The 23rd French Film Festival, which features the best of new French cinema, along with its classics, will be held beginning on May 6 at cinematheques across the country.
Screenings will take place at venues in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Herzliya, Sderot, and Holon, as well as at the Anis Cultural Center in Jaffa, and other locations.
This year, the festival will focus on women, beginning with its opening film, The World’s Richest Woman, starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Marina Fois, and Raphael Personnaz. All were nominated for César Awards, with Lafitte winning one.
Directed by Thierry Klifa, the film tells the story of Marianne (Huppert), “the richest woman in the world,” and Pierre-Alain (Lafitte), a much younger Parisian writer and photographer. The two meet at a photo shoot and become inseparable. Marianne’s daughter struggles to cope with her mother’s sudden bond with a younger man, who keeps getting her to write checks.
French Film Festival returns to Israeli theaters
This film is loosely based on the story of the heiress to the L’Oréal fortune. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was a major success in France. It is being distributed in Israel by New Cinema and will open in theaters soon.
The festival will also include a tribute to Brigitte Bardot, who embodied an iconic vision of femininity and sensuality and died this year. The festival will screen two of her best-known films: Roger Vadim’s …And God Created Woman, the film that introduced Bardot as an international phenomenon, and Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, considered one of her best films.
The latter looks at her character’s troubled marriage to a screenwriter (Michel Piccoli), who is shooting a new version of the Odyssey in Greece. Jack Palance plays the American movie actor starring in the film-within-a-film, and legendary noir director Fritz Lang portrays himself.
In addition to the Bardot tribute, the festival will present a program of Henri Verneuil’s films, including two starring Jean Gabin: A Monkey in Winter, co-starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, and The Sicilian Clan, starring Alain Delon.
The closing film at most venues and the opening film at the Jerusalem Cinematheque will be Cédric Klapisch’s Colors of Time, which was nominated for several César Awards, including Best Actress for Suzanne Lindon.
The film begins when 30 distant relatives discover they are about to inherit a house in Normandy that has been abandoned for years. When they inspect it, the artifacts reveal the fascinating life of the woman who left them to them.
Klapisch’s movies include such charming films as Back to Burgundy and When the Cat’s Away. The film will be distributed in Israel by Lev Cinemas and will also open soon.
Among the many other films to be shown is At Work, directed by Valérie Donzelli, which won her the screenplay prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Bastien Bouillon, who stars in the film Leave One Day, which is currently playing in Israel, portrays a man who abandons his former life to become a writer, taking a huge personal and professional risk.
Louise, also known as A Girl Without a Name, is a debut film starring Diane Rouxel and Cécile de France that follows a young woman’s search for her true identity after fleeing her home as a child.
Woman in the Snow, directed by Louise Hemon, tells the story of a young teacher who arrives in a village at the foot of the French Alps at the end of the 19th century and, against all odds, tries to change the villagers’ way of thinking, until avalanches transform everything.
The festival will also show the comedy The Show Must Go On several months before its release in France. Directed by Bertrand Usclat and Martin Darondeau, the film offers a funny look behind the scenes on the opening night of a play at the Comédie-Francaise, France’s national theater.
Members of the company appear in various roles, offering a glimpse into the pressures, relationships, and tensions of an opening night. Fans of Call My Agent! will enjoy this movie.
The Count of Monte Cristo, a new adaptation of the famous novel, again stars Bastien Bouillon and Laurent Lafitte, along with Pierre Niney and Anais Demoustier. The film was a major box-office success in France.
The great comedian and actor Pierre Richard, known for the classic spy comedy, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, has directed a new comedy at age 92. It is about the relationship between a reclusive man and an eccentric young man, The Man Who Saw the Bear Who Saw the Man.
The festival is an initiative of Eden Cinema and its CEO, Caroline Boneh. It is held in cooperation with the French Institute in Israel, UniFrance, and the French Embassy in Israel.
Boneh and Guillaume Mainguet, the audiovisual attaché at the French Institute in Israel, are the co-artistic directors. The festival also receives support from L’Occitane, Air France, Pink Lady, and Business France.
For the full program, visit the websites of the individual cinematheques and venues.
Source:
www.jpost.com
