A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Reviews of films from France and French-language films from Belgium and Switzerland. At this stage, I’m not sure if there’ll be many French-language films from African and other countries coming within my orbit – probably I’ll create a separate category for them and call it French-language Films from outside Europe, or something hopefully more succinct and graceful!
French and French-language Films, Japanese Films
Michaël Dudok de Wiet, “The Red Turtle” (2016) God save us all from pretty packages with lots of high gloss finish and finicky attention to detail…
French and French-language Films
Xavier Giannoli, “À l’Origine” / “In the Beginning” (2009) It’s rather too long by 30 minutes and a couple of sub-plots, one involving Gérard Depardieu sleepwalking through…
French and French-language Films
Xavier Giannoli, “Marguerite” (2015) The inspiration for this film may have been the American socialite and amateur opera soprano Florence Foster Jenkins who was notorious for…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie / Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie” (1972) This comedy-of-manners film about six people who constantly make arrangements to…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “The Phantom of Liberty / Le Fantôme de la Liberté” (1974) This film might be seen as a snapshot in the life of modern…
Arabic-language Films, French and French-language Films
Gillo Pontecorvo, “The Battle of Algiers / La Bataille d’Alger / La Battaglia di Algeri” (1965) Filmed 50 years ago, this Italian film drama of the Algerian…
British Films, French and French-language Films
Roman Polanski, “Tess” (1979) Closely based on the original Thomas Hardy novel “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”, which serves as an indictment of Christian religious hypocrisy, male…
British Films, French and French-language Films
Mike Leigh, “Mr Turner” (2014) I confess I always have the time of day for the under-rated British actor Timothy Spall who always had the talent…
French and French-language Films, West African Films
Abderrahmane Sissako, “Timbuktu” (2014) Set in northern Mali some time after the downfall of Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi’s regime in late 2011, “Timbuktu” is a set of…
French and French-language Films
Roman Polanski, “Frantic” (1988) For a film proclaiming itself “Frantic”, this suspense thriller is surprisingly cool, calm and collected as it follows its hapless protagonist doctor…