Are French families different from American families?
Maybe, maybe not. But are French movies about families different from American movies about families?
The answer is oui. Mais oui.
The Robert Classic French Film Festival takes a cinematic look this year at French families. The festival, which is now in its 16th year, is presented by Cinema 最新杏吧原创. For the first time, it will be held entirely at the Cinema 最新杏吧原创鈥 new full-time home, the Hi-Pointe Theatre, 1005 McCausland Avenue.
The festival runs from April 12 to April 21, with movies turning a Gallic eye to the subject of children 鈥 bonding with them, their resourcefulness, their friendships, their grief, their gender determination and their aspirations for mild juvenile delinquency.
The movies also examine friendships at a later stage of life and the insecurities of modern existence.
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And because it is a classic film festival, one of the movies is by a master director and another is considered one of the finest French movies ever made.
The festival kicks off at 6:30 p.m. April 12 with an opening reception featuring French wines and appetizers from Parker鈥檚 Table, and desserts from Le Macaron.
The opening reception is $25. Tickets to all movies are $15.
Immediately after the reception, at 7:30 p.m. April 12, the opening night film will be screened, 鈥淎pril in France.鈥 The 2023 documentary follows a 5-year-old English girl who is unhappy about her family鈥檚 move to France, especially when she is locked in because of the COVID pandemic. But once the restrictions are lifted, she explores her world as only a 5-year-old can.
David Boaretto, the filmmaker and also the father of the movie鈥檚 subject, April, will be at the screening.
The movie considered one of the best French films, or one of the best films from anywhere, will be shown at 5 p.m. April 13. 鈥淭he 400 Blows,鈥 Francois Truffaut鈥檚 stunning 1959 debut film, is widely thought to be a semi-autobiographical telling of Truffaut鈥檚 own childhood.
Jean-Pierre L茅aud, who reprised the role in several sequels over the next 20 years, stars as the 13-year-old Antoine Doinel. Neglected and misunderstood by his parents, and disliking school, he starts to get into relatively small amounts of trouble.
After falling in love with a girl's father, Virginie Efira starts to feel maternal toward the girl in the 2022 drama "Other People's Children." But the girl already has a mother, which leads to complications.
鈥淥ther People鈥檚 Children,鈥 which shows at 8 p.m. April 13, is a drama about a high school teacher who falls in love with a wonderful man 鈥 and also with his adorable 5-year-old daughter.
But in the 2022 film by Rebecca Zlotowski, the situation is not as ideal as she wishes. The boyfriend鈥檚 sympathetic ex-wife loves the girl and will always be her mother. Our heroine, played by Virginie Efira, fears she will never be anything more than second best in the girl鈥檚 heart.
The 2016 animated film "My Life as a Zucchini" tells the story of a boy who finds nothing but unhappiness when he is sent to an orphanage, until he meets a delightful girl who is also sent there.
The stop-motion animated film 鈥淢y Life as a Zucchini鈥 will be presented at 1 p.m. April 14. The movie for older children rather than younger (it includes drug use and an uninformed discussion about sex) was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature film when it came out in 2016.
The story tells of a boy whose unstable home life leads him to be sent to an orphanage, where he struggles to get along until he meets a girl there. The English-language version includes voices by Will Forte, Nick Offerman, Ellen Page (as he was then known) and Amy Sedaris.
At 3:30 p.m. April 14, 鈥淭he Son of the Shark鈥 will be shown.
Possibly influenced by 鈥淭he 400 Blows,鈥 this 1993 film follows two young brothers who practice random and frequent acts of vandalism as they slowly struggle with the difficulties of growing up. It is directed by Agn猫s Merlet.
Before transgenderism was even a topic, the 1997 comedy "My Life in Pink" told the story of a boy who always thought he should be a girl, and dressed and acted accordingly. Georges Du Fresne stars.
鈥淢y Life in Pink,鈥 which carries the more musical French name 鈥淢a Vie en rose,鈥 will be shown at 6:30 p.m. April 14.
The 1997 film by Alain Berliner was an arthouse hit when it first came to this country. Before such tales were increasingly commonplace, it tells the story of a 6-year-old boy who always thought he was supposed to be a girl. Dressing and acting the way girls are supposed to act, she finds widespread love and acceptance.
In 鈥淔ull Time,鈥 Laure Calamy (鈥淐all My Agent鈥) plays a working woman who feels that the weight of the world is against her. In the drama, which will be screened at 7 p.m. April 19, she plays an underpaid woman in an unsatisfying job running all the time to make a life for herself and her children.
Though she manages to stay afloat, a transit strike threatens to disrupt every part of her life of constant motion.
鈥淧etite maman,鈥 shown at 1 p.m. April 20, has been described by critics as magical and like a fairy tale.
Gerard Depardieu stars as a man everyone thinks of as a simpleton until he meets an older woman 鈥 she's 95 鈥 played by Gis猫ele Casadesus. Love, inevitably, follows.
The 2021 film from C茅line Sciamma tells of a girl who becomes fast friends with another girl when they build a hut made of sticks in the woods together. A meditation on childhood grief and the ability to overcome it, the hut and the friendship unlock unsuspected secrets from the girl鈥檚 mother.
The always-dependable Gerard Depardieu stars in 鈥淢y Afternoons with Margueritte,鈥 which will be shown at 4 p.m. April 20.
In the 2010 film, Depardieu is a man thought by everyone in town to be simple. But when he meets an older woman 鈥 she鈥檚 95 鈥 she starts to read to him and opens up a world he could not have imagined.
The festival concludes at 1 p.m. April 21 with 鈥The Storm Within,鈥 a 1948 film by Jean Cocteau.
Made two years after his masterful 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥 and two years before his equally masterful 鈥淥rpheus,鈥 鈥淭he Storm Within鈥 is based on his own play. Jean Marais stars as a man perhaps too close to his female relatives. When he falls in love with a young woman and threatens to break free, his family schemes to keep him close to their heart.
Despite Cocteau鈥檚 reputation as a writer, poet, dramatist, artist and filmmaker, 鈥淭he Storm Within鈥 鈥 the French title is 鈥淟es Parents Terribles鈥 鈥 was not shown in America until 2018.
View life in 最新杏吧原创 through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
