The Goldman Case (2023)
★★★★☆
The Goldman Case directed by Cédric Kahn grippingly reconstructs the 1976 trial of voluble and charismatic leftist Pierre Goldman and tackles antisemitism and history.
France
VENICE 2024: The Mohican (2024) (Le Mohican)
★★★☆☆
The Mohican directed by Frédéric Farrucci is a beautifully shot, deeply felt film about an ordinary goatherd who becomes a social media hero in Corsica when he defends his beliefs.
Heart of an Oak (2022) (Le Chêne)
★★★☆☆
The Heart of an Oak, directed by Laurent Charbonnier and Michel Seydoux, edited by Sylvie Lager, is a year of magnificent photography in the life of the creatures – animals, birds and insects – that live in or around a huge 200-year-old oak tree in a forest in France.
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Day 6: Sunday, 19 May: The Story of Souleymane (2024) (L’histoire de Souleymane)
★★★★☆
The Story of Souleymane directed by Boris Lojkine is a searingly realistic two days in the life of one of the invisible people – a bicycle courier in Paris.
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Day 5: Friday, 17 May: Holy Cow (2024) (Vingt Dieux)
★★★★☆
Holy Cow, co-written and directed by Louise Courvoisier, is an involving coming-of-age story set in rural France.
Two Tickets To Greece (2022) (Les Cyclades)
★★★☆☆
Two Tickets To Greece, directed by Marc Fitoussi with French stars, is an odd-couple comedy that looks beautiful and is rather predictable.
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Opening Film: Tuesday, 14 May: The Second Act (2024)(Le deuxième acte)
★★★★☆
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Opening Film: Tuesday, 14 May: The Second Act (2024) (Le Deuxième Acte)
Jeanne du Barry (2023)
★★★☆☆
Jeanne du Barry, which opened the Cannes Film Festival 2023, is co-written, directed and starred in by Maïwenn, also starring Johnny Depp, in a glossy historical French biopic.
Berlinale 2024: My New Friends (2024) (Les gens d’à côté)
★★★★☆
My New Friends written and directed by André Téchiné is an absorbing debate on a contemporary issue starring the wonderful Isabelle Huppert.
Driving Madeleine (Une Belle Course) (2022)
★★★★☆
Driving Madeleine is an endearing, very human French film starring Line Renaud and Dany Boon, directed by Christian Carion, with a dark undercurrent.
Mother and Son (2022) (Un Petit Frère)
★★★★☆
Mother and Son is an ★★★★☆
involving, compassionate film by Léonor Serraille that poignantly shows the difficulties and the effects on a family – both positive and negative – of immigration into a strange country.
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Day 1: Opening Film: Jeanne du Barry (2023)
★★★☆☆
Cannes Film Festival 2023: Opening film: Jeanne du Barry (2023)
Berlinale 2023 Review: El Castillo (2023) (The Castle)
★★★☆☆
Berlinale presents San Sebastián award winner El Castillo (The Castle) a strangely moving mixture of documentary and fiction by Martin Benchimol.
Saint Omer (2022)
★★★★☆
Saint Omer by Alice Diop is a harrowing and haunting political drama about the complexities of being a Black woman and the pressures of motherhood, inspired by real events.