Film

Francois Ozon is amongst the most celebrated of French directors and he is on form with Jeune et Jolie. The film, set over four seasons, depicts Isobelle (Marine  Vatch ),  a 17 year old who loses her  virgintiy in the summer on holiday, becomes a prostitute in autumn, is revealed as such in [...]

The French Cinema has, over the past few years, produced some interesting biopics of their celebrated achievers: Piaf, Chanel and now Yves Saint Laurent. Although these are warts et tous they reflect a national pride which we do not  often see in British cinema Yves Saint Laurent was played by [...]

One of the claims one frequently hears of a contemporary American film is that is based on fact, even though – for example – Captain Phillips is being sued by eight of the crew he apparently saved. It was not always thus. Judgment in Nuremberg (1961) was based on hard fact. It did [...]

We film critics love to interview the stars but not the movers and shakers of the  industry. This is part of the celebrity culture where supposedly readers prefer the inanities of a luvvie to hearing about how a successful or more often unsuccessful film is made. Yesterday I had a drink with an [...]

In my list of films set in Rome, I included Boccaccio 70 and I revisited it yesterday. It is in fact a quartet of films, three of which are by Italy’s foremost directors Vittorio de Sica, Lucchino Visconti and Federico Fellini and featuring two international stars, Anita Ekberg and Sophia [...]

Student Services is the type of film the French do better than anyone. It’s the story of a 19 year old Freshman, Laura ( Deborah Francois), in applied modern languages who gets into financial difficulties. Accordingly she responds to a sexual meeting with an older man Joe (Alain Lauchi) and [...]