French connection

Catch some of the award-winning films at the French Film Festival at GSC cinemas this month.

FRENCH film lovers, mark your calendars for a rendezvous at the cinemas this month. The annual French Art Festival kicks off with its film festival, which will feature six films, all French box office hits and award-winning movies. The films will be screened in the Klang Valley before moving on to Penang.

“This year’s selection represents a large panorama of French film, showcasing innovation, tradition and l’art de vivre a là française (the French art of living),” said Daniel Blaize, cultural and scientific counsellor of the French embassy, during a press conference.

Romance, action, comedy, drama, heritage films – this year’s line-up has it all.

“The romantic drama Hunting and Gathering, which is the last film of director Claude Berri (best known for classics like Manon des Sources and Jean de Florette) was a big success in France while Séraphine, a period film, was a surprise hit at the box office and won seven Césars,” informed Blaize as he was introducing the films to members of the press.

The classic film selected to give the Malaysian audience a taste of France’s film patrimony this year is The 400 Blows by Nouvelle Vague auteur François Truffaut.

The success of Truffaut’s loosely autobiographical feature not only won him the César for best director at the Cannes film festival, but gained him “international recognition particularly across Europe and America, and Truffaut continues to be a great influence for the current stable of directs,” said Blaize.

The synopses of the six films of this year’s French Film Festival follow:

The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups, 1959, black and white): Fifty years after its release, The 400 Blows still resonates spontaneity, innocence and a raw energy. It focuses on the tribulations of adolescence, through the eyes of the young, misunderstood Antoine Doinel who is faced with neglectful parents and hostile teachers. Rejecting institutional life, Antoine takes to the streets of Paris, drifting into a life of truancy and petty theft in this poignant classic.

Séraphine (2008): A biopic of naïve artist Séraphine Louis, this film encapsulates small-town life in France in the 1900s. A German art dealer renting an apartment makes the unwitting discovery that a painting is by his landlady’s cleaning lady, Séraphine. He is then instrumental in encouraging her to develop her talent. Belgian actress Yolande Moreau gives an award-winning performance in the titular role.

Saint-Cyr (2000): Actress Isabelle Huppert plays aristocrat Madame de Maintenon, who trailblazes education for women in France at the end of the 17th century by opening a school for girls of distinguished parentage but limited financial means.

Crime Is Our Business (Le crime est notre affaire, 2008): Adapted from Agatha Christie’s 4.50 From Paddington, Crime is a follow-up to By the Pricking of My Thumbs, which also stars Catherine Frot and André Dussollier in the main roles of Prudence Beresford and her husband Bélisaire.

Bored with household affairs, amateur sleuth Prudence sets out to investigate a crime which would otherwise have gone unnoticed had her visiting aunt not witnessed a strangling on the carriage of a passing train.

Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble, c’est tout, 2007): Audrey Tautou, best known for her roles in Amélie and The Da Vinci Code, plays Camille, a cleaning lady with an undiscovered artistic talent. By chance, she befriends Philibert, who lives in the same building and through him, Camille is exposed to worlds and people she would otherwise only be cleaning up after.

Rivals (Les liens du sang, 2008): Set in Lyon in the late 1970s, Rivals centres on the lives of two brothers. François is a police inspector whose life and career are affected by having a brother who’s been recently released from prison. Despite François’ efforts to help Gabriel make a fresh start, the latter’s criminal past catches up with him.

In addition to these features, a series of eight short films with a decidedly feminine focus will be shown at the Alliance Française, (Kuala Lumpur, Thursday at 9pm; and May 15 in Penang at 8pm). Admission is free.

A free screening of the documentary François Truffaut, An Autobiography will also be held at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) on Sunday at 3pm and the Alliance Française in Penang on May 22 at 8pm. All films are in French with English subtitles.

* Films of the French Film Festival will be screened at selected GSC cinemas in the Klang Valley from Thursday until May 17. They will be screened at GSC Gurney Plaza in Penang from May 21 to 27. For showtimes, log on to gsc.com.my. Details of the French Art Festival events can be found at www.faf09.com.

WIN free passes to catch the

movies at the French Film Festival this month. The first 100 readers of The Star who present this coupon at GSC Pavilion KL today from noon onwards may redeem a free pass. Redemption will be on a first-come-first-served basis, with a maximum of four passes per person.

Redemption details

Venue: GSC Pavilion KL

Date: May 4 (today)

Time: Noon onwards