Film
Independent Cinema for Everyone
Francophiles rejoice – the French Film Festival is back! We are screening The Divide, Petite Maman, directed by Celine Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady On Fire) and Palme D’Or Winner Titane.
Make it an evening of French culture: The Box Kitchen & Bar have carefully curated a menu with the festival in mind!
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Festival pass: Get tickets for all 3 films for £15 per person. (Offer valid if tickets are purchased under one transaction. To book online: put tickets for the 3 films in the basket and the offer will apply automatically).
The Divide (15)Wed 24 – Thu 25 November
Dir. Catherine Corsini, France, 2021, 98 mins, subtitled. Cast. Pio Marmaï, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Marina Foïs, Aissatou Diallo Sagna.
Two women Raf and Julie (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and Marina Foïs), a couple on the verge of breaking up, find themselves in an emergency ward bordering on collapse on the evening of a Parisian yellow vest protest. Their encounter with Yann (Pio Marmaï), an angry and injured demonstrator, will shatter each person’s certainties and prejudices. Outside, the tension escalates. The hospital, under pressure, must close its doors. Catherine Corsini directs at breakneck pace while mixing devastating humour with emotion that underpins where it hurts.
Petite Maman (12A)Fri 26 November – Thu 2 December
Dir. Céline Sciamma, France, 2021, 72 mins, subtitled. Cast. Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse.
In this radiant tale, Céline Sciamma crafts a mysterious and delicate exploration of childhood and grief. Following her grandmother’s death, eight-year-old Nelly travels to the old woman’s home to help her parents pack everything up. After her mother unexpectedly leaves, Nelly befriends a little girl in a nearby forest, an encounter that reveals a strange and beguiling new world. You don’t want to know too much about Petite Maman in advance to fully appreciate the quiet yet powerful magic of this deeply imaginative and tender film.
Titane (18)Sat 27 November – Thu 2 December
Dir. Julia Ducournau, France, 2021, 108 mins, subtitled. Cast. Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh.
One of the most provocative Palme d’Or winners ever, Titane is a blast of lawless inspiration. Alexia, a young woman who, following an accident in her childhood, has an unusual bond with cars, consummated by a strange encounter with one of the vehicles she writhes on in her job as a motor show dancer. When her murderous tendencies make her a fugitive, she disguises herself as a boy and forms a bond with the chief of a firefighting unit (French A-lister Vincent Lindon, venturing far outside familiar territory). Gender fluidity, techno-sexual delirium and full-on violence take Titane into the far reaches of genre futurism. It’s extreme-dream cinema that pulls no punches in its metallic KO.