Culture
28 Nov 06

Gaul of fame

Tara Brady

Ten reasons why you can’t miss the Carte Noir French Film Festival.

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS – Ooh, la, la. If we didn’t know better, we’d swear the IFI were attempting to appeal to our baser instincts. Choose from Asia Argento in Transylvania, Monica Bellucci in How Much Do You Love Me? (Combien tu m’aimes?) and Olga Kurylenko in The Ring Finger (L’Annulaire). Older gentlemen might like to know that The Comedy Of Power stars Isabelle Huppert.
1968 REVISITED – French cinema never tires of the romance offered by the incendiary Paris of 1968 and Philippe Garrel’s Regular Lovers (Les Amants réguliers) features all the seductive trappings we’ve come to expect from such an enterprise – dishy young revolutionary (Louis Garrel), flag-burning, an affair with a sculptress (Clotilde Hesme) and languid Eustachian rhythms.
JEAN-CLAUDE CARRIÉRE – The novelist, playwright and song-writing Buddhist has authored screenplays for The Tin Drum, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being and Cyrano De Bergerac but is still best known for his collaborations with Luis Buñuel. This august screenwriting talent will be interviewed after a screening of Belle Du Jour.
COSTA-GAVRAS KEEPS ON KEEPING ON – Veteran political director Costa-Gavras takes a fresh swipe at The Man with The Axe (Le Couperet), an entertaining melee of murder and corporate satire.
BETTY BLUE – It’s hard to believe that two decades has passed since Beatrice Dalle became the regulation bedsit poster, but you can check out the 20th anniversary screening if you don’t believe me.
JEAN ROUCH – A sidebar on the groundbreaking anthropological documentarian features such verité treasures as I, A Negro (Moi, in Noir), Chronicle of a Summer (Chronique d’un été), Hunting The Lion With Bow And Arrow (La chasse au lion á I’arc) and Little By Little (Petit á petit).
PARIS, JE T’AIME – Epic valentine to the city of lights compromising 21 vignettes from Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Olivier Assayas, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Tom Twyker, Walter Salles, Christopher Doyle and, well, lots of other safe pairs of hands. A big swish reception follows the screening.
ANIMATION – Screening as part of a season of films for younger Francophiles, Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (Kirikou et les bétes sauvages) sees its tiny eponymous protagonists take on drought and and eil sorceress while The King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi et l ‘oiseau) details a wholesome love triangle between a shepherdess, a chimney sweep and a royal.
CONTINENTAL EROTICA – Betty Blue, Belle Du Jour, The Ring Finger, 7 Years, How Much Do You Love Me? Come to think of it, there aren’t too many titles that don’t fall under the dubious heading ‘continental erotica.’
GERARD DEPARDIEU – It’s impossible to have a French Film Festival without seeing Gerard Depardieu. Even if you attempted such a thing, you’d probably find him lurking somewhere on the screen. This year, you can catch the Gallic icon in Paris, Je T’aime, The Singer (Quand Jétais chanteur) and How Much Do You Love Me?