MOVIE lovers tend to associate French cinema with a sense of sophistication and a sort of languid charm, but in recent years a new wave of gritty and down-to-earth filmmakers have emerged.
This is evident in the selection for this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival, which explores dystopian futures, disability awareness and existential dread.
• (top to bottom) GIFT, ALPHA, A Dash of Love and A Nun in the City are showing at the Alliance Française French Film Festival.
After winning the Palme d’Or for Titane, Julia Ducournau returns with ALPHA, a haunting and intimate exploration of the body, fear, and transformation.
Set in the port city of Le Havre between the 1980s and 1990s, the film follows Alpha (Mélissa Boros), a restless 13-year-old living alone with her mother (Golshifteh Farahani) a doctor working in a sealed hospital ward where patients are treated for a mysterious and frightening virus.
Their fragile equilibrium is disrupted when Alpha’s uncle Amin (Tahar Rahim) infected by the virus and ravaged by addiction, suddenly moves in.
A tense coming-of-age story shaped by dread and denial, ALPHA asks a haunting question: How far can a mother go to protect her child, and at what cost for both of them?
If you like a good thriller, you’ll lap up DOG 51.
In the near future, Paris has been fractured into three social zones. At the top of this new order reigns Alma, an all-powerful artificial intelligence that governs society through data, prediction, and surveillance.
Assisted by police forces and swarms of drones, Alma identifies potential criminals before crimes are even committed. From the historic heart of the city to its most neglected outskirts, no one escapes its gaze.
Adapted from the novel by Laurent Gaudé and directed by Cédric Jimenez, DOG 51 is a dystopian crime thriller that interrogates our relationship with technology, power, and social division.
If you’re after something a little lighter, but poignant, then check out A DASH OF LOVE.
When Mélanie (Julia Piaton) a brilliant lawyer decides it’s time to live on her own terms, she persuades her old university friend Benjamin (Quentin Dolmaire) to join her on a road trip to Spain.
Their unlikely driver is Lucas (Grégory Gadebois) a recently released ex-con and one of Mélanie’s clients, whom she convinces into taking the wheel.
The improbable trio set off across sweeping landscapes, navigating suspicion and fears, laughter and longing.
A vibrant ode to life and the courage to embrace joy whilst you can, the debut feature from Maël Piriou, A DASH OF LOVE is a tender and deeply human road movie.
GURU taps into the erosion of faith in politics and mainstream authorities.
Mathieu Vasseur, known as “Matt” (Pierre Niney) has become the most followed personal development coach in France.
On stage, he offers clarity, empowerment and catharsis, orchestrating seminars that electrify crowds and promise transformation.
Behind the carefully crafted image, however, lies a far more troubling reality. As Matt’s influence grows, so do the mechanisms of control that bind his followers to him.
What begins as a collective quest for meaning gradually reveals the darker side of a system built on power, fascination, and submission. Directed by Yann Gozlan (Black Box), the film follows Matt as he becomes surrounded by a loyal inner circle while drawing increasing scrutiny from critics and authorities alike.
The French know how to do comedy and farce, so it’s not surprise that A NUN IN THE CITY is a hoot.
Devoted to her austere convent for twenty years, Sister Lucie (Marilou Berry) joins her fellow nuns on their annual group outing to visit the doctor. Overwhelmed by the outside world, she accidentally becomes separated from the group. Panicked, Lucie jumps onto the first bus she sees, hoping to find her way back, and ends up at a police station.
There, she is confronted with shocking news. On a television screen, she recognises the face of her teenage sweetheart, whom she has not seen since entering religious life. He has been accused of murder. The revelation reopens a past she believed long buried. Certain of his innocence, Lucie makes an impulsive decision: she cannot return to the convent without trying to help him.
The Alliance Française French Film Festival is at Luna on SX in Fremantle and Luna Leederville from March 12-April 15. More info at lunapalace.com.au.