For Francophiles and cinephiles alike

Cinemania rolls out the best of French
language cinema for its 15th edition

LOST IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS: Eden Is West

by MATTHEW HAYS

It’s hard to believe Cinemania, Montreal’s film fest dedicated to French language films (with English subtitles), turns 15 this year. The fest has proven a huge hit with the city’s cinephile community, screening venerable hits alongside more obscure French-language fare from France, Belgium, Switzerland, North Africa and Quebec (among a few other places). Once again, the fest’s organizers have raided the vaults of local consulates; what follows are some of the highlights of Cinemania 15.

Greek auteur Costa-Gavras returns to the festival this year with his latest, Eden Is West, the man behind such enduring landmarks as Z and Missing looks at the immigrant experience in France. One young man (played by Riccardo Scamarcio, in a stunning performance) attempts to find his way as an immigrant in Paris, a city increasingly hostile to outsiders. A strange take on migration comes with the hit comedy Special Correspondents, by director Frédéric Auburtin (San Antonio). Two hapless radio reporters venture to Iraq to brave terrifying conditions to get the story for their listeners back home. Sadly, for them, they managed to lose their airline tickets so instead fake their reportage from a Parisian hideout. An off-kilter comedy that also manages to skewer the media’s typically inept coverage of war.

Pathos will undoubtedly hang over the screening of A Real Life, the North American premiere of the new feature by director Sarah Petit. The film features the final performance of celebrated French actor Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gerard), who died of pneumonia during a shoot in Romania last year. In a surprising farewell to his life and career, Depardieu plays a petty thief who meets another outcast while on the lam from the law and falls in love. It’s a film that showcases Depardieu’s naturalist acting skills. And if you’re in the mood for a good old-fashioned spy flick, don’t miss Farewell, the true story of a Soviet spy whose allegiances shifted during the Brezhnev era and who ended up giving loads of valuable info to the Americans and British, helping to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the Berlin Wall. Director Christian Carion (Merry Christmas) cast two prominent directors in his lead roles, Guillaume Canet and Emir Kusturica (who plays the spy).

Dominique Blanc took the best-actress prize at the Venice Film Fest last year for her tour-de-force performance in The Other One, a feature about destructive romantic obsession that has its Canadian premiere at Cinemania. Co-directors Pierre Trividic and Patrick Mario Bernard offer an unblinking look at a woman’s descent into hell after her relationship flounders and she learns her ex is seeing another woman. A brutal look at one person’s trip to the rubber room.

In Baby Blues, our protagonist (Karin Viard) faces a cruel conundrum that haunts so many contemporary women: she’s offered a hot-shot job in New York that means a move from Paris. Now in her early 40s, she must decide between career and her relationship to a Parisian beau—and the possibilities of building a family.

Cinemania also screens Quebec favourites, and if you missed it, I would urge you to venture to A No-hit No-run Summer (Un été sans point ni coup sûr), the Francis Leclerc film based on the celebrated novel by Marc Robitaille. In the summer of ’69, a group of kids rejected by the local baseball league form a team of their own. A beautiful, melancholic film with a kick-ass cast.

CINEMANIA SCREENS FROM NOV. 5–15.
INFO: CINEMANIAFILMFESTIVAL.COM