After being interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic last year, the Alliance French Film Festival was able to go ahead in person this year. Once again I bought myself a five film pass and have attended the following films over the past couple weeks:
Summer of 85 by François Ozon is an adaptation of Aidan Chambers' novel Dance on My Grave. The story is told in flashbacks about a summer romance between teenagers Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) and David (Benjamin Voisin) and the tragedy that ultimately occurs. While it had a good 1980s soundtrack, the movie was a bit melodramatic and all over the shop.
Miss is a feel-good film by Ruben Alves about Alex's (Alexandre Wetter) dream of entering the Miss France beauty pageant and challenging the traditional gender binary. It's a heart warming film about chosen families supporting each other and a bit of a satire on the televised elements of beauty pageants.
De Gaulle is a biopic by Gabriel Le Bomin focused on General Charles de Gaulle (Lambert Wilson) during World War II as he met with Winston Churchill after Hitler seized Paris and led the French resistance. While de Gaulle is in exile the film also follows his wife (Isabelle Carré) and children as they travel around France trying to stay ahead of the German armed forces. It is a gripping war drama that covers some key moments for France in during World War II.
Eiffel is a biopic about Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) and what inspired him to design and build the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. The film shows the issues Eiffel dealt with during the building of the tower, including engineering innovations, protests and financial challenges.
Delicious is a historical comedy by Eric Besnard set in 1789 France prior to the French Revolution. Manceron (Grégory Gadebois) is a cook for the Duke of Chamfort, but gets fired when he cooks an inventive dish that is criticized by the Duke's guests. He goes to stay in a regional inn, where he takes on a female apprentice (Isabelle Carré) and ends up creating France's first restaurant to feed travellers coming through the area.
The Alliance French Film Festival runs in Melbourne until 31 March 2021.
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