Angoulême 2022: Isabelle Huppert, Laure Calamy… our 8 favorites of the festival

Annie Anger by Blandine Lenoir

This film is a small bomb: a bomb by the force and the urgency of its subject, but also the intelligence of its treatment. With Annie Colère, director Blandine Lenoir (Aurore, Zouzou) has produced a fascinating and enlightening film on the question of abortion when it was still illegal in France, and on a still little-known movement (the MLAC, Mouvement pour la Liberté de Abortion and Contraception), which was secretly organized in the 1970s.

We can’t help thinking about current events in the United States, where the right to abortion is threatened more than ever. If the subject is obviously hard (the film shows scenes of abortion, but with an approach, again, intelligent), Blandine Lenoir finds the right balance between drama and comedy, in a film which gives pride of place to friendship , to the sorority, and this without excluding men from this story, which is aimed at a wide audience. It is worn by a formidable troupe of actresses and actors – Laure Calamy in the lead.

Released November 30, 2022

Brigitte Baronet

Noémie Says Yes by Geneviève Albert

K-Movies America

For several years, many Quebec films have found their way to French cinemas. The opportunity for the spectators to discover another sensibility and new talents. In this movement, director Geneviève Albert presents Noémie dit oui. After a documentary and short films, this is his first fiction film. She follows the trajectory of a 15-year-old heroine, who flees her youth center before falling into the trap of prostitution.

The filmmaker brilliantly captures the taboo and very topical subject of juvenile prostitution. She sets her story in the city of Montreal at a specific moment: the Formula 1 festival. This event quadruples sex tourism in Canada. Difficult, the film nevertheless never falls into voyeurism and the exploitation of social misery. Geneviève Albert casts a tender and protective gaze on her main character, brilliantly played by Kelly Depeault.

The actress defends a physically and psychologically demanding role. The explicit scenes are filmed with a real point of view – focused more on the customers – to avoid any inappropriate sexualization. Noémie Says Yes is a harsh film, likely to disturb, but whose necessity is undeniable. One of the shocks of the festival.

Prize: Valois for French-speaking students (awarded by the jury of French-speaking students) and a Special Mention for actress Kelly Depeault.

Released April 26, 2023.

Thomas Desroches

The Cyclades by Marc Fitoussi

Chloe Kritharas

After Annie Anger by Blandine Lenoir (in competition at Angoulême, see above) and L’Origine du mal by Sébastien Marnier (in selection at the Venice Film Festival, in theaters on October 5), Laura Calamy will return to the register of pure comedy. The actress revealed to the general public thanks to the series Ten percent will be on view in January 2023 of Cyclades by Marc Fitoussi (precisely one of the co-directors of Ten percent).

The Cyclades is a kind of crazy road movie (or rather “boat & island movie”), in which two childhood friends who had lost sight of each other will find themselves in a rather improbable way and leave together by ferry… on the Big Blue track. From twist to twist, they will criss-cross several Greek islands. A warm and sunny comedy in the image of the landscapes filmed, and its performers. The tandem Laure Calamy – Olivia Côte (You women, Pupilles …) sparks. Add to this tandem Kristin Scott Thomas in an unexpected look and role, and you have one of the tastiest comedies of early 2023.

Released January 11, 2023

Brigitte Baronet

About Joan de Laurent Larivière

High and Short

After I am a soldier, his first feature film, director Laurent Larivière presents About Joan. He films the incomparable Isabelle Huppert to tell a story that oscillates between past and present, dream and reality. Joan is a busy editor. As she walks down the street, she is followed by a man, her very first love. Years have passed since their separation. For Joan, the time has come to announce that a son has been born from their relationship.

Of all the films screened at the festival, About Joan imposes itself as a real singularity. Beyond a beautiful portrait of a woman, Laurent Larivière offers a complex work with different nuances. Sometimes comical – and even burlesque – the film is also a melodrama about our ability to reinvent our destiny. All with accuracy and without an ounce of misery. If the first two acts can confuse, the third, at the turn of an event, brings together all the pieces of the puzzle. Every question finds an answer.

Like the feature film, Isabelle Huppert signs an interpretation in constant evolution and of great sensitivity. His last camera look, which underlines the complicity between the spectator and the heroine, offers in particular a very beautiful moment of cinema. Around her, we also find the excellent Florence Loiret-Caille, Swann Arlaud and Dimitri Doré – revealed in Bruno Reidal at the beginning of the year.

Released September 14, 2022.

Thomas Desroches

Houria by Mounia Meddour

The pact

Three years have passed since the release of Papicha, director Mounia Meddour’s first feature film, which caused a sensation when it was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. After winning two Césars – that of Best First Film and that of Best Female Hope for Lyna Khoudri -, the filmmaker returns with Houria. She chooses once again Algeria to tell the story of a young dancer victim of an attack. As her life collapses in an instant, the heroine will have to rebuild herself in order to be reborn better.

Houria – freedom in Arabic – resounds like a cry to celebrate life. The film depicts the journey of a heroine who must fight to regain her integrity. For this, Mounia Meddour uses art – dance – as a fundamental step towards healing. The spirit of sisterhood that reigns between the different characters occupies a central place in Houria. Knowing, understanding and helping others to better elevate oneself.

As in Papicha, the director does not forget the political dimension of her story. Here, she lifts the veil on the delicate subject of repentant terrorists. In the title role, we find Lyna Khoudri, the spark of the film. It is both gentle and fierce, dark and luminous. Impossible not to mention the dance scenes – choreographed by Hajiba Fahmy -, real parentheses of hope, which come to sublimate this group of survivors. Heroines that we would like to see more often.

Released March 15, 2023.

Thomas Desroches

The Passenger by Héloïse Pelloquet

Film Tray

Chiara lives on an island off the Atlantic coast, where her husband Antoine grew up. They are a happy and loving couple. She learned Antoine’s trade, fishing, and has worked alongside him for twenty years. The arrival of Maxence, a new apprentice, will upset their balance and Chiara’s certainties…

It is better to know as little as possible about this Passenger before coming to discover it in theaters, and to be surprised. This is a first feature film (written and directed by Héloïse Pelloquet, noticed with her short films) with very fine writing, in a very cinematic setting, that of a small island, with sea workers .

To convince you in a few words, let’s just say that it is one of the most beautiful roles of Cécile de France. The bond that was created with Félix Lefebvre (Summer 85, Suprêmes) is described with great accuracy.

Released on December 14, 2022

Brigitte Baronet

Stop with your lies by Olivier Peyon

TS Productions

With 175,000 copies sold, the novel Stop With Your Lies is one of the greatest successes of author Philippe Besson. Five years after its publication, the book becomes a film under the direction of Olivier Peyon – who also signs the screenplay for this adaptation. The story is that of Stéphane Belcourt, a famous writer who returns to his native region after thirty years of absence. There, he meets the son of his first love.

Olivier Peyon stages a sensitive work full of truth about “those who leave and those who stay”. It manages to stay true to the essence of the original novel while offering a personal re-reading with a few changes. Very convincing, Guillaume de Tonquédec embodies a silent hero who reveals himself as the story progresses. His dynamic with Victor Belmondo gives the film its most beautiful sequences, as does the duo of actors – Julien De Saint-Jean and Jérémy Gillet -, whose chemistry bursts the screen.

Without pathos, stop with your lies is an adaptation with a lot of heart, between drama, learning story and comedy – thanks to the presence of Guilaine Londez.

Released on January 18, 2023.

Thomas Desroches

The Blue of the Caftan by Maryam Touzani

Ad Vitam

Halim has been married for a long time to Mina, with whom he runs a traditional caftan shop in the medina of Salé, Morocco. The couple have always lived with Halim’s secret, his homosexuality which he has learned to keep quiet. Mina’s illness and the arrival of a young apprentice will upset this balance. United in their love, each will help the other to face his fears.

Like the fabric of the caftan which gives its title to the film, Le Bleu du caftan is a very delicate, soft work, which modestly approaches the subject of homosexuality in Morocco. This is based on a fine scenario, which takes the time to reveal the characters to us gradually. Strong scenes emerge from the film. The interpretation of the trio that makes up the film is always right: Saleh Bakri, Lubna Azabal and Ayoub Missioui. Le Bleu du caftan is directed by Maryam Touzani (who previously directed Adam), and co-written by the latter and Nabil Ayouch (Much Loved, Haut et fort).

Out soon.

Prize: Valois for actor for Saleh Bakri and Valois for directing for Maryam Touzani

Brigitte Baronet