The next best thing to springtime in Paris… as in the actual city, is Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in New York. The annual festival, curated and hosted by Film Lincoln Center (FLC), ushers in what they consider to be the best contemporary cinema out of France. In past years of the festivals three-decades history, there has usually been a deft combination of genres, including drama, comedy, suspense and documentaries, with emphasis on the first two categories. This year looks to be keeping in that tradition as this reviewer got screening previews of several selections. Below are a few worth viewing at the festival or when (or if) available for streaming at a later date.
The Stranger / L’Étranger, François Ozon (director)
This unique and intense period drama serves as the festival’s “Opening Night Film,” which typically is a positioning of honor, indicating quality distinction. They are not wrong in that because although this is from the highly regarded and prolific filmmaker who’s been a festival regular for decades, “The Stranger” is evidence that he is still creating at an impressive level and not waining. After working with Benjamin Voisin (Meursault) for the actor’s breakout role in “Summer of 85,” Ozon reunites with star for a new adaptation of Albert Camus’s novel, including bringing in Algeria to the race/racism thematic and visual foreground in this adaptation.
The story takes place in 1930s Algeria when the daily life of a Frenchman, Meursault, seemingly indifferent and without feeling, finds out about the death of his mother. Soon after, he befriends a neighbor, leading to a shocking and fateful encounter on a beach. Shooting in a stark texture of black and white, Ozon uses that to the period, setting and the main character’s obtuse nature.
Director: Francois Ozon
Writers: Albert Camus, Francois Ozon, Phillippe Plazzo
Country of origin: France
Runtime: 124m
Language: French with English subtitles
Production company: Gaumont
Enzo, Robin Campillo (director)
This marks the last of a many years collaboration between Campill and writer/editor, Laurent Cantet, resulting in six films. When Cantet passed away in 2024, Campillo filmed their final joint writing project in his honor. Sixteen-year-old Enzo (Eloy Pohu) is a Talented but unmotivated student who failing at school and feels very different from his wealthy, but well-meaning parents (Pierfrancesco Favino and Élodie Bouchez). Seeking to find his own way and to his parents’ concern, he drops out of school and joins a home construction crew. Even at that he struggles to find focus as a construction site apprentice. Later, when a friendship is formed with a co-worker, migrant Ukrainian laborer Vlad (Maksym Slivinskyi), Enzo finds his footing and is pulled out of his.
“Enzo” unfolds into a quiet and interesting coming-of-age story, with very believable performances by all, especially the young lead. The film is poignant and worthy inclusion of this legacy of nuanced, up-to-the-minute social realism films by Campill and Cantet.
Director: Robin Campillo
Writers: Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
Country of origin: France/Belgium/Italy
Runtime: 102m
Language: French and Ukrainian with English subtitles
Production company: StudioCanal
Colours of Time, Cédric Klapisch (director)
Keeping in his beloved tradition of thoughtful and character-filled stories, mixing drama with humor. and incorporating large ensemble casts, filmmaker Cédric Klapisch delivers another cinematic charmer with “Colors of Time,” but with an unusual twist. Four distant cousins connected through an ancestry online agency gather at a dilapidated family house in Normandy. The film follows each character’s present-day reunion and their ancestor’s late-19th-century adventures as one of the ancestors arrives in Paris in 1895 to search for her elusive mother. Soon afterwards she befriends painters and photographers as the city enters the Belle Époque. Traversing between time periods and a different set of characters, this, this begins a unique element for Klapisch.
Although “Colours of Time” lacks some complexity and Klapisch fans may initially be pulled off guard to the juxtaposition between time periods and characters, it is undeniably delightful.
Director: Cédric Klapisch
Writers: Cédric Klapisch, Santiago Amigorena
Countries of origin: France/Belgium
Runtime: 124m
Language: French with English subtitles
Production company: StudioCanal
The Little Sister / La Petite Dernière, Hafsia Herzi (director)
For her fourth directorial installment, Herzi focuses on a Muslim teenager going from her last year in high school to her first in college while navigating religion and sexual identity issues.
Fatima (Nadia Melliti) lives with her close-knit Algerian immigrant family in Paris, but fears what could happen should they, and her community overall, realize that she is a lesbian. While exploring her identity and sexual desires, Fatima meets Ji-na (Park Ji-Min) and falls in love. With both having life, and in the case of Ji-na, mental health challenges to overcome, their relationship is tested.
Newcomer Melliti gives a nuanced performance of a quiet and complex character coming into her own. It’s understandable her Best Actress awards at Cannes and Lumières for this performance.
Director: Hafsia Herzi
Writers: Fatima Daas, Hafsia Herzi
Countries of origin: France/Germany
Runtime: 113m
Languages: French and Arabic with English subtitles
Production companies: June Films, Katuh Studio, Arte France Cinema The 31st
Rendez-Vous With French Cinema takes place March 5-15 and features 22 films, with filmmakers and special guests appearing for select Q & A. Go to filmlinc.org for festival details and to purchase tickets
