Lulu femme nue

A beautiful 2013 French film about a house wife, Lulu (Karin Viard) who suddenly decides to take a break, leaving her family to fend for themselves. During this sabbatical, she acquires a lover, befriends a nice old lady and generally has a good time. Worth watching.

Lulu and her new friend.

☆☆☆

Ocho apellidos vascos

This Spanish romantic comedy plays on the stereotypes in Spain that consider Andalucians as 'dolce far niente' types while Basques are supposed to be 'frank and rude' and, of course, nearly all members of ETA, a terrorist organization.

A Basque opinion on Andalucians

The story is amusing: an Andalucian guy meets a Basque girl in Sevilla  (Andalucia) and falls in love, although the girl leggged it before he can make a move. He follows her to the Basque country. Since he knows Basques despise Andalucians, he tries to pretend that he is Basque, adopting the local dress, accent etc. At one point, when questioned by his hoped-for father in law, he proves his Basque ancestry by citing 8 pure Basque surnames  of his ancestors, hence the title.

All in all, a good comedy well worth watching.

☆☆☆

Le belle vie

A French film (2014) about a real story. A father kidnaps his 2 small sons to avoid leaving them with his estranged wife. The three of them live as fugitives for more than 10 years in different rural areas of France. The film describes the last phase, when the older of the -- by now almost grown up -- boys disappears to try to get his own life. On top of that, the younger one discovers the opposite sex and, after some hesitation, also decides to leg it. In the end, he reunites with his older brother and they get to see their mother. Not a great film but very watchable.

Who needs girls? Stay with your dad!

On the other hand..

You can read about how it turned out in the real world here.

☆☆☆

The Best Offer

This 2013 Italian (original title 'La migliore offerta') film tells the story of an older famous and slightly eccentric art auctioneer

Notice the gloves

His collection of paintings before falling in love

falling in love with a much younger mysterious, and agoraphobic, girl.

While it has all the attributes of a romantic love story, it turns out to be quite different, in the end. Beautifully filmed and acted, and surprising (at the end).

Love hurts

Not bad, but not very good either.

☆☆☆

Thérèse Desqueyroux

A melancholic French film  (2012) starring Audrey Tautou of Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain fame as Thérèse. The story is set during the 1920's in the Aquitaine region where important rich families are still very catholic and maintain a culture of hypocrisy and stifling conventions. Thérèse chooses a marriage of convenience, whereby the land holdings of two important families will be joined.

Thérèse and her husband Bernard

However, she suffers from boredom and a faint disgust of her boring and traditional husband. When she gets the opportunity, she tries to poison him but gets found out almost immediately. Rather than face public humiliation, the family decides to cover up the whole affair.

☆☆☆

L'Heure d'été (Summer time)

This quiet typically French 2008 film tells the simple story of the handling of an inheritance and the melancholy and sadness that goes with it. Only the oldest son is in favor of holding on to the family home while his younger brother and sister have no qualms about getting rid of the place that holds many childhood memories, in order to support their careers in the US or China.

Beautifully shot, the film's atmosphere fits the subject nicely. Nothing much happens and there are certainly no surprises.

☆☆☆

Lore

This 2012 Australian-German film shows the aftermath of the second world war from the point of view of the young children of Nazi officials. Lore and her younger sister, as well as her three little brothers, one of which is a baby, are deserted by their parents in a traditional Bavarian (in the south of Germany) mountain retreat. She has been instructed by the parents to go to a hamlet close to Hamburg where their grandmother lives.

Since there are no trains, the journey is arduous and they depend on the charity of people they meet on the way. Interestingly, many of them still cling to the Nazi faith, deploring the death of the 'führer who loved them so' and 'whom they have let down by losing the war'. Also, the shocking images from the death camps that have been put up by the American military are often explained away as fakes.

Later on, the children get help from an adult who carries Nazi ID papers that declare him as a Jew. Having been brought up to despise Jews, Lore is torn between hatred and the necessity to accept his help. It is suggested that Lore gradually comes to accept the truth, rejects her parents' beliefs and the children (minus one who was shot in the Russian zone) arrive safely at their grandmother's farm.

'Vati' turns out to be a monster

I found the evocation of a conquered Germany very interesting. The film shows, in a more or less subtle manner how people face up to the facts that they thoroughly lost the war, and that their beloved masters were a bunch of criminals who had committed unspeakable atrocities on an industrial scale.

☆☆☆

Gemma Bovary

This recent (2014) French comedy features my favorite male French actor, Fabrice Luchini, as a Parisian intellectual (Martin) who returned to Normandy where he runs his parents bakery. When an English couple called Bovery moves into a neighboring house and the wife's name turns out to be Gemma, played by he very attractive Gemma Arterton, Martin is strongly reminded of Flaubert's masterpiece 'Madame Bovary'. His obsession only increases when, as in the book, Gemma starts having an affair (unfortunately for him, not with Martin).

Genna Aterton and Fabrice Luchini

The plot is clever and entertaining. There are funny characters representing some stereotypes about English expats living in France and the views of the Normandy countryside are as pleasant as in reality. Overall, a nice lightweight comedy, well worth viewing.

☆☆☆

Sapore di mare

This film ("Time for Loving" in English) can cause double nostalgia: for the 1960's in which the story is set, and for the 1980's when it was made. The latter is evident to me from how the story is developed, it reminds me of some toe-curling French comedies like "Les Bronzés". There the humor is so bad that it becomes hilarious. So it is with "Sapore di mare": I loved it although it is very mediocre.

The story is about youngsters on holiday in Viareggio on the Tuscan coast and how they enjoy themselves with members of the opposite sex. There are the obligatory stereotypes: an older woman with a nerd, a 'player' from a rich family, a naive and initially innocent girl with a modest background, an experienced English girl (!) etc. Apparently there is a sequel, so it must have been a big success at the time.

☆☆☆

The Naked Civil Servant

This is a 1975 TV film based on the autobiography of Quentin Crisp. The strange title was coined by him. Since, for several years, his main source of income was modeling (naked) in (state) art schools, he considered himself a "naked civil servant".
Crisp was a very effeminate gay man, and he made no effort to hide the fact: dyeing his hair, using make-up etc. Before the second world war, and even afterwards, this honesty was not without risk: the film shows how he got beaten up on several occasions, just because he looked "abnormal". The term used at the time for his "condition" was "sexual perversion". The scene were the army refuses to take him because of this "perversion" is hilarious.
All in all a very entertaining movie and a reminder that anti-gay bigotry existed in Europe for longer than I thought. E.g., amazingly, practicing homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967: ☆☆☆.

Manuale d'amore 3

Also known as "The Ages of Love" was made in 2011.

This romantic comedy features three independent stories about "love", bound together by a cupid offering some brief comments. The first story is the best, it is set in a lovely Italian village and contains some hilarious scenes. The second and third are somewhat related as they concern people living in the same building in central Rome. In the second story, a media personality gets involved with a nymphomaniac and lives to regret it, although probably not for long (the living). The third one illustrates that it is never too late, even after a heart transplant, to team up with a young but experienced woman.

An uncomplicated well made comedy that was a pleasure to watch: ☆☆☆.

Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes

This is a very good film made in 2000 by François Ozon of Swimming pool fame but I hated watching it.  According to wikipedia, the film is based on a play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and this German origin shows in the decor and the sound track.

The acting is great as is the story. But the story is depressing and the characters represent horrible people. So, to me, it was a very good 'feel bad' movie. ☆☆☆