L’heure d’été (Summer Hours)
by Olivier Assayas (2008)

Trailer | Review

After the globe-spanning settings of his last three films, Olivier Assayas returns home for the mournful Summer Hours, examining a bourgeois French family trying to negotiate the past, present, and future. Assembled for the birthday of their widowed mother, Hélène, three siblings—Frédéric, Adrienne, and Jérémie—celebrate what will be their last family gathering at their once-beloved, magic ancestral home in the Île-de-France.Summer Hours is an impeccably observed family study, unimaginable without the remarkable ensemble of actors. Cinematographer Eric Gautier beautifully captures, in the two scenes that bookend Summer Hours, the very look and feel of what the film’s title evokes: sun-dappled, pastoral scenes of indolence and pleasure. (Drama, 100 minutes)

Cliente (French Gigolo)
by Josiane Balasko (2007)

Trailer | Review

As she did in French Twist (1995), writer-director-performer Josiane Balasko brilliantly combines feminism and farce in A French Gigolo, one of the few films in recent years that centers around the sexuality of a middle-aged woman. Poised, confident, attractive 50-ish divorcée Judith (Nathalie Baye, in an expertly calibrated performance) runs a homeshopping TV show with her sister, Irène. While Irène dreams of finding Mr. Right, Judith favors the no-strings attachment of paying gigolos for sex. Balasko’s movie is a refreshingly honest look at the ways in which our needs for sex, love, and money are continually negotiated. Consistently funny, A French Gigolo is nonetheless seriously committed to exposing sexual double standards while standing out for its intelligence and wit. (Romantic comedy, 105 minutes)

La fille du RER (The girl on the train)
by André Téchiné (2008)

Trailer | Review

André Téchiné’s provocative 18th feature is inspired by true events: the RER D (a Paris commuter line) affair of July 2004, in which a non-Jewish young woman falsely claimed to be the victim of an anti-Semitic attack by six men, whom she identified as Arab and black. Téchiné skillfully observes contemporary French society and politics without lecturing. Jeanne’s motives for her unconscionable act deliberately remain unknowable; Téchiné’s film, shot by cinematographer Julien Hirsch with exceptional immediacy and fluidity, isn’t interested in easy answers. Instead, The Girl on the Train provides a prism through which we may begin to understand anti-Semitism, racism, and what it means to declare yourself a victim. (Drama, 105 minutes)

Le silence de Lorna (Lorna’s silence)
by Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne (2007)

Trailer | Review

The films of Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne make up a body of work that is unrivaled in its realist, deeply humane focus on how those who exist on the margins of society—the poor, criminals, immigrants—must constantly face enormous moral decisions in their struggle for more secure, stable lives in a global economy. Lorna, an Albanian immigrant living in the Belgian city of Liege, shares an apartment with a heroin addict named Claudy. They have a sham marriage that allows her to legally live in the country, where she dreams of opening up a café with her boyfriend. But the mobster who arranged their marriage is now planning to kill Claudy—with Lorna’s help—in a planned overdose so she can marry a Russian who’s willing to pay a steep price for Belgian residency papers. Lorna, like all of the Dardennes’ protagonists, isn’t merely a one-dimensional emblem of suffering, but a multifaceted character who must make—and live with—her own decisions. (Drama, 105 minutes)

AWARDS
Best Screenplay, Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne – Cannes Film Festival (2008) Best French Language Film – Lumières Awards (2009) 

C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons (It’s hard being loved by jerks)
by Daniel Leconte (2008)

Trailer | Review

This important documentary on the freedom of the press, censorship, and the right of religious minorities looks at a crucial 2007 Paris trial. Several Islamic organizations brought charges of slander against the French news weekly Charlie Hebdo for reprinting 12 satirical cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed that had originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2005. Director Daniel Leconte follows the entire course of the trial, with Philippe Val, editor of Charlie Hebdo (a publication that’s an equal opportunity offender), giving the filmmaker complete access to the magazine’s editorial and strategizing meetings. Amid the media circus surrounding the case, Leconte captures cogent, passionate speakers on both sides of the argument, including such prominent witnesses as Claude Lanzmann, reminding viewers of the absolute necessity of both the right to publish and the right to protest. (Documentary, 105 minutes)

Paris by Cédric Klapisch (2007)

Trailer | Review

In Cédric Klapisch’s wistful ensemble film about the City of Light, characters of different backgrounds intersect, providing a sense of the complex multitude contained within this great metropolis. The beating heart of Klapisch’s love letter to the city is the relationship between Pierre, a former dancer at the Moulin Rouge, and his older sister, Elise, a divorced, overburdened social worker raising three young children. After Pierre discovers that he has a potentially fatal illness, Elise and her brood move into his cramped apartment, taking care of and comforting a man who now fully appreciates the preciousness of life. Though his flat is small, Pierre has an incredible view from his balcony, where he frequently observes the teeming street life below. Regardless of whether you’ve never been to Paris or have visited several times, Klapisch’s stunning compositions of the city will inspire you to see the French capital in a whole new way. (Drama, 130 minutes)