The all-French language film fest screens popular, more mainstream films from Quebec and across the Atlantic. The French have always been able to make movies that interest adults. Naked women and the emptiness of bourgeiois values are intrinsic to the landscape of French films. Think of the way they balanced gravity with goofiness, the serious with the sensual while exploring the good life as well as life at the edge. One of the best places to find out is at Toronto's fourth annual Cinefranco festival, a celebration of French language films from Quebec and France, sponsored by Alliance Atlantis and held from March 29th through April 1st at the Cumberland Four Cinema.
All films are in French with English subtitles.
Very few Canadians outside Quebec know anything about the causes that led to the conflict, the ideas of its leaders, or the results of their aborted rebelllion. For this reason alone it deserves to be seen. This shameful episode in Canadian history has been made into a serious and humane film with fine ensemble acting especially by Luc Picard and Frederic Gilles, and splendid cinematography reminiscent of Goya's drawings. For those of us who formed our first crushes in the darkness of the art house, Cinefranco offers new films starring those glorious actors Jean Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve and Fanny Ardant. While Belmondo is no longer irresistably sexy, handsome leading men usually turn into great comic actors in late career.