French Film Festival 2025 Based on the 2016 novel by Laurence Cossé, la Grande Arche, this latest film from director Stéphane Démoustier, tells the largely unknown story surrounding the architect of the now iconic Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris. In anticipation of the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989, the then President, FrançoisContinue reading “The Great Arch (L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche) (15)”
Category Archives: Film
Testament (15)
French Film Festival Jean-Michel Bouchard (Rémy Girard) is a lifelong bachelor and retired archivist who is living out the late autumn of his life in a spacious apartment in a comfortable retiral home. His inner thoughts are heard as he strolls the home’s environs in his tweedy three-piece suits, when we learn that he has comeContinue reading “Testament (15)”
Dog 51 (Chien 51) (15)
Paris, the near future. The city is divided into three zones: the central Zone 1 where the elite live is surrounded by Zone 2, where the majority of the population live and work, and Zone 3, home to the underclass who scrape a living as best they can. Checkpoints ensure that movement between these zonesContinue reading “Dog 51 (Chien 51) (15)”
The Richest Woman in the World (15)
French Film Festival 2025 The Richest Woman in the World (La Femme la plus riche du monde) from director Thierry Klifa is an imagined version of a real-life scandal involving the heir to the L’Oreal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt and photographer François-Marie Banier. An unsurprising view of how the richest of the rich live is revealedContinue reading “The Richest Woman in the World (15)”
Colours of Time (la Venue de l’Avenir) (15)
French Film Festival 2025 A 21st century photo shoot in Musée de l’Orangerie, where Monet’s water lilies paintings serve as a backdrop to a model’s poses and tourist selfies, perfectly sets the tone to this beautifully layered film from director Cédric Klapisch. An old house in rural Normandy owned by a woman called Adèle MeunierContinue reading “Colours of Time (la Venue de l’Avenir) (15)”
Out of Love (Les Enfants vont biens)
French Film Festival 2025 This latest film from young French director Nathan Ambrosioni opens innocuously enough with shots of two children, nine year old Gaspard (Manoã Varvat) and six year old Margaux (Nina Birman), waiting for their Mum, Suzanne (Juliette Armanet), in the back seat of their car at a garage. They are on aContinue reading “Out of Love (Les Enfants vont biens)”
The Session Man (12A)
Dir Michael Treen Nicky Hopkins could lay claim to being one of the greatest rock musicians of all time. His playing graced over 250 albums, enhancing work by the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, Joe Cocker and each of the Beatles. He toured with the Stones and Art Garfunkel among others and as wellContinue reading “The Session Man (12A)”
A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol)
French Film Festival 2025 French master of animation, Sylvain Chomet, brings his immense talent to the 2025 film chosen to open of this year’s French Film Festival UK that took place at Edinburgh’s Cameo cinema. Known for the wonderfully dark Belleville Rendezvous (Les Triplettes de Belleville) and the gentler, more benign but equally fabulous tributeContinue reading “A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol)”
Clout: A Cautionary Tale
Written and Directed by Jordan Murphy Doidge, Clout is indeed a cautionary tale. What happens when social media becomes an obsession that takes over your life, and how it can affect the young and the vulnerable. Oskar (Archie Yates) is both young and vulnerable. He attends an elite private school where he has few friends,Continue reading “Clout: A Cautionary Tale”
The Marbles
“There are no such things as the Elgin Marbles” – Melina Mercouri In the early years of the 19th century Lord Elgin, while Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, had a number of sculptures and other artifacts from the Parthenon shipped home. The majority reside in the British Museum, although many suspect that there are someContinue reading “The Marbles”
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