2009
Guests:
Sophie Marceau - Actress in LOL & Female Agents, Jean-Michel Ribes - Director of A Day at the Museum, Christophe Lambert - Actor, Christian Bujeau - Stage actor & Director
Films:
Entre les Murs
Director: Laurent Cantet
Screenplay: François Bégaudeau (book and screenplay), Robin Campillo and Laurent Cantet
Cast: François Bégaudeau, Nassim Amrabt, Laura Baquela
Running time: 2hr 08min
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Synopsis:
When a young teacher, François, insists on setting an unusually democratic and direct mode of communication in his middle school classroom, the situation becomes raw and challenging. Entre Les Murs is a fictional composite based on François’s real life experiences, and the author and co-screenwriter plays a version of himself in the film. In lieu of professional actors, the other roles are also played by students who actually attend the school in Paris depicted in the story. They come from a wide range of cultures and ethnicities including African, Arab, and Chinese; their intense interactions with their teacher and one another reflect the complexity of identity in contemporary France. Winner of the Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival’s award for Best Film, 2008.
Lol (Laughing Out Loud)®
Director: Lisa Azuelos
Screenplay: Lisa Azuelos and Nans Delgado
Cast: Sophie Marceau, Christa Theret, Jocelyn Quivrin, Alexandre Astier, Françoise Fabian
Running time: 1hr 47min
Distributor: Pathe Distribution
Synopsis:
In text messaging, Lol means “Laughing Out Loud”. Lol is also the nickname of 14 year old Lola, who is returning to school after a long summer break. Lola is reunited with her boyfriend, Arthur, and what should be a happy day is shattered by Arthur’s revelation who that he has had sex with another girl—his way of “testing” their relationship. Angry and hurt, Lola lies and says that she also been unfaithful, and the two are launched into the angst-filled arena of teenage love.
Lola’s mom, Anne, a recent divorcee who herself leads a complicated romantic life, reads Lola’s diary and realizes that her inability to communicate with and understand her daughter has left their relationship irreparably broken. In a world of changing trends, faceless technologies, and oblivious parents, Lola and her friends invent their own methods of communication so they can navigate the perils of the tenth grade.
Twenty-five years after creating the teenage rebel Victoire in “La Boum”, Sophie Marceau now appears, in “Lol”, as the mother of an adolescent girl who shares her search for meaning in both life and love.
Passe-Passe
Director: Tonie Marshall
Screenplay: Tonie Marshall
Cast: Nathalie Baye, Edouard Baer, Guy Marchand, Melanie Bernier
Running time: 1hr 33min
Distributor: Warner Bros. France
Synopsis:
A screwball comedy for the 21st century, the title Passe-passe refers literally to a magician’s sleight of hand, an apt description for an adventure that encompasses unlikely pairings, blackmail, and an international arms conspiracy. Producer, director and writer Tonie Marshall crafted the role of the sophisticated mistress Irene especially for award-winning actress Nathalie Baye, who has starred in three of Marshall’s other films, including her acclaimed Venus Beauté (institut) (Venus Beauty Institute) in 1999. When Irene and Darry, the unemployed magician (Edouard Baer), meet unexpectedly on the road, Irene is toting an Hermès bag stuffed with cash, while Darry is driving his brother-in-law’s stolen BMW. The sharp, witty conversations that ensue between these unlikely road trip partners have been compared to Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night, but Capra would never dreamed of the complications Irene and Darry encounter on their way from Paris to Locarno, Italy.
Le Crime est notre Affaire
Director: Pascal Thomas
Screenplay: Clémence de Bieville, François Caviglioli, Pascal Thomas. Based on the book by Agatha Christie.
Cast: Catherine Frot, André Dussollier, Chiara Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Claude Rich
Running time: 1hr 49min
Distributor: Studio Canal
Synopsis:
After having successfully solved the mysteries unfolded in Mon Petit doigt m’a dit (By the Pricking of my Thumbs, FFC 2006), Prudence and Colonel Bélisaire Beresford are taking a break at their manor in the French Alps. Prudence is bored and dying for a crime to solve, but Bélisaire is more than happy to take advantage of this much-needed vacation. When Prudence’s Aunt Babette claims she witnessed a murder on the train, Prudence is eager to return to the detecting business, although Bélisaire doubts that a crime was even committed. Searching for clues, Prudence gets herself hired at a castle owned by an unpleasant and rich man, whose children are constantly battling over his inheritance.
With this third incursion into Agatha Christie’s world, following Mon Petit doigt… and L’Heure zero (Towards Zero, 2007), Pascal Thomas finds again the right tone to evoke a very British story in a typically French setting. His two partners in crime, embodied by a pair of exceptional actors, play a continuous game of cat-and-mouse, displaying a French humour more than equal to the original, famous British wit.
Les Femmes de l'Ombre
Director: Jean-Paul Salomé
Screenplay: Jean-Paul Salomé and Laurent Vachaud
Cast: Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain, Déborah François
Running time: 1hr 58min
Distributor: TFM Distribution
Synopsis:
Female Agents is inspired by the true story of Lise Villameur, a member of the French Resistance who worked for the Special Operations Executive agency (SOE) created by Winston Churchill during World War II. The film follows the story of a group of women organized by expert sniper Louise Desfontaine (Sophie Marceau), who joins the SOE after witnessing her husband’s execution. Louise is given the mission of rescuing a British geologist who was captured during the Normandy invasion, and she and her all-female team must use every possible tactic and ruse in order to liberate the agent before the Germans succeed in extracting crucial intelligence from him.
Les Liens du Sang
Director: Jacques Maillot
Screenplay: Jacques Maillot, Pierre Chosson, Eric Veniard. Inspired by the book "Deux frères: flic et truand" by Bruno and Michel Papet.
Cast: Guillaume Canet, Francois Cluzet, Clotilde Hesme, Marie Denarnaud
Running time: 1hr 46min
Distributor: Studio Canal
Synopsis:
“Rivals” is a social film noir set in 1970s Lyon, focusing on the relationship between two brothers, police detective François (Guillaume Canet) and petty criminal Gabriel (François Cluzet).
When Gabriel is released from jail after 10 years, he is determined to straighten out his life and not fall back into the criminal way of life. François does his best to help him, but old demons catch up with Gabriel and the two brothers find themselves caught up in a spiral, their opposite social positions seeming to lead to the same dead-end.
Jacques Maillot was inspired by the story of Bruno and Michel Papet, who wrote a book about their life. In this thriller, he reunites Guillaume Canet and François Cluzet, co-stars of Tell no One, directed by Canet in 2007.
Magique
Director: Philippe Muyl
Screenplay: Philippe Muyl
Cast: Marie Gillain, Cali, Antoine Duléry, Louis Dussol
Running time:1hr 31min
Distributor: Paramount Pictures France
Synopsis:
A musical set in the countryside of Québec, Magique! tells the story of a ten-year old boy, Tommy (Louis Dussol) who wants nothing more than to make his independent, hard working and melancholy mother, Betty (Marie Gillain), happy again. When a traveling circus troupe gets stuck in a nearby town, the boy sees his chance to bring lightness and joy back into his mother’s life, and so he persuades her to allow the troupe to camp out in a field near their farm. Among the circus performers, there is an acrobat named Baptiste (played by singer Cali in his first cinematic role; he also composed the film’s music), who begins to draw Betty out of her isolation.
Eldorado
Director: Bouli Lanners
Screenplay: Bouli Lanners
Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy
Running time: 1hr 20min
Distributor: Film Movement
Synopsis:
Yvan and Elie are two loners. They wander aimlessly through their lives.
Yvan is a quick-tempered, 40-year-old vintage car dealer. Elie is a young burglar and ex-junkie. One day Yvan catches Elie trying to rob him, but instead of beating him up or turning him in,, Yvan becomes strangely attached to the thief and agrees to drive the young man home to his parents in an old Chevrolet. Yvan and Elie, each trying to piece together the puzzle of a lost relationship, undertake a journey through a bizarre yet spectacular backdrop.
Musée Haut Musée Bas
Director: Jean-Michel Ribes
Screenplay: Jean-Michel Ribes (adapted from his own play of the same name)
Cast: Michel Blanc, Victoria Abril, Pierre Arditi, Josiane Balasko, Valérie Lemercier, André Dussollier, Fabrice Luchini
Running time: 1hr 33min
Distributor: Warner Bros. France
Synopsis:
The setting is the Malraux Museum, a composite of every museum on earth, and therefore like none other... A raucous ensemble comedy, A Day at the Museum enlists several of France’s most beloved actors to satirize their nation’s love of art and culture. Characters careen from one exhibition to the next, and it is often difficult to decide which is more entertaining and outlandish—the art, or the museum visitors themselves. Director-writer Jean-Michel Ribes draws on his theatrical background to combine witty dialogue and breathless pacing; the space of the museum, however—where one feels that literally anything can happen—is pure cinema.
La Très Très Grande Entreprise
Director: Pierre Jolivet
Screenplay: Pierre Jolivet and Simon Michaël
Cast: Roschdy Zem, Marie Gillain, Jean-Paul Rouve, Adrien Jolivet
Running time: 1hr 42min
Distributor: Pathé International
Synopsis:
In this comedy with a social conscience , Zaccharias, Mélanie, Denis and Kevin refuse to accept the pittance offered by a huge multinational agrochemical corporation after it pollutes the local water supply. In a David-Goliath matchup, the four main characters have just 30 days to infiltrate the massive skyscraper that houses the company and find new evidence to incriminate the polluters. Writer-Director Pierre Jolivet first witnessed the conflict between “regular people” and large corporations when he and his brother Marc put on plays in factories occupied by workers during the strikes of May ’68; his trademark as a director has been to integrate serious social commentary into popular movie genres such as the thriller (Fred, 1997) and comedy (My Little Business, 1999 and The very very big company).
