YSL, Jazz stars, and French resistance fighters take over
It’s amusing to watch the lives of famous figures. Think Yves Saint Laurent and his enigmatic, melancholic persona coming to life onscreen, artist Paul Cezanne arguing with novelist Emile Zola, or French actor-director Guillaume Canet performing a satire of himself.
“In the Philippines, the French Film Festival has been giving the Filipino public a glimpse of French culture and society for 23 years,” says French Ambassador to the Philippines Nicolas Galey. “This year’s festival offers a panorama of contemporary French productions, from family dramas to romance, modern-day comedies, action and animation. Indeed, there is a film for everyone.”
If car chases often fuel our appetite for action, the premiere night of the French Film Festival on June 8 in Bonifacio High Street will be screening the fifth installment of blockbuster hit Taxi. A total of 22 films will be shown from June 6 to 12 in Manila, before heading to Abreeza Mall in Davao for the first time on June 21 to 22, and to Ayala Center Center Cebu on June 25 to 27.
Art enthusiasts would enjoy how jazz, dance, and fashion are part of this year’s lineup. With Jalil Lespert’s Yves Saint Laurent, the festival presents its second take on the life of fashion’s golden boy. The festival has already screened a YSL biopic in the past, but in this version, the director had direct access to the designer’s extensive clothing archives — from his iconic Mondrian dress to the Russian ballet collection — granted by Saint Laurent’s longtime lover and partner-in-crime, Pierre Bergé himself.
Just as Saint Laurent revolutionized fashion, so too did jazz musicians usher a rebellious edge into the realm of music — or so the German authorities often feared. The title character of Django is a jazz legend, a Belgian-born gypsy in France, holding Paris captive to swing music at the time of the 1943 German occupation.
Adapted from Bastien Vivès’s graphic novel, Polina follows the trajectory of a gifted ballerina. From Russia, France to Antwerp, from rigid classical ballet to contemporary styles and street dance, the film revolves around the worlds of dance, and the young danseur who struggles to navigate them.
If we’re curious about the lives of artists and writers, Cezanne et Moi is about the friendship of Cezanne and Zola — their lives intertwined by the crafts they pursue, as well as the dreams, the obsessions, and even the lovers that they share.
Humor, as French films suggest, is a great way of approaching the most ironic circumstances — such as when a straight man loses his student visa and marries his male friend to avoid becoming an illegal immigrant. If its English title is telling enough, Marry Me, Dude unravels the hilarious consequences brought about by desperate times and even more desperate measures.
Real-life couple Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard play (bizarre versions of) themselves in a comedy about the male star losing his appeal, or so he obsessively believes. It’s both funny and painful to watch his botched attempts at feeling younger, from getting wasted to getting girls. Rock’n’Roll meanders through the fall of Canet, triggered not exactly by his age but by a bruised male ego.
Jean-Pierre Melville, one of France’s iconic filmmakers, recently celebrated his centenary. If we’re wondering about how the worldview of this former French resistance fighter informed his work, writers have noted that in his films, the outlaws were the good guys.
The festival now gives us a glimpse into Melville’s lawless worlds, where a well-dressed gambler plans a robbery in Montmartre (Bob Le Flambeur), and a communist woman falls in love with a priest (Leon Morin, Priest).
It’s no question that the French film industry has also been instrumental in promoting films from different parts of the globe, as we’ve seen from how Cannes gives recognition to Filipino filmmakers. In this light, the festival pays tribute to the work of Filipino director Raymond Red, who makes his comeback in Cannes 18 years since he was awarded the Palme d’Or for his short film, Anino. Along with Red’s Himpapawid, Anino will be screened on Philippine Independence Day. Bagahe by Zig Dulay, which won the grand prize (Cyclo d’or) of the Vesoul Asian Film Festival this year, completes the lineup.
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Presented by The Embassy of France to the Philippines, Institut Français, UniFrance, the Alliance française de Manille, and the Film Development Council, the festival will be at the Greenbelt 3 cinemas from June 6 to 12; at the Bonifacio High Street cinemas from June 8 to 12; at the UP Town Center cinemas from June 10 to 11; at Abreeza Mall, Davao City on June 21 and 22; and at the Ayala Center Cebu from June 25 to 27.
