 |
| The Stranger Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
The French Film Festival UK announced its line-up today at Edinburgh's French Institute, with a programme that will play at more than 40 venues across the UK between November 6 and December 14, including the Institute itself.
The 33rd edition of the event, includes 32 UK premieres and features big names alongsides classics and the chance to discover new Francophone voices. In addition to its regular commitments to animation and documentary, this year also features a focus on Quebec.
Among the established names at this year's festival is François Ozon, whose adaptation of Albert Camus' The Stranger is cool in every sense of the word. Shot in gorgeous black and white, the film follows Meursault (played with enigmatic magneticism by Benjamin Voisin), who surely became the template for the likes of Tom Ripley, although he is much more slippery and less sociopathic in tone, not least in his belief that one should always tell the truth.
 |
| Wild Foxes Photo: © Helicotronc |
Also celebrating the magnificence of monochrome is Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague, all the more remarkable because the American indie director doesn't speak French. An excercise in cinematic joie de vivre, it brings to life the freewheeling making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless and is highly likely to be the most fun you'll have in the cinema this year.
Another US name making her mark in France is Jodie Foster, who has no trouble adopting the accent for Rebecca Zlotowski's A Private Life, taking on the role of a shrink who turns sleuth with her ex-husband after becoming convinced one of her clients did not kill herself.
Other directorial big-hitters include Julia Ducournau, who follows up her Cannes winner Titane with her latest body horror Alpha, and festival regular Cédric Klapisch whose Colours Of Time might not follow facts to the letter as it takes a romp through French cultural history, but certainly delivers on crowd pleasing charm.
The programme runs wide and deep, with Sylvain Chomet's animation A Magnificent Life, about Marcel Pagnol, perfectly complements a section dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Pagnol's birth and includes classics Jean De Florette and Manon Of The Spring. A host of additional classics screen as a celebration of Gaumont films, including Fantomas: In The Shadow Of The Guillotine.
 |
| A Private Life Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
Festival director Richard Mowe said: "With this 33rd edition the true diversity of French-language cinema has never been as strong and as vibrant as in this year's selection. There is an 'embarras de richesses' - an overwhelming choice."
You can read our ongoing coverage here and, for more details on the films or to book tickets, visit the official site.
