FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL UK
Fri 1 & Mon 4
The Tasting / La Dégustation (15)
With his wine business on the brink of bankruptcy Jacques (Bernard Campan) who is divorced, disgruntled and in his fifties, does not have much to smile about. Not feeling quite particularly inspired by the next step in his life, Jacques is close to giving up until Hortense (Isabelle Carré) stumbles into his shop. Light-hearted and kind, Hortense works as a nurse – and is so completely enchanted by the babies she delivers, she is determined to find love and have a child of her own. This could be the start of something seemingly wonderful for them both but as they grow closer and closer, their pasts begin to catch up with them. A testament to the power of love and a great glass of wine. Based on director Ivan Calbérac’s stage play of the same name and premiered in last year’s French Film Festival UK.
Mon 4 & Tue 5
Holy Cow / Vingt Dieux (15)
Set in the heart of the Jura, a rural region known for its dairy cows, agricultural festivals, and delicate Comté cheese – and where Totone spends his youth, mainly just hanging out with his friends. But after his father’s tragic accident, Totone will have to stand on his own two feet and support himself and his little sister. To this end, he decides to make the most delicate cheese and to hold his own against tough local competition. An unexpected audience hit at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Holy Cow excels thanks to its graceful direction and authentic performances from its young non-actors. First-time director Louise Courvoisier tells a familiar story from the region where she grew up with a heartfelt honesty and introduces audiences to its cheese-making culture. This film is sponsored by the Hereford French Circle.
Mon 4 & Thu 7
The Marching Band / En fanfare (12A)
This French spin on Mark Herman’s Brassed Off (the British comedy-drama about colliery bands) has a beating emotional pulse of its own. Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe) is an internationally renowned conductor of the Lille Symphony Orchestra who travels the world. He discovers he was adopted – then also finds out he has a younger brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), who works in a school cafeteria and plays the trombone in a school marching band. While they seem to be worlds apart, their unwavering love of music unites them in difficult circumstances. The third feature film by screenwriter, actor and director Emmanuel Courcol emerges as an immensely touching and melodious work, bringing relationships and music to the fore.
Tue 5 & Thu 7
Along Came Love / Le Temps d’aimer (12A)
Beginning in the aftermath of the Second World War, and unfolding over two decades, director Katell Quillévéré examines a mutually advantageous marriage of convenience that, against the odds, grows into real love. Madeleine (Anaïs Demoustier), a waitress and young mother, meets François (Vincent Lacoste), a wealthy and cultivated student, on a beach in Normandy in 1947. The force of attraction that makes them gravitate towards each other, is proportionate to the secrecy that each carries within.
Thu 7 & Tue 12
Coup de Chance (12A)
Woody Allen features in the French Film Festival UK for the first time with a thriller set in the upper-class echelons of Paris society and written, acted and filmed entirely in French. For his 50th film he deals with a bored wife in Paris (Lou de Laâge) who cheats on her wealthy and aloof husband (Melvile Poupaud) with an old high school friend (Niels Schneider) … which triggers fatal consequences. Allen at 88 has more than a half-century career as a writer and director of influential classics such as Annie Hall (1977) and Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989). He has an affection for France and his 2011 comedy Midnight in Paris brought him his fourth Oscar, for original screenplay. Here he has coaxed superb performances from a sterling cast especially newcomer Lou de Laâge, who has distinct traces of Diane Keaton. Stunning cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
Sat 9, 4.30pm
Beating Hearts / L’amour ouf (15)
Set in the 1980s in northern France, actor turned director Gilles Lellouche charts an improbable relationship between Jackie (Adèle Exarchopoulos) from an upper-middle-class family and Clotaire (François Civil) from a modest background. They grow up in the same town and attend the same high school. Whilst she is dedicated to her studies, he plays truant and becomes involved in a gang. Their paths cross later in life in adulthood and they fall madly in love. Lellouche (who previously came to the Festival with Sink or Swim), returns with “an emotional rollercoaster spanning over 15 years in the lives of star-crossed lovers”, leaving us questioning the nature of love or an amour fou.
Wed 13 & Thu 14
Boléro (15)
In the two decades between the First and Second World War, Maurice Ravel was feted as France’s greatest living composer. His work melded modernism, baroque and neoclassicism, with later compositions also embracing jazz. Ravel is best known for his 1928 composition Boléro, whose conception lies at the heart of Anne Fontaine’s elegant film. It weaves Ravel’s working process and life through his encounters with three women: the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, whose commission led to the music’s creation; his patron Misia Sert, and his pianist friend Marguerite Long. Raphael Personnaz stars as the famed composer with Jeanne Balibar as Rubinstein who commissioned the now legendary piece of music.
Thu 14, 2.30pm
A Man and a Woman / Un homme et une femme (1966, PG)
Written and directed by Claude Lelouch and starring the late Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant this romantic classic shows a widow and widower who meet by chance at their children’s boarding school and whose budding relationship is complicated by the memories of their deceased spouses. Lush photography and a memorable musical score by Francis Lai combined to make it one of the most successful French films of all time and launch Aimée’s career on the international arena as well as giving Lelouch his first Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 and an Oscar for best foreign film. Screened in honour of Aimée who died earlier this year with a filmed tribute by Claude Lelouch.
Sat 2, 11am (free pre-activity from 10.30am)
200% WOLF (U)
When Freddy Lupin’s wayward wish transforms him into a werewolf and deposits a mischievous moon sprite on earth, Freddy must restore the cosmic order before the earth and moon collide.
Mon 4 – Wed 13
A SUDDEN GLIMPSE TO DEEPER THINGS (PG)
Exploring the pivotal 1949 experience atop Switzerland’s Grindelwald glacier that reshaped British modernist painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s artistic perspective for decades to come.
Tue 5 – Thu 14
A DIFFERENT MAN (15)
After undergoing facial-reconstructive surgery, Edward becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.
Fri 8 – Thu 14
THE ROOM NEXT DOOR (12A)
Ingrid and Martha were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.
Subtitled screening available.
Mon 11, 6.30pm
RADIX FILM CLUB PRESENT: HOLLYWOODGATE (12A)
Following the departure of western forces in 2021, Ibrahim Nash’at’s film documents the inner circles of the Taliban as they rebuild American military equipment and regain power. Made with special permission from the Taliban, Hollywoodgate propogates questions of intent, control and personal accountability in documentary filmmaking. Foreign language with English subtitles. Stick around after to talk about the film and get 10% off drinks at the bar.
Fri 15 – Thu 21
Anaora (18)
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
Subtitled screening available.
Fri 15 Nov – Sun 1 Dec
PADDINGTON IN PERU (CERT TBC)
Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru.
Afternoon Tea Screenings: Enjoy a marvellous Afternoon Tea filled with plenty of treats (and more than a few marmalade sandwiches!) before heading into your Paddington in Peru screening.
Audio Description and Subtitled, Relaxed and Baby Friendly screenings available.
Sat 16, 11am (free pre-activity from 10.30am)
DRAGONKEEPER (PG)
The fate of ancient China rests on the shoulders of one young girl, who must find the last remaining dragon egg and fulfil her destiny.
Mon 18 & Wed 20
LEE (15)
The story of photographer Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.
Audio description available.
Tue 19 & Thu 21
FIREBRAND (15)
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Fri 22 – Thu 28
BIRD (15)
Bailey lives with her brother Hunter and her father Bug, who raises them alone in a squat in northern Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time to devote to them. Bailey looks for attention and adventure elsewhere.
YOUNG FILM PROGRAMMERS’ TRUTH SEASON
Fri 22 & Sat 23
THE GLEANERS AND I / LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE (2000, PG)
An 1867 painting by Jean-Francois Millet inspired septuagenarian documentarian Agnes Varda to cross the French countryside to videotape people who scavenge. Taking everything from surplus in the fields, to rubbish in trashcans, to oysters washed up after a storm, the “gleaners” range from those sadly in need to those hoping to recreate the community activity of centuries past, and still others who use whatever they find to cobble together a rough art. Highlighted by Varda’s amusing narration.
Mon 25 & Wed 27
BLACK BOX DIARIES (15)
Journalist Shiori Ito investigates her own sexual assault, seeking to prosecute the high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case, exposing Japan’s outdated judicial and societal systems.
Thu 28, 7.30pm
CLOSE-UP (U)
The true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
Mon 2 & Tue 3 Dec
F IS FOR FAKE (PG)
Orson Welles’ final film documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.
Wed 27 Nov & Mon 2 Dec
Cléo from 5 to 7 / Cléo de 5 à 7 (PG)
Cleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor. French language with English subtitles.
Fri 29 Nov – Wed 4 Dec
BLITZ (12A)
In World War II London, nine-year-old George is evacuated to the countryside by his mother, Rita, to escape the bombings. Defiant and determined to return to his family, George embarks on a journey back home as Rita searches for him.
Subtitled screening available.
Sat 30, 11am (free pre-activity from 10.30am)
THE WILD ROBOT (U)
After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island’s animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.