The Promises
-
To See
Drama by Thomas Kruithof, 1H38
Twelve years is enough. The end of his second term is approaching. Clémence will not represent herself. She is mayor of a town in 93. It was a full-time job. The elected official considers that she has fulfilled her task. Clémence would like to leave with a bang, show her pride, go out with her head held high. But “M. Grand Paris” dithers. The elections are getting closer. The aedile begins to doubt. She wanted to prove her disinterestedness, show her righteousness. A problem arises: he is left with the prospect of a ministerial post, for the future. In her pavilion, the heroine weighs the pros and cons. Her son will soon be leaving home - of the husband, there is never any question. In this very instructive feature film on local politics, Isabelle Huppert perfectly embodies the role of a mayor torn between her ambition and thewant to move on.
E.
NOT.
Read alsoOur review of
Les Promesses
: last campaign
Farewell Paris
-
To See
Comedy by Édouard Baer, 1H36
In the evening of their lives, old friends meet for a ritual lunch at La Closerie des Lilas. They are the only guests. The revolving door of the famous Montparnasse institution opens onto these triumphant-looking, white-haired males. Jacques, Bertrand, Enzo, Louki and the others don't seem so happy to be together. They came out of habit, out of loyalty to their youth. In the past, they had talent, spirit. They made Paris laugh, sparkle at night. They are no longer very sure of having kept their promises. We navigate between humor and cruelty, derision and sadness. Édouard Baer elegantly signs the burial of a bachelor's life, of an era, of a civilization: that of the white male, cultivated, in love with words to the point of intoxication.
BdSV
Read alsoOur review of
Adieu Paris
, by Édouard Baer: lights out
A young girl who is doing well
-
To See
History by Sandrine Kiberlain, 1h38
Sandrine Kiberlain goes behind the camera to talk about her debut as an actress but changes eras.
A success.
We don't know if
A young girl who is well
, selected for Critics' Week at the last Cannes Film Festival, is an “actress film”, a vague and catch-all category.
It is in any case a film which resembles its author, light and serious, solar and painful, fragile and strong.
Granddaughter of Polish Jews, the filmmaker transposes her memories and emotions during the summer of 1942, during the Occupation.
Irène is a 19-year-old Parisian, intoxicated with love and theatre.
She has the features of Rebecca Marder, a fiery actress who carries everything.
The future belongs to him.
Kiberlain avoids the clumsy re-enactment, with German soldiers marching in quick step through the streets of Paris.
The anti-Jewish laws of 1942 are nonetheless accurately shown.
E.S.
Read alsoOur review of
A young girl who is well
: fleeing star
Our children's souls -
To See
Drama by Mike Mills, 1:48
For his third feature film, director Mike Mills delivers with
Our Children's Souls
a black and white family chronicle full of tenderness and emotion. It all starts with a mother overwhelmed by the sudden crisis of a bipolar husband, whom she must support as best she can. She entrusts her 9-year-old son, Jesse (touching Woody Norman), to her brother, Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix). Uncle Johnny, a slightly misanthropic lone wolf, is a radio journalist. Forced to live together, the uncle and the nephew become tamed as the days go by. Mills' intelligent staging, imbued with a beautiful sensitivity, gives pride of place to daydreaming and improvisation. Joaquin Phoenix is overwhelming with tenderness and humanity.
OD
Read alsoJoaquin Phoenix: “I let go”
Almost
-
Must See
Dramatic comedy by Bernard Campan and Alexandre Jollien, 1h32
This
feel good movie
in the form of an initiatory journey, entitled
Almost
, allows the Swiss philosopher Alexandre Jollien to take his first steps in the cinema.
Funny, moving, this dramatic comedy is a kind of UFO in the landscape of French cinema.
By its audacity, its simplicity, its authenticity, this hearse road movie addresses disability with subtlety, humor and tenderness, all signed by a former member of the Inconnus, Bernard Campan.
It is above all the story of an unexpected friendship between Louis, a solitary and resigned undertaker (Campan as just as it is moving), who crashes with his hearse into a deliveryman of organic baskets on a tricycle named Igor, hit since birth with cerebral palsy.
The character of Igor, a lively spirit in a handicapped body, circulates on the margins of society.
Its lifeline is philosophy.
Read alsoOur review of
Almost
: Alexandre Jollien and Bernard Campan said cap'!
Underground
-
Must
See
Drama by Sophie Dupuis, 1 h 37
Without notice, Quebecer Sophie Dupuis drops us in the middle of a gold mine accident, in her native region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, in western Quebec.
Between family drama and survival, the director brilliantly depicts the descent into hell of a minor (Joakim Robillard) pursued by his past.
Immersed in the intimate daily life of these underground workers, the explosion is all the more deafening.
ah
One
World
-
Avoid
Drama by Laura Wandel, 1:15
At school, little Nora sees her older brother being harassed by his classmates.
She wants to talk, he forbids her.
We knew that a playground was worse than a high security ward.
This pocket money sandpaper version proves it once again.
It was perhaps not useful to film all this with a camera at the height of a child, a bias that turns to the process and serves the purpose of a lucid pessimism.
E.
NOT.
The
Enemy
-
Avoid
Drama by Stephan Streker, 1:45
The romantic weekend turns to tragedy.
The wife of a Belgian politician is found dead in their hotel room at Bar de la Mer. The husband swears he did not kill her.
Despite the efforts of Jérémie Renier, the director wanders between news item and melodrama.
Better to see Suspicions again.
The bottom of the Wesphael affair, the documentary devoted to the original story, much more ambiguous, not to say dizzying.
E.
NOT.
