French

DVD/Stream of the Week: You Will Be My Son

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YOU WILL BE MY SON

Niels Arestrup (A Prophet, War Horse) stars as the owner of French wine estate who places impossible expectations on his son, with lethal results. The poor son has gotten a degree in winemaking, has worked his ass off on his father’s estate for years and has even married well – but it’s just not enough for his old man. The father’s interactions with the son range from dismissive to deeply cruel.

The father’s best friend is his longtime estate manager, whose health is faltering. The son is the natural choice for a successor, but the owner openly prefers the son’s boyhood friend, the son of the manager. The first half of You Will Be My Son focuses on the estate owner’s nastiness toward his son, which smolders throughout the film. But then the relationship between the sons turns from old buddies to that of the usurper and the usurped. And, finally, things come down to the decades-long relationship between the two old men.

Deep into the movie, we learn something about the father that colors his view of his son. And then, there’s a startling development that makes for a thrilling and operatic ending.

It’s one of several good 2013 films about fathers and sons, like The Place Beyond the Pines and At Any Price.  (This is also a food porn movie, with some tantalizing wine tasting scenes that should earn a spot on my Best Food Porn Movies.)

You Will Be My Son is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, Vudu, iTunes and Xbox Video.

DVD/Stream of the Week: Blue is the Warmest Color

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Adèle Exarchopoulos in BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

The French drama Blue is the Warmest Color explores first love, capturing the arc of a young woman’s first serious romance with remarkable authenticity and a stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. Exarchopoulos plays a 17-year-old (also named Adèle) who falls in love with an out lesbian five or six years her senior. The film traces the course of their relationship over the next several years as the couple are challenged by jealousies and their different temperaments and class backgrounds, and as Adèle matures.

The acting is excellent, including Léa Seydoux (Farewell My Queen, Midnight in Paris) as the lover. But Adèle Exarchopoulos is a revelation. She is perfect as a teen typically full of curiosity and devoid of confidence, outwardly raunchy but profoundly innocent. And she has an extraordinary gift to seem utterly alone in a crowd. After watching Exarchopoulos, I felt as I did after seeing Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone – I can’t wait to see this emerging major talent again.

This is the first film I’ve seen by Tunisian-born French director Abdelatif Kechiche, who has twice before won the Cesar (the French Oscar). In Blue Is the Warmest Color, Kechiche uses the closeup more than any recent director that I can recall, and he is fortunate to have Exarchopoulos, who can pull it off. It’s an excellent reason to see Blue Is the Warmest Color on the big screen.

Blue Is the Warmest Color is three-hours long, which is an indulgent length, but not too long. I am usually impatient with movies over two hours and quick to find them overlong. But Blue Is the Warmest Color kept my interest and engagement for its duration, and I really couldn’t recommend many cuts.

There is a LOT of explicit simulated sex in this movie. The main characters’ first love scene must sample the entire lesbian Kama Sutra. That scene, reputed by some to last nineteen or twenty minutes, didn’t seem that nearly long. The film proudly earns its NC-17 rating by depicting the (apparently very satisfying) sexual aspect of a romance.

But, in the end, it’s all about Adèle’s romance and Exarchopoulos’ performance. Blue Is the Warmest Color won the top prize at Cannes, and is my pick as 2013’s best film.  It’s available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Netflix Instant, Amazon, iTunes, Sundance Now and XBOX Video.

Stranger by the Lake: an effective thriller with LOTS of explicit gay sex

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Writer-director Alain Giraudie uses the milieu of gay cruising to set his thriller, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac), launched with great notoriety at Cannes. A young man frequents a secluded beach to hook up with other gays. He spots a dreamy newcomer, but he just can’t seem to meet the new guy. After a few frustrating days, he witnesses a murder by drowning – and the murderer is the guy that he’s hot for. The next day, the murderer comes on to him and our hero can’t resist…until his new boy toy suggests that they go for a swim.

Stranger by the Lake is notorious because of lots of genitals-in-your-face male nudity and LOTS of explicit gay sex acts. At least some of the sex is actual (not just simulated) sex. I saw Stranger by the Lake in an audience that must have been 80% gay male, and there were lots of knowing chuckles at the cruising behaviors (along with gasps at an episode of decidedly unsafe sex).

Stranger by the Lake does work as a thriller, and a limited US release is underway; in the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s currently playing in just two theaters – the Clay and the Shattuck.  It is unrated, but would certainly qualify for a NC-17.

The Past: how life resists our desire to make everything tidy

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bejo In the French movie The Past, a French woman has requested that her estranged husband return from Iran to expedite their divorce; he obliges and walks into a family life that gets messier by the minute.  Why does she suddenly want the divorce right now? Can she marry her current boyfriend?  Who are the fathers of all of her kids?  What happened to her current boyfriend’s wife – and why?  As the answers are revealed one-by-one, our understanding of the events and characters evolve.

This shifting viewpoint is similar that into writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning Iranian film A Separation, which I summarized as “brilliant film/tough to watch”.  Farhadi’s art reflects life at its messiness – especially how life resists our desire to make everything tidy and symmetrical.  It all makes for a compelling drama – we care about each character and what’s going to happen.  Each development further complicates the story – all the way up to the movies final shot, which adds another pivotal complication.

The Artist’s Berenice Bejo won Best Actress at Cannes for playing the woman completely overstressed by the pressures that her own choices have brought upon her; (her careworn character is just about 180 degrees from Peppy Miller in The Artist).  The acting is uniformly excellent, and especially by the child actors.

One more thing – in writing and directing the part of the teenage daughter, Farhadi shows that he has a superb understanding of teenage girls.  He captures the mix of self-absorption, volatile unpredictability and the paradoxical yearning for both independence and parental protection, while avoiding turning the character into a sitcom brat.  Indeed, he’s done it before, having directed his own teenage daughter to an excellent performance in A Separation.  This is one of his most notable gifts as a filmmaker.

The realism of The Past may cause some viewers to reflect on their own family drama, so not everyone will find it enjoyable.  Nevertheless, it’s an admirable and thought-provoking story told so very well – right up to that final shot.

French Cinema Now

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RENDEZ-VOUS IN KIRUNA

I spent last weekend at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series, which features current French language movies that have not been theatrically released in the US (and may not be).   I’ve written complete posts on five of the eight movies that I saw. Here’s my summary (in order of my subjective ranking).

My favorite was the road trip to redemption, Rendez-vous in Kiruna.  A French curmudgeon takes an obligatory drive to northern Sweden, setting up some very funny moments as the film explores the oft unhappy relationships of fathers and sons.

In the drama Suzanne, a young woman makes some bad choices, and the consequences are shared by her father and sister.  Very well written and acted, Suzanne may be released in the US in mid-December.

Launched with great notoriety at Cannes, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac) is a thriller set in a secluded gay cruising spot.  There is LOTS of explicit gay sex in this movie, and at least some of it is actual (not just simulated) sex.  It does work as a thriller, and it will get an NC-17 release in the US in late January 2014.

I liked Miss and the Doctors (Tirez la langue, mademoiselle), the kind of light romance that the French do so well and that Hollywood would turn into a series of sitcom moments.  Two pediatrician bachelor brothers fall for the single mom of a young patient – and then her ex returns to the scene to create a love quadrangle.  Miss and the Doctors is sweet and funny, and I think it would be popular with US art house audiences.  (The original French title translates as “Stick Out Your Tongue, Miss”.)

House of Radio (La Maison de la Radio), a wonderfully appealing observational documentary that takes us behind-the-scenes for a peek at the operations of Radio France.

Written and directed by its star, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, A Castle in Italy (Un château en Italie) tells three dark story threads but in a very funny, even screwball, movie.  It had me until the sentimental and almost pretentious ending.  Not bad overall.

Bastards (Les Salauds) is Claire Denis’ dark revenge tale – well made but gratuitously disturbing – and even too disturbing for me to recommend.

My pick for the worst movie in the series was a French language film from Canada, Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Vic + Flo ont vu un ours).  A 61-year-old lesbian is released from prison and reunites with her fortyish lover/crime partner to go straight.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to commend this film except for a bad ass female villain.  The story was pointlessly dark, and the audience did not respond well.  Afterwards, I was standing in line in front of a Frenchwoman who ranted, “Stoopeed Canadians – what do zay know about making films…I am just so glad that Jean didn’t show up – he would have puked.”  I actually like Canadian films, but this one sucked.

Stranger by the Lake: an effective thriller with LOTS of explicit gay sex

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Writer-director Alain Giraudie uses the milieu of gay cruising to set his thriller, Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac), launched with great notoriety at Cannes.  A young man frequents a secluded beach to hook up with other gays.  He spots a dreamy newcomer, but he just can’t seem to meet the new guy.  After a few frustrating days, he witnesses a murder by drowning – and the murderer is the guy that he’s hot for. The next day, the murderer comes on to him and our hero can’t resist…until his new boy toy suggests that they go for a swim.

Stranger by the Lake is notorious because of lots of genitals-in-your-face male nudity and LOTS of explicit gay sex acts.  At least some of the sex is actual (not just simulated) sex.  I saw Stranger by the Lake in an audience that must have been 80% gay male, and there were lots of knowing chuckles at the cruising behaviors (along with gasps at an episode of decidedly unsafe sex).

Stranger by the Lake does work as a thriller, and it will get a limited US release beginning January 24, 2014,  (and certainly rated NC-17).

Suzanne: her bad choices take their toll

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The authentic and raw French drama Suzanne starts as a family story about a single dad working as a long haul trucker and his two daughters, Maria and Suzanne.  The younger daughter Suzanne makes some bad choices that impact the rest of her family.  The film is not just about the title character, but about each family member and the consequences each must bear.

Francois Damiens is especially good as the dad, a guy who has sacrificed so much for his daughters, and just can’t bear anymore drama.   Adele Haenel is excellent as the exuberant and responsible older sister Maria.  As Suzanne, Sara Forestier manages to portray someone who is not a bit not superficial or not serious, but who is fatally impulsive.  In the fluffy The Names of Love,  Forestier was actually convincing as a woman so distractable that she doesn’t notice that she has left her flat and boarded the Paris Metro without wearing any clothes.  It’s impressive to see the range she demonstrates playing the train-wreck of a protagonist in Suzanne.

I saw Suzanne at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series.  I’ve read that Suzanne may get a US theatrical release starting December 13.  I hope so – it’s a fine film.

Bastards: unnecessarily disturbing

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The great French actor Vincent Lindon (Mademoiselle Chambon, Augustine) leads a fine cast in the dark and unnecessarily disturbing Bastards (Les Salauds).  Bastards is getting attention primarily because of its renowned director Claire Denis.  I am generally NOT a fan of Denis (although I liked her 2008 film 35 Shots of Rum).  There’s really nothing wrong with Bastards – it’s well-crafted and well-acted – except the story.

The tale is about Lindon’s character seeking to take revenge for a family tragedy on the rich bad guy who is responsible.  Because this is a very dark movie, it doesn’t end well.  Now I like dark movies and I would have been OK with the despairing ending, but Bastards needlessly exploits a human trafficking plot thread to make the bad guy worse than he needs to be.  Then the final ten minutes is entirely gratuitous.  I’ve seen over 15,000 movies, and I would put Bastards among the five or so most disturbing.

(The 40-year-old actress Chiara Mastroianni is pretty damn appealing as the target of Lindon’s lust; as the daughter of Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve, she benefits from good genes.)

I saw Bastards at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series.  It is available streaming on Amazon, Google Play and XBOX Live.

House of Radio: radio speaking for itself – on camera

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French documentarian Nicolas Philibert takes on a backstage tour of the seven channels of Radio France in House of Radio (La Maison de la Radio).  Philibert’s style is entirely observational – there is no narration and I remember only one title  identifying the Radio France building at beginning of film.  The camera just watches the people of Radio France do their jobs – including interviews, news reports, performances, games shows and even the sports reporters on motorbikes covering the Tour de France.

As San Francisco Film Society Director of Programming Rachel Rosen noted, radio is a medium that draws much of its power from the absence of images.  The editing in House of Radio seems completely random but it’s not – Philibert strings all of his nuggets together so that we never lose interest.  I want to see this guy’s next movie.

I saw House of Radio at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series.  It’s not currently available in theaters or on DVD or streaming in the US.

Blue is the Warmest Color: stunning exploration of first love

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Adèle Exarchopoulos in BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

The French drama Blue is the Warmest Color explores first love, capturing the arc of a young woman’s first serious romance with remarkable authenticity and a stunning performance by 19-year-old actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. Exarchopoulos plays a 17-year-old (also named Adèle) who falls in love with an out lesbian five or six years her senior.  The film traces the course of their relationship over the next several years as the couple are challenged by jealousies and their different temperaments and class backgrounds, and as Adèle matures.

The acting is excellent, including Léa Seydoux (Farewell My Queen, Midnight in Paris) as the lover.  But Adèle Exarchopoulos is a revelation.  She is perfect as a teen typically full of curiosity and devoid of confidence, outwardly raunchy but profoundly innocent.  And she has an extraordinary gift to seem utterly alone in a crowd.  After watching Exarchopoulos, I felt as I did after seeing Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone –  I can’t wait to see this emerging major talent again.

This is the first film I’ve seen by Tunisian-born French director Abdelatif Kechiche, who  has twice before won the Cesar (the French Oscar).  In Blue Is the Warmest Color, Kechiche uses the closeup more than any recent director that I can recall, and he is fortunate to have Exarchopoulos, who can pull it off.  It’s an excellent reason to see Blue Is the Warmest Color on the big screen.

Blue Is the Warmest Color is three-hours long, which is an indulgent length, but not too long.  I am usually impatient with movies over two hours and quick to find them overlong.  But Blue Is the Warmest Color kept my interest and engagement for its duration, and I really couldn’t recommend many cuts.

There is a LOT of explicit simulated sex in this movie.   The main characters’ first love scene must sample the entire lesbian Kama Sutra.  That scene, reputed by some to last nineteen or twenty minutes, didn’t seem that nearly long.  The film proudly earns its NC-17 rating by depicting the (apparently very satisfying) sexual aspect of a romance.

But, in the end, it’s all about Adèle’s romance and Exarchopoulos’ performance.   Blue Is the Warmest Color won the top prize at Cannes, and is one of the year’s best films – perhaps the very best.