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Young and Beautiful
Young and Beautiful

Ozon’s Young and Beautiful (Jeune et Jolie)

Not bilingual? Not to worry. Cinemania screens 120 selected French language films with English subtitles. And we’re not talking old films either. Cinemania focuses on premieres projected in a large screen format in the Imperial Cinema.

120 films are a lot to pick from. Some of our choices are as follows:

Opening night film, Le Passé won best actress for Bérénice Bejo at Cannes in 2013. Oscan winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi follows Ahmed (Ali Mossafa) as he returns to finalize a divorce from Marie (Bérénice Bejo). Their daughter Lucie, however, is suffering and Ahmed must work to correct the situation unearth past secrets.

François Ozon’s Jeune et Jolie has beautiful newcomer Marina Vacath in the role of Isabelle a 17-year-old who becomes a high-end prostitute. She’s not driven by money and isn’t especially into sex. Why has she chosen this life? Everyone at Cannes and the Toronto Film Festival were abuzz about this coming-of-age/sexual-awakening piece.

Fernando Trueba’s L’Artiste et son Modèle

Fernando Trueba’s L’Artiste et son Modèle

Director Fernando Trueba’s L’Artiste et son Modèle celebrator sculptor Marc Cros (Jean Rochefort) finds fresh inspiration in his new muse Mércé (Aida Folch), a Spanish escapee from a war camp. Black and white cinematography shows the sculptor rediscover his passion even while living in Occupied France of 1943.

Ever wonder what it’s like to grow up under a famed writer/intellectual/philosopher. Patrick Mille adapts Justine Lévy’s quasi-autobiographical novel about life with her father Bernard-Henri Lévy into Bad Girl. Louise is played by Izïa Higelin, who won an award at the 2013 Césars as the most promising actress. Carole Bouquet plays the role of mother Alice. Bob Geldorf takes on the role of Bernard-Henri. When Louise learns she’s pregnant, she must make peace with her hard-partying and now ill mother.

Daniel Auteuil's Fanny

Daniel Auteuil’s Fanny

Daniel Auteuil’s trilogy in Marseilles continues the second leg of with Fanny. The old cast returns to continue the story. Set in the 1920s, Fanny (Victoire Belezy) is scandalously pregnant with Marius’ (Raphael Personnaz) baby, though Marius has left for five years on a voyage across the South Seas. The older, and wealthy Panisse (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) wants to marry Fanny and Marius’ eventual return complicates matters.

From Chad comes Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Grigris. The film was nominated for 10 awards in Cannes. The story follows 25-year-old Grigris (Souleymane Démé) who dreams of being a dancer despite a paralyzed leg. He turns to crime to help pay for his uncle’s medical bills. However, Grigris’ friendship with a local prostitute puts everyone in danger.

Cinemania runs from Nov 7 -17th. Check the website for details.

About Rachel Levine

Rachel Levine is the big cheese around here. Contact: Website | More Posts