|
 |
French Film Festival A Common Thread Director: Eleanore Faucher 10th District Court Director: Raymond Depardon Palace Nova, Thu 10 to Wed 15 March Each year the Palace Nova Cinemas in association with Alliance Francais screen the latest releases from France. Some will eventually be released while others, generally for reasons of foreign language, will be by-passed. The event was extremely well-attended and two of the 17 films are reviewed here. 'A Common Thread' is an extraordinary debut for director Eleanore Faucher, winning the Critics' Week prize at Cannes and the Cesar for best first film. Young, red-headed Claire (Lola Naymark) becomes pregnant when a condom isn't fitted properly. She decides to have the baby, intending to adopt. To conceal the birth from her family, she leaves home, taking a room in the country. There she comes to fully explore her love of needlework under the mentorship of Madame Melikian, played by Ariane Ascaride ('The Town Is Quiet'). Though initially difficult, the relationship between these two powerful and creative women holds tremendous rewards for both of them. Visually glorious with its cinematic village setting, fine embroidery, colours and characters, the story is all the more powerful for its understatement. This portrait of femininity and fecundity in all its potency and delicacy gives an entree into a world of warmth and generosity unfamiliar to men. Uncommon in its texture and depth, the film is a rich and moving investigation of hope, tragedy, friendship and beauty. 'The 10th District Court: Moments Of Trials' is more a television-quality documentary giving a snapshot of justice, Parisian-style. France, like Australia, prides itself on freedom, equality and fraternity ('mateship'), but all that is revealed as 'double-speak' for a nanny state which deprives people of their liberty on a whim. Director Raymond Depardon's static cameras trained on Madame Justice Michele Bernard-Requin and her court, show a parade of accused and counsel playing their roles. The legal system has some similarities to our own, including being so concerned with a stream of trivialities such as marijuana possession, petty theft and traffic offences, that it barely has time to deal with the subtleties of a serious case of stalking. The cavalier approach to facts and sentencing of the apparently venerable Bernard-Requin is appalling, while the egotistically florid speeches of the lawyers are cringeworthy. Madame Justice quickly forms subjective opinions and even loses her temper when confronted by annoying character traits, nervous defendants or anyone with the gall to challenge her elitist authority. She bristles particularly at the young sociologist who dares to take notes as he seeks to defend himself against a charge of refusing to give his fingerprints at a random ID check in Paris. The pocket-knife found in his possession wasn't even illegal, but that didn't stop the cops from bashing him and now the judge from ridiculing him. Serious irregularities in the paperwork of his case are glossed-over in the judge's petulant display. Drivers randomly found to have .04 alcohol levels are treated like pariahs, and a young black man is gaoled for a year for selling $20 of marijuana. The hearings are cursory, the judgements unsupported by evidence and tainted with prejudice, and the sentences inconsistent. It's subject matter too grim to be entertaining, but perhaps enough to turn you into an anarchist. 'Judge not, lest ye be judged', indeed. The Festival's opening night film was 'Look At Me', about a girl's difficulties with the success and fame of her literary father, which was awarded best screenplay at Cannes. Directed by Agnes Jaoui who made the brilliant 'A Taste Of Others', it does not star Kath & Kim, but is scheduled for local release on Thursday 31 March.  |
|
The latest issue available now!     |
All content copyright dB Magazine