Film Review - The New Girlfriend (2014)

Eureka! Entertainment To Give An UK theatrical release of Alain Renais' Last Film Life Of Riley

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the UK theatrical release of LIFE OF RILEY (Aimer, boire et chanter), Alain Resnais’ (Last Year at Marienbad, Hiroshima mon amour) final film before his death in March 2014 is a moving, graceful, and surprisingly affirmative farewell to life from a truly great artist.

After Smoking/No Smoking (1993) and Private Fears in Public Places (2006), this is the late Alain Resnais’s thirdnadaptation of a work by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn and the great master’s last film. By confining the action to an artificial, almost entirely studio-bound world, he succeeds in creating a tragicomic theatre of vanities. Employing the ironic distance of a sage observer of human nature, Resnais ponders the power of love and desire and in doing so enables his characters, driven by their longings, hopes and obsessions, to leave the beaten track for once



In the Yorkshire countryside, the life of three couples is upset for a few months, from Spring to Fall, by the enigmatic behaviour of their friend George Riley.When general practitioner Dr. Colin inadvertently tells his wife Kathryn that the days of his patient George Riley should be numbered, he doesn’t know that George was Kathryn’s first love. Both spouses, who are rehearsing a play with their local amateur theatre company, convince George to join them. It allows George, among other things, to play strong love scenes with Tamara, who is married to Jack, his best friend, a
rich businessman and unfaithful husband.

A tearful Jack tries to persuade Monica, George’s wife who left him to be with Simeon the farmer, to go back to her husband in order to support him during his last months. George has a strange seductive power over Monica, Tamara and Kathryn, which highly upsets those men sharing their lives with the three women.

Which one will George Riley take on holidays in Tenerife with him?

If you missed LIFE OF RILEY at the recent UK French film festival, it will be released in selected cinemas nationwide in the UK and Ireland on 6 March 2015, starring Sabine Azéma, Hippolyte Girardot, Caroline Sihol.

Win A Copy Of L’ecume Des Jours ' Book Mood Indigo is based on

Tomorrow sees the release of Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo and we have some copies of the book by Boris Vian on which Mood Indigo is based to give away as competition prizes!

The film is centred around the surreal and poetic tale of Colin, an idealistic and inventive young man, and Chloé, a young woman who seems like the physical embodiment of the eponymous Duke Ellington tune. Their idyllic marriage is turned on its head when Chloé falls sick with a water lily growing in her lung. To pay for her medical bills in this fantasy version of Paris, Colin must go out to work in a series of increasingly absurd jobs, while around them, their apartment disintegrates and their friends, including the talented Nicolas, and Chick – a huge fan of the philosopher Jean-Sol Partre – go to pieces.

L’ecume Des Jours is the 1947 French novel by Boris Vian on which Mood Indigo is based, and has been translated three times into English under different titles and been the been the basis for three feature films and an opera. Starting as a romance novel and ending as a tragedy, Vian wonderfully conjures a fantastical world around his protagonists leading many critics to place him as a post-surrealist "comedian of language".

To be one of 3 lucky winners of 'L’ecume Des Jours ' Book Mood Indigo is based on, please answer the following question...

Q. What recent Comic book movie (out tomorrow also on home release) did Mood Indigo's Omar Sy star in?

Deadline is Sunday 7th December 2014 (23:59pm),If you haven’t done already Like us and stay with us at our Facebook page (if you are already liking us just share this post on twitter and facebook). Must be 15  or older to enter.

1.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, studiocanal ,15 years or older to enter 3.Failure to include any information required to enter could result in your entry been void.  4.automated entries are not allowed and will be disqualified, which could result you been banned, DO NOT INCLUDE telephone numbers as for security reason your entry will be deleted.5.If you are friend or like us at facebook for every competition you enter you get double entry, but you must stay friend/like us all the time,or future entries maybe considered one entry if you are liking us share the post on facebook and re-tweet the post.6.The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes 7.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain 8.The winning entries will be picked at random and contacted by email for postal details and will be announced via facebook, sometimes we are unable to confirm winners. Uk & Irish entries only

UK Competitions and Prize Draws at UKwins
Loquax Competitions
Free Competitions
ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

Film Review - Le Jour se lève (1939)

Genre:
Crime, Drama, Romance
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Rating: PG
Release Date:
3rd October 2014 (Cinema)
27th October 2014 (Home)
Director:
Marcel Carné
Cast:
Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty,
buy:Le Jour Se Leve - 75th Anniversary Edition [DVD] [1939]
Le Jour se lève is a prime example of what is known as French Poetic realism. It’s a very important genre because it’s very much a proto version of film noir; it often concerned doomed heroes and more often than not they were crime stories. They also created realism, hence the more Poetic aspect than the documentary realism. Le Jour se lève was directed by Marcel Carné who is one the directors most associated with Poetic realism but other directors associated were Jean Renoir and Jean Vigo who, sadly, died way too young.

The film stars Jean Gabin who was the French star until the 1960s; he was in many great French films and worked with Renoir and Carné many times. Gabin plays François who is a factory worker and you first see him after he kills a man called Valentin and he barricades himself in his room after the police arrive.

The rest of the film is told in flashback, which would become a convention for many noir films to follow. He reflects on how he got in the situation he is in over the course of the long night. It involved some girls, as you might expect, and one of the girls is Valentin’s assistant. The film’s structure was very much ahead of its time and would influence Orson Welles, Jules Dassin, Jean-Pierre Melville and numerous noir films like Detour, so it’s hardly surprising that it was later remade as an American noir film. It also has an air of existentialism that only the French do this well when it comes to crime films. It all comes down to an ending that is as much Camus as it is Hammett.

Jean Gabin gives one of his finest performances in the lead role. He is often forgotten in the scheme of great film actors, partly because he was one of the first; he would be highly influential on people like Marlon Brando and James Dean. He goes through hell and replays his mistakes in his head, and due to Gabin’s performance, you can feel his pain.

Le Jour se lève is getting a theatrical re-release from the 3rd of October in selected cinemas. It will be out on Blu-Ray at the end of October. The new restoration looks beautiful; black and white works particularly well in High Definition. It includes a feature length documentary on the film, along with stuff on the deleted scenes by the Vichy Government, and a featurette on the restoration process.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

Film Review - Chinese Puzzle (2013,Casse-tête chinois)

EIFF 2014 Review - Atlas (2013)

Film Review - Venus In Fur (2013)

A Decade of French Film

French film will always be considered as the most stylish and influential of the cinematic cannon. In the late 50s through to the 60s Hollywood took note from the iconic and artistic films of the French New Wave, which taught America how to be simultaneously intellectually engaging, politically provocative and visually beautiful. While the popularity of this movement later began to fade and be parodied as something pretentious and dated, French Cinema in the 21st century has hit back by proving itself to be continually innovative, boasting a mix of both French and Hollywood influences whilst retaining its commitment to home grown talent.

To celebrate the release of the latest French import ‘The Informant’ from director Julien Leclercq (A Prophet) we take a look at some of the most popular French films to grace our cinema screens for the past ten years.

THE INFORMANT in cinemas from Today Friday 25th April 2014.

The Informant (2014)

An intense thriller based on true events that tells the tale of one man’s attempt to stay alive while caught between both sides of the law. The film’s excellent cast led by a captivating Gilles Lellouche ensures the plot is character driven without unnecessary melodramatics. The Informant sees Leclercq stay true to his subtle French style whilst also creating a Hollywood thrill ride, perfectly blending drama and reality to build tension throughout.

Juene et Jolie (2013)

A critically acclaimed French drama that follows the emotionally complex Isabelle as she explores her burgeoning sexuality via the world of high end prostitution with varying levels of consequence. Marine Vacth’s subtle performance as Isabelle was universally praised, showcasing the new young talent coming out of France.

Amour (2012)

This heart wrenching drama starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva sees Austrian director Michael Haneke tell the story of an elderly French couple’s struggle after Anne (Riva) suffers a stroke and becomes paralysed. The film takes on the heavy topics of ageing and death to create a moving and inspiring piece of cinema that is carried by the impressive talent of its leading cast.

The Artist (2011)

The Artist recreated the magic of early French Cinema in this playful and inventive film which was considered both a crowd pleaser and an incredible piece of film-making. The black and white silent romantic-comedy takes place in Hollywood during the Golden Age of cinema where a love story between two stars is compromised by the rise of ‘talkie’ films which are replacing silent cinema. The film’s use of an old cinema style to stunning effect meant it became the first French film to win an Academy award and also saw Jean Dujardi pick up the award for Best Actor. (The Artist is on BBC2 Sunday, 27th April, 9pm)

March of the Penguins (2005)

This 2005 French-nature documentary was a surprise global hit and showed the diversity and originality of what French cinema had to offer. The film depicts the yearly journey of the Emperor Penguins of Antarctica and was praised for its cinematography and the subtle political and social commentary that runs throughout. While some of the international versions varied from the original narration and sound track, the heart-warming story at the core of the film appealed to audiences worldwide.

DVD Review - Jean-Claude Brisseau's A Brutal Game (1983) and The Sound and the Fury (1988)

DVD Review - Jeune et Jolie (2013)

Film Review - Stranger By The Lake (L'inconnu du lac)

BFI to Release Claude Sautet’s Classe tous risques (1960) on Duel Format This February

Brilliantly suspenseful and surprisingly moving, Classe tous risques is a devastating study of loyalty and betrayal, distinguished by a bleak, incisive psychological realism. Previously unseen in the UK, it was released in cinemas by the BFI last September and now comes to DVD and Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition on 24 February 2014. Special features include a documentary on the life and career of the great Italian-born character actor Lino Ventura.

French gangland boss Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) has been on the run in Italy for a decade in order to escape a death sentence. But when police finally close in, he turns to his old criminal friends to help him and his young family return to Paris. With loyalty in short supply, it takes an insouciant stranger (coolly played by Jean Paul Belmondo in the same year as his breakthrough performance in A Bout de souffle), to come to the rescue.

The directorial debut of the influential Claude Sautet (Un Coeur en hiver, Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud), and based on the novel by death-row-inmate-turned-writer José Giovanni (Le Trou, Le Deuxième souffle), Classe tous risques features a stand-out performance from Ventura as a bad man trying to do right by his children.

Special features

• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Brand new restoration
• Monsieur Ventura (Doug Headline, 1996/2014): documentary on the life and career of Lino Ventura
• Original French and US trailers
• Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essay by the Guardian’s John Patterson

Check out the film's trailer....


Classe tous risques will be released on Dual Format (DVD&Blu-ray) by BFI on 24 February,pre-order/buy Classe Tous Risques (DVD + Blu-ray) [Amazon]

Film Review - Jeune Et Jolie (Young & Beautiful)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Lionsgate Fims UK
Rating:
18
Release Date:
22nd November 2013 (UK)
Director:
François Ozon
Cast:
Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot,Charlotte Rampling

François Ozon’s examination of teenage sexual awakening is a quiet, puzzling affair. As a treatise on childhood, rebellion or sexuality it seems to offer up very little in the way of answers, but repeatedly alludes to a crucial and troubling question of motivation.

Seventeen year-old Isabelle’s (Marine Vacth) disappointing holiday dalliance with a German lad prompts the striking young girl to seek out an existence as a prostitute, the reasons for which are never truly explained. She frequents high-end Parisian hotel rooms servicing a number of gents, ultimately developing something approaching a relationship with a kind, elderly client.

The arrangement takes its toll on her family life, with the inevitable revelation damaging her already detached relationship with her parents. She is trotted off to see a psychologist to reflect upon the fallout her emotionally difficult, yet financially rewarding career path has caused to her and those around her.

Isabelle is frequently quizzed on the reasons behind her new calling as a prostitute, but it’s a question which is never reasonably answered. Indeed watching Vacth’s puzzlingly vacant expression as she lounges across the bed sheets, you’re never quite sure if she or the director had any clue themselves.

Perhaps the only reasonable explanation is just that she enjoys it, which might possibly be justification enough. It’s a coolly intriguing thought to dwell upon, but it leaves you with distinctly underwhelming and disappointing sense of a missed opportunity.

A mysterious sign-off with a briefly visible Charlotte Rampling provides little closure and only serves to intensify the slight sense of dissatisfaction which lingers throughout the whole thing.

★★★☆☆

Chris Banks

Models Turned Actors (Jeune et Jolie Feature)

With model-good looks being a near-universal prerequisite to ‘making it’ in Hollywood, it might seem like moving from the modelling industry into acting would be a logical, seamless transition. However, with a number of successful models proving to be acting disasters, we are naturally wary of those that make the switch, suspecting that talent may have taken a backseat to beauty. In François Ozon’s brilliant new film Jeune et Jolie, Marine Vacth proves that these prejudices far from apply to her. In a performance that has received rave reviews, Vacth stars as a curious young girl on a journey of sexual discovery. To celebrate the release of Jeune et Jolie on 29th November we take a look at some others who have proven that models can have serious acting chops too.

Marine Vacth

Starting out as a model at the tender age of 15, the beautiful Marine stunned her way to a number of high profile campaigns, replacing Kate Moss as the face of Yves Saint Laurent perfume. However, Marine left behind what surely would have been an impressive career in modelling to pursue her true passion in film. Jeune et Jolie marks her breakthrough role, gaining international recognition for her performance - delivered with the assurance and subtlety of an actor years her senior.

Famke Janssen

Dutch beauty Famke Janssen moved from Holland to the US to pursue a career in modelling, experiencing great success evident through her work in the late 80s with Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Victoria’s Secret. She burst onto the scene with her brilliantly camp portrayal of Xenia Onatopp in Pierce Brosnan’s best Bond film – Goldeneye – and cemented her ‘respectable actor’ status as Jean Grey in Bryan Singer’s X-Men trilogy.
Film highlights – Goldeneye, Taken, X-Men

Halle Berry

Halle Berry has had a truly remarkable, record-breaking career. Winning Miss Teen All American and Miss Ohio as a teen, she later went on to become the first African American Miss World entrant in 1986. Making her film debut in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever, Halle went from role to role until, in 2001, she became the first – and only – African American to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Monster’s Ball. Like Janssen, Berry also starred in the X-Men Trilogy as Storm, and appeared as a Bond girl in the –albeit terrible – Die Another Day. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all, Halle!
Film Highlights – Monster’s Ball, X-Men, Cloud Atlas

Lily Cole

Before being scouted whilst walking the streets of London aged 14, Lily Cole had never considered modelling. Yet this chance encounter proved to be the most important in her life. Appearing on the cover of Vogue aged 16, the only was up for Cole as she went on to work with fashion giants such as Prada, Alexander McQueen, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. While still an influential model, Cole tried her hand at acting, taking on a few small roles before starring in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus alongside Heath Ledger in his final film.
Film highlights – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, St. Trinians

Mark Wahlberg

While not the most prolific of models, Mark Wahlberg can easily boast the most colourful past on this list. Coming into the public eye as the younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block fame, Mark was angry and violent through his adolescent years, suffering from cocaine addiction at 13 and getting convicted for attempted murder at 16. Turning over a new leaf, Wahlberg reinvented himself as rapper Marky Mark, later modelling for Calvin Klein underwear. Wahlberg then made the transition to acting, gaining plaudits for his portrayal of Micky Ward in 2010’s The Fighter.


Jeune et Jolie is in UK cinemas from today 29th November courtesy of Lionsgate Films UK.

DVD Review - Thanatomorphose

Genre:
Horror
Distributor:
Monster Pics UK
Release Date:
9th December 2013 (UK)
Director:
Éric Falardeau
Cast:
Émile Beaudry, Eryka Cantieri, Roch-Denis Gagnon
Buy Thanatomorphose: DVD

The word Thanatomorphose is a French term for the decomposition of an organism’s flesh after death. In Eric Falardeau’s film a young woman (played by Emile Beaudry) suddenly finds herself decomposing despite being alive. It’s clearly very influenced by the body horror films of David Cronenberg. He often used a horror conceit to explore a theme and to an extent Thanatomorphose does this too. Sadly the film ends up feeling like a vague idea stretched to feature length without saying much of anything unlike the films of Cronenberg making it an unpleasant and sometimes dull experience.

The film opens with a colourful montage of close-ups of the main couple in the film having rough sex. It’s pretty unclear what’s happening, it kind of has the look of the credits sequence of a grindhouse film and is underscored with John Carpenter-esque synth music. After this ends we are properly introduced to the main character, a woman who at one point had artistic ambitions but now seems devoid of any personality. She is defined by her weakness, her weakness in not saying no to her boyfriend who is a total ass, as well as another man in her life. The opening act of somewhat violent and uncaring sex is what seemingly causes her decay. In typical Cronenbergian fashion this body horror element is used as a metaphor, but in the case of Thanatomorphose the metaphor is so half-baked that it brings nothing more to the film other than a slight air of misogyny.

After the pulpy looking opening the film transitions into something else completely. The synths are replaced with strings and everything slows down. From this point on, other than another short pulpy interlude, the film is in full art-film mode. I say that because it’s full of mumblecore style muttered dialogue, constant nudity, and the aforementioned slow pace. The strange mix of genre elements and art aesthetics is something that Cronenberg’s films nailed, but this film is less successful. The reason Cronenberg’s best films succeeded were because their ideas were so strong. Thanatomorphose on the other hand seems very muddled with its ideas to the point that they really take a back seat to the pure experience of the film. The problem is that the experience of the film is just rampant unpleasantness.

To get more specific about what I mean I’ll use an example from the film where it very obviously references Cronenberg’s The Fly. In The Fly Jeff Goldblum’s character is slowly becoming an inhuman creature; his body is slowly falling apart as he changes into a monstrous human/fly hybrid. It’s a brilliant and heartbreaking allegory for disease and more specifically the AIDS epidemic of the time. In one scene we see him open his medicine cabinet and there are jars containing different appendages and body parts that have fallen off of him. This scene shows us that despite his changes he is still the scientist he was before. As monstrous as he appears the man he was still exists underneath, the man who wants to take note of everything and learn from this horror. Thanatomorphose takes this image of someone storing and noting their bodily decomposition but in this situation it tells us nothing. There’s nothing specific to her character that lends any significance to this moment other than “Oh cool, they’re referencing The Fly”. So much of the film’s attempts at bringing depth to its simple story end up adding nothing and if anything just draws attention to its emptiness.

As I said, the key thing that made Cronenberg’s films succeed was the strength of his horrific metaphors. In the case of Thanatomorphose this is one of the most troublesome aspects of the film. The idea of externalising internal decay is interesting but what the film denotes as decay worthy of this horrible experience is rather strange. This woman’s relationships with men are what are rotting her. Her boyfriend is cruel and obnoxious who seems to just want her for sex, something that is mirrored by another male friend who appeared nicer than he actually was. The male characters are dismissed as animals wanting sex in one strange scene but she seems to be held accountable for her weakness. The idea of someone causing their own pain and unhappiness (and by extension this being externalized) could be interesting and if done well could be quite brave. The thing is that here we know so little about her that it kind of comes across as victim blaming. As if these relationship mistakes are completely her fault, because men are just beasts, and how they are destroying her are due to her and nothing else. I don’t want to completely chastise the films ideas and proclaim they are hateful of women but they’re so underdeveloped and surface level that they could definitely come across that way.

A lot of this could be excused if the experience of watching the film was good enough. Sadly this is not the case. Other than one moment (which was also very similar to a scene from The Fly), which definitely got to me, I didn’t feel anything other than grossed-out. The special effects of this woman’s living decomposition are generally well done, but that’s not enough for me to be interested in any way. Even the camerawork was completely uninteresting. It was hard to tell if the incessant blurriness and close-ups was meant to be a reflection of her delirium, they didn’t know how to make this apartment look interesting (the whole film is set in her apartment), or the effects were not solid enough to show entirely clearly.

When a film invokes the memory of some classic horror films it better be good enough to pull us in and not solely think of those other films. In this case the comparisons it drew just highlighted its failings even more. All in all I found it to be a very empty film with one good idea. The performances, music, and camerawork could have been one way that the film made itself more interesting but they were nothing more than fine. Everything other than the effects and one burst of craziness lacked any kind of character and that was really the films downfall. Disgusting effects can forcefully pull an audience in to reflect on the film’s ideas but when there are no ideas the effects serve nothing other than to disgust, and that’s all this film has.

★☆☆☆☆

James MacLeod

Blu-Ray Review - Betty Blue (1986)

Genre:
Drama, Romance,
Rating:
18
Distributor:
Second Sight
BD Release Date:
25th November 2013 (UK)
Director:
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Cast:
Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon
Buy: Betty Blue: Deluxe 2 Disc Edition [Blu-Ray]
Betty Blue since its release has became one of the most iconic films in World Cinema. The poster just itself is easily recognizable with that picture of Béatrice Dalle as the title character. Jean-Jacques Beineix directed it and he was considered one of the leading lights of the Cinéma du look along with Luc Besson, Leos Carax and to an extent Jean-Pierre Jeunet. These filmmakers rejected the Cinéma vérité of some of the French new wave films of the 1960s and took much inspiration from the American films of the 1970s and specifically the stylization of films like One from the Heart and Rumble Fish by Francis Ford Coppola.

Betty Blue was Beineix first film after the disastrous commercial and critical reception of his film Moon in the Gutter. Beineix was for many the lead lighting of Cinéma du look due to his stunning debut film Diva that took not only France by storm but also the UK and the USA. It was a truly stunning splash and still is a marvel to watch, Beineix was even compared to Orson Welles by noted critic Pauline Kael. Beineix was a “wonder kid” so his next film was deemed to fail naturally not unlike Welles’ own 2nd feature The Magnificent Ambersons.

Betty Blue is a 3 hour long doomed love story about Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglad) and Betty (Béatrice Dalle) who are madly in love quite literally. Zorg has been working as a handy man on a beach chalet when Betty arrives. She arrives and they fall madly in love in more ways that one. Zorg has been writing a novel and has given up on it till Betty discovers his manuscript and tries to get it published. Betty turns increasing insane and self-destructive and Zorg tries to save her before it’s too late.

Betty Blue isn’t as good as Diva because that film is so contained and so meticulously made. It’s also an hour shorter than the director’s cut of Betty Blue, which helps. This blu-ray also includes a shorter version than is missing around an hour but I only watched the director’s cut.

It’s a sprawling film of what love does to people and how it drives people to madness. The film told though Zorg’s character but the real star of the show is Béatrice Dalle whose performance has left an undeniable mark on cinematic culture. The film comes from hands down the most interesting time for films from France since Godard went downhill after his divorce from Anna Karina. Overall it’s worth getting a copy of it especially since Second Sight has a done a very nice blu-ray package including both cuts and a documentary on the film and Béatrice Dalle’s screen test for her role.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Review - Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La vie d'Adèle)

Genre:
Drama, World Cinema, Arthouse
Rating:
18
Distributor:
Artificial Eye Film
Release Date:
22nd November 2013 (UK)
Director:
Abdellatif Kechiche
Cast:
Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche
Blue in the Warmest Colour was the winner of the Palme D’Or with a jury headed by Steven Spielberg. It’s been universally acclaimed since it’s premiere at Cannes but it’s a very problematic film for many reasons. Abdellatif Kechiche directed the film but the two lead actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux have heavily criticised his techniques and refuse to every work with him again.

The film’s story is ridiculously simple considering it’s 3 hour running time. The story is a coming age story of Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) who is coming to terms with her own sexuality, she realises she is attracted to women but tries to fit it. She has sex with boys but spots a blue haired girl with another girl and instantly is attracted to her. One night she goes to a gay bar with gay male friend but she wanders off to a Lesbian bar and she meets the blue haired girl Emma (Léa Seydoux) again and they become friends. Emma is currently in a relationship but she soon becomes involved with Adèle. They seem very much in love but as usual with love it’s up and down.

Blue in the Warmest Colour has attracted much controversy for it’s 10 minute + graphic sex scene. The scene in many ways deserves controversy because it’s gratuitous to the extreme and was clearly shot to get the pervy director off. It’s not really very shocking except for the fact it just goes on and on, it’s the sex scene equivalent of the famous fight scene in They Live! The film climaxes with an equally gratuitous scene in a restaurant and every scene in the film is overly long for no good reason except for titillation.

The film’s length however is much more problematic because it’s an extremely simple love story. It’s one minute shy of 3 hours and it’s a story that could be told easily in 2 hours if not shorter. The story follows like 2 years in the lives of the girls but remember Stanley Kubrick told the story of dawn of man to the dawning of a new species in under 2 and a half hours in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Abdellatif Kechiche desperately needs an editor cause from all accounts this has been a criticism of his previous film but I can’t comment cause I haven’t seem them.

It’s not without two fantastic performances from Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux who will both became big international stars in coming years. They seem so natural and at ease in their performances it’s not hard to believe them to be love with one another. They were awarded for the first time ever the Palme D’Or for their performances with they shared with the director.

The film looks to be an art house smash this year but the audience for the screening I went to at the Leeds Film Festival was utterly bizarre. The cinema was full of lesbians, straight couples and inept film nerds so the audience for the film is quite wide ranging. I can only assume it’s going to become a date movie cause it’s deemed “the sexiest film ever made” in one ludicrous review and some straight couples want to try out one of the “moves” on their significant other.

Overall it’s not the raw, powerful, sexy, intense film that the critics are saying it is. The film however is a very fine drama, which nobody would care about if it weren’t for the fact it’s about young lesbians, has 2 great performance, won the Palme D’or and has this controversy. It’s worth seeing but it does not live up to the hype it has gathered since its premiere in the French Riviera.

★★★½☆

Ian Schultz

Maurice Pialet's Van Gogh Masters Of Cinema Blu-Ray Review

Rating:
15
BD/DVD Release Date:
23rd September 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Eureka! Video
Director:
Maurice Pialat
Cast:
Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Bernard Le Coq
Buy:
2-Disc DVD or Blu-ray
Maurice Pialat’s Van Gogh is one of the reasons why I love Masters of Cinema. I was sort of dreading to watch a 2 hour and 40 minute French film on the last 60s days of the life of the artist Vincent Van Gogh but it was one of the most captivating films I’ve seen in a while. Pialet had been obsessed with Van Gogh for a very long time; he made a documentary about him in the 1966.

The film takes a very unsensationalistic take on Van Gogh’s last 60 days of his life till his inevitable suicide. The film for example doesn’t mention the fact he cut his ear off and in fact shows Van Gogh with two ears. It also doesn’t really go much into his art. Van Gogh does paint in the film naturally and you see him hand his physician Paul Gachet his famous portrait, which also happens to have the world record for most expensive painting at public auction in history. It most concerns his relationships with his physician and his daughter and his art dealer brother Theo, who disliked his brother’s paintings.

Jacques Dutronc is cast as the title character. Dutronc was one of the biggest French “Chanson” singers of the 1960s. His music dabbled in garage rock and psychedelic rock. Dutronc began acting in the mid 1970s but it wasn’t till his role in Jean Luc-Godard’s Slow Motion people really took him seriously as a real dramatic actor. Dutronc won a César (the French equivalent to the Oscars or Baftas) for his performance and rightfully so. Dutronc inhabits the role with his gaunt performance that is a transformation to behold.

The film is a naturalistic take on quite an extraordinary life and was real pleasure for beginning to end. The blu-ray release characteristically of Masters of Cinema includes over 2 hours of interviews, over half an hour of deleted scenes and Pialet’s original 60s documentary on Van Gogh. It’s a highly recommended release which should be added to any cinema lover’s collection.

★★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

LIFF 2013 - Watch The New Trailer For Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La vie d'Adèle)

It shocked many when it won this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes leaving Steven Spielberg awe struck in praise this Autumn Abdel Kechiche's Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La vie d'Adèle)will arrive in UK cinemas let have a look at the American trailer.

Based on Julie Maroh’s graphic novel Blue Is The Warmest Colour follows

Plein Soleil (1960) Blu Ray Review

BD/DVD Release Date:
9th September 2013 (UK)
Rating:
PG
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Director:
René Clément
Cast:
Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt
Buy Plein Soleil:
Plein Soleil Special Edition Blu-ray [Amazon]
As I was introduced to French cinema through my interest in the Nouvelle Vague films of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, and Éric Rohmer, and consequently their critical writing for the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma (in particular Truffaut’s Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français), it may come as no surprise that René Clément has never ranked high on my list of filmmakers to further explore. Couple this with already seeing Patricia Highsmith’s best-selling novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, adapted to film by Anthony Minghella and the prospect of sitting through Plein Soleil becomes less intriguing.

First of all – for those of you who have neither read Highsmith’s novel nor watched Minghella’s adaptation – a brief outline of the story is in order. The Talented Mr. Ripley is a thriller that, in all its versions including Clément’s Plein Soleil, follows Tom Ripley, an intelligent career criminal, as he cons his way into the life of a rich playboy, Philippe, by feigning his acquaintance to the man’s father. Ripley is hired by the father to travel to Italy, find Philippe, and bring him back to San Francisco. Now, without wanting to give away any of the film’s plot, Plein Soleil begins with Ripley (Alain Delon) already in Italy and already ingratiated with Philippe (Maurice Ronet) and his circle of friends.

For many, including myself, Clément’s version is the most rewarding. Not only is it the most tense and entertaining of the two adaptations, it also boasts some glorious cinematography by Henri Decaë, the noted cinematographer of such films as Lift to the Scaffold, Bob le Flambeur, Le Beau Serge, and The 400 Blows by directors Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville, Claude Chabrol, and François Truffaut. The film is also noteworthy for its fatalistic point of view. But it is also these two points that mark the film out as an imitation.

As the featurette René Clément at the heart of the New Wave, included with Studiocanal’s restored release, attests, Clément felt unfairly treated by the Nouvelle Vague directors and thought himself a more avant-garde artist than the “Tradition of Quality” directors he had been lumped with. Perhaps this is why he made Plein Soleil with Decaë and also why the film as a fatalistic aesthetic reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Melville, a director admired by the Nouvelle Vague. Nonetheless, Plein Soleil is an entertaining and gorgeously photographed film well worthy of anyone’s time.

★★★☆☆

Shane James