Un
Crime Au Paradis (A Crime in Paradise)
I never knew Jacues Villeret's name, but I certainly recognize his bunched-up
face: this man has graced many a French comedy (including the recent
Dinner Game) with his exaspiration and quiet suffering. Un
Crime is a small yet hilarious comedy about a farmer trying to off
his wife, an alcoholic monster who is torturing him by slashing his
tires and drilling holes in his milk pails. If you enjoy movies where
people fall off ladders, sing dirty ditties, and attempt murder with
mole poison, you'll love this. Un Crime Au Paradis is a surprising
farce with excellent bit characters and a warm heart that's based on
a seems slightly dated -- and I mean that in a good way.
Directed
by Jean Becker. With Jacques Villeret, Josiane Balasko and André
Dussolier.
Showing Sat March 10: 5:45 and Sun March 11: 3:15
Ça Ira Mieux Demain (Tomorrow is Another Day)
Another comedy that's so much smarter and wiser than any American comedy
that it makes you wonder if Hollywood should try to let actual mature
adults make a movie for a change. Ca Ira Mieux Demain starts
with a delightful domino of events that follows an idea rather than
a single character around Paris -- does wood breathe, and if so, what
happens when you leave furniture covered with a plastic sheet? As we
follow this meme travelling through people, we get to know a bunch of
characters who, in the course of a week, keep on bumping into each other.
Since this is a French movie, they mostly talk, about eating sauerkraut,
Freud, and whether or not it's ok for a psychiatrist to make money on
the side as a chiropractor.
The risk
of taking such random delight in everyday matters is aimlessness. Ca
Ira Mieux Demain is as pleasant as it is forgettable; if I hadn't
taken notes, most of the movie's characters would have already escaped
my memory. But just because it's not a high-concept film doesn't mean
that it's not a perfectly wonderful way to spend two hours at the movies.
Directed
by Jeanne Labrune. With Danielle Darrieux, Nathalie Baye, Jeanne Balibar,
Jean-Pierre Darroussin.
Showing
Wed March 14: 3:30 & 8:30, Sat March 17: 6:30
Saint-Cyr (The King's Daughters)
If you're like me, you recoil at the sight of people in historical costumes
and powdered wigs. Too often, it means cultivated boredom. What a relief,
then, that Saint-Cyr has enough gritty surprises and real heft
to keep even the most thoroughly Merchant-Ivory damaged interested.
Saint-Cyr
is the name of a school where the daughters of empoverished noblemen
receive an education befitting their rank. The wonderful Isabelle Huppert
plays the Sun King's wife, the sponsor and founder of the school. Once
favoring a liberal education for her charges, she retreats into cloistered
protection of their innocence when the predatory males of the king's
court start to drool over the eligible girls. Saint-Cyr is a
bitter contemplation on the booby traps of charity and the dangers of
protecting one's children from a vicious world -- especially when there
are 250 of them. As you might expect, Saint-Cyr turns rather dark. The
film won 8 Cesar nominations and the "Prix de la jeunesse"
at Cannes. Apart from Isabelle Huppert, Nina Meurisse and Morgane Moré
are enthralling as her brightest and most vulnerable students.
Directed
by Patricia Mazuy. With Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Simon
Reggiani, Nina Meurisse,Morgane Moré.
Showing Tue March 13: 3:45 & 8:30
