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A fete for the Bijou

Get au courant with French cinema

By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 22nd, 2006 issue

No peace on Earth. Joyeux Noël is one of the premieres at the French Film Festival.

The popcorn box full of snails is back. The 9th Annual French Film Festival grants francophones and -philes a great opportunity to catch up on the latest cinema being created in France.

This year's festival includes a number of Czech premieres, along with a few reel assessments of various artists' work. There are even films that will be accessible to English speakers. Following is a list of some of the festival's highlights.

Joyeux Noël (Šťastné a Veselé)—Christian Carion, director. Diane Kruger, Guillaume Canet, Dany Boon, Benno Fürmann, Gary Lewis star. France's official Oscar submission from last year is the true story of the brief Christmas armistice in the trenches of World War I, when the British, French and German combatants ceased fighting to celebrate Christmas Eve together. In French, English and German. Světozor, Nov. 23 at 7:30 and 10:15

The 9th French Film Festival

Where: The French Institute and Kino Světozor
When: November 23-27
70 Kč ($3.20) per film

The Science of Sleep (La science des reves/Nauka o snech)—Michel Gondry, director. Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miou-Miou, Aurélia Petit and Alain Chabat star. A full review will appear here next week. For now, suffice to say that Gondry's latest is visually exquisite but shallow. The director makes the error of writing his own script rather than working with someone of the caliber of Charlie Kaufman, as he did with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the marvelous Human Nature. Just to demonstrate how far Gondry has gone off the narrative rails, audiences will have an all-night chance to see the director's earlier work directly after the screening of Sleep (including the two Kaufman projects). It's difficult to go wrong with a cast headed by Bernal, Gainsbourg, Miou-Miou and Petit, but Gondry has somehow managed. Primarily in English, with a smattering of French and Spanish. Světozor, Nov 24 at 9. The All-Night Gondry Festival, including Dave Chappelle's Block Party, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Human Nature starts at 11:30.

Vidocq (Fantom Paříže)—Guillaume Canet, director. Canet, Gérard Depardieu, Inés Sastre and André Dussollier star. Director/actor Canet is given his own survey this year within the festival. Other than starring in Joyeux Noël (See above), he is represented by three films that he has directed and starred in, including Mon Idole (Světozor, Nov. 24 at 4) and Jeux d'enfants (Světozor, Nov. 26 at 5:30). Unfortunately for monoglot English speakers, all the films are in French with Czech subtitles. But if you know your French or Czech, the Canet film to see is Vidocq, a mesmerizing thriller set in the early 1800s with an excellent performance by Depardieu. Světozor, Nov. 26 at 3

Paris, je t'aime—Joel and Ethan Coen, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Walter Salles, Tom Tykwer, Gus Van Sant, et al. A who's who of contemporary film directors were each given five minutes to create a miniature film about Paris, with a cast that is as stellar, including Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu, Nick Nolte, Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood, Marianne Faithful, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands. In English and French. French Institute, Nov. 26 at 10; Nov. 27 at 5:30

Steffen Silvis can be reached at ssilvis@praguepost.com


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