, but here plenty of scenes show the Algerian soldiers talking among themselves, their dialogue in Arabic never quite proving or disproving the accusations against them. Faucon cleverly plays with language to draw out suspense, not just to create mystery for its own sake but to allow the full complexity of the issues to sink in.
Les Soeurs Fachées (Me and My Sister)
Dir Alexandra Leclère Fr 2004 93m Cast Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Frot, François Berléand
In Alexandra Leclère’s directorial debut Louise (Catherine Frot) is a small town beautician who comes to Paris to stay with her older sister Martine (Isabelle Huppert) for three days. Louise is excited about her visit, and can’t believe she will actually be meeting the publishers who have agreed to publish her first novel, which is based on her life.
Martine is annoyed that her gauche, unsophisticated sister is intruding into her routine at her smart, tidy apartment. But while Louise exudes vitality and zest for life, Martine has lost the ability to have fun, and lives a sterile life of routine with her husband Pierre (Francois Berléand). She can’t wait for Louise to leave: she finds her eternal optimism and natural zest for life irksome and embarrassing. But Louise finds her feet very quickly, and as jealousy rears its ugly head, it’s Martine who feels like the outsider.
‘There are many lovely moments in Les Soeurs Fachées. The film is filled with charm and truth. There are no frills added, and the barren relationship Martine shares with Pierre is perhaps the most poignant… Leclère’s film rejoices in its themes of sibling rivalry, denial of roots and snobbish one-upmanship. The roles of the two sisters were especially written for Huppert and Frot and it’s worth seeing the film just for their wonderful performances. It’s a real treat.’
Le Couperet (The Axe)
Dir Costa-Gavras Fr 2005 122m Cast José Garcia, Karin Viard, Geordy Monfils
Veteran left-field director Costa-Gavras (Z, State of Siege, Missing) takes on the domain of modern industrial alienation in this tale of a hardworking and decent man driven to extreme measures by the difficulty of finding a job and supporting his family.
‘Costa-Gavras is an accomplished filmmaker and he tells his story with pace and panache. There is much subversive humour, as Bruno (José Garcia in top form) goes about the job of assassin with a clunky, guilt-ridden determination fuelled by despair. It’s a black comedy with plenty to say, much of it about the self-serving righteousness of Bruno’s bourgeois peers.’
urbancinefile.com.au
Voisins, Voisines (Neighbours)
Dir Malik Chibane Fr 2005 95m Cast Frédéric Diefenthal, Anémone, Jackie Berroyer
A keenly observed, bittersweet ensembler, Malik Chabane’s “Voisins Voisines” is a small triumph of writing and acting. Framed as the timeline during which a noted rap musician goes about composing the capsule-portrait tunes on his second album, the film follows the lives of select inhabitants of the Residence Mozart, an ugly concrete apartment building designed as low-income public housing, later converted to affordable co-ops. A mix of young and old, Christian, Muslim and Jew, and black and white, the Mozart brims with enough emotional counterpoint to make its namesake proud.
Billing itself as a “hip hop fable,Voisins, Voisines suggests that, at the moment, life in the low-income ‘burbs near Paris is being best chronicled by writer-directors with some gray in their hair. Thanks to the central premise, the film is also a low-key rap musical whose fine lyrics, set to rhythmic but unaggressive beats, embellish and advance the action.
