FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL

Susan and I enjoy the film festivals that are offered by the Palace cinema group. Each has their own strength althoug I have learnt not to go to anything in the German Film Festival that's marked as a 'comedy'. The Spanish Film Festival is always interesting because films come from South America as well as Europe but it's usually the French Film Festival that has the most number of films that we go and see. Of course, as you know, our taste in culture differs so we don't always go to see the same films.

This year, for example, I went alone to see the new production of Albert Camus' famous novel, The Stranger, plus some police procedurals. I also saw The Great Arch with different company when I was in Melbourne. It's a film about the making of La Grande Arche de la Defense in Paris, designed by a Danish architect. The story is very similar to that of Jorn Utzon and Sydney Opera House: a designer with ambition beyond the budget and the imagining of the people who appointed him and eventually left in despair. In this case, Johna Otto von Spreckelsen died before the Arche was complete. I confess that I sat through the film thinking about all the times I'd said 'no' to a theatre designer because what they wanted was too expensive, not safe, not practical. Who was right? We'll never know.


The most entertaining films this year have been Doux Jesus: A nun in the city about a cloistered nun who leaves after 20 years to track down on old boyfriend and A Dash of Love about two friends in wheelchairs on a road trip to an inclusive brothel in Spain. Both light and warm-hearted.



I took myself off to some films with darker themes, leaving Susan to sit out in the sunshine, reading. The first Dog 51 was set in a futuristic Paris where the police worked with an AI called Alma to catch criminals. Not all the reviews have been positive but whereas I could have done without so many car chases, the performances were strong and even though the killer was predictable, I did like the adventure of it all. The second film was more miserable because it was based on a true story from the 2018 yellow jacket riots in France - Case 137 - where a young man was shot in the head. The classic story of police trying to investigate other police in the face of lies and the 'must protect our own' attitude.

The final films that Susan and I shared differed considerably in tone but they were both looking at families. In the first case, Colour of Time, it was about cousins meeting for the first time and discovering the live of their shared ancestor with the magical touch of Monet's work providing a background. The second was about a family, the Bettancourts, of L'Oreal fame falling apart as The Richest Woman of the World fell for the company of a charming gay con man.

The Monet film reminded me of some of the wonderful moments of accessing Monet's work in Japan. I've never been a particular fan of his endless lilies but seeing them in specially created rooms in ChiChi Gallery gallery on the Japanese island of Noashima changed my mind. And although I've never been to Monet's garden in France, I have been to the version in Japan: Jardin de Montey Mormotta au Village de Kitagawa.  A fascinating place to meander around.

Loretta in Kitagawa - 2023


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