Scintillating

>> Cinemania highlights

by MATTHEW HAYS

As well as the Beineix retrospective, Cinemania's seventh edition is shaping up to be another new height for festival programmers. Stand-by is the César-winning directorial debut of Roch Stephanik, in which a woman (Dominique Blanc) is dumped by her significant other just before they embark on a trip together. Horrified and abandoned, Blanc detaches herself from the real world, becoming a vagrant who lives in the airport. She supports herself by becoming a prostitute, picking up various travelling businessmen. A surreal glimpse into trauma, the kind of film the French do so very well. (Think also the recent La Pianiste.)

La Maîtresse en maillot de bain (Teacher in a Bikini) is an unusually paced, character-driven comedy about three men who, at 30, remain stuck in their collective adolescence. They resort to petty thievery to make a few extra bucks and, by chance, end up videotaping a mob hit that lands them in water over their heads. Or perhaps not, as the three soon realize the tape they hold is worth thousands of francs to their blackmailees. One of those films that pleases with its constant defiance of our expectations.

Virginie Despentes, who wrote the ultracontroversial novel Baise-Moi (which became the famously banned film), returns with Les Jolies choses (Pretty Things). This time, opposite-end-of-the-spectrum twins (played effectively by Marion Cotillard) end up hating each other for their differing moral views of the world. Lucie is the slutty one, while Marie is uptight and conservative. When Lucie commits suicide, Marie decides to fake her own death and "become" Lucie, thus allowing her to live her wildest fantasies. Another dark take on identity and human sexuality.

Drag, issues surrounding racism and French immigration policy all collide in Zakia and Ahmed Bouchaala's comedy Origine controlée (Made in France), in which three very different people end up on the lam, trying desperately to escape French police who intend to deport them. A film both illuminating and hilarious, one of many not to be missed at Cinemania 2001. The seventh annual Cinemania Film Festival runs from Nov. 1--11. All screenings take place at the MMFA. See film listings for showtimes