French Cinema Now Festival 10/28-11/03

SF cinephiles will want to check out the upcoming French Cinema Now, which takes place this week (10/28-11/03) at the Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema. Devoted to the latest contemporary French films, this week-long festival will showcase ten new films that will spotlight compelling performances by Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve. I'm excited to see so many great actors on the big screen.

Lolita Chammah and Isabelle Huppert in Copacabana (Courtesy of San Francisco Film Society).The opening night film, Copacabana, features the charming Isabelle Huppert at her comic best. She successfully morphs into the role of Elizabeth, a bohemian mother who has a strained relationship with her conservative daughter (played by Huppert's real-life daughter Lolita Chammah). With no job prospects in Northern France, she soon departs for a new career in the Belgian coastal city of Ostend. Befriending a homeless couple and a few locals, Elizabeth's free spirit soon gets her into some misadventures within her new surroundings. Director Marc Fitoussi will appear at the VIP reception after the screening.

A scene from Sisters, a film by Éléonore Faucher (Courtesy of SF Film Society).Based on actress Sylvie Testud’s autobiographical novel, Sisters is an unsentimental look at Testud's childhood. Growing up in Lyon with their young Italian mother during the 1970s, the three precocious Mercier sisters miss and want to be with their estranged father. They never fully understood the reasons for his departure and try to find ways to reconnect with him without upsetting their mother. The child actresses and Amira Casar do a fine job portraying a loving and supportive family and the cinematography is gorgeous.

Clara Augarde in Katell Quillévéré’s Love Like Poison (Courtesy of SF Film Society).Adolescence is one of the most emotional times in one's life, if not the most challenging. In Love Like Poison, Katell Quillévéré’s debut, she chose young Anna's upcoming confirmation as the focal point for her teenage confusion. It's a convincing coming-of-age story that's set against the lush Breton scenery. Newcomer Clara Augarde brings a freshness to her role as she explores her first relationship with a local boy while navigating her elders' contradictory and overwhelming advice on life, dating and religion.

Mélanie Thierry and Gaspard Ulliel in The Princess of Montpensier (Courtesy of SFFS).Set in tulmultuous 16th-century France, The Princess of Montpensier is a swashbuckling film with realistic battle scenes. Palace intrigue abound in this fictitious tale of Marie de Mézières, whose opportunistic father had agreed to marry her off to the Prince of Montpensier. Alas, the fiery Marie is in love with the Duc de Guise. To make things even more complicated she attracts the lustful attention of the Duc d'Anjou and the Comte de Chabannes. Bertrand Tavernier’s sweeping epic features a very good-looking cast. There's plenty of eye candy for the audience.

William Shimell and Juliette Binoche in Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy. (Courtesy of SFFS)The highly-anticipated closing night film will be Certified Copy. Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has constructed an ambiguous yet intimate study of the dynamics between a British author and Juliette Binoche's unnamed character. As they travel through the Tuscan countryside the passionate Binoche dazzles with her earnest search for an authentic connection with her companion. Topics of art, relationships, culture and language all swirl around the understated script. Binoche also earned the Best Actress prize for her role during this year's Cannes International Film Festival. A post-screening VIP reception will follow.

For tickets and show info, go to www.sffs.org/Screenings-and-Events/Fall-Season/French-Cinema-Now.aspx.