Tourneés
2009 French Film Festival Featured Films
La Faute à Fidel (Blame it on Fidel)
Monday 19 January 2009 7:00pm & 9:15 pm
Directed by Julie Garvas, 1999
Anna is a nine-year old precocious girl. Her life is rather
simple and comfortable, regulated by habits and order. Her
family is wealthy, she goes to a private religious school
and often visits her grandparents who have a wine estate
in Bordeaux. One day, her father's sister is forced to leave
Spain - her husband has just been killed by Franco's police
force. This event is experienced as an electroshock by Anna's
parents and they change their political views radically.
Both become left-wing revolutionaries and Anna's stable life
goes awry. Women's rights, freedom of speech, democracy and
demonstration are now at the forefront of Anna's parents
lives. At first, Anna is not interested in any of it. She
strives to hold on to the comfort she is used to and she
is very unhappy when the family moves to a smaller apartment.
She also has to adapt to her parents' new lifestyle as they
have less time to take care of her. Yet, she also tries to
make sense of the larger political events that shake her
life and she does not settle for the simplistic answers that
adults give children. Opening reception sponsored by Alliance
Française, 8:30 pm.
Read More at the
Internet Movie Database
Elle s’appelle Sabine (Her Name is Sabine)
Tuesday 20 Jan. 2009 7:00 pm & 9:00 pm
Directed by Sandrine Bonnaire, 2008
An intelligent, moving and beautiful portrait of Sabine, a
38-year-old autistic woman, filmed by her closest sister, French
actress Sandrine Bonnaire. The film tells her story through
personal footage filmed by the actress over a period of 25
years, and her life today. A terrible gap exists between her
as a teenager, an endearing and artistic young woman, and her
today. What happened? After the departure of her brother and
sisters, Sabine felt isolated and she became extremely panicky
and violent. Her mother, who was taking care of her, was not
able to cope with Sabine's outbursts and sent her to a psychiatric
hospital. A tragic five-year stay there crushed her intellectual
growth and many talents. Today, because of her sister's fame,
Sabine has the privilege of living in better conditions, even
if her mental capacities remain altered. She lives in a home
in the Charente region with other young people who have similar
mental and emotional illnesses. This very intimate film exposes
an inadequate care structure, the penury of specialized institutions
and the dramatic consequences they can lead to. It sends an
urgent message to a society that still does not know how to
properly take care of its citizens with physical and psychological
disabilities.
Read More
at the Internet Movie Database
La Question humaine (Heart Beat Detector)
Monday January 26 7:00 pm & 9:40 pm
Directed by Nicolas Klotz, 2007
Simon is a psychologist in charge of human resources within
a German multinational, SC Farb. He deals with hiring new employees
but also with lay-offs, a task he conducts with rationality
and efficiency. When managing director Karl Rose asks him to
look into, and draw up the psychological portrait of, the company's
general manager, Mathias Jüst, Simon gradually uncovers
the dark history of the company. His investigation will lead
to the discovery of SC Farb's shady conduct during World War
II and the involvement of its key figures in the Holocaust.
Simon, a rational individual with feet firmly planted on the
ground, will soon be overwhelmed by what he learns. The past
that he digs up, along with the discovery that he is being
manipulated, will have a deep impact on him, physically and
emotionally. He starts making connections between his role
in the company - laying off employees who are no longer useful
to the company, and the Holocaust, and he asks himself many
questions: is he today's equivalent of a fascist? Who are the
people he is 'discarding' in the name of business efficiency
and profit? With Heartbeat Detector, Nicolas Klotz brings to
the fore chilling questions about today's society and the structures
of modern big business. (A Thriller)
Read More
at the Internet Movie Database
2 Days in Paris
Monday February 2. 7:00 pm & 9:00 pm
Directed by Julie Delpy, 2007
Jack is a sharp, neurotic New York interior designer; his girlfriend
Marion is a smart, sometimes cagey, French photographer. They've
been together in New York for two years and are about to spend
two days in Paris. The trip puts their relationship to the
ultimate test. Marion and Jack uncover more cracks in their
compatibility as they travel around town. He is shocked by
her erratic temper, evidenced by outbursts at a racist Parisian
taxi driver, at ex-boyfriends, or anyone else who rubs her
the wrong way. As he meets one overly-friendly male acquaintance
after another, Jack is consumed by jealousy and wonders what
Marion has kept from him about her romantic past. The snowballing
mystery in Jack's mind threatens to end their relationship
in utter disaster. As a writer-director-producer-editor-composer-star,
Delpy deftly handles her multiple responsibilities, weaving
brilliant humor with a myriad of intellectual, political and
psychological musings. Whether considering Jack and Marion's
relationship, or the world at large, she takes the stereotypical
French versus American debates further and deeper, playing
on both truth and the often total absurdity of this complex
relationship.
Read More
at the Internet Movie Database
Ne Touchez pas la hâche (Duchess of Langeais)
Tuesday February 3. 7:00 pm & 9:30 pm
Directed by Jacques Rivette, 2007
The story takes place during
the Restoration, a period when the dominant values are hypocrisy,
social niceties and appearances. Antoinette de Navarreins,
a Parisian coquette and wife of Duke de Langeais, is a product
of her society. At a ball, she meets General Armand de Montriveau
who seems to be her exact opposite. He has just returned from
Africa and has little interest in Parisian society. On their
first encounter, the Duchess and the General fall hopelessly
in love with each other. For months, they meet every evening
from eight to ten, as social etiquette requires. But Montriveau,
a free spirit, wants to love the Duchess in broad daylight.
Afraid of her feelings and bound to the rules of society, she
rejects him. Convinced that the duchess is playing games, Montriveau
decides to ignore his beloved. Desperate, she tries to reach
out to him, endangering her reputation and status. When her
last attempt fails, she disappears. Five years later, Montriveau
arrives on a Spanish island. He has been searching for Antoinette
in all the convents of Europe and America. In the monastery
on the island he finally finds her. But it is too late for
a material/physical love, and their story will remain as Montriveau
murmurs “a book read during childhood, a poem”.
Read More
at the Internet Movie Database
Contact person: Sylvie Blum-Reid 392-2016 ext. 248 sylblum@ufl.edu, 352-392-2016 x248