Perfumes (2019) (Les parfums)
★★★☆☆
Charmingly fragrant, very French not-exactly romcom Perfumes by Grégory Magne stars Emmanuelle Devos and Grégory Montel as the autumnal odd-couple.
France
Pinocchio (2020)
★★★★☆
Matteo Garrone’s surreal live-action fantasy takes the Italian classic Pinocchio disturbingly back to its original dark roots.
Proxima (2019)
★★★★☆
The superbly focused French female astronaut in woman-centred Proxima directed by Anna Winocour is torn apart by the conflict between needing freedom to achieve and the pain of separation from her daughter.
Fire Will Come (O Que Arde) (2019) – ON DEMAND
★★★★☆
Fire Will Come is a prophetic, arresting and mesmerising love letter to nature by Oliver Laxe.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) – ON DEMAND
★★★★☆
Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a sumptuously sensual lesbian love story set in 1770 that comments fiercely on the role of women in society – then and now.
Atlantics (2019)
★★★★☆
Atlantic (Atlantique) is Mati Diop’s dreamlike feature debut focusing on the women left behind when Senegalese migrant workers take to the seas.
La Belle Époque (2019)
★★★★☆
La Belle Époque by Nicolas Bedos has sublime performances from its central characters that combine with a clever, witty, seamless screenplay to create an unashamedly super-enjoyable film.
I Lost My Body (2019)
★★★★★
I Lost My Body by Jérémy Clapin is a dreamlike, beautiful, unbearably sad and tender animation.
By the Grace of God (2019)
★★★★☆
Based on recent real-life events, in By the Grace of God François Ozon empathetically opens up a French scandal of child abuse in the Catholic Church going back over 20 years.
BFI LFF 2019: Atlantics (2019)
★★★★☆
Atlantics (Atlantiques) is Mati Diop’s dreamlike feature debut focusing on the women left behind when Senegalese migrant workers take to the seas.
BFI LFF 2019: The King (2019)
★★★☆☆
The King by David Michôd takes a revisionist look at the history we know from Shakespeare, with a star performance by Timothée Chalamet as Henry V.
BFI LFF 2019: 8-13 October
★★★★☆
BFI LFF 2019: 8-13 October. The Whistlers, Deerskin, Algo-Rhythm and So Long, My Son.
BFI LFF 2019: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
★★★★★
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a sumptuously sensual lesbian love story set in 1770 that comments fiercely on the role of women in society – then and now.
BFI LFF 2019: By the Grace of God (Grâce à Dieu) (2018)
★★★★☆
Based on real-life events, in By the Grace of God François Ozon empathetically opens up a French scandal of child abuse in the Catholic Church going back over 20 years.