The 2020 Alliance Française French Film Festival’s Perth season kicks off from 9th March and runs through to 6th April. There’s heaps of films in the program, here;s five that are at the top of our list.
Anaïs in Love
Anaïs in Love is a sensual, funny and endearing French romantic comedy. Young Anais (Anaïs Demoustier, Alice and the Mayor) begins an affair with a much older man (Denis Podalydès, Sorry Angel ) but finds herself falling for his wife (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Paris etc,). This ménage à trois elegantly navigates fantasy, sensuality and melancholy in a film that grows in intensity with each passing minute. This fim played at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in 2021.
A Tale of Love and Desire
Heralded as one of the major discoveries of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Leyla Bouzid’s (As I Open My Eyes) enchanting and seductive romance depicts a university student torn between his desire for a classmate and his deeply-held ideals of cultural and social propriety.
Ahmed (Sami Outalbali) is a talented 18-year-old Algerian from the outer Parisian suburbs, who has received a grant to study literature at the prestigious Sorbonne. Though the same city, it’s a disorientingly foreign world for the conservative Ahmed, and he is rattled by the discovery of a rich canon of ancient, erotic Arabic texts in his new surroundings, works in which he recognises a reflection of his own secret yearnings.
Ahmed has been struck by the beautiful Farah (Zbeida Belhajamor), a vibrant Tunisian student who exudes curiosity and has fully embraced the freedoms and opportunity of studying in a new city. Ahmed is both overwhelmed with desire and afraid to surrender to his impulses…
Star Sami Outalbali is best known as part of the cast of the popular Netflix comedy Sex Education.
Lost Illusions
An all-star cast dazzles in the spectacular and exhilarating new film by Xavier Giannoli (Marguerite, The Singer), an adaptation of Balzac’s classic novel about a young idealist who learns that anything can be bought and sold.
1821. Handsome poet Lucien (Benjamin Voisin – Moving On and Summer of 85) is poor, but highly ambitious. Failing to make a name for himself in his provincial hometown, he naively follows his married patroness (a radiant Cécile de France) to the glamorous beau monde of Paris.
But Lucien has entered a society far more dangerous than he realised, and the venomous denizens of the salons (brought to life by a superb ensemble including Jeanne Balibar, Gérard Depardieu and Xavier Dolan) conspire to keep him out of their ranks. Lucien is forced to abandon his principles and find work at a low-brow newspaper, where his scathing critiques soon cause a sensation and arouse the interest of admirers and publishers. But in a society where profit and status rule, what is really left for Lucien?
Everything Went Well
Adapted from Emmanuèle Bernheim’s memoir, Everything Went Well, Director François Ozon (Summer of 85) delivers a powerful drama which tackles the sensitive and complex issue of the right to die with dignity.
When André (André Dussolier, Of Love and Lies), 85, has a stroke, Emmanuelle (Sophie Marceau, Chance Encounter and Sex, Love & Therapy) hurries to her father’s bedside. Sick and half-paralysed in his hospital bed, he asks Emmanuelle to help him end his life. But can you honour such a request from your own father?
What follows is a deeply human take on a difficult subject. Despite what is still a taboo topic in France, this film treads lightly, offering poignant light-hearted scenes that will make you laugh but also bring tears to your eyes.
This bittersweet, witty drama cleverly reveals the complexities of family dynamics. Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2021, Everything Went Fine is one of François Ozon’s most beautifully crafted films to date.
Purple Noon
Purple Noon (Plein Soleil) is a classic French 1960 crime thriller directed by René Clément, loosely based on the 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. The film propelled Alain Delon to instant stardom in his first major role, becoming one of France’s greatest sex symbols.
Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) travels to Rome on a mission to bring his privileged friend Phillippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) and Phillippe’s new fiancée Marge Duval (Marie Laforêt) home to San Francisco. Instead, Tom develops a taste for the glamorous life he finds there, mingling with the rich and famous. But when the funding for their extravagant lifestyle is abruptly cut off, Tom resorts to increasingly desperate and violent measures to maintain his newfound way of life.
Purple Noon is a wonderfully twisted affair, filled with unpredictable and ingenious turns. A story of lust and murder, set against the backdrop of the bright Italian sun and the wild and dangerous beauty of Alain Delon. The film has been remastered for 2022!
Check out everything on offer at the 2020 Alliance Française French Film Festival.
OIP Staff
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