This year again, French cinema shines. The biopic has made a resounding comeback. Justice, the ode to difference and to family had a special place. Furthermore, in acting and directing, François Civil and Quentin Dupieux raise the bar to the highest level. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States held its own with blockbusters and horror films. Overview!
This year once again, French cinema will have never shone so brightly with its return to excellence. And this, around two genres that have until now been losing momentum, the biopic and the literary adaptation. Rightly so, since the highly successful “La môme” (with Marion Cotillard, in the title role, Editor’s note), in 2008, Grand Corps Malade, with Mehdi Idir, and Guillaume Nicloux have skillfully rehabilitated icons of the past. With “Monsieur Aznavour”, for the first two, and “Sarah Bernhardt, the divine”, for the last. In the title roles, Tahar Rahim and Sandrine Kiberlain shined brightly. Through voice and above all incarnation, in art as in commitment to the end of existence.
Civil, Dupieux and other crazy loves
As a master actor of French cinema, François Civil will have offered three incredible performances, a masterclass in short. In the sequel to “The Three Musketeers”, “Milady”, which played into overtime, his D’Artagnan was a passionate and formidable opponent for Eva Green’s Milady de Winter. All, alongside the chivalrous Pio Marmai, Romain Duris and Vincent Cassel. As a gay French teacher, accused of sexual harassment of a student, the actor gives a masterful performance without overacting. A key role in a multidimensional love story, with his Clotaire from “L’amour ouf”, he perfects the response alongside Adèle Exarchopoulos (Jackie).
Always more determined, Quentin Dupieux has, once again, shown his mark. With a biopic on six resplendent Dali, with very different imaginations, but also with a very current look at the evolution of the Seventh art. In the first, Anais Demoustier, as an apprentice journalist, succeeds in giving voice to the multiple, equally sassy faces of a single artist. To Romain Duris, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmai, Edouard Baer and Didier Flamand. For the second, “The Second Act”, everything is magnificently characterful. Louis Garrel, Vincent Lindon, Léa Seydoux, Raphaël Quenard and even an artificial intelligence and a tracking shot. Suffice it to say that French cinema will have had its success story with a name and two titles.
Finally, echoing eminently societal subjects, French cinema succeeds, more broadly, in offering renowned fiction. On the family, on the ode to difference and on justice. All in sentimental outpourings. “Happy winners”, “We, the Leroys”, “Un p’tit truc en plus”, “Un silence”, “Le panache” or even “Le fil” are all feature films which set the tone for “l ‘love”. By the distress of a woman after her husband is accused of child pornography, by the stations of the cross of a stuttering student, by the compassion of a man, who arrived by chance, in a group of disabled people or even by a criminal lawyer’s love for legal combat.
The United States in an encore
As a master maker of horror stories, American cinema excels, like every year, in propelling itself up the film charts. With “Abigail”, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett lead the way by offering a divine vampire ballet, where humans are out for their blood. Film where we find, among other members of the cast, Mélissa Barrera, made visible thanks to her role in the last two installments, to date, of the “Scream” saga. Another gem in the genre, the second part of “Smile” continues the rise of its smiles. Even bigger, this evil-looking expression takes its curse to a higher level, via an XXL artist concert.
On the same tones, the blockbuster is repetitive in its blockbusters and high-end animations. From then on, “Dune: Part Two”, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Vice-Versa 2” enjoy the successes of their film predecessors, in style. Finally, “A Life”, a magnificent story of a rescuer of children from the clutches of the Nazis, Nicholas Winton allows the United States to raise the bar in a genre that it has little control over, the biopic. Still heartbreaking, “Iron Claw” had the merit of highlighting a superstar wrestling family. Like raining blows, the feature film put an “emotional knockout” on the biopic, moving, poetic and without too much pathos.
From our correspondent Aldric Warnet
