Cinema, Je t'aime

From Godard to gang violence, French cinema has been seducing international audiences for over a century. Now in its 17th season, the 2009 French Film Festival will treat British audiences to the finest France has to offer, with participating venues including Edinburgh Filmhouse, Glasgow Film Theatre and Dundee Contemporary Arts Cinema. From 8 November until 20 December, the programme showcases everything from award-winning films by emerging directors to celebrated classics. Festival Director Richard Mowe says: “What the festival has done over the years is to grow the audience for French film all year around – and now more titles from France are coming in to the distribution chain, a clear result of our work.”

Screening France’s newest exports, the preview section includes Cannes Grand Prix winner, A Prophet (Un Prophète) (Filmhouse 13 Nov, GFT 20 Nov). Jacques Audiard’s feature is a compelling portrait of life in prison for a naïve 19-year-old Arab, Malik, and his battle against the corrupt system to gradually build his own little empire. Martin Provost’s Séraphine (Filmhouse 20 Nov, GFT 21 Nov, DCA 22 Nov) stars César-winner Yolande Moreau as an eccentric housekeeper whose true talent as a bewilderingly creative outsider artist is revealed in this exquisitely shot biopic. Over in the Panorama selection is wartime satire Special Correspondents (Envoyés Très Spéciaux) (Filmhouse 23 Nov, GFT 1 Dec). When two war correspondents miss their flight to Baghdad, they decide to broadcast fake reports from a Parisian hideaway, with hilariously unfortunate results. Versailles (Filmhouse 17 Nov, DCA 20 Nov), a highlight of the Discovery programme which promotes emerging French talent, features the late Guillaume Depardieu as a drifter left to take care of an abandoned child. Deeply human, yet unsentimental, Versailles echoes Ken Loach’s most powerful work. Among the documentary offerings the stunning Tabarly (DCA 19 Nov, GFT 20 Nov, Filmhouse 21 Nov), depicts the life of record-breaking French sailor Jean Tabarly. Scored by Yann Tiersen (Amélie), the film will be introduced by its director Pierre Marcel in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Two fantastic retrospectives also honour masters of classic French cinema. The Totally Tati programme provides a rare chance to view the almost complete works of this comedy pioneer, including slapstick masterpiece Mr Hulot’s Holiday (Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot) (GFT 22 Nov, DCA 28 Nov, Filmhouse 29 Nov), restored to mint condition in this new print. Between 1947 and 1968 Tati wrote, directed and starred in four feature-length films, offering a playful alternative to the intellectual ponderings of his contemporaries, all of which are showing alongside his rarely seen shorts. Jean Eustache Rétro gives post-New Wave outsider Eustache a long-deserved reappraisal. His sprawling indictment of sexual freedom, The Mother and the Whore (La Maman et La Putain) (Filmhouse 21 Nov, GFT 23 Nov) is a visceral, unforgettable experience; equally fascinating are his uncompromising documentaries, showing the director’s unique view of the cruelties and beauty of everyday French life.

The variety of films offered by the 2009 French Film Festival undoubtedly gives proof, if ever it was needed, that the country in which cinema was born is still one of its finest producers.