2009 FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL
"Diversités et Différences"

NOTE: All films are subtitled in English, and will be shown in The Bytwerk Theater on the campus of Calvin College in the DeVos Communication Center. Free admission. For more information call (616) 526-6361. Sponsored by the Calvin French Department and the Calvin Film Forum with the support of a FACE Tournées grant.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azur et Asmar (Azur and Asmar)
by Michel Ocelot (2006)
Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Michel Ocelot, best known for 1998’s Kirikou and the Sorceress, has proven himself to be one of the most gifted fabulists working in film today; his animated stories, though made for children, easily appeal to adults as well. Combining cut-out and CGI animation, Ocelot’s fourth animated feature tells the story of two boys, the white, blue-eyed prince Azur, and the dark-skinned Asmar, both of whom are being raised by Asmar’s mother. Separated by Azur’s father, the boys meet up again several years later in an unidentified Arab country—where Azur’s blue eyes terrify the locals, leading him to feign blindness—in order to free a magical fairy. Deftly yet subtly addressing racism, intolerance, and superstition, Azur and Asmar also dazzles with its sheer beauty: Ocelot incorporates visual elements and techniques inspired by medieval illuminations and Arabic art, including mosaics and meticulously rendered architectural details. As a primer on cultural understanding, few animated films compare with Azur and Asmar, either in storytelling method or visual beauty. Not Rated. Running time: 90 min.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Le Fils de l'épicier (The Grocer's Son)
by Eric Guirado (2007)
Friday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

When his father has a sudden heart attack, it’s up to jaded and distant Antoine Sforza, a young man who has distanced himself from his roots, to take over the family business at the age of 30. Leaving behind his dead-end job as a waiter and his tiny apartment in Paris, he grudgingly moves home to Provence, in the south of France, to run a small mobile grocery store. His family’s food truck is integral to the daily shopping of the feisty elderly French neighbors who inhabit the local countryside and emerge from their homes to purchase his vegetables. Although Antoine is curt and surly with his customers (as well as with most of the people he meets), he succeeds in bringing to Provence his favorite aspect of Paris: his beautiful, confident neighbor, Claire, upon whom he harbors a secret crush. Antoine and Claire both move into his mother’s home, where Claire studies for an exam and Antoine slowly begins to get to know the community and himself a little bit better. This subtle, closely-observed film was directed and co-written by Eric Guirado, who has a sharp eye for detail and dialogue. Not Rated. Running time: 96 min.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain)
by Abdellatif Kechiche (2007)
Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m.

This stunning film takes place in the Southern French city of Sète where Slimane, the patriarch of a large and vivacious North African family, is an elderly dockworker. When his job of many years is suddenly no longer secure, he decides to restore an old boat in the harbor, and turn it into a floating couscous restaurant. It’s a wildly ambitious project, and the increasingly ailing Slimane will need the help of all of his family members in order to pull it off—from his ex-wife and their children, many who have families of their own, to his longtime lover and her quietly charismatic, determined daughter, Rym. But even if their conflicts can be patched together in time, will this immigrant family’s energy and verve be enough to overturn the will of the powerful white townspeople who hold the bureaucratic keys needed to make Slimane’s dream a reality? Writer and director Abdel Kechiche is a master at communicating the finest aspects of his colorful brood of characters. Vibrant cinematography and dynamic editing make this personal story all the more engrossing; each individual character is amazingly distinct, while their interpersonal dynamics are rendered with startling clarity and familiarity. Not Rated. Running time: 151 min.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've Loved You So Long)
by Philippe Claudel (2008)
Friday, Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m.

The women-in-prison film has a long, glorious and tawdry history; what’s more difficult to pull off is the story of a lady sprung from the slammer. In his helming debut, director-screenwriter Philippe Claudel, a novelist and professor of literature, crafts a solid woman’s picture that, as a wonderful star vehicle for Kristin Scott Thomas, suggests a kinship with Warner Bros. weepies from the 1940s. First seen rather conspicuously without makeup, her skin color resembling three-day-old institutional grub, Scott Thomas plays Juliette Fontaine, a former physician who’s just completed a 15-year jail sentence for murdering her young son (though the reason for her incarceration isn’t revealed until the final act). Her younger sister, literature professor Léa, takes her in, anxiously trying not to upend the snug comfort of her middle-class clan with this new addition. As she reacclimates to civilian life, Juliette slowly thaws, becoming closer with her nieces, but her calm is punctuated by believably spiky outbursts. Scott Thomas gives a remarkably deft performance, being careful not to outact Zylberstein, who particularly shines during a seminar discussion about Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Throughout, Claudel and his cast smartly reimagine melodramatic conventions, creating a film that fully earns its moments of emotional excess. PG-13. Running time: 117 min.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------All films are subtitled in English, and will be shown in The Bytwerk Theater on the campus of Calvin College in the DeVos Communication Center. Free admission. For more information call (616) 526-6361. Sponsored by the Calvin French Department and the Calvin Film Forum with the support of a FACE Tournées grant.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Past Films in the 2009 Festival

Entre les murs (The Class) – by Laurent Cantet (2008)
Friday, September 11, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

The winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes was Laurent Cantet’s unsparing, unsentimental film about a teacher and his students at a diverse Parisian junior high school. In an unusual example of art imitating life, the film was based on the best-selling book by real-life teacher François Bégaudeau, who also wrote the screenplay and stars in the movie as himself. Working with a cast of non-professional actors, Cantet filmed his “class” for over a year; the result is a hybrid documentary/narrative work that is wholly convincing. The Class is alive with spirited performances; viewers are also treated to a privileged perspective on discussions between teachers and parents, as well as among the teachers in their private meetings and amongst themselves. The Class raises deep, disturbing questions about the motives and prospects of its characters. As François attempts to teach the French language to his multi-ethnic students, many of whom hail from former colonized countries, he offers both the opportunity and the threat of modern cultural assimilation. No one is above reproach in this difficult and important new film, which is sure to spark spirited and thoughtful debate among viewers in post-film discussions. PG-13. Running time 128 min.