Opening day: "My Sex Life Or How I Got Into an Argument" will be screened on April 13 as part of BAMcinematek's series of films by French director Arnaud Desplechin. The retrospective continues through April 17.

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Although he’s only made six feature films since 1991, France’s Arnaud Desplechin has become one of the world’s most highly acclaimed film directors.

He may not be known to general audiences, but Desplechin’s uncompromising, intelligent studies of warts-and-all characters have large festival followings. BAMcinematek’s series "In the Company of Arnaud Desplechin," which runs April 13 through April 17, introduces Brooklyn audiences to a director who obviously makes his films to please himself. If viewers want to come along for the ride, that’s an added bonus.

Desplechin has made different types of films: a spy thriller, a period drama, even a cinematic essay about the difficulties of filming a play. But his two lengthy, intimate, contemporary character studies are at the heart of his art.

Desplechin’s best film, "My Sex Life ... or How I Got into an Argument," opens the series on April 13. Three hours long, this revealing look at several twenty-somethings trying to discover what makes relationships work (even as their lives are continuous demonstrations of infidelity and romantic failure) is one of the most astonishing "epic" films ever made. The director is fond of long takes, so many scenes play out in what appears to be real time.

To pull this off successfully, a director has to have faith in his performers, and Desplechin has several terrific young French actors at his disposal. Leading man Mathieu Almaric can wring ever finer gradations of emotion out of his immensely mobile face, and lead actresses Emmanuelle Devos, Jeanne Balibar and Marianne Denicourt are required to give more emotional nakedness than most directors would request. The result is an exhilarating ride through the all-too-real lives of people who act differently than they talk.

When Desplechin’s latest film, "Kings and Queen," premiered last fall at the New York Film Festival, the consensus was that he had made another boldly philosophical treatise on relationships, a drama as equally dazzling as "My Sex Life."

Showing on April 15 (as a sneak preview arranged by its distributor, Wellspring, before it is released locally in May), "Kings and Queen" has many of the Desplechin trademarks that made "My Sex Life" so illuminating: the presence of Devos and Almaric, the imposing length (150 minutes), and the relentless analyzing of various lives through imaginative cross-cutting and interplotting.

And yet "Kings and Queen" is only fitfully satisfying. It’s actually difficult to pinpoint why, because so much of what makes Desplechin’s work fascinating is present. Perhaps it’s because the two stories that Desplechin brings together after such a long buildup don’t have the same kind of resonance together as they do apart; perhaps it’s because the movie’s title, which refers to the main female character and the men (and young son) in her life, seems too obviously ironic in retrospect, with none of the nuance of the title of "My Sex Life."

Whatever the reason, "Kings and Queen" rarely reaches the ecstatic heights of the earlier film, but it does underscore Desplechin as a chance-taker and bold experimenter, and Desplechin’s other films in the BAM series are further cinematic experiments.

The director’s second feature, 1992’s "The Sentinel," (screening April 17 along with 1991’s "The Life of the Dead," the director’s 54-minute debut), is a 140-minute espionage mystery that flirts with - but never succumbs to - the cliches of the genre. Instead it concentrates much of its energies on the psychology of the medical student who finds himself thrust into a bewilderingly complicated situation.

On April 14, Desplechin’s only English language film, "Esther Kahn," will be screened, a beautifully detailed journey back to London in the early days of the 20th century to follow a young Jewish girl who wants so badly to become a stage actress.

So much of this ambitious film is so perfectly realized - from Howard Shore’s most ingenious musical score to the actual physical details of the production - that it’s too bad that "Esther Kahn" remains a halting disappointment. Partly this is due to the fact that, since the director is French, his limited expertise with the English language shows up onscreen. But most damaging is the presence of Summer Phoenix in the title role, the kind of casting miscalculation that buries even the most well-intentioned film.

Lastly, "Playing in the Company of Men" is scheduled for April 16. Continuing Desplechin’s relentless experimentation, this 2003 cinematic essay on the twin illusions of theater and film is based on Edward Bond’s play. Using British popster Paul Weller’s songs as a sort of audio commentary on the action, "Playing" presents Desplechin at his most avant-garde, and shows that, even at his less than considerable best, this immensely gifted artist is a needed provocateur in today’s cinema.

"In the Company of Arnaud Desplechin" runs April 13-17 at BAMcinematek, 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Place in Fort Greene. Tickets are $10, and on weekdays, $7 for students with ID, seniors and children 12 and younger. For a complete schedule and more information, call (718) 636-4100 or log on to the Web site at www.bam.org.

©2005 Community Newspaper Group