Catherines the great--Deneuve and Frot--in Martin Provost's melodrama, THE MIDWIFE

TrustMovies can only surmise that the fine French writer/director Martin Provost, who has over the past decade given us three wonderful films (Séraphine, The Long Falling and Violette), must have decided by hook or by crook to break through more thoroughly to the French (or maybe international) arthouse/mainstream audience -- his vehicle being a new movie entitled THE MIDWIFE (Sage femme). To that end, if indeed it was this movie's raison d'être, M. Provost, shown below, has corralled two of France's greatest actresses to play the leading roles: that icon perennial, Catherine Deneuve and the perhaps lesser-known but equally talented and multi-award-winning Catherine Frot.

Ms Deneuve guarantees an international audience, while Ms Frot (you can read all my many mentions and reviews of her work by clicking here) should easily bring in the more sophisticated audience that demands top-notch acting above all else. While Frot, shown below (of Marguerite, Haute Cuisine, Chaos), does not disappoint (she's far too professional, alert, alive and honest to ever do that), it's Deneuve who steals the movie from under her co-star by taking on another of those blowsey, full-blown, pull-out-all-the-stops roles (like that of Belle Maman, from 1999, which rather cemented this icon's entry into movie-middle-age) and then running with it to near perfection.

It has been awhile since we've seen Deneuve (shown below) do this, as her recent roles, such as In The Courtyard, On My Way, Standing Tall and In the Name of My Daughter, have demanded more circumspect, tamped down performances. Here she can let loose, while still managing to create a character that's full-bodied, believable and very troubled.

So why, then, does The Midwife end up leaving you feeling as though you've been manipulated by melodrama rather than plunged into actual, organic drama. Despite the fine performances (from the entire cast that includes the likes of Belgian great, Olivier Gourmet, shown below with Frot, and Mylène Demongeot), Provost's screenplay almost always feels overly manipulative and manufactured. The tale has to do with the re-connection, after decades apart, of a woman who works as a midwife (Frot) with an older woman (Deneuve) who was the mistress of the midwife's father.

The connection is made; anger, guilt, pain and all the rest surface expectedly; and...  Yes, you can probably predict the remainder of the film. Oh, the details are specific and may be a bit different here and there, but the basics are mostly standard stuff. Even the political/social points that Provost raises seem awfully typical. The midwife's job is about to disappear, as hospitals grow ever larger and more corporate, while individual worth, together with hands-on caring, become less important. All true, but nothing we have not already seen, properly considered and become depressed over.

So despite the excellent performances and the movie's illustrious provenance, been-there/done-that sets in early and does not unfortunately dissipate. Still, I would not have missed this movie, given how much I've enjoyed Frot, Deneuve and Provost previously -- and neither, mostly likely, will you. But I would suggest you maybe steel yourself for a little disappointment, overall.

From Music Box Films, in French with English subtitles and running 117 minutes, The Midwife opens this Friday, July 21 -- in New York City at The Paris Theatre and the Angelika Film Center, and in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Royal, Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5.  Update: the movie is now available to view via Amazon Prime.

Rendez-vous With French Cinema, 2014 edition, opens at the FSLC, IFC Center, BAM & The Paris

It's back. One of and maybe the most popular series in the history of the Film Society of Lincoln Center opens this Thursday evening at Manhattan's storied Paris Theater and continues through March 16 at two venues in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn: the FSLC, the IFC Center and BAM.

Yes, RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA, the 2014 edition, is here, beginning with the stellar opening night attraction -- Emmanuele Bercot's smart, funny and moving Catherine Deneuve vehicle, ON MY WAY (Elle s'en va). Also on tap are new films by fab French directors from Doillon to Ozon, Bozon to Ropert, Campillo to Gondry, some newcomers, old-timers (yes Bertrand Tavernier is back!) and a whole lot in between. This year, in fact, will see at least 24 films screened -- if I am correct, a record number for this series.

For some fifteen years or so, TrustMovies used to see every single film in this series. Of late, he can no longer manage that. This year, as last, he had to content himself with only viewing the opening night selection, but, as almost always occurs, Rendez-vous has chosen a good one: something you might call arthouse/mainstream that should prove popular with audiences while not alienating most critics.

Ms Deneuve could hardly have chosen a better vehicle nor a stronger director to bring it home. The actress shines consistently (is there a sexier, more alluring senior citizen in all France?) and Ms Bercot, shown at left and lately of Student Services, directs and co-writes this coming-to-terms tale with effortless ease and skill. The story spans four generations, with each brought to fine life, and while the film is sentimental, the sentiment is handled with enough spunk and spark so that we're laughing at these characters as often as we're laughing with them. The movie is also a kind of unexpected road trip, with a destination not quite what you'll expect.

If you cannot see On My Way now, don't fret: Cohen Media Group will be releasing it theatrically on March 14, just one week after Rendez-vous begins. Meanwhile, take a look at the entire Rendez-vous With French Cinema schedule here. And remember that you can see all, many, or at least a few of the films at all three venues: FSLC, IFC Center and BAM. If one is sold out, consult another.

Ozon's POTICHE opens; Deneuve, Depardieu, Lucchini and ensemble shine

French filmmaker François Ozon has many moods, and with his newest film, POTICHE, he is in perhaps his lightest and fluffiest since he began pointing a camera. (He’s a lot more grown-up now than in the days when he wanted to shock us with Sitcom.) Here also is Catherine Deneuve in as good a role – full, rich, one in which she truly “stars” -- as that icon of French cinema has had in several years (certainly since A Christmas Tale). Maybe best of all, here are the 1970s, French-style, with all the fab fashions and furnishings that we’ve come to love/hate.

Potiche is, beyond its many other pleasures, a visual treat. It tells the story of a wealthy family, owner of an umbrella factory, and what happens when labor unrest knocks the nasty father from his perch and allows mom (Ms Deneuve) to take the reins. The film is based upon a theatrical boulevard comedy, and its roots are apparent to some extent, but this does not do great damage. Ozon, shown at right, has opened up the movie's locations nicely, while keeping events moving in a sprightly manner so that his film remains for the most part funny, charming and sly.

Did I mention Gérard Depardieu (shown above with Ms Deneuve), Fabrice Luchini, (reclining below, center), Karin Viard (the redhead, center right), Judith Godrèche (at left) and Jérémie Renier (between Viard and Depardieu)? Yes -- and each is terrific. Comedy, romance, women’s lib, even the emerging rustle of gay lib. So what if it’s a bit predictable and sags in the center. It’s mostly delightful. Simply for its opening ode to Walt Disney (?!) I would, and will, watch it again.

Snapped up by Music Box Films for U.S. distribution, Potiche was the opening night attraction at the recent Rendez-vous with French Cinema series, and opens theatrically today in New York City, the Los Angeles area and in Irvine, California. Throughout April it will continue its nationwide roll-out. Click here (then scroll down) to find a city and theater near you.

André Téchiné's GIRL ON THE TRAIN opens; Deneuve, Dequenne and Blanc shine

It's been ten months since TrustMovies first viewed André Téchiné's THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (the original review is here; click and scroll down), yet the film, as do most from this director, contin-
ues to haunt his thoughts.

Téchiné (shown just below) is a movie-maker who seldom spells things out:
not the theme nor the moral nor even sometimes the plot itself.

The latter is true this time around, as the key event happens late in the film, yet it packs such a wallop that, were it to occur in any other filmmaker's movie, it would set the entire tone as well as our view of title character.  That this does not happen here is due to the director and co-writer (with Odile Barksy and Jean-Marie Besset) having earlier pre-
sented such a rich and full view of the young woman of the title -- played well, as she does all her roles, by Émilie Dequenne (below) -- and of her world. Consequently, we viewers cannot perform the usual rush-to-judgment done by the media, politicians, even some of those people close to the girl and the event.

Téchiné gives us perspective -- plus the links we need to family, society, politics and the like. Dequenne's mother is played by the great actress Catherine Deneuve, who continues to find, with the help of some of France's best directors (Téchiné, Desplechin, Ozon) interesting and varied roles to play well into her senior years.

Deneuve is aided by actors like Michel Blanc, Mathieu Demy, Ronit Elkabetz, and especially Nicolas Duvauchelle (shown at right, who plays Dequenne's boy-
friend). They all help make Girl on the Train one of the more unusual -- and troubling about the way we live now -- foreign language films in some time.

Thanks to Strand Releasing, the movie opens Friday, January 22, in New York City at the IFC Center and at City Cinemas 1 2 3. A national rollout will follow, so you may get this one in or near your city.