Sophie Marceau in Anthony Zimmer.
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Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau, Gerard Depardieu ...the French
Film Festival has more big guns than Napoleon.
Globalisation is diluting the world's cultural differences.Hollywood, often cast as the big bad bully, retains a worryinglypervasive influence, so is French cinema still vital andunique?
Absolument, says French writer-director Anne Fontaine,whose pensive drama Entre Ses Mains (In His Hands) is inthis year's French Film Festival.
"Something that is special maybe is the way we take care ofhuman beings and examine the psychology of characters. It's notlike the American cinema where it's always very simple, where thereis only one colour or two. In France we're more able to show morecomplexity or ambiguity. It's more a cinema that can beambiguous.
"Also, what makes French cinema different is that there are somany French directors who are women. And, of course, thesedirectors have a way to tell the story, and to treatrelationships."
This is the second Fontaine film to be included in the festival.Two years ago, her thriller Nathalie, starring EmmanuelleBeart as a Parisian escort, opened it. As far as stereotypes ofFrench films go, Nathalie ticked several boxes: it wassexy, enigmatic, character-driven and co-starred GerardDepardieu.
Entre Ses Mains is a different beast altogether.There's no Depardieu.
Further, it's set not in Paris or Provence, but in Lille, anindustrial northern town that rarely features in French movies.But, yes, it too thrives on ambiguities and subtleties.
Entre Ses Mains is the contemplative story of Laurent,a troubled vet, and Claire, a repressed insurance agent. With aserial killer stalking Lille, Claire becomes strangely attracted tothis brooding oddball, despite the hurt any liaison might cause herhusband and daughter. The resulting drama is slow, unconventional,surprising and satisfying - a long way from Hollywood.
Chantal Girondin, the artistic director of the French FilmFestival for the past four years, is obviously a Fontaine fan.
"She's talented, and every time she does something different,"Girondin says. "She's got a way of seeing people, even inNathalie, that's very personal."
Since its inception in 1989, the festival has blossomed from aSydney event into a hit that last year sold 45,000 ticketsnationally. In Sydney, admissions rose from 14,000 in 2003 to19,400 in 2005.
The line-up for the 2006 festival is typically impressive. Theheadline act is Anthony Zimmer, a saucy thriller withSophie Marceau that opened the festival two days ago and will haveencore screenings tonight and next weekend.
The program includes: the Dardenne brothers' L'Enfant (TheChild), winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year;L'Enfer (Hell), starring Emmanuelle Beart and directed byOscar-winner Danis Tanovic (No Man's Land);Lemming, starring Charlotte Rampling and CharlotteGainsbourg; Francois Ozon's drama about mortality, Le Temps QuiReste (Time to Leave); and the sexy coming-of-age dramaDouches Froides (Cold Showers). There is also a session ofFrench shorts.
Depardieu appears, too, in two features: opposite MonicaBellucci in Bertrand Blier's comedy Combien Tu M'Aimes? (HowMuch Do You Love Me?) and in Je Prefere Qu'on Reste Amis(Just Friends), a touching comedy about an unlikely pair ofParisian pals who tackle the dating scene. In all, it's an eclecticline-up ranging from mainstream to arthouse, conventional tosurreal.
"This year in French cinema I was quite impressed by the numberof newcomers," Girondin says.
One of her favourites is writer-director Diane Bertrand'sL'Annulaire (The Ring Finger). Based on a Japanese noveland set on the industrial waterfront of Hamburg (again, not Parisor Provence), it's the story of the beautiful young Iris (Ukrainiannewcomer Olga Kurylenko). After an accident in a factory, she takesa job with a taciturn scientist (Marc Barbe) who, in a crumblingmansion, preserves customers' belongings into "specimens".
With haunting music from Portishead's Beth Gibbons heighteningthe sexual tension, it's beautiful, slow and odd, an allegoricaldrama that's likely to polarise audiences.
Fontaine discovered the lead actress.
"I did some tests with her for Nathalie and I introduced her tothe director, Diane Bertrand. She's really beautiful, like aUkrainian Brigitte Bardot."
Girondin says that in 2006, French cinema remains notable forits subtlety, depth and well-drawn characters. And its successesare largely because France values its film industry so highly.
"In France we make 200 films a year," she says. "We have asystem of taxation on cinema tickets that started after the SecondWorld War, in which about 10 per cent of the ticket admission priceis reinvested into production.
Even Hollywood films.
"In Australia, there is no such system, unfortunately. InFrance, cinema is considered an art - 'le septieme art'."
Unfortunately, says Fontaine, filmmaking in France is gettingtougher. As the level of government protection and assistance isbeing reduced, established directors are struggling to get theirprojects off the ground.
"I think it's more difficult to make films now than five yearsago," Fontaine says. "But when I see all the movies we do each yearI still think we have really strong production here, and verysophisticated movies.
I think we are not doing so bad."
Film Festival has more big guns than Napoleon.
Globalisation is diluting the world's cultural differences.Hollywood, often cast as the big bad bully, retains a worryinglypervasive influence, so is French cinema still vital andunique?
Absolument, says French writer-director Anne Fontaine,whose pensive drama Entre Ses Mains (In His Hands) is inthis year's French Film Festival.
"Something that is special maybe is the way we take care ofhuman beings and examine the psychology of characters. It's notlike the American cinema where it's always very simple, where thereis only one colour or two. In France we're more able to show morecomplexity or ambiguity. It's more a cinema that can beambiguous.
"Also, what makes French cinema different is that there are somany French directors who are women. And, of course, thesedirectors have a way to tell the story, and to treatrelationships."
This is the second Fontaine film to be included in the festival.Two years ago, her thriller Nathalie, starring EmmanuelleBeart as a Parisian escort, opened it. As far as stereotypes ofFrench films go, Nathalie ticked several boxes: it wassexy, enigmatic, character-driven and co-starred GerardDepardieu.
Entre Ses Mains is a different beast altogether.There's no Depardieu.
Further, it's set not in Paris or Provence, but in Lille, anindustrial northern town that rarely features in French movies.But, yes, it too thrives on ambiguities and subtleties.
Entre Ses Mains is the contemplative story of Laurent,a troubled vet, and Claire, a repressed insurance agent. With aserial killer stalking Lille, Claire becomes strangely attracted tothis brooding oddball, despite the hurt any liaison might cause herhusband and daughter. The resulting drama is slow, unconventional,surprising and satisfying - a long way from Hollywood.
Chantal Girondin, the artistic director of the French FilmFestival for the past four years, is obviously a Fontaine fan.
"She's talented, and every time she does something different,"Girondin says. "She's got a way of seeing people, even inNathalie, that's very personal."
Since its inception in 1989, the festival has blossomed from aSydney event into a hit that last year sold 45,000 ticketsnationally. In Sydney, admissions rose from 14,000 in 2003 to19,400 in 2005.
The line-up for the 2006 festival is typically impressive. Theheadline act is Anthony Zimmer, a saucy thriller withSophie Marceau that opened the festival two days ago and will haveencore screenings tonight and next weekend.
The program includes: the Dardenne brothers' L'Enfant (TheChild), winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year;L'Enfer (Hell), starring Emmanuelle Beart and directed byOscar-winner Danis Tanovic (No Man's Land);Lemming, starring Charlotte Rampling and CharlotteGainsbourg; Francois Ozon's drama about mortality, Le Temps QuiReste (Time to Leave); and the sexy coming-of-age dramaDouches Froides (Cold Showers). There is also a session ofFrench shorts.
Depardieu appears, too, in two features: opposite MonicaBellucci in Bertrand Blier's comedy Combien Tu M'Aimes? (HowMuch Do You Love Me?) and in Je Prefere Qu'on Reste Amis(Just Friends), a touching comedy about an unlikely pair ofParisian pals who tackle the dating scene. In all, it's an eclecticline-up ranging from mainstream to arthouse, conventional tosurreal.
"This year in French cinema I was quite impressed by the numberof newcomers," Girondin says.
One of her favourites is writer-director Diane Bertrand'sL'Annulaire (The Ring Finger). Based on a Japanese noveland set on the industrial waterfront of Hamburg (again, not Parisor Provence), it's the story of the beautiful young Iris (Ukrainiannewcomer Olga Kurylenko). After an accident in a factory, she takesa job with a taciturn scientist (Marc Barbe) who, in a crumblingmansion, preserves customers' belongings into "specimens".
With haunting music from Portishead's Beth Gibbons heighteningthe sexual tension, it's beautiful, slow and odd, an allegoricaldrama that's likely to polarise audiences.
Fontaine discovered the lead actress.
"I did some tests with her for Nathalie and I introduced her tothe director, Diane Bertrand. She's really beautiful, like aUkrainian Brigitte Bardot."
Girondin says that in 2006, French cinema remains notable forits subtlety, depth and well-drawn characters. And its successesare largely because France values its film industry so highly.
"In France we make 200 films a year," she says. "We have asystem of taxation on cinema tickets that started after the SecondWorld War, in which about 10 per cent of the ticket admission priceis reinvested into production.
Even Hollywood films.
"In Australia, there is no such system, unfortunately. InFrance, cinema is considered an art - 'le septieme art'."
Unfortunately, says Fontaine, filmmaking in France is gettingtougher. As the level of government protection and assistance isbeing reduced, established directors are struggling to get theirprojects off the ground.
"I think it's more difficult to make films now than five yearsago," Fontaine says. "But when I see all the movies we do each yearI still think we have really strong production here, and verysophisticated movies.
I think we are not doing so bad."
