Amelie, tipped for all kinds
of Oscar glory, including a Best Actress nomination
for the bewitching Audrey Tautou,has made French
cinema front page news for the best part of
the year. Winner of the audience prize at the
Edinburgh International Film Festival in August,
it has been an unprecedented box-office smash
in Britain. Amelie is the exception
to the rule. Most French cinema will struggle
to see the inside of a British cinema.
Even the recent high-profile release of the
bloodthirsty La Pacte Des Loups (Brotherhood
of The Wolf) failed to make much of
an impression on the multiplexes.
The French Film Festival has provided a unique
showcase for the kind of films that might never
otherwise have been seen in Britain and this
year it is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
One of the hallmarks of the event has been
its refusal to take the artistic high ground.
In this festival arthouse experimentation can
quite happily rub shoulders with farce, or even
action movie bloodbaths.
Auteur Lovers
Lovers of auteur cinema are well-catered for
this year with new films from the likes of Andre
Techine, (Loin), Patrice Leconte
(Felix & Lola) and 81-year-old
Nouvelle Vague veteran Eric Rohmer. Shot on
digital video, Rohmer’s latest, L’Anglaise
Et Le Duc reveals the old master to
be as fresh and inventive as any young turk
in his approach to costume drama. The true story
of 18th-century Scottish aristocrat Grace Dalrymple,
the film uses handpainted backgrounds and classic
paintings to give a rich and unusual sense of
the period. Star Lucy Russell is among those
on the Festival guest list.
At the opposite end of the French cinema spectrum,
the Festival is also screening box-office hits,
including the politically incorrect gay farce
Le Placard with Gerard Depardieu
and Daniel Auteuil, lightweight adventure yarn
Le Prince Du Pacifique and a ghastly
Gallic take on Absolutely Fabulous
entitled, Absolument Fabuleux
and featuring Josiane Balasko and Nathalie Baye
struggling to fill the tottering heels of Jennifer
Saunders and Joanna Lumley.
Multimixture
The Festival’s retrospective this year
is a timely examination of France’s multicultural
mix and the role of outsiders in French society
whilst the Festival also continues its commitment
to classic French cinema with a special screening
of the 1929 silent Au Bonheur Des Dames
with a musical accompaniment from composer Adrian
Johnston.
The expected guest list is filled with old
Festival favourites like Josiane Balasko and
Claude Miller and the quality of the films is
generally high with smaller titles like the
coming-of-age drama Les Filles Ne Savent
Pas Nager worthy of investigation. If
nothing else, the Festival is the perfect excuse
to discover the vast world of French celluloid
that exists beyond the bewitching smile of Amelie.
Aberdeen, Belmont. Dundee Contemporary Arts.
Edinburgh Filmhouse and Glasgow
Film Theatre, November 16-29.
Festival office: 0131-225 6191.
Website: www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk
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