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This week's film highlights include...

LES DEUX ANGLAISES ET LE CONTINENT   

 
Director: François Truffaut
TX Times: Wed 22nd Apr (11.00pm)
Year: 1971 – Length: 132mins – Cert.15
Genre: Drama
English title: Anne and Muriel
Truffaut teams up with Jean-Pierre Léaud for the first time outside the Doinel series in this second adaptation of a Henri-Pierre Roché novel. As in the first adaptation, Jules et Jim, the director explores one of his favourite themes: the love triangle. However, in this case it is a man who finds himself caught between the attentions of two women. Set in the early 1900s, a Frenchman, Claude, strikes up a friendship with two English sisters, Anne and Muriel. The intensity of unspoken passion imbues the film with an emotional force characteristic of the Bronté sisters.

MY SON   

Director: Martial Fougeron
TX Time: Fri 24th Apr (9.00pm), Sat 25th Apr (11.00pm)
Year: 2007 – Length: 90mins – Cert.15
Genre: Thriller
French title: Mon Fils à moi
Martial Fougeron’s first feature is a powerful family drama with a disarming effect. In a little provincial town, Nathalie Baye plays a mother presiding over a family of four. Her husband, a university professor, is consumed by his work and once her daughter (Suzanne) leaves home for university, the majority of her time is spent on her adolescent son, Julien. However, as he is reaching a formative age, when external interests start to gain more importance, changes start to manifest in their relationship. The mother does not take well to these and an unstoppable jealously begins to put a heavy and untenable strain upon their relationship. Fougeron’s deceptively simple story is an accomplished work which demonstrates great insight and serves up ample suspense. His mannered mise-en-scène and meticulous observation draws out the tension that pervades this explosive familial situation. The actors rise to the challenge of the highly-charged, dramatic script and the central pair of Nathalie Baye and Victor Sévaux (Julien) play out the oedipal confrontation with conviction. In addition, they are ably supported by Dardenne’s regular Olivier Gourmet (The Son) and the enigmatic Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima mon amour).

BURNT OUT   

Director: Fabienne Godet
TX Times: Fri 24th Apr (11.00pm), Sat 25th Apr (9.00pm)
Year: 2006 – Length: 90mins – Cert.15
Genre: Thriller
French title: Sauf le respect que je vous dois

François, an everyday family man, is feeling the pressure at work as his boss, Monsieur Bruner, demands better results. He is not being singled out however, as his best friend Simon is publicly reprimanded by Bruner for his performance and eventually fired. This sparks a chain of serious events that will jolt François out of his comfortable existence and lead to him to question the principles behind it. A former psycho-sociologist, Fabienne Godot delivers a film that is part psychological drama, part thriller. A complex look at the pressures and potential negative consequences of corporate life and social obligation, Burnt Out brings to mind other recent French successes treating similar subjects such as Nicolas Klotz’ Heartbeat Detector (2007) or Laurent Cantet’s Timeout (2002). Like in those films, the central performance is immaculately carried out by a great actor, in this case Olivier Gourmet (The Son, Mon Colonel). In addition, this gripping film is fleshed out by a strong supporting cast, which includes the Oscar winning Marion Cotillard (Ma Vie En Rose).