rendez-vous with french cinema 2000 march 10 -- 19, 2000 photo: c'est quoi la vie? / what's life?

box office and ticket information | calendar Sponsored by Louis Vuitton and Interview Magazine Special Student Rate for Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2000: Just $6 (with photo ID) go to program description Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2000 is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Unifrance, The French Film Office / Unifrance USA, together with The French Cultural Services. With the support of Louis Vuitton and Interview Magazine, with additional support provided by the Florence Gould Foundation, L.V.T. (Laser Video Titles) and Independent Film Channel. Thanks to Catherine Verret-Vimont, Antoine Khalife, Maria Manthoulis and The French Cultural Services for making this program possible. We expect all of the directors (excepting Belle Maman's Gabriel Aghion) whose films are included in Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Today to be present for Q & A. Please phone 875-5600 or check this web page for updated information about guest appearances. Every March, passionate Francophiles and lovers of French cinema reserve several weeks to attend our exciting annual program of the best recent movies from a country practically synonymous with cutting-edge film art. Contemporary French filmmaking can always be depended upon to simmer with remarkable energy and diversity, as well as artistic power. France's filmmaking industry continues to flourish economically without ever losing its unique national flavor. Even as Old Masters continue to produce the kind of rich, complex movies that, for instance, landed Eric Rohmer's Autumn Tale on many a 1999 Ten Best List, sharp newcomers push the envelope stylistically and in their choice of subject matter. So packed with talent is the French industry that this year's program repeats none of 1999's crop of adventurous directors. Five remarkable women directors were showcased last year, and you will meet five newcomers--Emmanuelle Bercot, Hélène Angel, Danièle Thompson, Noémie Lvovsky and Solveig Anspach--during Rendez-Vous 2000. Old, valued friends such as Claude Berri, Benoît Jacquot, Philippe Garrel, and Cédric Klapisch are back with must-see new work, and a whole host of outstanding actors-familiar as well as fresh faces-are on view: Fanny Ardant, Sabine Azéma, Marie-Christine Barrault, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean-Paul Belmondo, François Berléand, Catherine Deneuve, Catherine Frot, Vahina Giacante, Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Lindon, Laurent Lucas, Fabrice Luchini, and a host of other luminaries from the French silver screen. Join us for a banquet of sparkling comedy, heartrending drama, magical excursions into France's past and, of course, the kind of challenging forays into psychosexual territory that are la spécialité of the sophisticated French.

ma petite entreprise la dilettante haut les coeurs! / chin up! les enfants du marais / the children of the marshland la bûche peut-être / perhaps la vie ne me fait pas peur / i'm not afraid of life

program: MA PETITE ENTREPRISE / MY LITTLE BUSINESS Pierre Jolivet, 1999; 96m A gritty, scoundrels-on-the-scam comedy in which law-abiding citizens swiftly metamorphose into crooks when push comes to shove. Yvan (Vincent Lindon) is a noble sort, trying to run a family woodworking business and raise his son by himself. When his workshop is destroyed in a fire and he discovers he's been rooked by the smooth-talking con artist (François Berléand) who sold him insurance, Yvan has to resort to burglary to set things right-with a little help from some shady (incompetent) friends, a trusty secretary (Catherine Mouchet) and even his own teenaged son (Yoann Denaive). MA PETITE ENTREPRISE moves from one catastrophic and hilarious moment to another, spotlighting Yvan's erotic encounters and his efforts to stave off suspicious insurance inspectors. No villains here, just flat-out working-class comic hijinks, reminiscent of The Full Monty's proletarian feistiness. Fri Mar 10: 1 & 6:15; Sat Mar 11: 4:45 LA DILETTANTE Pascal Thomas, 1999; 118m Catherine Frot plays--with superb sangfroid--a rare bird: Pierrette Dumortier, a woman who never takes anything too seriously--whether it's work or a lover, the good or the bad--and pretty much surfs through life. Bored with her current lover, job and home in Switzerland, irrepressible Pierrette drops everything to move back to Paris, home to a son and daughter she hasn't seen for some 15 years. As this middle-aged quester seeks to refashion her existence, Thomas' very funny film never seeks to analyze its eternally cheerful heroine; rather, we witness the positive and negative ways an astonishing gallery of diverse folk react to Pierrette, a true original. With Marie-Christine Barrault. Fri Mar 10: 3:30 & 9 HAUT LES COEURS! / CHIN UP! Solveig Anspach, 1999; 110m A critical and commercial success in France, Anspach's new feature is a life-affirming study of one woman's inner strength. Emma is expecting her first child when she learns she must terminate the pregnancy because she is suffering from breast cancer. When a second doctor advises her that the baby will not be harmed by the cancer treatment, she prepares for a challenge that she must face for her child and herself. A moving and vital drama about the realities of life and death, portrayed with a refreshing lack of melodrama. The film captures the complex emotional and ethical struggles faced by so many women, expressed through the subtle, strong performance of Karin Viard. With Laurent Lucas. Sat Mar 11: 2; Sun Mar 12: 9:30 LES ENFANTS DU MARAIS / THE CHILDREN OF THE MARSHLANDS Jean Becker, 1998; 115m "Set in 1932, in a hamlet in the Marais, a quiet region of the River Loire, LES ENFANTS--one of France's biggest box-office hits in 1999--glows with a wonderful bouquet of eccentric friends who all look and behave as though they've never been out of sight of home, or ever wanted to be: Andre Dussollier as a dandy with a wind-up gramophone and a stack of jazz records; Michel Serrault as the self-made man of property; Jacques Villeret, lately seen in Le Diner de cons; and Jacques Gamblin as a contented couple of tradesmen; Isabelle Carre, as a local girl who is Gamblin's unpossessable beloved. Becker fills his frames with lovely landscapes, nice folk, charm, whimsy, gentle humor. The seasons change, but time stands still, since the characters don't know what we do: that Hitler is less than a decade away and the Occupation will turn this little paradise into history. A magical tale of friendship, mortality and the inevitability of fate." --Alexander Walker, BBC Online Sat Mar 11: 7; Tues Mar 14: 1 LA BÛCHE Danièle Thompson, 1999; 106m Praised for her many screenplays, especially those written in collaboration with Patrice Chéreau (Queen Margot, Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train), Danièle Thompson for her first feature as a director again creates a vivid ensemble piece filled with many of France's top actors. It's Christmastime, and along with all the thoughts of good cheer comes the realization that it's also the time of those inevitable family get-togethers--a chance for old wounds to re-open and new slights to be suffered. The story revolves around three sisters: Louba (Sabine Azéma), an energetic chanteuse of Russian songs; Sonia (Emmanuelle Béart), who married well and has settled into a very comfortable lifestyle; and Milla (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the youngest sister, a rebel uncertain as to what she's rebelling against. As the holiday approaches, their lives will become even more entangled, as each searches for a way out of the impasse they feel their lives have become. Aided by outstanding performances by Claude Rich, Françoise Fabian and Jean-Pierre Darroussin, LA BÛCHE is an insightful, touching look at the ties that bind. Sat Mar 11: 9:30; Sun Mar 12: 4:45 PEUT-ÊTRE / PERHAPS Cédric Klapisch, 1999; 109m One of the most promising talents to have emerged from French cinema in the nineties, Cédric Klapisch (When the Cat's Away, Un Air de famille) ventures boldly into new territory with his most recent film. It's New Year's Eve, 1999 (remember that?), and a young couple, Arthur and Lucie, are off to millennial revels as they ponder their future. She wants to have a child; he's not certain he could handle it. Later that evening, as the party grows wilder, Arthur starts to explore the attic spaces of their host's Parisian townhouse, and suddenly finds himself in Paris, 2075. Full of imaginative effects and a startling vision of future landscapes, PEUT-ÊTRE for all its technical wizardry never loses sight of the emotional issues at the core of the film. With a wonderful, surprising performance by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Sun Mar 12: 2; Sat Mar 18: 9:15 LA VIE NE ME FAIT PAS PEUR / I'M NOT AFRAID OF LIFE Noemie Lvovsky, 1999; 111m The title of Lvovsky's poignant rite-of-passage movie is richly ironic: for four friends-Emilie (Magali Woch), Ines (Ingrid Molinier), Stella (Julie-Marie Parmentier), Marion (Camille Rousselet)--growing up in the 70s and early 80s, life is nothing but scary. All of the bittersweet trials and tribulations of growing up into teenage life are explored here--school, parents, peer group pressure. (The movie took several years to shoot so the actresses could grow up. During a hiatus in shooting, Lvovsky made Petites, a TV movie with the same characters; some of the television footage is incorporated into LA VIE NE ME FAIT PAS PEUR.) A sensitive, uncondescending look at adolescence (especially funny scenes involve the alien breed of "boys"), enlivened by feisty performances from a remarkably attractive sorority of actresses and wonderful fantasy / musical scenes. Sun Mar 12: 7; Tues Mar 14: 3:30 PAS DE SCANDALE / KEEP IT QUIET Benoît Jacquot, 1999; 105m "PAS DE SCANDALE centers on Grégoire (Fabrice Luchini), a well-to-do, middle-aged businessman and owner of a company who has just been released from jail. He has a charming wife and children, and is evidently well-mannered and considerate. Being in jail has transformed him in a subtle way. While his family tries to readjust to his presence, largely by pretending that nothing has changed, Grégoire wants to talk about those things that previously went unsaid. His wife (Isabelle Huppert) and brother (Vincent Lindon) are concerned with appearances, managing the news of his release and saving face. Grégoire, on the other hand, has developed an ethical conscience. He is like a child in some respects, curious to explore a new world; this impulse brings him into contact with a young hair-dresser, the attractive Stephanie (Vahina Giocante). Out of this situation Jacquot fashions a telling and beautifully suggestive film, rich with implication and meaning. Like Dostoevsky's Prince in The Idiot, Grégoire has the power to unsettle everyone around him. PAS DE SCANDALE reaffirms Jacquot's increasing importance as a filmmaker." --Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival Wed Mar 15: 1 & 6:15; Sat Mar 18: 2

pas de scandale / keep it quiet la puce peau d'homme, coeur de bête / skin of man, heart of beast le vent de la nuit / night wind la débandade belle maman / beautiful mother

LA PUCE Emmanuelle Bercot, 1999; 40m Director Emmanuelle Bercot made such a strong impression with her short films that two of them--LA PUCE and LES VACANCES--were released commercially last year in France on a single program, which we are pleased to repeat here in Rendez-Vous. LA PUCE details the pas de deux between a teenage girl and a man more than twice her age. Occurring for a large part in real time, the film brilliantly captures the feints, digressions and maneuvers of the pair as they each stake their claims to emotional and physical territory. Bercot's direction of the actors, especially the young Isild Le Besco, is nothing short of remarkable. with LES VACANCES / HOLIDAYS Emmanuelle Bercot, 1999; 15m On the day before holidays, Ann finds she doesn't have the necessary cash to take her daughter Melody away from their provincial hometown for a few days. Trying to deal with her child's disappointment, Ann looks for ways to improve her finances. When she finally gets hold of some money, she tries to double it by making a bet.... Wed Mar 15: 3:30; Sun Mar 19: 2 PEAU D'HOMME, COEUR DE BÊTE / SKIN OF MAN, HEART OF BEAST Hélène Angel, 1999; 100m A stunningly taut feature debut for Angel, awarded the Golden Leopard for Best Film at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival, PEAU D'HOMME chronicles the simmering tensions that threaten to erupt when a man returns to his family clan after a 15-year absence. No one quite knows where he's been--some say the Foreign Legion, others prison--but that air of mystery only makes him more appealing to his five-year-old niece, Aurélie. Yet Aurelie's slightly older sister instantly mistrusts this stranger, resenting not only his intrusion into her summer holidays but also suspecting he will soon upset the delicate balance that is her family life. According to Angel, "When I look at childhood, it seems like such a distant time. Making films, especially this first one, is a way of trying to recapture this distant time, this primitive world," and indeed, few films have more effectively expressed the pleasures and terrors of a child's point of view. Wed Mar 15: 9; Sat Mar 18: 4:15 LE VENT DE LA NUIT / NIGHT WIND Philippe Garrel, 1999; 95m For Philippe Garrel--subject of a 1997 Walter Reade tribute --the theme of his latest film is time, and the people who want it to stand still. Daniel Duval is an artist at the end of his rope; his "shadow" is Xavier Beauvois, a shallow, inquisitive young man involved in a dead-end affair with an increasingly forlorn Catherine Deneuve. Against this emotionally volatile ménage à trois, Garrel poses the ravishing beauty of the world: the pleasure of soaring down the Autobahn, or cruising through the lush Italian countryside in a red sports car. Or of feeling the "night wind" of the title in your skin and bones. Deneuve, in another extraordinary performance, is the flame that lights up Garrel's sad, majestic poem of despair. A great actress, at the absolute peak of her powers, filmed by a great director, in a film of tragic beauty. Thurs Mar 16: 1; Sat Mar 18: 7 C'EST QUOI LA VIE? / WHAT'S LIFE? François Dupeyron, 1999; 115m A strong addition to the recent wave of French films about rural life, Dupeyron here captures the rhythms of beleaguered farmlife in a modern European country. Nicolas (Eric Caravaca) isn't sure he wants to follow the hard road taken by his grandparents and parents in keeping the family farm together, but then everything falls apart after sickness kills off their cattle. The family is shattered, separated, and all seems lost--though Nicolas cherishes his hopeless love for a mysterious opera singer (gorgeous Isabelle Renauld, unforgettable star of Catherine Breillat's Parfait Amour!) who lives in a nearby country home. But Nicolas struggles to rebuild and re-create his life--inspired by his father's (Jean-Pierre Daroussin) old saying that farmers cannot starve to death. Piers Handling praises the director's "Hardyesque love of the pastoral. [Cinematographer Tetsuo Nagata] captures the way the light falls, the change of the seasons. His wonderful cast inhabits the overalls and rubber boots of the farming community as though they were born in them. At once hardnosed and tenderly gentle, C'EST QUOI LA VIE? depicts hardships and triumphs as if they were always in a delicate, natural balance." Thurs Mar 16: 3:30; Fri Mar 17: 9; Sun Mar 19: 8:45 LE CREÉATEUR / THE CREATOR Albert Dupontel, 1999; 90m Actor / writer / director Dupontel follows up the great success of his directorial debut Bernie (shown in Rendez-Vous '98) with a new comedy several shades beyond pitch black. Darius (Dupontel) is a successful playwright from whom everyone is clamoring for a new work. A theater has been engaged, a leading lady hired, even the advertisement campaign is being discussed; the only problem is that Darius has yet to write a single word. Plagued with an epic case of writer's block, the artist is at the point of doing something rash, when a freak encounter with a neighbor's pet suggests that the only way to bring something new to life might be to take that life from something else....A wonderfully physical actor in the tradition of the great screen clowns, Dupontel also brings a sly visual wit to this tale of a search for creative energy that takes on a creative life all its own. Thurs Mar 16: 9; Sun Mar 19: 3:30 LA DÉBANDADE Claude Berri, 1999; 100m Who but the French could conceive of the first Viagra comedy? And who but veteran filmmaker Claude Berri (Jean de Florette) could transform this thoroughly modern tale into such a delight? Berri casts himself as Claude, a later middle-aged art dealer who, while happily married to his second wife (Fanny Ardant), feels that his own sexual performance is...weakening. A round of consultations with a noted sex expert follows, until he learns through a friend of a new miracle drug for problems such as his that's being hawked by a former U.S. presidential candidate. As the drug is as yet unavailable in France, he's off in the company of his beautiful young assistant to Switzerland where he hopes to find out if it really works. There's laughter galore in LA DÉBANDADE, but Berri also makes this lovely film work as a touching investigation into the vagaries of love and growing older. The terrific cast includes Alain Chabat, Claude Brasseur, François Berléand, et al. Fri Mar 17: 1 & 6:15; Sun Mar 19: 6:15 BELLE MAMAN / BEAUTIFUL MOTHER Gabriel Aghion, 1999; 102m A blockbuster hit in France, BELLE MAMAN is a screwball comedy that erupts out of love's unlikely collisions and intersections: during Antoine's wedding ceremony--he's decided to finally make an honest woman of pregnant girlfriend Séverine (Mathilde Seigner)--his gaze falls on an extraordinarily beautiful older woman (Catherine Deneuve) and he (Vincent Lindon) is instantly smitten bigtime. Of course, it goes without saying that Léa is Séverine's mother! Though she has a Caribbean boyfriend (Idris Elba), Léa seems to have some kind of yen for Antoine.... Director Aghion (his Pédale douce was a success in 1997's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Today) brings this comic stew to a boil by sending all the players off to the Bahamas to celebrate the 70th birthday of Séverine's grandmother (Line Renaud), an acid-tongued lesbian with a taste for cigars. Also starring the redoubtable Jean Yanne. Tues Mar 14: 9; Fri Mar 17: 3:30