|
|
French films War
|
Le Grand carnaval is unusual in that it presents the lighter side of war, using this as a backdrop to a poignant personal drama. Graphic images of war are kept well out of the picture, and indeed the tragedy of war gets little more than a footnote at the end of the film. Indeed, the war is the least important part of this film...
[More...]
|
|
With its all-star cast and impressive production values (including lavish sets and close attention to period detail), Papy fait de la résistance resembles that earlier great French war-time comic classic, La Grande vadrouille (1966). The similarity might have been even closer since Louis de Funès was originally cast in a leading role in the film...
[More...]
|
|
At the time, Fort Saganne was the most expensive film to have been made in France. A three hour long epic, with an star-studded cast – headed by living icons Gerard Dépardieu and Catherine Deneuve – this ought to be a monumental film, yet it falls far short of being an unqualified success, in many areas...
[More...]
|
|
Les Morfalous marks the end of a twenty-five year association between two pre-eminent figures in French cinema from the 1960s – director Henri Verneuil and actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. It was their eighth collaboration, and yet another attempt at a blockbuster in the unashamedly American style. Whilst the film does have some good jokes (some however in very...
[More...]
|
|
This is a powerful film with a genuinely epic feel. The backdrop is movingly sombre, with sets scattered with the last remains of soldiers, some hastily dug graves, and hordes of women mourning the loss of husbands and sons. There is no sense of victory or triumphalism after the war, and its central character, Delaplane...
[More...]
|
|
This is a clever re-working of Victor Hugo’s novel, set at the time of the German occupation in France. Although quite a long film (nearly 3 hours), it is well-paced with a great deal of action and drama. Jean-Paul Belmondo puts in a very creditable performance in what is probably one of his better films. If the film has one fault it is the unnecessary insertion of scenes taken directly...
[More...]
|
|
Bertrand Tavernier won the Best Director César for this powerful and unusual wartime drama in which he skilfully explores the psychological impact of war on young soldiers. Excellent performances, particularly from Philippe Torreton and Samuel Le Bihan, and some effective hand-held camerawork make this a disturbing and profoundly engaging work...
[More...]
|
|
This film has a great deal to commend it. Jacques Audiard’s direction is confident and mature (impressive for a second film), and the photography is exceptional throughout, capturing the mood of the war years very well without being stifled by it. The inclusion of apparently modern-day interview segments does distract a little from the otherwise well-plotted story...
[More...]
|
|
A well-crafted and moving film in the blockbuster mould that appears to be Claude Berri’s hallmark. Technically, the film is a splendid depiction of war-time France. The horror and brutality of the Nazi occupation is conveyed quite starkly, but without ever appearing gratuitous or overly sentimental. It is easy to see where Berri’s sympathies lay...
[More...]
|
|
Whilst somewhat heavy on sentiment and dialogue, this wartime romantic drama from Jean-Loup Hubert has a great deal going for it. The deeply melancholic photography evokes not just the mood of the period in which the film is set but also the emotional intensity of its protagonists, each of whom is racked by an awareness of the evanescence of life and love in such a period of cruel uncertainty...
[More...]
|
|
Luc Besson’s version of the Joan of Arc story is original and exciting, but sadly lacks the impact and flair of earlier attempts by other French film directors (most notably Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc and Bresson’s Le Procès de Jeanne d’Arc). The film fails for two reasons...
[More...]
|
|
Although it hasn’t enjoyed the publicity and popular success of some other notable French films in 2001, there is little doubt that La Chambre des Officiers is one of the highlights of French cinema in that year. This became clear at the 2002 Césars ceremony where the film was nominated in several categories and won awards for the best cinematography and best supporting actor...
[More...]
|
|
Amen continues Costa-Gavras’ cycle of provocative political dramas which began in 1969 with his Oscar-winning film Z and which continues to arouse controversy, praise and anger. The film’s aim, apparently, is not to condemn or to parody but to explore the complexities of the moral positions of two real-life figures: Kurt Gerstein...
[More...]
|
|
Laisser-passer, perhaps Bertrand Tavernier’s most ambitious film to date, offers a fascinating insight into the French film industry during its blackest period – at the time of the Nazi occupation between 1942 and 1944. The film revolves around two comparatively minor players in the film industry at that time...
[More...]
|
|
Monsieur Batignole is a curious mix of farce, black comedy and drama which tells its story, one of friendship, moral redemption and personal rebirth, with great effect and understated charm. It is Gérard Jugnot’s eighth film as a director, and very probably his best work to date. Film critics generally tend to find it hard to take seriously any successful actor who decides to...
[More...]
|
|
After two decades of comparative obscurity, director Roman Polanski regained his international reputation with a vengeance in 2002 when he won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for The Pianist , very probably his best film to date. The film is based on the war-time experiences of a Polish Jew, Wladyslaw Szpilman, who narrowly escaped death during the Holocaust and became...
[More...]
|
|
This engaging wartime drama from director André Téchiné is a fine adaptation of the novel "Le Garçon aux yeux gris" Gilles Perrault. The achingly beautiful photography of the rural setting belies the horror of the period in which the story is set, although we get more than a glimpse of that horror in a shocking sequence near the start of the film...
[More...]
|
|
The international success of Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain in 2001 came as a substantial career boost for both director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and actress Audrey Tautou, and it was inevitable that the two would work together within a very short time. Jeunet’s trademark cinematic style and Tautou’s irresistible charms are put to good in use in their second collaboration...
[More...]
|
|
Joyeux Noël, the second full-length film from French director Christian Carion, is a stylised account of a true occurrence in World War One – spontaneous outbreaks of fraternisation between soldiers on opposite sides of the trenches at Christmas in 1914. It’s an incredibly moving story given the context and underscores the utter folly and naked barbarity of the war...
[More...]
|
|
Indigènes is a remarkable work from French film director Rachid Bouchareb, who had previously won acclaim for such films as Poussières de vie (1995) and Little Senegal (2001). Often labelled (unflatteringly) as a French-African version of Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Indigènes is a compelling wartime drama that pays homage to those soldiers from the French African...
[More...]
|
© filmsdefrance.com 2009