If the leaves are falling, it must be time
for another edition of "New French Connection" at the
BAM Rose Cinemas. This annual series of recent films includes
two veteran directors as well as two filmmakers presenting their
sophomore efforts.
The program begins on Oct. 26 with a new documentary from Raymond
Depardon, who BAM honored with a retrospective just last year.
In that retrospective, Depardon’s film on farm living, "Profils
paysans: l’approche" (loosely translated: "Profiles
of Farmers: An Introduction") examined an agricultural community
and its place in the current world order.
With the New York premiere of his new film, "Profils paysans:
le quotidien" ("Profiles of Farmers: Daily Life"),
he revisits those subjects to find them still struggling. Since
this is an aging group, many have retired and others have died.
But there is a new generation of farmers trying to make local
agriculture appealing to the European Union.
Showing with this film is Depardon’s short film, "What’s
New at the Garret?" ("Quoi de neuf au Garet").
Here, Depardon and his brother put their own family’s farm up
for sale. From this short, we find that he knows whereof he speaks
in his farming series.
One of these French filmmakers, Jérôme Bonnell,
will journey to Fort Greene to talk about his work on Oct. 28.
Bonnell’s first and second feature films will be presented in
the series, and both will be New York premieres.
"Le Chignon d’Olga," Bonnell’s debut film, concerns
the maturing of a young man, but it is really a coming-of-age
story for his entire family – or at least what’s left of it.
The action begins about a year after Julien’s mother has died.
This teenager struggles, along with his father Gilles and his
sister Emma, in ways sweet and tender to go on with their lives
in the area around Chartres.
Julien develops a crush on a bookstore clerk (the Olga of the
film’s title) and does all of those silly things a teen boy does
to try to get the girl. His father, meanwhile, is having trouble
with his writing and his love life. And Emma, of course, becomes
the mother to this crew, but she wants love as well.
Bonnell’s treatment of his characters bears a resemblance to
the work of Eric Rohmer ("My Night at Maud’s," "Claire’s
Knee"). Whether he’s paying homage, or strongly influenced
(or both), will be up to the viewer to decide.
Bonnell will make his appearance at BAM after the 6:50 pm screening
of his second film, "Les yeux clairs" ("Pale Eyes").
This film gets a bit grittier. Fanny is a mentally disturbed
young woman (the nature of her illness is never made clear) living
in provincial France with her brother and sister-in-law.
Fanny’s emotions are generally over the top, whether it’s happiness
or anger. And her brother’s wife really gets on her nerves. When
Fanny discovers her having an affair, she takes off for Germany,
where her father is buried. Before Fanny gets to the grave, however,
she meets a recluse who doesn’t speak French, while she can’t
speak German. But between them they manage to work out a system
of communication and possibly the beginnings of a relationship.
There is a sweet charm to "Les yeux clairs" – Bonnell
even references Charlie Chaplin – that makes it a tender comedic
drama, rather than a slapstick laugh riot.
(Bonnell made three short films prior to "Le chignon d’Olga"
and "Les yeus clairs." It’s a shame they can’t be seen
as well. This would be a great opportunity to see a young filmmaker’s
entire body of work in just a couple of days.)
Like Bonnell, Jean-Pierre Denis has made two feature films, but
only his second, "La petite chartreuse," will be shown
in "New French Connection." Based on a novel by Pierre
Péju, it features a gripping performance by the usually
splendid Olivier Gourmet, who has won acting awards at the Cannes
Film Festival for his work with the Belgian Dardennes brothers.
Gourmet plays a recovering alcoholic with a steel trap of a mind.
In fact, he remembers every word he has every read, and it helps
in his job as a book dealer.
The Chartreuse in the title, is in fact the name of a mountain
near Grenoble, where the film takes place. In the same city lives
a single mother unable to fully focus on her young daughter.
When she forgets to pick up her daughter from school one day,
the little girl panics and runs into the street – right into
the car driven by Gourmet. While the girl lies in a coma, it
becomes his shot at redemption. He takes on the responsibilities
that her mother is emotionally unable to deal with. While the
story is a moving one, it is Gourmet’s performance that is worth
the price of admission.
Location has an important role in many of the films in the series.
The farm, obviously, is front and center in Depardon’s films,
and Bonnell’s two films take place in the French provinces, while
"La petite chartreuse" is set in the mountainous city
of Grenoble. But Claire Denis (no relation to the aforementioned
Jean-Pierre Denis) takes us around the world – we’re never exactly
sure where except for one location – as she rewrites some cinematic
rules in her daring latest feature "L’Intrus" ("The
Intruder").
Claire Denis’ film has been stripped down to its barest essentials;
dialogue is at a minimum, and it takes the better part of "L’intrus"
for us to piece the story together. One day, an old man, who
seems to live a hermetic life, packs up a few things, leaves
his dogs behind, and takes off. Why? We don’t know at this early
point. We do know that he takes his money out of a Swiss bank,
and winds up somewhere in Asia. We also know that he has a son,
and this becomes the core of the film – reconciliation. But not
just of a man and his son, but of the past with the present,
and even the future.
Claire Denis’ films can be intense (look at "Friday Night"
or "Beau Travail" as examples of her work – subtle
and provocative, but one must pay attention!), and this one is
not an exception. But they are beautifully shot and composed,
and they are worth the mental effort one has to put in.
There may only be five feature films in this year’s "New
French Connection," but they are well chosen. In this series,
different styles are represented and taken together, these films
give us a snapshot of the variety and range of current French
cinema.
Marian Masone is the associate
director of programming for the Film Society of Lincoln Center
and chief curator of The New York Video Festival also at Lincoln
Center.
The "New French Connection"
film series will be screened at BAMcinematek (30 Lafayette Ave.
at Ashland Place in Fort Greene) Oct. 26-30. Tickets are $10
and $7 for students 25 and younger (with valid ID Monday-Thursday,
except holidays), seniors, children younger than age 12, and
BAM Cinema Club members. For a complete schedule, visit www.bam.org
or call (718) 636-4100.
