Suzanne (2013)
★★★☆☆
An elliptical life torn apart by love and crime, Katell Quillévéré’s Suzanne offers a journey back to happiness and family through absence.
France
Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac (2013)
★★★★☆
With murderers among us, Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger By The Lake turns a sexually explicit peek at gay cruising into a political metaphor in the horror genre.
Love Is In The Air / Amour et Turbulences (2013)
★★★☆☆
A French rom-com set against Paris’ most romantic boulevards, Alexandre Castagnetti’s Love Is In The Air sees passion reignited on the red-eye.
Bastards / Les Salauds (2013)
★★★☆☆
A haunting nightmare in a Parisian dystopia, Claire Denis’ Bastards is an infernal cacophony of sex, blood and broken families.
Archive: Lift To The Scaffold / Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958)
An iconic black and white classic, Louis Malle’s Lift To The Scaffold is a noirish Parisian tale of murder and suspense which made a star of Jeanne Moreau.
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Journal de France (2012)
★★★☆☆
Journal de France looks back at the career of photojournalist and filmmaker Raymond Depardon, interwoven with his latest project: a portrait of rural France.
Review Of The Year: 2013
In black and white or riotous colour, here’s a quick look back over the best and worst films of 2013 and a sneak preview of the movies to watch out for in 2014.
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Age Of Uprising – The Legend Of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
★★★★☆
Unpicking the tragic deadlock of a wronged man out for justice, Arnaud des Pallières’ Michael Kohlhaas is a fine tribute to people power and ruthless idealism.
The Patience Stone (2012)
★★★★☆
A war movie like no other, Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone leaves no woe unturned as a woman rails against man and the theatre of war.
Young And Beautiful / Jeune Et Jolie (2013)
★★★★☆
Fathoming the sordid depths of taboo and transgression, François Ozon’s Jeune Et Jolie finds the unfathomable in a teenager trading innocence for money.
Blue Is The Warmest Colour / La Vie d’Adèle (2012)
★★★★☆
Courting controversy all the way from Cannes, Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue Is The Warmest Colour puts the graphic back into graphic novel.
The Nun / La Religieuse (2013)
★★★☆☆
In 18th century France, when a teenage girl is forced by her parents to become a nun, she rebels to try and regain her freedom.
The Artist And The Model / El Artista Y La Modelo (2012)
★★★☆☆
All is fair in love and war, Fernando Trueba’s The Artist And The Model gradually hews out the standoff relationship between the creator and his muse.
Looking For Hortense / Cherchez Hortense (2012)
★★☆☆☆
With the fate of a young woman hanging on a middle-aged nobody, Bonitzer’s Looking For Hortense is a rather bloodless comedy on husbands and wives, fathers and sons.