Festival of Films by Women Film Makers

The French cinema of today is characterized by the importance it attaches to the female characters. This week we have a line up of French films under the new glance posed on the woman, by women, who are also increasingly found more behind the camera. The French Film Festival organised by the Alliance Francaise De Poona includes the much acclaimed film like La Vie Revee Des Anges which won the Cesar award for the best film and two best actress awards during the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. A great treat of films not to be missed.

All films are subtitled in English and will be screened at the National Film Archives Auditorium.
Membership required for entry.

A preview of the films to be screened in Alliance Francaise De Poona on the 19th & 20th of April, 2001:

Thursday 19th April, 6:30pm

La Vie Revee Des Anges
1998/Col/113mins
Director: Erick Zonca
Photography: Agnes Godard
Cast: Elodie Bouchez, Natacha, Regnier, Gregoire Colin, Jo Prestia, Patrick Mercado

Isa, 20, arrives in Lille with her backpack. Isa is looking for odd jobs, never the same and never for very long. Her path crosses that of Marie, another loner, but wild and in revolt against her social condition. They meet two nice motorcycle guys, and Chriss, who comes from a different milieu, makes Marie dream beyond what is bearable.

Friday 20th April, 6:30 pm

Venus Beate Institut
1999/Col/105mins
Director: Tonie Marshall
Photography: Gerard De Battista
Cast: Nathalie Bayle, Bulle Ogier, Samuel Le Bihan, Jacques Bonnaffe, Matrhilde Seignier, Robert Hossein, Audrey Tautou

Venus Beauty is a pink shop in a busy part of Paris. Nadine is the boss, Angele lives alone and picks up men after work without much conviction until the day she meets Antoine who says he loves her and strives to prove it to her. The controlled universe of the salon offers Angele a certain tranquility. On the exterior its all helter-skelter. Not knowing where to settle, she flees from one to another, provoking unknown men or aggressing them verbally. Tonie Marshall succeeds in the difficult balance between emotion and "bitch" humour. A true delight.

A review of the films screened in Alliance Francaise De Poona on the 15th to 18th of April, 2001:

Screened on Sunday 15th, April: La Dilettante
1998/Col/105mins
Director: Pascal Thomas
Photography: Christophe Beaucarne
Cast: Catherine Frot, Barbara Schulz, Marie-Christine Barrault, Sebastian Cotterot

Almost penniless, Pierette has moved into her son's tiny studio apartment in the suburbs. He is a trainee in a nearby factory and, at first, is more surprised than delighted to see her. Amid new encounters and activities, Pierrette, an independent woman who above all hates playing the victim and arousing sympathy of others, tries to maintain or lose balance with a son and daughter whom she would like to help. But they have lost the habit of needing her, with her sudden passion for a priest very popular with the media and an affair with an antique dealer that will lead her to jail. It is a bitter sweet tale, meandering and unexpected, told without dogmatism or preconceived ideas.

Screened on Monday 16th April: Le Blue Des Villes
1999/Col/105mins
Director: Stephane Brize
Photography: Edward Klosinski
Cast: Florence Vignon, Mathilde Seigner, Antoine CVhappey, Philippe Duquesne

Solange and her husband carry out a quiet life in province. Mylene, the friend of Solange becomes a TV weather forecaster and comes to her town to sign copies of her autobiography and devotes one evening to him. A dinner glass out of box, some confidences follow. After Mylene leaves, Solange realizes that it passed beside her dreams. It is contractual. Its costume of scene, it is a uniform, its public, motorists who insult it. Its daily newspaper is suddenly too dull, her too normal husband, his trade too humiliating. To change is life, still possible?

Screened on Tuesday 17th April: Haut Les Coeurs
1999/Col/110mins
Director: Solveig Anspach
Photography: Isabelle Razavet
Cast: Karin Viard, Laurent Luca, Julien Cottereau

Expecting her first child, Emma learns that she has a breast cancer. Her doctor advises an abortion, since the necessary treatment is incompatible with pregnancy. Simon, her companion, encourages her to consult another specialist, Doctor Morin, who affirms that the treatment can be done during the pregnancy. Emma regains confidence. Her body which had betrayed her, comes to life again. Now she must now fight for two lives. This is a film that makes us assume the heroine's outlook to face reality. We could sayHaut Les Coeurs is deep, overwhelming, which is true, but equally out of place with reagrds to its content.Yes, it resembles its heroine; it doesn't lower our eyes but demands a head-on look.

Screened on Wednesday 18th April: Love Me
2000/Col/105mins
Director: Laetitia Masson
Photography: Alain Sarde
Cast:

It is an impossible history between a girl who seeks the love and a singer who does not believe in it any more. She meets him in Memphis, follows him. He escapes. She insists. He ends up by being moved by her. But, it is also the history of a girl who takes refuge in her dreams to escape from reality and her past. It is there that the history between the girl and the singer becomes complicated. Where does reality stop, where begins the imaginary one?

Text: Harikrishna
Information & Photographs Courtesy: The Alliance Fracaise De Poona and www.france.diplomatie.fr