L’amant double

Exactly one year ago, I was in Paris (to watch tennis) and tempted to go see L'amant double which had just opened in cinemas there, barely a couple of weeks after being screened at Cannes. In the end I didn't get time to go, but the fact that we've just had Cannes, and that tennis …

The Shape of Water

Such a beautiful, nuanced performance from Sally Hawkins, an actress who, in the past, I've found a little too gurn-y for my linking. But here she is perfect as Elisa, a woman who doesn't speak yet can convey her feelings with the tiniest of gestures. In much the same manner as Pan's Labyrinth, director Guillermo del …

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

"We wasted so much time" Spring and part of the summer of 1983 (when this film is set) was the beginning of an important period of my life - although I didn't realise it at the time. Aged somewhere between main characters Elio and Oliver, I spent several months living in Italy as part of …

Le Fidèle – Racer and the Jailbird (2017)

This is a strange one. I thought it had finished twice before it finally got there and found it a little all over the place in clarifying which strand of the narrative was important for plot and which was supposed to be exposition. And yet it was still very enjoyable. I could hear some perplexed …

Final Portrait (2017)

Here's the thing about genius artistic creatures. They're often self-centred shits. And no matter how wonderful their work is, they make difficult subjects for me to watch and appreciate. Mr Turner being a similar case-in-point. Alberto Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush) is a lauded, talented artist who is constantly sabotaging his own work, treats his wife and …

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

You may recall that I did not like director Luc Besson's previous feature film Lucy AT ALL. But I had seen and heard the reviews, and I do like Jupiter Ascending, so I was prepared to give Valerian a go. Good choice, Marie! Yes there are things wrong with the film, but I had real fun in …

La propera pell – The Next Skin

We first meet troubled teenager Leo causing havoc at his care home, and follow him as he is reunited with his mother after a period of eight years, during which he has been reported as missing. He also has amnesia, and so cannot be sure that the woman he meets is actually his mother, nor help …

Elle

It took me almost 24 hours to work out my response to this film. I kept swaying between "very very good" and "very very annoying" and so walked away from writing about it as nothing I put down made any sense to me. Having now figured out what the main issue for me was, it's …

La fille inconnue – The Unknown Girl

Just after seeing this movie, I read that directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne had originally intended to make this film with Marion Cotillard but it didn't work so they made Two Days, One Night with her instead. And intriguingly, having had two years to sort out The Unknown Girl, the two films have so many …

Réparer les vivants – Heal the Living

A  fabulous, almost dialogue-free, opening section with some stunning visuals sets up one side of the story, and we only meet the protagonists of the other side much later, when their story is told separately. Obviously, the two threads are intertwined by the end, but I don't wish to give too much away so I'll say …