Tag Archives: french

Je suis une ville endormie / Nights with Theodore (2012) Sébastien Betbeder, Pio Marmaï, Agathe Bonitzer, Fabrice Adde, Drama, Fantasy

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A romantic connection blossoms between two young Parisians during a succession of dreamlike nocturnal visits to a singular, beguiling park. Anna meets Theodore at a party, and together they impulsively climb the fence and enter the a nearby city park, an unusual and striking hillside public garden in northeastern Paris. The two part at dawn, but find themselves drawn back the following night, and, falling in love under the park’s spell, embark on nightly explorations of its topographic mysteries, gradually discovering that, despite feeling entirely alone in the world, they may not be the only ones drawn to this magical place.
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Le printemps / Spring (1972) Marcel Hanoun, Michael Lonsdale, Raymonde Godeau, Véronique Andriès, Drama, Thriller

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One could only enumerate the elements to let the film tell itself. And this is besides one possible purpose of Hanoun here. Just let things communicate between themselves without the coercition of usual continuums (space and time) and let’s see and feel what happens. Yet there are clues given, relations but they are separated when one could await a close editing and vice versa. There seems to have two worlds, cinematographic worlds I mean : B&W and colour and things circulate from one world to another, people too…
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La vie de Jésus / The life of Jesus (1997) Bruno Dumont, David Douche, Marjorie Cottreel, Kader Chaatouf, Drama, Romance

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A social movie about current life in the north of France. Freddy and his friends are all unemployed. They pass away time by wandering around on their motorcycles and by directing their aggressive feelings towards Arab immigrants. Freddy is in love with Marie, a cashier at a local supermarket. When she is proposed to by Kader, a young Arab man, Freddy and his friends have an idea: they decide to punish Kader for what they call “such a provocation.” After they have raped another girl, Marie finally commits to Kader, which seals his fate.
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Les Gants blancs / The White Gloves (2014) Louise Traon, Luís Miguel Cintra, Documentary

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Louise Traon never films Manoel De Oliveira directly. Instead, she chooses to avoid him, skirt round him, skim past him and keep her distance, yet all the while drawing close to the art of cinema itself, homing in on its very essence. Her film tells the story of a girl who grew up with the images of an old gentleman, and who now wants to show her own images. This touching self-portrait gives insight into a man who appears to have lived many lives, showing his work through a remarkable link with time.
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Yoyo (1965) Pierre Étaix, Claudine Auger, Philippe Dionnet, Comedy, Drama, Family

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A man has everything: dozens of servants, a palace, vast woods, gardens, a lake, mechanical toys, private entertainment troupes of musicians and dancers. He has it all – but love. When alone, he sits at a desk, sighing, and looking at a photograph of a pretty girl. One day, the circus descended onto his palace, and amidst all the fun it brought, he recognized the Amazon on the white horse – the girl in the photograph. The girl is now the mother of a small boy, Yo-Yo, whom she considers that looks like the millionaire, even under a clown’s make-up. The boy will spend some time in the palace, in awe of so much riches, but he will leave (in a dream-like scene) on the tusks of the elephant. Time passes – and one day Yo-Yo will be the owner of his father’s palace in decay. Starting from scratch, he will rebuilt it, and be praised as a great clown, an artist, a film-maker, a millionaire.
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Le soupirant / The Suitor (1962) France Arnel, Pierre Étaix, Laurence Lignières, Comedy

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Pierre is a shy man whose sole focus in life is studying astrology in solitude, which is often difficult since he still lives at and studies in his parent’s house. His parent’s would rather he date and get married. He takes on this task with verve. Not knowing how to approach women in a romantic way, he watches how other men operate and tries to emulate them, most often without success. He ends up attracting the one woman he doesn’t really want, a fun loving woman named Laurence who lives next door, but he becomes obsessed with Stella, a singer he sees on television. He believes her love song is being sung directly to him. As Pierre tries to get away from Laurence while pursuing Stella, he may miss the perfect match who may be right under his nose.
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Les ambitieux / Ambitious (2006) Catherine Corsini, Karin Viard, Éric Caravaca, Jacques Weber, Comedy, Romance

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On the one hand you have Judith Zahn, an arrogant, snobbish, bitchy Parisian editor. On the other hand meet Julien Demarsay: an insecure, timid, young bookseller from the East of France who has just written his first autobiographic novel, with what it takes of navel-contemplating and soul-searching. What do they have in common? Nothing much, except that sex will unite them, ambition part them before true love is born between them at last.
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300 hommes / 300 Souls (2014) Aline Dalbis, Emmanuel Gras, Documentary, Biography

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‘Three hundred men’ is one long night at Saint Jean de Dieu, in Marseille. The center welcomes and confines three hundred homeless men every night over the winter. This documentary is neither the description nor the chronicle of the life of a shelter. It portrays humanity reduced to its essence, when only remain speech, humor, anger or madness to affirm that one still exists.’
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