Celebrating le cinéma français for the 17th year, the festival offers an exciting opportunity to discover the latest in French filmmaking, from blockbusters to micro-budget films d'auteur, and includes an impressive array of UK premieres and preview screenings.

For more information, visit:
www.institut-francais.org.uk
www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk

Bad Company
Du côté de Robinson
France | 1963 | b&w | 42 mins | dir. Jean Eustache, with Aristide, Daniel Bart, Dominique Jayr | cert. 15 | French No subtitles
Anchored in the French New Wave, admired by Godard and Rohmer, picaresque and desperate, luminous and somber at the same time, the first short feature by Eustache proves that, as it has been said, "[his] greatness was evident right from the start." A character that prefigures, in his absurd arrogance, La Mamam et la putain's Alexandre, walks the streets of the Parisian suburb of Robinson with his best friend, in search of fun and trouble. Which is to say: women. Establishing the rigorous distance in the portrayal of youth and life on the streets that would be a constant in Eustache's subsequent films, his bad companies impress, in the words of Jean Douchet, "[by having] the best of connections: those of the masters of cinema."
Showing with:

Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes
Le Père Nöel a les yeux bleus
France | 1966 | b&w | 47 mins | dir. Jean Eustache | cert. 15
Eustache made his second film with 35mm black-and-white stock left over from Godard’s Masculine-Feminine (1966) and also used that film’s star Jean-Pierre Léaud. Set in the provinces of Eustache’s youth, the film focuses on the character Daniel, an unemployed young man who spends most of his time unsuccessfully trying to meet girls and dream up money-making scams. One day, needing a new coat, he takes a job as a street-corner Santa Claus and in this role suddenly finds himself able to cope with the opposite sex. This fresh, introspective study of French youth won the International Critics’ Week Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
sun 8 nov | 2.00pm | £7, conc. £5

A Prophet
Un Prophète
France | 2009 | col | 149 mins | dir. Jacques Audiard, with Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup | cert. TBC | preview screening
Condemned to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena cannot read nor write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the others convicts. He is 19 years old. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang who rules the prison, he is given a number of 'missions' to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader's confidence in the process. But Malik is brave and a fast learner, daring to secretly develop his own plans...
wed 11 nov | 8.30pm | £9, conc. £7

Versailles
France | 2008 | col | 113 mins | dir. Pierre Schoeller, with Guillaume Depardieu, Max Baissette de Malglaive, Judith Chemla | cert. 15
The late Guillaume Depardieu gives one of his best performances in this plaintive drama focusing of the people who struggle for survival on the margins of mainstream society. Homeless Nina showers her son Enzo with affection and is wary that social services will take him into care. After the briefest of encounters, she leaves Enzo with Damien (Depardieu) who lives in a makeshift hut in the grounds of the Chateau of Versailles. The responsibility for Enzo forces Damien to re-engage with his family and conventional society in a compelling, deeply felt tale rooted in the reality of French life.
thu 12 nov | 8.40pm | £9, conc. £7

Sagan
France | 2008 | col | 120 mins | dir. Diane Kurys, with Sylvie Testud, Pierre Palmade, Jeanne Balibar, Arielle Dombasle | cert. 15
Novelist Françoise Sagan, incarnated in a feisty performance by Sylvie Testud, had an angst-driven, jet-setter lifestyle. When she published Bonjour Tristesse - an existentialist-inspired treatise of Parisian teenage immorality - at the age of 18, she became an overnight cultural sensation, garnering a slew of prizes and catapulting to the top of the bestseller list. Her life afterward, which the film follows from the stardom year of 1954 to her death in 2004, is depicted as one long, intoxicated downhill ride, marked by scandals, arrests and the occasional drug overdose. Testud gives an energetic yet understated performance, reveling in the writer's legendary witty straight talk, which she delivers with excellent timing and finesse.
sat 14 nov | 6.00pm | £9, conc. £7

The Pig
Le Cochon
France | 1970 | col | 50 mins | dir. Jean Eustache, Jean-Michel Barjol | cert. 18 | no subtitles but minimal dialogue
Often considered the most beautiful film by Eustache, Le Cochon turns its back on the hopelessness of his fictions to be left with just the light. And it does that while recording the death and dismemberment of a pig, and the process through which the dead animal turns into different food products. In just one day, Eustache and Barjol shot separately and then edited together. A curious, somewhat playful, experience, that becomes (and reflects on) an amiable ethnographical documentary, filled with respect and generosity towards the farmers of the Massif Central who are the protagonists, towards their way of life, their work, and their voices: the broad dialect of the region makes up for a captivating soundtrack, and is the reason why Le Cochon has never been subtitled.
sun 15 nov | 2.00pm | £7, conc. £5

Special Correspondents
Envoyés très spéciaux
France | 2009 | col | 93 mins | dir. Frédéric Auburtin, with Gérard Lanvin, Gérard Jugnot, Omar Sy | cert. 15
Special Correspondents retraces the incredible misadventures of a leading radio journalist and his technician. Sent to Iraq where the conflict is intensifying, they lose their plane tickets and money for the trip. This leads them to pull off a major bluff: the duo hide in the Barbès area of Paris, where they pretend to report live from Baghdad. Lying low in a friend's Parisian apartment, they manage to broadcast 'live' from Basrah and Baghdad via a satellite phone and lots of cleverly inserted sound effects. The routine gets out of hand when Franck's so-called war stories begin affecting the actual conflict.
sun 15 nov | 3.30pm | £9, conc. £7

Séraphine
France/Belgium | 2007 | col | 121 mins | dir. Martin Provost, with Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent | cert. 15 | preview screening
1912, in a little town North of Paris. Séraphine Louis works as a maid for Madame Duphot, who rents an apartment to a German art critic and dealer, Wilhelm Uhde, an enthusiastic advocate of modern and 'primitive' artists. In her spare time, Séraphine paints with everything that comes to hand. When Wilhelm comes across a small painting that she brought over a few days previously, he’s mesmerized, snaps it up and insists that Séraphine shows him the rest of her work. It is the beginning of a nurturing relationship which will eventually give Séraphine’s work an international profile. But as Séraphine paints her most inspired canvas, the grace of her work leads her into the realms of madness. Winning 7 César awards this year, Séraphine is a film not to be missed.
thu 19 nov | 8.30pm | £9, conc. £7

Tabarly
France | 2008 | col | 90 mins | doc | dir. Pierre Marcel | score by Yann Tiersen | cert. 12A
Festival-goers with a love of the outdoors and stories of man vs. nature are bound to be awe-struck by this compelling new documentary. As its eponymous title suggests, it’s the inspiring and moving story of the renowned adventurer Éric Tabarly. A Gallic naval officer born in 1931, Tabarly set a remarkable string of speed and distance records in his sailboats. He was twice champion of the OSTAR and tragically went missing in the Irish Sea in June 1998, en route to Scotland's Fife Regatta. Director Pierre Marcel and producer Jacques Perrin chart the sailor's incredible life journey and his mysterious disappearance.
sun 22 nov | 6.15pm | £9, conc. £7
Followed by Q&A with director Pierre Marcel

Mr Hulot's Holiday
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot - restored version 2009
France | 1953 | b&w | 114 mins | dir. Jacques Tati, with Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Michelle Rolla | restored version 2009 | digital print
On holiday at a French seaside resort, Monsieur Hulot creates unintentional havoc among the hotel guests with his well-meaning but terribly clumsy antics. Tati expertly crafts the visual bombast of traditional slapstick into a beautiful and intricate sequence of incidents, accompanied by an equally elegant and intriguing seaside soundtrack of lapping waves, laughing children and transistor radios, all merging into an absurd symphony of cinematic delight. Rediscover Tati's masterpiece on a newly restored version.
wed 25 nov | 8.40pm | £9, conc. £7

Parade
Sweden/France | 1974 | col | 85 mins | dir. Jacques Tati, with Jacques Tati, Michèle Brabo, Karl Kossmayer
Parade is the delightful story of a big circus in which Jacques Tati directs audiences, artists, clowns, children and himself. Throughout the film, adults and children come together as one enthusiastic crowd, united by the show. A spectacular troupe of acrobats, clowns and singers appear to entertain one and all.
fri 27 nov | 6.30pm | £9, conc. £7

Trafic + shorts
France | 1971 | col | 105 mins | dir. Jacques Tati, with Jacques Tati, Maria Kimberly, Marcel Fraval | cert. 12A
In Jacques Tati’s Trafic, the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, outfitted as always with tan raincoat, beaten brown hat, and umbrella, takes to Paris’ highways and byways. For his final outing, Hulot is employed as an auto company’s director of design, and accompanies his new vehicle (a camper fitted out with absurd gadgetry) to an auto show in Amsterdam. Naturally, the road is paved with modern-day mishaps.
sun 29 nov | 2pm | £7, conc. £5

Jour de fête
France | 1949 | col | 76 mins | dir. Jacques Tati, with Jacques Tati, Paul Frankeur, Guy Decomble | cert. U
Jacques Tati reprises his roles as the eccentric Mr Hulot, who this time creates chaos in the gadget-filled, state-of-the-art home of his brother-in-law – all to the delight of his adoring nephew. Hysterically funny and very perceptive, fans rate this the best of all eight Tati films.
tue 1 dec | 3pm | £7, conc. £5

Playtime + shorts
France | 1967 | col | 126 mins | dir. Jacques Tati, with Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek
Ten years in the making, Jacques Tati's unique widescreen comedy features a stunning set that reinvents Paris as an imagined world of glass and steel, dwarfing the individuals who move through it. A comic masterpiece reaching an unparalleled level of inventiveness and scope.
wed 2 dec | 1pm | £7, conc. £5

Louise-Michel
France | 2008 | col | 90 mins | dir.s Gustave Kervern, Benoît Delépine, with Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners, Benoît Poelvoorde | cert. TBC
After the sudden shutdown of their company, the factory workers, led by Louise (played by the iconic Yolande Moreau, 2009 César for Best Actress in Séraphine), are determined to get their revenge on the boss responsible for the relocation. They hire Michel (Bouli Lanners), an incompetent hit man who proves unable to do the job. Louise decides to take matters in her own hands and teams up with Michel to hunt down the "boss." Along the way, the eccentric duo encounter a mad scientist (Benoît Poelvoorde), a singer (French pop artist Philippe Katerine) and a farmer played by writer-director-actor Mathieu Kassovitz who also co-produced the film.
wed 2 dec | 6.15pm | £9, conc. £7

My Uncle
France | 1958 | b&w | 110 mins | dir. Jacques Tati, with Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie | cert. U
The comic adventures of an accident prone uncle trying to guide his 7-year-old nephew around the 20th century's technical complexities.
fri 4 dec | 3pm | £7, conc. £5

Bellamy
France | 2009 | col | 110 mins | dir. Claude Chabrol, with Gérard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Jacques Gamblin, Marie Bunel | cert. 15
As has become his custom, police commissioner Paul Bellamy takes his annual summer break in the south of France, staying with wife Françoise’s family in Nimes. Bellamy, a workaholic, would rather be back in Paris fighting crime and certainly has no enthusiasm for his wife’s holiday plans. Fortunately, he is rescued by the unexpected arrival of two men - his good-for-nothing brother Jacques and a 40-something-year-old stranger, Noël Gentil, who is in desperate need of his help. The former takes a perverse delight in raking over old family grievances whilst the latter intrigues Paul with a bizarre tale involving a murder and faked insurance claim. This is the kind of holiday Paul Bellamy prefers...
sat 5 dec | 8.40pm | £9, conc. £7