#FIRSTLOOK: CINEFRANCO 2022 PREVIEW

By George Kozera

It has been reported that the GTA hosts 87 film festivals annually. Whereas Toronto’s world-acclaimed jewel, TIFF, held me captivated 24/7 since I started attending it in its third year. CINEFRANCO however, has had my heart for decades. Featuring French-language films (with English subtitles) from all over the world, it offers Cinema Buffs a rare and unique opportunity to savour movies that are increasingly difficult to find. J’adore cette fête!

This year’s Festival contains both online and in-theatre options. The Online Festival runs November 3-20, 2022 and the In-Theatre component runs November 4-15, 2022. More details here.

We were able to screen a few movies playing at this year’s edition. Here are some of our thoughts.

MES TRES CHERS ENFANTS (PRICE OF PARENTING)

Ten years after their children moved away from the family home to live in the bright lights that is Paris, Chantal (Josiane Balasko) and Christian Blanc (Didier Bourdon) continue to suffer from the empty nest syndrome, despite the fact that their two children turned out to be self-absorbed, manipulative monsters. Stephane (Ben Abdallah) continues to send laundry for his mother to wash and iron and has it picked up by courier despite living next door to a dry-cleaning establishment and Sandrine (Marilou Berry, Josiane Balasko’s real-life daughter) is dismissive and sarcastic. When the children advise the parents that they will not be coming home for Christmas, Chantal and Christian hatch a devious plan and tell their kids that they had just won 18 million Euros which most assuredly will make them spend more time with them to get their sharing of the winnings!

MES TRES CHERS ENFANTS is a delicious Comedy that tackles how greed overtakes dignity and common sense with finesse (even Stephane’s boss and the local bank manager want a piece of the action). The repercussions are many with comedic results – I particularly loved the scene in a designer clothing store (a stunning homage to Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”) that ends disastrously!

The leads are astonishingly funny, but the glue that holds this hysterical movie together is Josiane Balasko. I first took notice of her in 2001, when TIFF screened a Gallic version of the hit series “Absolutely Fabulous” where she played the Edwina character alongside the legendary Nathalie Baye as Patsy. Her impeccable comedic timing is joyous to behold, particularly when Chantal is awakened at two in the morning by Stephane asking her how to treat and remove a stain on his dress shirt; her solution has me howling! This Movie had a smile plastered on my face hours after watching it.

EN ROUE LIBRE (FREESTYLE)

EN ROUE LIBRE opens with Louise (Marina Fois) waking-up in bed, still exhausted, and stumbles to her kitchen with a counter filled with half empty bottles of wine and eats a rotting banana before heading off to work. While trying to get out off her car, she experiences a major panic attack and physically cannot do it. In front of the hospital where she works as a nurse, she is advised to just drive around until the panic attack subsides. It doesn’t. When she runs out of gas and is stuck in a parking lot, her car is stolen by Paul (Benjamin Voisin) brandishing a gun. Louise is trapped while Paul drives to Cap Ferrat to kill a man. As the two characters slowly and cautiously reveal themselves to each other, they encounter a variety of characters along the way.

Five-time César Award nominee, Marina Fois gives a full-bodied, hypnotic performance as her character comes to grip with her inner demons. Benjamin adds another impressive performance to his cinematic résumé, which include the French mini-series FIERTES (Pride) and SUMMER OF 85. The French countryside is sumptuously-photographed and any movie that includes songs by Veronique Sanson is A-Okay in my books!

Whereas EN ROUE LIBRE may not linger with any depth about mental illnesses and personal struggles which these characters experience, I was completely engrossed and was happy to be a passenger on this highly original road trip.

L’HOMME PARFAIT

High-powered executive, Florence (Valerie Karsenti) is tired. Her job is demanding, and she gets absolutely no help from her lazy, unemployed actor husband Franck (Didier Bourdon) with the care of their two children or household chores. He is about as useless as breasts on a bull! To make her life easier, she buys a robot. Bobby (Pierre-Francois Martin-Laval) is perfect, with his blonde Vidal Sassoon hair and his perfect physique with abs you can grate cheese on. He cooks gourmet meals with the appropriate wine pairing. The house is immaculate. The children love him. As does Florence. Franck – not so much. His jealousy over Bobby increases daily as he plots the robot’s demise. This is the premise of L’HOMME PARFAIT, a Comedy far from “parfait.”

Comedy is subjective. What makes me laugh or chuckle may not appeal to all, but I personally require it to be somewhat rooted in reality. Whereas I easily bought into the perfect robot concept, as situations escalated, I found myself increasingly irritated. Why would Franck be jealous and contemptuous of Bobby, a programmable robot, who does everything at home that he just won’t do? When seeking advice from his friend Pat (another unemployed actor) or his therapist, the peals of wisdom Franck hears are bizarrely ridiculous or borderline misogynistic. More importantly, due to lack of chemistry between Bourdon and Karsenti, we wonder why she even would remain married to a man who contributes so little?

Other than Martin-Laval’s entertaining take as Bobby, I found L’HOMME PARFAIT quite basic.

LA VRAIE FAMILLE

When Simon (Gabriel Pavie) was 18 months old, his mother died. His father Eddy (Felix Moati) was emotionally unable to care for his young son, hence the courts placed him in custody with Anna and Driss (Melanie Thierry, Lyes Salem) with two sons of their own.

LA VRAIE FAMILLE opens with the family on vacation, enjoying the thrills of a water slide facility and playing a fun round-robin game of table tennis. Simon, now six years old, loves his foster parents and the family dynamics are joyful and energetic, though there is a special bond between him and Anna. She, alone, takes him to a Catholic church every Sunday despite the family’s different religious beliefs. During a regularly scheduled appointment between Simon and his biological dad, Anna is told that Eddy wants to regain full custody of his son and they embark on a temporary shared arrangement where Eddy will have his son every weekend and holidays.

This is an emotionally-shattering experience that will elicit crocodile tears. Watching Anna stoically cope with bureaucratic hurdles (there’s a fight for Simon to stay home to celebrate his older “brother’s” birthday, which falls on a weekend) or being asked by Eddy to not have Simon call her mother anymore is gut-wrenching. Melanie Thierry is letter-perfect as she navigates emotional bombs. In fact, the entire Cast deliver such unadulterated performances, this at times feels like a Documentary. Not wanting to give away any spoilers, all I will say about LA VRAIE FAMILLE is bravo!

LA PIECE RAPPORTEE (UNSOPHISTICATED LADY)

After a hunting expedition goes awry, our voice-over Narrator takes the audience 20 years into the future and introduces us to the Chateau-Tetard family in LA PIECE RAPPORTEE. Paul (Philippe Katerine) is a middle-aged bachelor still living at the family mansion with his mother Adelaide (Josiane Balasko). Due to a taxi strike in Paris, clueless Paul goes to a Metro station hoping he can use the subway to somehow get to the airport and board a plane to be with his mother at their villa in Antibes. Fortuitously, he meets Ava (Anais Demoustier) behind the counter and, bingo bango, they ultimately and quickly get married. “Queen” Adelaide is not amused, she is obnoxiously class conscience and thinks being poor is in one’s DNA. Ava, increasingly bored being trapped in the mansion, starts taking the family’s Rolls Royce and its trusty chauffeur (Sergi Lopez) and travels aimlessly around Paris, where we not only see that city’s historical beauty, but homeless encampments and ugly construction sites. During one outing, Ava “cute meets” Jerome (William Lebghil), and they ultimately have a relationship.

In a nutshell, LA PIECE RAPPORTEE is a giddy, silly movie filled with slapstick scenes (the family dog smokes a pipe. Adelaide unravels designer sweaters to make balls of wool) and some witty dialogue and social observations. Anais Demoustier has a wondrous screen presence and as the pompous, uncompromising, and demanding Adelaide, Balasko revels in a performance so over-the-top, it would make Jerry Lewis smile! I enjoyed Lebghil’s befuddlement but was saddened that more wasn’t given to Sergi Lopez (Pan’s Labyrinth) to do. This is a fun put-your-brain-on hold Comedy and let its slaphappy magic wash over you.

NOEMIE DIT OUI

Fifteen-year-old Noemi (Kelly Depeault) has been living in a Montreal youth centre for two years, but yearns for the day she reunites with her mother. After it becomes clear, when hearing her mother say she would not take her back at a court hearing, she escapes the Youth Protection Centre and contacts another escapee from the facility, Lea (Emi Chicoine) with whom she goes to an apartment filled with rowdy young guys. She meets Zach (James Edward Metayer). They hook-up, she falls in love with him and ultimately he convinces her to work as an escort, alongside Lea, during Montreal’s F1 festivities. On her first day, she services 11 clients and then is gang-raped at the house party afterwards. The plot of NOEMI DIT OUI primarily covers her weekend as a call girl during the weekend of the F1.

NOEMIE DIT OUI offers nothing new nor very original to the prostitute/pimp cinematic genre. Depeault must be commended for her performance, balancing angst and capturing the essence and compassion for Noemi’s mental struggles. It is strong and assured. But, as with the Film itself, it is steeped in melodrama. Whereas I appreciated that Writer/Director Genevieve Albert eschewed potentially violent episodes, I wish her self-editing skills were stronger and that there had been more than just one character that with positive virtues. That said, I loved the scene on Crescent Street filmed late at night after partying all day during the F1. It was true to form!