The wonderful thing about most French films is there are very few concessions made to the cinematic world outside of France. If it works at home, then the rest of the planet will just have to accept all those tri-colour idiosyncrasies. This approach makes the work stand out from just about any other country.
Based ever so slightly on real life, National Treasure Catherine Deneuve plays Bernadette Chirac, wife of France’s 22nd President Jacques Chirac. After years of servitude to her husband’s career, when the time arrives for her to take residency in the Elysée, she doesn’t take kindly to the marginal position she is expected to live in.
Her emergence from the shadows cast by Jacques underlines most of the film’s humour. It’s marvellous to see Deneuve in a comic role and her timing and way with nuance is unflinchingly good. She is a class act and her role is written to bring this to full fruition. The subtlety shown raises the humour without resorting to joke after joke.
This is feminism shown in a most French way and it’s fabulous. Writer, director and producer Léa Domenach shows she has a way with comedy and has an irreverent approach where amusement comes from a large number of step-outside moments that surprise and entertain. Hard to see any other country making a film like this and that is indeed a compliment.
Rob Hudson
The President’s Wife screenings in Brisbane
PALACE BARRACKS
10:40AM Wednesday 6 March
8:45PM Thursday 7 March
6:10PM Saturday 9 March
11:00AM Monday 11 March
6:30PM Thursday 14 March
6:10PM Saturday 16 March
6:10PM Sunday 17 March
11:00AM Tuesday 19 March
1:10PM Thursday 21 March
10:30AM Sunday 24 March
6:00PM Friday 29 March
6:10PM Tuesday 2 April
PALACE JAMES STREET
1:40PM Friday 8 March
10:45AM Sunday 10 March
6:30PM Tuesday 12 March
10:45AM Thursday 14 March
6:20PM Saturday 16 March
1:20PM Wednesday 20 March
6:10PM Friday 22 March
4:00PM Tuesday 26 March
1:20PM Wednesday 27 March
6:30PM Thursday 28 March
10:50AM Sunday 31 March
11:10AM Tuesday 2 April
6:00PM Tuesday 2 April
Alliance Française French Film Festival runs in Brisbane from 5 March – 2 April and will take place at the Palace James Street and Palace Barracks cinemas.
Click here for more information about the festival, or head to the official website for more information and to book your tickets!
www.affrenchfilmfestival.org
