My Life, My Face, The Barbarians, The Seeds of the Wild Fig Tree… Films to watch this week

My life my face – To have

Drama comedy by Sophie Fillières, 1h39

What a number! She is, let’s say, special. This Barberie Bichette (Agnès Jaoui) has quirks. She talks to herself, collects toilet paper rolls, writes poems on PowerPoint boards, gives herself the finger in mirrors. Fifty-five years old already, damn it! She can’t believe it. How did she manage to get things to go to hell like this? They call her Barbie. She’s disappointed in her appearance. She feels old, useless, out of touch. Depression is not far away. She quits her job, wonders how many showers she has left to take before she dies. She calls everyone Fanfan. Her shrink listens to her with infinite patience, without saying a word. Her children support her, from afar. It’s true that she’s a bit exhausting. Depression is a convenient excuse. Agnès Jaoui has the gift of making this woman who could have been unbearable, with her mood swings, her unexpected reactions, fraternal. Here she is, interned in the hospital. Rest treatment. This stay knocks her out. Her solitude takes up all the space. This gentle madness has a crazy charm. It will take her to the depths of Scotland where surprises still await her, in the middle of the moor. No one was better suited than Sophie Fillières to tell this character story. She knew its distress and poetry. The director passed away on July 31, 2023. Her film resembles a cry for help, a farewell letter, a smiling testament. Wherever you are, Madam, we love you for this little pebble that you left behind. IN.

Also readOur review of My Life, My Face: Crazy Charm

Seeds of the wild fig tree – To have

Drama by Mohammad Rasoulof, 2h46

This is the story of an Iranian family, torn apart and heartbreaking. The story of a father, promoted to investigating judge, and his two daughters whose destiny crosses that of the Women, Life, Freedom movement, after the arrest, then death, of Mahsa Amini, for an ill-fitting veil. From then on, how can two opposing visions be reconciled under the same roof? How can one sing of freedom when one’s father contributes to stifling it? Iman, in a black suit and collarless shirt, sees it only through his new functions, the fruit of his loyalty to the Islamic Republic. His responsibilities within the revolutionary court of Tehran are heavy to bear: he must pronounce the sentences, sometimes the capital executions, of the same demonstrators that the two rebellious teenagers dream of joining. Torn between his loyalty to the regime and his share of humanity, Iman nevertheless chooses weapons and tyrants. But he is far from imagining that his daughters, Rezvan and Sana, whom he forbids from going out to protest, could disobey him and betray him. The helpless arbiter of these family conflicts, Najmeh, the mother, played by the brilliant actress Soheila Golestani, has a central role: she is the incarnation of a system that is crumbling and collapsing from the inside. She is the image of those who, through ideology or comfort, deny reality. Until this same reality arrives at home, as here with the arrival of a teenage friend shot during the demonstrations and who must be saved at all costs, unbeknownst to her husband. A moving, explosive feature film of incredible force and form, where fiction and documentary overlap wonderfully to gradually shift into a breathtaking thriller that allows us to see and feel the fire that burns in every Iranian woman. DM

Also readCannes Film Festival: our review of the film The Seeds of the Wild Fig Tree, or the banality of the male

Also readMohammad Rasoulof: “Vitality is still the order of the day in Iran”

The Barbarians – To have

Comedy by Julie Delpy, 1h41

Nothing to do, the plot of Julie Delpy’s new film The Barbarians recalls the droll stories of René Goscinny. Judge for yourself: it is 2024. In Paimpont (Ille-et-Vilaine), the villagers are still resisting the ill wind of an invasive modernity and a political correctness in the air of the times. All of them? No, Joëlle, the overexcited schoolteacher, willing to give lessons (Julie Delpy, horrifying as you want), is embarking on a new crusade. As the war in Ukraine has moved France, at the town hall council, the schoolteacher has the reception of a Ukrainian family voted. The mayor (Jean-Charles Clichet), a bit of an opportunist, sees it as a way to restore his electoral health. Even Hervé, the Alsatian plumber with a low ceiling, but more Breton than the Bretons (Laurent Lafitte, very funny), has let himself be convinced. But in a burlesque twist worthy of the Asterix scriptwriter, the Ukrainian family is transformed into a Syrian family. When the Fayads arrive, their enthusiasm seriously wanes. A tag is painted on their door: “Barbarians out!” It starts well. Our refugees from the Syrian bourgeoisie settle in as best they can. The father (Ziad Bakri) is an architect. His wife (Dalia Naous), a graphic designer. His sister, a war veteran, is a doctor. The family is especially relieved to have escaped the hell of the Islamic State. Julie Delpy has a rebellious spirit. The director has swapped sophisticated romance for satirical comedy. She gleefully makes fun of ordinary racism. And the expression of “living together” takes a beating. OD

Also readWith Les Barbares, Julie Delpy sows discord in Brittany

Conservatory Street – To have

Documentary by Valérie Donzelli, 1h20

Many have passed through the Conservatory. From Jean Rochefort, to Jean-Pierre Marielle, via Bruno Cremer, Claude Rich, Pierre Vernier or Jean-Paul Belmondo. They were all trained at a good school. Even today, the “Cons” as it is nicknamed, prepares the actresses and actors of tomorrow. The documentary Conservatory Street by Valérie Donzelli delves delightfully into the heart of this prestigious institution that has seen others. It all starts with a specific request. The director of War is declared came to give a “masterclass” on acting. With the students, she imagines a film in a gesture and meets the young Clémence Coullon on this occasion. The latter contacts her again shortly after to offer her to follow her end-of-year work, carried out with a group from her year. Clémence puts on a show, the Hamlet Shakespeare, which she revisits in her own way. Donzelli makes herself small, invests herself without counting. With a small team, she focuses her camera on the future faces of French theater and cinema. The film becomes like a kind of personal diary. The rehearsals follow one after the other. “I rise Hamlet, I walk Hamlet, I think Hamlet. I sleep Hamlet. Everything is Hamlet” she says. The filmmaker focuses on filming the passion and enthusiasm of these buoyant apprentice actors. A fencing teacher does not understand why Clémence kills off Hamlet’s character in the middle of the show to replace him with a woman. The young director does not take offense and continues her instructions: “Ophelia kills Hamlet with a gun. The gun is on the wall. She slips. The gun falls. The shot goes off. Hamlet dies. It works, right?” The old warhorse replies with a smile: “It’s Gaston Lagaffe, then?“This live show will take on a thousand and one twists and turns. Valérie Donzelli, for her part, leaves her apartment and starts a new life after a romantic breakup. The two trajectories are discreetly put in parallel. “Our destinies cross. We finish something for an uncertain future.“The students at CNSAD work hard. The film shows them doubting, bumping into things, falling, and getting back up. The camera captures their youth, their fire, their freedom, their passion and their hopes. The team spirit is there, beating wildly. It feels so good. OD