Saturday Francophone Film 20104 min read

Reading Time: 4 minutes

On 20 March 2010, the International Organisation of the Francophonie will celebrate its 40th year.

And as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations, Alliance Française de Singapour will be presenting a film marathon with four critically acclaimed films from Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, and France.

Venue: Alliance Française Theatre, Level 1, Alliance Française, 1 Sarkies Road
Date: 20th March 2010
Admission: $8 (Members), $9 (Non-members).

Tickets available through SISTIC.

For more information, click here.

MON FRÈRE SE MARIE (My Brother is Getting Married)

French with English Subtitles
France/Switzerland | 2006 | 100 mins | Jean-Stéphane Bron
Time: 2pm
Rating: TBA

Adopted by a well-off Swiss couple with slightly older son and daughter, Vinh never cut off links with his country of origin. Postcards from the adoptive family regularly conveyed to Vinh’s mother in Vietnam reassurance about the warmth and nurturing environment that she always wished for her boy.

Now grown up, Vinh is getting married ; after so many years, the wedding is the ideal opportunity for his mother, accompanied by uncle Dac, to visit the adoptive family. Nothing would cause a greater consternation among its members.

The parents underwent a less than amicable divorce, the father is bankrupt, the sister estranged, the elder brother brooding, the model family broken up. What can be done to prevent the unavoidable and profound disappointment of Vinh’s mother and uncle Dac when they discover the fiasco?

C’EST PAS MOI, JE LE JURE ! (It’s Not Me, I Swear!)

(Free of Charge, collect complimentary pass from Sistic counter at Alliance.)

French with English Subtitles
Canada | 2008 | 105 mins | Philippe Falardeau
Time: 4pm
Rating: PG

Leon is ten years old, has lots of problems and an overly fertile imagination. Of course, there is Mom and Dad who are always fighting, and those annoying neighbors who get to spend the summer at the beach. And then, there’s Lea, the exasperating girl who’s always right about everything.

In the summer of 1968, when Mom decides to leave everything behind to start a new life in Greece, Leon is prepared to do anything to kill the pain. Destroy the neighbors’ house, become a professional liar and even, why not, fall in love with Lea.

Together, they will overcome the pain of growing up when you feel abandoned.

ENTRE LES MURS (The Class)

In French with English Subtitles
France | 2008 | 128 mins | Laurent Cantet
Time: 6.15pm
Rating: PG

Teacher François Marin and his colleagues are preparing for another school year teaching at a racially mixed inner city high school in Paris. The teachers collectively want to inspire their students, but each teacher is an individual who will do things in his or her own way to achieve the results they desire.

Marin’s class this year of fourteen and fifteen year olds is no different than previous years, although the names and faces have changed.

Marin tries to get through to his students, sometimes with success and sometimes resulting in utter failure. Even Marin has his breaking point, which may result in him doing things he would probably admit to himself are wrong. But after all is said and done, there is next year and another group of students.

FORMIDABLE

French/Dutch with English Subtitles
Belgium | 2007 | 90 mins | Dominique Standaert
Time: 8.45pm
Rating: TBA

Mathieu and Marc were just not meant to get along. They are different in every way. Mathieu has been unemployed and Marc runs a company that specializes in the sale of police and fire fighter equipment. As a result of an accident he caused in front, Mathieu manages to latch on to Marc like a parasite, and discovers the flaws hidden by the suit and tie his “host” wears. It’s just that for Marc, life is far from rosy “¦ Rotating siren light sales, his key business, are stagnating, and his wife has left him.

These trifling details don’t bother Mathieu, whose great pride is having been a “Marshaller” for the former Sabena Airlines. But when you’ve worked in aviation, it can be difficult to come back down to earth. To avoid impending bankruptcy, Marc has one last hope, to participate in the Ardennes police association’s annual ball to give a rotating siren light demonstration that could boost sales.

Mathieu, who wants to help, offers to go with him. The escapade is just as much a disaster as it is an opportunity to drop pretenses. Yet, dropping one’s guard and being vulnerable for an instant can also have a few advantages. It’s by getting to know each other better that sometimes we manage to connect “¦