Rendez-vous closes with the Foenkinos' DELICACY, opening theatrically next week

The French, bless 'em, have always been best at love stories. Love, after all, is their genre, and it seems, as well, to be their game. As good as the French can be at many other types of films, I don't know that any other country's love stories surpass theirs. Maybe you'll find an odd one from elsewhere now and then that does it. But before you know it, they have sent over yet another strong love story -- comedic, dramatic, quirky, hallucinatory, philosophic and sometimes an odd mash-up. All this is in preparation for telling you that they've just sent us yet another one named DELICACY (La délicatesse) that closes this year's Rendez-vous With French Cinema tomorrow evening and then opens theatrically a mere few days later. Whatever your final judgment on this movie, you will not want to miss it, for it is, I believe, among the most original love stories ever made.

The product, first, of a novel by a widely-praised and internationally-published French author David Foenkinos (above, right) and now brought to the screen by that author and his brother Stéphane Foenkinos (above, left, and a well-known French casting director), the film is the first full-length movie from both of them. It is too unusual, too special, too good, for all tastes, but for mine, it's a strike. And I mean bowling, not baseball (or unions).

As filmmakers, the brothers know how to reel us in with charm and style. The beginning of the movie is simply delightful. As it deepens and expands, the style remains appropriate. Speaking of casting, the brothers have chosen an actress who is indisputably the queen of French romance (these days doubling as the face of Chanel No. 5, after playing Coco in one of the two movies about the designer): Audrey Tautou (above).

The other half of the equation is brought to (somewhat bizarre but absolutely right) life by the French comedian François Damiens, below, who Americans will have seen as the star of The Wolberg Family (if they were lucky and frequented one of the festivals at which it was shown) or the more mainstream Heartbreaker, the Dujardin vehicle OSS 117: Cario, Nest of Spies, and the slightly uncategorizable van Damme "rebirth," JCVD. M. Damiens is a funnyman, visually and physically about as far from a romantic leading man as could be found, but he is also, as The Wolberg Family proves, a disciplined, intuitive and remarkably versatile actor.

The story told by the two brothers is one of true love (above), found and kept completely and beautifully -- until life intrudes. Natalie's (the character played by Tautou) first love is essayed by an actor named Pio Marmaï (foreground, left, whom you may have seen as last years Rendez-vous in Living On Love Alone), a looker who can match his gorgeous visage with a good performance.

To take Natalie from Marmaï to Damiens, and to make this work in every way, would seem no small task. This involves subver-ting audience expec-tations regarding physical appearance, bringing into play the thoughts and feelings of Natalie's friends and co-workers (of which Markus, the character played by Damiens, is one), and even finally involving Natalie's smart, sexy, slightly sleazy boss (a nice turn by Bruno Todeschini, below, left). The entire cast, very well-chosen, delivers the goods. M. Damiens continues to impress and surprise, and Miss Tautou offers a wonderful picture of a smart, autonomous woman, doing her best to cope and then to grow. She's as lovely as ever, but keeps that "gamine charm" to a minimum; consequently, this is one of her finest performances to date.

The movie, just as do the lead characters, hesitates, contemplates, then bounds ahead--sometimes blithely, sometimes crazily. There's one hell of a "kiss" mid-way along that for some may be a deal-breaker. Don't let it, for it is just this sudden, off-the-wall behavior that can set the stage for serious things to come. Delicacy implicitly asks us, What is love? -- a question that has come up often enough in movies. The Foenkinos offer us a genuinely new and complicated view of the answer. For this, we should be very grateful.

The movie, with a running time of 108 minutes, plays at the Walter Reade tomorrow evening, Saturday, March 10, at 6 and 9pm. Both Rendez-vous screenings are sold out, but as I mentioned earlier, it will open theatrically in New York, via Cohen Media Group, this coming Wednesday, March 14, at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and Landmark's Sunshine Cinema.  To see further cities and theaters, click here and then click on Delicacy and then on Theaters and Playdates (right now the Cohen web site has nothing posted, but it assure us that, eventually, information will appear).

Rendez-vous: Daniel Auteuil's directing debut THE WELL DIGGER'S DAUGHTER

Joining the ranks of the must-sees at this year's Rendez-vous comes the film that is the directing debut of one of France's finest actors, Daniel Auteuil. I was certain that, after acting in nearly 100 roles in films, TV movies and mini-series, Auteuil had by now directed a movie or two. But no: According to the IMDB, this is his first. The fellow has clearly been learning on the job, however, for THE WELL DIGGER'S DAUGHTER is about as close to old-fashioned perfection as movies get. And I mean this as a huge compliment. There are only two screenings during Rendez-vous, but don't worry if you can't procure a seat: Kino Lorber has wisely picked up the film for U.S. distribution, so there'll be plenty of opportunity down the road. In fact, the distributor has asked that reviews be held until the film's theatrical release. And so, in the spirit of Jafar Panahi, this is not a review. Just a few fumbled words of praise for a movie that so beautifully captures a particular time, place and spirit.

The Well Digger's Daughter is a remake of the much-loved Marcel Pagnol film from 1940, and writer/director Pagnol was a master of his genre -- the well-told tale of family, class, love, loss, and reunion. (In fact, he had done it all earlier with his famous Fanny trilogy from the 1930s.) Auteuil has honored the source material completely, I believe, and yet has made a movie for today. And maybe forever. If I had to choose a film for immediate-classic status -- becoming a hit now yet standing the test of time -- I'd bet on this one.

Auteuil (above, left) has rounded up a first-class cast and directed them (with himself in the well-digger role) and the story (he also did the scenario and adaptation) with an eye to... well, just about everything a director needs to consider: photography, pacing, style, performance. What an impressive achievement this film is! That cast includes the extremely versatile young actor Nicolas Duvauchelle (below, left, of White Material, The Girl on the Train and many more), Kad Merad, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Sabine Azéma. In the role of the titular daughter he has cast a young actress, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (at right both below and above) of such elegant and graceful beauty that she will take your breath away.

Enough! I'll have plenty more to say when the film opens theatrically--and soon, I hope. For now it plays Rendez-vous Thursday, March 8, at 8pm at the IFC Center and Sunday, March 11 at 3:45pm at the Walter Reade. Jean-Pierre Darroussin will appear in person at both screenings.

At Rendez-vous: Téchiné's masterwork? UNFORGIVEABLE comes pretty damn close

One of the reasons this year's Rendez-vous With French Cinema seems so special is that several world-class filmmakers are represented by movies that show them working at, or close to, the top of their form: Lucas Belvaux with 38 Witnesses, Benoît Jacquot with Farewell, My Queen, Robert Guédiguian with The Snows of Kilmanjaro -- and now André Téchiné's UNFORGIVEABLE (Impardonnables) joins this group. Téchiné and Guédiguian are similar in how their movies often span a wide canvas of characters, though the former is never nearly so overtly political as the later. This does not mean that Techine is not political, but he always arrives there via different routes than other filmmakers. His new film is so utterly fascinating, so perfectly cast, and so full of humor, surprise, sadness and mystery (the mystery of character) that, moment to moment, I believe it may be his very best. It also may be his most accessible for a relatively mainstream audience.

Unforgiveable gives the classic beauty and fine French actress Carole Bouquet her best role in years as an ex-model who now deals in real estate in Venice, Italy, and early on in the film becomes involved with a writer of Gothic mysteries, played by another grand old Frenchman André Dussollier (below, left), who has come to Venice to find a way around his current writer's block.

Into the mix are introduced that remarkable Italian actress Adriana Asti (above, right), whose relationship with Bouquet goes way back; her son, played by Mauro Conte (below, right, with dog*), a very troubled youth; Dussolier's daughter, Mélanie Thierry, and the impoverished-but-sexy Italian royalty, Andrea Pergolesi, she becomes involved with.

There are more, but these half-dozen characters are enough to set the game in motion, allowing the filmmaker (he co-adapted the scenario from the novel by Philippe Djian) to explore again, and so very well, our needs and desires, and why we betray others, even as we inevitably inflict the worst damage upon ourselves.

In a way, the movie is slice-of-life, Téchiné-style, in that it cuts a wide swatch and burrows deep. A number of unforgiveable things are done along the way, the biggest, perhaps, by the character played by Dussolier. And yet, I suspect that this filmmaker would tell us -- hell, he's shown us -- that very nearly nothing is unforgive-able. Not when we fully understand where it comes from. And Téchiné, maybe more than any other movie-maker I can think of, is always in there, probing, questioning, making sure that we do.

Unforgiveable screens only twice at Rendez-vous -- Wednesday, March 7, at 6:30pm at IFC Center and Friday, March 9, at 8:45pm at the Walter Reade.  But Téchiné's oft-U.S.-distributor Strand Releasing, has picked this one up, so we will be seeing it again -- and soon I hope.  Oh, yes: Carole Bouquet will be making a personal appearance at both screenings!

*That dog is amazing -- much better than the little guy in The Artist (same breed, too, if I am not mistaken).  But this one is so incredibly lively and funny, plus he has a scene that will nearly destroy you. He's a don't-miss, all on his own.

Rendez-vous must-see: THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO from Robert Guédiguian

It's not Hemingway. No, it's better than that. The great strength of writer/director Robert Guédiguian is how he tells his stories from so many points of view, not in some stylish, what-is-truth? Rashomon manner, but intuitively, organically, from the inside out and so that we come to see how the people involved on all sides of a given situation understand that situation and will gain or lose from it. With THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, the filmmaker has outdone himself. (I can't think of a better film from him, in a raft of very good ones.)  Snows takes a layoff of workers in a shipyard as a starting point for exploring responsibility -- to oneself, one's family, friends, co-workers and even beyond.

The events that spin outward from this layoff (above) are both expected and not, and how the pivotal, negative and lawless post-event changes everything -- but not just for the worse -- turns the film into one of the richest, most intelligent and moving experiences in all of this year's Rendez-vous. Guédiguian is a political filmmaker, and a left-leaning one, I believe. But he never shies from showing us the other side -- not the right-wing one -- but the side that takes our beloved shiboleths and turns them inside out, forcing us to struggle with right and wrong from new angles. Yet the filmmaker is also a supreme humanist who never allows a principle to trump a person. That's what makes his work such a joy: the people are deep and real, and the life around them is, too.

In Snows, that life is lived by husband & wife Michael & Marie-Claire -- the "greats" Jean-Pierre Darroussin (above, left) and Ariane Ascaride (above, right) -- oft-used by this filmmaker. We get to know them, their best friends, and their children (in all, including the elderly woman taken care of by Marie-Claire, we see four generations here). We also come to know one of those laid-off workers, Christophe -- played by one of France's fine, up-and-coming new stars Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (below, center, of Love Songs: click and scroll down) and The Princess of Montpensier). How these people connect and what happens subsequently is the stuff of great storytelling.

Along the way, we meet everyone from a delightful waiter with an eye for Marie-Claire (the terrific Pierre Niney of this Rendez-vous' 18 Years Old and Rising) to Christophe's mom (played exceedingly well and nastily by Karole Rocher, who was also the mom in this year's Last Screening and the recently released Polisse: she's cornering the market on bad moms!). Ms Rocher has a scene with Ms Ascaride that had me so angry I wanted to slap her face and shout, "Then have your tubes tied, bitch!"  (Really, this is so unlike me.) But it's a stunner of a scene that, again, allows you to see things -- appallingly irresponsible as they are -- from the viewpoint of this exceedingly selfish woman who has managed to connect herself to some even worse men.

By the time The Snows of Kilmanjaro concludes, you'll have lived through a lot and come out of it with greater understanding of how our lives are shaped by so many opposing forces. It's a wise movie, and Guédiguian's a wise movie-maker.  Don't miss this one -- which as yet, shockingly, has no U.S. distributor. It will screen Tuesday, March 6, at 7:45pm at IFC Center, and at the Walter Reade on Thursday, March 8 at 1:30pm and on Saturday, March 10, at 9pm. Note: Jean-Pierre Darroussin will appear in person at the March 6 and March 10 screenings.

At Rendez-vous: 18 YEARS OLD AND RISING from Fred Louf, and LOW LIFE from Nicolas Klotz and Elizabeth Perceval

There's a whopper of a scene in Rendezvous With French Cinema's must-see The Snows of Kilimanjaro (to be reviewed here soon) in which a young bartender flirts with and coaxes an older woman to have a drink by guessing her condition and state-of-mind and then finding just the right liquor for that moment. It's a delicious bit, the likes of which you'll not have witnessed, and one of your responses will probably be: Who the hell is that kid?! That "kid" is Comédie Française actor Pierre Niney, and he's indeed a find. Which is no doubt why co-writer and director of 18 YEARS OLD AND RISING (J'aime regardez les filles), Fred Louf, cast him as the lead in his very charming little coming-of-age/first-love movie and then let him run with it. M Niney crosses the finish line with speed and style.

First love and coming-of-age are certainly two of the most-used genres in cinema, and M. Louf combines them very smartly by making his lead character, Primo (M. Niney, above and below), an outsider in many ways but one who is utterly determined to get in. Though he lies and cheats, we know why and what he wants, and so we suspend judgment, hoping that he'll begin to understand things and grow up a bit. Primo gets involved with a group of upper class kids, in particular two attractive young ladies and one surly, snarky lad. As his lying mounts, he buries himself deeper and deeper until, at the finale, he gets involved in a high-end wine-tasting for which he risks all.

Politics and class rear their heads along the way (there's a political election afoot that will put Mitterand on the map, and Primo will be voting for the first time), but nothing tops the thrill of first love for our hero -- even if he is clearly fixated on the wrong girl. The young cast is most attractive -- talented, too -- as are the actors who portray Primo's fond-but-annoyed family. Louf's light touch makes everything, from beatings to beratings, all part of the game for our sweet and goofily memorable young man. 18 Years old and Rising screens Monday, March 5, at 6pm at the IFC Center and again Saturday, March 10, at 3:45 at the Walter Reade. The filmmaker will make a personal appearance only at the latter venue.

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TrustMovies has only seen two films from the director Nicolas Klotz and writer Elizabeth Perceval, but both are unusual enough to have found a place in his movie memory book: Heartbeat Detector (click and scroll down) from 2007 and now LOW LIFE. Both films tackle their subject matter -- the Holocaust and corporate power in the former, illegal immigrants in the latter -- from a variety of angles and themes, with the poetic chief among these. From the opening moment of Low Life, as we hear words spoken almost as though they are poetry and then learn that they are coming from the mouth of a young actress memorizing her lines, we're in territory both real and surreal.

Soon we're at a protest (for the immigrants and against the police) where odd things happen -- the oddest being a policemen rescued then aided and cared for by the protesters. We meet the immigrants and the young people, mostly students, who are helping them, while falling in and out of love with each other and with their wards. The movie is a tumble of conversations and events -- poetic, dramatic, political, philosophical, even magical -- as cursed, burnt immigration forms keep resulting in the death of everyone from a policeman to a woman who happens to be eating in a restaurant next to our would-be hero. Does she deserve to die? Don't we all, the movie seems to suggest, because none of us have done enough for the cause of justice.

The film is dark, dismal, cold and full of threats and spells, and yet it is also langorous -- a sleepy movie, slow-paced, sexual, with a quietly charismatic lead actor (newcomer Narash Naimian, above, left) who might also win the bizarre ear contest, and a leading actress Camille Rutherford (above, right, and at top with camera) who exhibits just the right amount of perspicacity tempered with hesitation.  Low Life will screen tonight at the Walter Reade at 8:30pm, tomorrow, March 5, at IFC Center at 10:05pm and Wednesday, March 7, at 2pm, again at the Walter Reade.  Nicolas Klotz will appear in person only at tonight's Walter Reade screening.

Rendez-vous: the Mathieus (Amalric and Demy) offer THE SCREEN ILLUSION (Corneille!) and AMERICANO (corny)

Are you versed in Corneille? Me neither. We probably know a lot of Molière (and a little Marivaux) but this classic French writer most likely escapes us less French-literate Americans. (I thought he wrote Phèdre; turns out I'm mixing him up with Racine.) Never mind. If you see the zesty new film from Mathieu Amalric -- THE SCREEN ILLUSION, based on Corneille's L'Illusion comique -- you will at least have a good taste of the guy and his work. That is because Amalric, best-known as an actor (he has 77 titles to his credit since 1985), has kept much of Corneille's dialog intact (it was written in 1636). That dialog has then been translated into some excellent English subtitles. Otherwise, the filmmaker (this is his fifth full-length film since 1997) sets his tale in present-day France, using everything from the current "high technology" of computer surveillance to hot, after-hours clubs and chic hotels.

The tale tells of a father, estranged from his son, who hires a third party to trace the young man (quite a performance from Comédie-Française actor Loïc Corbery, above, as the son) and report on his doings. Those doings appear alternately dastardly and delightful, but then, there are surprises aplenty in store. Hearing this 17th Century dialog set against up-to-the-minute visuals takes only a few lines to get used to, and Amalric keeps things zipping along in fine style, while his cast -- including the always interesting Denis Podalydès as a delusional nutcase -- is first-rate. How Amalric takes the original story and dialog, mashes them it into today's sullied life-style and makes them work, via choice after choice that resound remarkably well, is something to see. I am sure he must have cut down the original source by, what, half or more? And his movie -- made for French TV (can you, in your wildest dreams, imagine something like this on American TV?) -- lasts only 77 minutes. But it's time well-spent: equally enjoyable and educational. More, please. The Screen Illusion screens Sunday, March 4, at 6:15 pm at the Walter Reade; Sunday, March 4, at 9pm at BAM; Monday, March 5, at 8 pm at IFC Center and Tuesday, March 6, at 4pm, again at the Walter Reade. M. Amalric will appear in person at the first three of the four screenings.

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What happens to French filmmakers when they come to Southern California (and then, god help them, head for Mexico)? I ask because I have noted some very good movie-makers like Jacques Demy (with his Model Shop), Erick Zonca (with Julia) and now Demy's own son, Mathieu Demy, fall prey to --what is it? -- the come-to-LA-LA-land-and-lose-your-marbles syndrome. Then move on to Mexico and go completely bonkers (Demy père managed to stay in L.A., as I recall). Truth to tell, this is Demy fils' first full-length film as writer and director, and I am more familiar with this fellow via his often excellent acting. Most recently he's been seen here as the dad in the fine movie Tomboy and on VOD in the very interes-ting, student-as-prostitute tale Student Services (Mes chères études). So, what to make of his film-making debut? Whew. Of the 17 films I'm seen so far, AMERICANO is the stinker of the bunch.

The movie begins with Mr. Demy's character cuming (yes, he's having sex) and it ends with him on the phone to his girlfriend (the highly wasted Chiara Mastroianni, and I mean the role, not the actress) telling her, "I'm coming" (meaning he's returning to France). I don't know that the joke is intentional, but I would dearly like to think so, for it is just about the the only amusement the movie provides. Otherwise, this tale of a repressed man named Martin (played by the consistently sad-eyed Demy, above, right, and below, right), who comes to L.A. to pack up his recently deceased but long estranged mother's belongings, is a bogus, pretentious fiasco. After spending a few minutes with Martin, I found the man so ridiculous, so willfully stupid that I just wanted to slap him silly. This seems to be the feeling of many of the other characters in the film, too. In fact, Martin gets slapped, beaten and knocked about so much (and so deliberately on his character's part) that you begin to wonder if Demy isn't going after the torture-me-some-more mantle of Mel Gibson.

Also involved in this mess are good actors like Salma Hayek (above, left: a mystery girl who turns sentimental and has a surprise connection to another character we've seen), Geraldine Chaplin (a one-note cliche who, at least, gets to slap Demy) and Carlos Bardem (two photos up, at left, as the Hayek character's pimp/protector, who really gives Martin a pummeling -- or ten). None of these actors can begin to latch on to anything approaching a real character, thanks to the pre-determined whims of the very poor screenplay (Demy again). I don't know what to think. The wisest, kindest thing might be to proclaim happiness that the filmmaker has now gotten Americano out of his system and can move on to, well, just about anything else. The movie screened yesterday at the Walter Reade and will show again today, March 4, at 6:45 at IFC Center and again Tuesday, March 6, at 7:30 at BAM.  M. Demy will be making a personal appearance at all screenings. And if you miss at at Rendez-vous, his movie has been picked up for U.S. distribution by MPI Media Group.

Rendez-vous: Benoît Jacquot's FAREWELL, MY QUEEN and the Coulin sisters' 17 GIRLS

Rendezvous With French Cinema's near-regular Benoît Jacquot is back this year with one of his most accessible and, I suspect, mainstream art-house movies, FAREWELL, MY QUEEN (Les adieux à la reine), dealing with the intrigues both upstairs and downstairs during the final days at the court of Louis XVI. Initially, the film may bring to mind a French-ified and much earlier version of Downton Abbey. You needn't worry: the movie soon has the Jacquot stamp all over it: the skewed view; the interest in things farther afield from those of the standard historical costume drama; the filmmaker's interest in women and what they need, feel and think; and a very modern sensibility brought to bear upon the past. The latter two points, I think, are much at work here, and when Jacquot has a theme as fraught as this one -- royalty, coming to terms with the change that is afoot and understanding that its end may be near -- the tension created provides a thrust to this film that was almost entirely missing from Jacquot's earlier period-piece Adolphe.

The film concentrates on three women: Marie Antoinette (given a wonderfully rich and nuanced portrayal by the fine Diane Kruger, above); her favored lady-in-waiting (another knockout performance from Lea Seydoux (below, from Midnight in Paris and Mysteries of Lisbon), and an especially interesting, if brief, one from Virginie Ledoyen (further below, in green), as the Queen's lover, who seems to have taken her pleasure with many of the men and women, high and low, around the court.

How our ladies deport themselves and use each other is fascinating, sad and real, and what we learn from this film, for all its skewed view, is so much more than we got from Sofia Coppola's attempt at depicting French royalty. (Benoît's view is much more entertaining, too.) There are also wonderful performances from a supporting cast that includes actors/directors Noémie Lvovsky and Xavier Beauvois, plus Lolita Chammah and the upcoming, gorgeous heart-throb Vladimir Consigny, as a faux Venetian gondolier whose pole is in much demand. The finale -- suspenseful, surprising, ironic and wicked -- is a wonder to behold in a number of ways. Bravo, Jacquot!

The film screens again tonight, March 3, at IFC Center at 7pm and tomorrow, March 4, at 6pm at BAM.  M. Jacquot will be present at both screenings. If you don't make these two screenings, take heart: The film has been picked up for U.S. distribution by Cohen Media Group.

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Taken from an event that happened in France a few years back, when a number of high-school girls decided to get pregnant and have their babies without any help or interest -- besides the original insemination -- from their fellows, 17 GIRLS (17 filles) proves a surprisingly smart, thoughtful and believable movie. These young ladies seem quite real and no more or less intelligent than French girls of this time and place might be. The filmmaking duo -- sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin -- have created a movie that's alternately funny, sweet, sad, and a little depressing, though not particularly deep. Nor can it be, given that its heroines are relatively clueless youngsters who think they know what's going on and what's ahead of them, but then realize too late that they've bitten off more than they can chew -- at their present age, at least.

What especially makes the Coulins' movie -- their first attempt at full-length writing and directing -- worthwhile (other than its array of very good and very specific performances from the girls) is its take on how this rather bizarre situation is looked upon by society at large: from parents and friends to the school's teachers and administration. In general, French society, as shown, seems more enlightened than you might expect. 17 Girls screens tonight, March 3, at 9:30pm at IFC Center and tomorrow, March 4, at 1pm at the Walter Reade. This film, too, has been picked up for U.S. distribution by Strand Releasing.

Rendez-vous: Jean-Francois Laguionie's animated gem, THE PAINTING

At first, the must-see piece of French animation THE PAINTING, from co-writer/director Jean-François Laguionie, seems like a terrific parable about racism, classism, prejudice and justice. In a painting which its artist has left unfinished, the characters -- those who are completely drawn and colored, those half-drawn and others barely sketched -- break into severely formed classes, with one ruling the other two. When a "finished" Romeo falls in love with an "unfinished" Juliet, all hell break loose. But then, ah, the movie goes after so much larger game and becomes its own creation myth.

The animation is old fashioned and at all times graceful and lovely, the story is exciting but sweet (kids should love it, particularly those with a budding interest in art), but adults will find it almost shockingly relevant in its themes and content: Who are we, where do we come from, who's really in charge and why? It's a brilliant concept that M. Leguionie and his crew have brought to witty, charming, even profound life. And, ah, the colors! This one is a don't miss -- and not only for lovers of animation. It screens today, March 3, at 1:15 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and Sunday, March 4, at 11 am at the IFC Center.