-
Learning French: Jouer à l’oreille: hit the right note with these musical phrases
Fine-tune your music-themed vocabulary for the fête de la musique on June 21
-
Inside Sir Ridley Scott's Provençal paradise
The acclaimed British film director talks exclusively to The Connexion about his Vaucluse home, the wine he makes there and how French history has inspired his work
-
A French ‘cop thriller’ film recommendation
The Connection starring Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche is based on a true story
French films review – October 2019
A critical eye on the latest ciné releases: this month A Faithful Man and Fourmi

A Faithful Man - Louis Garrel; 75 mins
It seems to be a trait of the movie industry that once a leading actor gets sufficient stature and clout, they are able to secure financial backing for their own projects, and to begin directing.
Louis Garrel has film-making heritage on his side: he is the son of director Philippe Garrel and actress Brigitte Sy, while his grandfather, Maurice Garrel, and his godfather, Jean-Pierre Léaud, are also legendary actors.
This semi-satisfying romantic comedy from the chisel-cheeked lead Garrel is the actor’s second feature (Two Friends in 2015 was described by one critic as ‘charming but not entirely convincing’) and the set-up is encouraging: a man pines for the woman who dumped him a decade ago, but her husband has died.
Did she murder him? Who is her kid’s father? Does she still love Abel?
Add to this the fact that her sister declares a longstanding love for the attractive Abel and this could have morphed into a decent thriller. Instead it becomes a clichéd ménage à trois seemingly pandering to one man’s narcissism.
Garrel’s directing has a certain flair and Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of Jonny and Vanessa Paradis) and Laetitia Casta (Garrel’s real-life wife) are excellent as, respectively, the would-be lover and wife of Garrel’s journalist Abel.
Watch the trailer:
Also out:
Fourmi (Ant)
Charming sport comedy in which a young French footballer fibs about being offered a chance to play for Arsenal, to impress his luckless Dad.
He needs to start practising!