Tag: Juliette Binoche

THE TASTE OF THINGS – Review

Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel in THE TASTE OF THINGS. Courtesy of IFC

Warning: Don’t see this film hungry! Delicious shots of delicious food in a luscious landscape fill the French romantic drama THE TASTE OF THINGS but it is the perfect Valentine’s Day movie, particularly if you are a foodie, or a romantic. A visually luscious film starring Juliette Binoche, the story centers on two people who express their love for each other and for fine food, by cooking together. Set in 1889 in an old rural manor house, THE TASTE OF THINGS creates a beautiful dreamworld in the French countryside where the abundance of the land provides all they need. THE TASTE OF THINGS is a feast for both the eyes and the hungry heart, with the bonus of the Oscar-winning Juliette Binoche. It was the official Oscar entry for France.

It all begins in the garden, of course, where cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) is harvesting vegetables for the day’s meals. Back in the kitchen, she is joined by Dodin (Benoit Magimel), the gourmand owner of the manor house, and the two immediately set to cooking, side-by-side and nearly wordlessly, as equals, with the ease of long familiarity.

The large country kitchen looks like something out of period still-life paintings, with gleaming copper pots, big cast iron stoves, well-worn wooden tables, and the garden’s produce arranged in pleasing vignettes around the kitchen. Eugenie has worked for Dodin for decades, and they work together seamlessly, like long-time dance partners moving through familiar but beloved routines. Dodin has been in love with Eugenie for years, and although the two are lovers as well as partners in the kitchen, she has steadfastly refused his offers of marriage. Why she refuses is not entirely clear, but maintaining her sense of independence maybe part of it.

Eugenie’s assistant Violette (Galatéa Bellugi) has brought her young niece Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire) into the kitchen, a girl interested in learning to cook, and as Dodin and Eugenie work, Dodin explains to science behind the art of cooking – gastronomy. The newcomer gives us the chance to learn about cooking techniques, but Dodin’s regular dinners with his four gourmand friends allow us to listen in on their conversations as well, which often touch on the history of gastronomy. In these lively discussions, we hear about the evolution of French cuisine and the traditions of fine dining, and a great deal about the famous chefs Antonin Carême, who helped create French cuisine, and Auguste Escoffier, who followed a generation later, and whose book on French cooking is the chef’s bible to this day.

Dodin’s and Eugenie’s life of delicious meals in lovely rustic settings, surrounded by friends, is interrupted by a health scare, as Eugenie experiences alarming fainting spells, which prompts worried Dodin to redouble his pleas to her to marry him. Eugenie waves off both the proposal and concerns about her health, saying she feels fine. Dodin, determined to make her rest and hoping to woo her, does something he has not done before. He cooks for her, and even serves her, bringing her dish after delicious dish.

The story is deeply romantic but with its bittersweet side, and the film further charms us with its lushly green landscapes, stately old stone house, and wonderful exploration of the art and science of haute cuisine against a backdrop of friends gathered around the dining table. The romantic story and its idyllic historical setting soothes us, and immersion in their world of the kitchen, with the tidbits of French culinary history, completes the magical spell the film casts. Juliette Binoche is wonderful as the middle-aged cook, a down-to-earth woman who is still a true artist in the kitchen. Her scenes with Benoit Magimel are delightful, and the two actors have wonderful chemistry (and the pair do have an romantic history). Handsome Benoit Magimel is charming as Dodin, a man who loves everything about food and the culinary arts, almost as much as he loves his cook with whom he shares the joy of cooking.

This lovely film is so immersed in everything French that it is a bit surprising that the director, Tran Anh Hung, was not born in France. The director was born in Vietnam but has lived in France since 1975, and studied filmmaking in Paris at l’École Nationale Louis Lumière. His most recent film, before this one, was the French-language ETERNITY (2016), starring Audrey Tautou, Berenice Bejo and Melanie Laurent.

In addition to director Tran, the film also has a gastronomic director, Pierre Gagnaire, which is pretty much essential in a film so much about the love of fine cooking. The film has no music, except at the very end, but the soundtrack is filled with the sounds of cooking – the sizzle of meat in the pan, the chopping of vegetables, the crack of eggs, and the bang of spoons and whisks in those gorgeous copper metal pots.

THE TASTE OF THINGS is a perfect relaxing escape for foodies, romantics, and Francophiles, with the great Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel whipping up romance and gourmet dishes in a classic French country manor setting. Although there is some heartbreak

, it is hard to imagine a more perfect Valentine’s Day date movie drama.

THE TASTE OF THINGS, in French with English subtitles, opens Friday, Feb. 9, in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS – Review

Didier Pupin, Juliette Binoche, Léa Carne, Héléne Lambert, in BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. Courtesy of Cohen Media Group

Juliette Binoche stars as a prosperous writer who goes undercover to research her next non-fiction book, an expose of the exploitative working conditions of French people near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, in director Emmanuel Carrère’s BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. Marianne (Binoche) poses as a divorced job seeker with a thin work history who is only offered part-time, minimum-wage jobs as a cleaner. She joins the ranks of other poor women, and some men, unable to find full-time work who are forced to cobble together a bare living doing several of these hard, unpleasant jobs. Eventually, Marianne finds herself in one of the worst, cleaning the ferry that runs between France and Britain.

Based on the non-fiction book “Le Quai de Ouistreham” (“The Night Cleaner”), Juliette Binoche is excellent as Marianne, as she immerses herself in the cleaners’ work and their world, forming human bonds as she shares their lives. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS shows us these workers’ difficult lives but Marianne’s good intentions to inform the world about them is complicated by her deception as she becomes close to some of her co-workers, raising the question what happens when her fellow low-wage cleaners learn she was only a visitor in their hard world.

Of her limited choices, Marianne picks cleaning jobs as the ones she feels most qualified to handle and immerses herself in the round of job fairs and word-of-mouth hunts for cleaning offices and public facilities. Most of these low-wage workers, primarily women, work more than one of these part-time jobs, while dreaming of full-time work.

While writing a non-fiction book to expose the harsh working conditions is admirable, Marianne’s use of deceit to get close to them is much less so. Early on, a social worker figures out who Marianne is and what she is doing, and scolds her for both the deceit and for taking a job that these other women need to simply survive. Although the social worker ultimately decides to no say anything, the point of the morally-murky nature of what the author is doing has been made, and lingers with us throughout.

She meets many people who are kind to her but everyone’s money is so tight that any little extra expense can push them over the edge, or cause them to lose one of the jobs. She starts to hear rumors about a job of last resort, the worst, which is cleaning the ferry that runs between France and Britain. The work is hard, unpleasant, and must be done in the short time the ferry is docked. Yet she finds a surprising camaraderie among this overworked souls.

Marianne intends to make an ensemble of people the subjects of her book but is so taken with one of them, that she decides to make her the center of it. Chrystèle (an excellent Hélène Lambert) is a single mother whose only option is the ferry job. She is more aloof than most but Marienne works to win her confidence. As she does, we can see real friendship developing between them. But what will happen after the truth comes out, as it must at some point.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS shows us these workers’ difficult lives but Marianne’s good intentions to inform the world about them is complicated by her deception as she becomes close to some of her co-workers, raising the question what happens when her fellow low-wage cleaners learn she was only a visitor in their hard world.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, in French with English subtitles, opens Friday, Aug. 25, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE – Review

Juliette Binoche as “Sara” in Claire Denis’ BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Curiosa Films. An IFC Films release

Juliette Binoche and French stars Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colin deliver top-notch acting in a love triangle drama, in renowned director Claire Denis’s BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE. Previously titled FIRE in English, this well-acted French romantic drama’s French title is AVEC AMOUR ET ACHARNEMENT, which translates as “With Love and Fury,” which would have worked in English as well. Juliette Binoche’s character Sara certainly is playing with fire, when her eye strays to an old flame despite her better judgment, threatening her present loving relationship. Plenty of sparks fly as a result.

Juliette Binoche plays Sara, who is in a loving, long-term relationship with Jean (Vincent Lindon), Sara

had left her previous amour Francois (Gregoire Colin) for Jean, his best friend and business partner, and Sara had stuck with Jean even through his 8-year jail term. Early romantic scenes make clear the passionate feeling the couple still share. Yet when Sara unexpectedly sees Francois on the street one day, she is overcome a sudden rush of old feelings and buried longings, even though Francois didn’t even see her. Although she does nothing, the mere mention of the name of her ex, whom neither have seen in the intervening decade, to her current lover seems to electrifying the air, sending a jolt of fear through him, although he says nothing. That level of unspoken yet crackling emotion charges the air, as these two acting greats say more without words than lesser talents could, even before anything more happens. Repressed longing, smoldering jealousy and fear on both sides suffuse scenes as the couple begin playing with fire that may burn them both.

Although Sara had just glimpsed Francois at a distance on a Paris street, it turns out Jean has actually talked to him, something Sara does not yet know. Francois called Jean, out of the blue after ten years, to suggest as they start up a new business together, an agency for young sports prospects. Once a pro rugby star, Jean and Francois had once worked together after an injury ended his career. But that came to an end when Jean went to prison for eight years. We don’t learn the reason but there are hints that it may have been something both Francois and Jean were involved with, although only Jean was caught. As an ex-con, jobs have been scarce, so Jean is in no position to pass up any opportunity but, as a former pro rugby star, Jean is particularly drawn to the chance to get back into the sports world.

When Sara casually mentions that she saw Francois on the street, Jean freezes. Although he says nothing, we can see, even feel, the jolt of electricity that rushes through him when he hears this, and the air is alive with tension and fear. Yet neither Sara nor Jean say anything, and Jean does not mention the call from Francois.

Jean can’t bring himself to pass up Francois’ business offer, although it is clear there is risk for his happy home life. He delays even mentioning it to Sara, who says little about that, realizing the tension Jean is feeling. Jean becomes secretive, trying to avoid situations where the former lovers might meet, fearing what may happen. Sara is determined that nothing will happen, as she feels she made the better choice all those years ago and is sure she loves Jean, yet there is always a fear of the fire they are playing with.

The thrill of this love-triangle drama is watching these powerhouse actors at work in this fraught situation. Carefully observed, multi-layered and nuanced acting is delivered by all three but particularly from the scenes with Binoche and Lindon as the couple in crisis. Gregoire Colin’s Francois is handsome and socially smooth but a rather oily character underneath. We quickly see why Sara chose Jean, yet her attraction is like an addiction she is battling. Both Sara and Jean are hesitant to even touch this heated issue, and continually dance around it. There are telling glances, smoldering feelings, anger or fear revealed through looks, sometimes even contradicting the words they speak. All these half-buried sparks threaten to burst into full flame as this tense romantic drama unfolds.

The unspoken tension between them is complicated by the fact that Jean is so hungry to take the business offer Francois holds out, so much that he is willing to take risks. There is also another problem pressing on Jean, his bi-racial teen son Marcus (Issa Perica), who has been raised by Jean’s mother Nelly (Bulle Ogier) in a small town outside Paris, but who has become difficult for her to handle as he entered his teen years. Periodically she calls Jean to beg for his help, pulling him in another direction.

These gifted actors do an excellent job keeping this pot boiling and Claire Denis, who won the Silver Bear for director at the Berlin Film Festival, and co-writer Christine Angot keep things tense and percolating along. Yet as fabulous as it is to see these actors work and as skilled as the director/writer is gripping an audience, this is still a romantic melodrama, with not larger socially meaningful commentary, despite the subplot about the bi-racial son, Sara’s job as a radio host on a Arab-centric program or scenes illustrating the difficulties of ex-con in finding work. Those topics are touched on, rather than explored at depth, so while worthy, they are but grace notes to the main plot.

This high-wire, electric romantic drama is a treat for audiences who relish fine acting and a gifted director putting those artists through their paces, but offers less for audiences seeking a more significant story or one with deeper meaning.

BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE, in French with English subtitles, will be shown July 16 at the Webster Film Series and is now playing in select theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE Theatrical Poster

Juliette Binoche, Frank Grillo And Morgan Freeman Star In Trailer For PARADISE HIGHWAY

Juliette Binoche as Sally and Hala Finley as Leila in Paradise Highway. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

Lionsgate has dropped the trailer for director Anna Gutto’s film PARADISE HIGHWAY.

Academy Award® winners Juliette Binoche and Morgan Freeman lead this riveting thriller set in the trucking industry and its seamy underbelly of human trafficking. To save the life of her brother (Frank Grillo), Sally (Binoche), a truck driver, reluctantly agrees to smuggle illicit cargo: a girl named Leila (Hala Finley). As Sally and Leila begin a danger-fraught journey across state lines, a dogged FBI operative (Freeman) sets out on their trail, determined to do whatever it takes to terminate a human-trafficking operation — and bring Sally and Leila to safety.

PARADISE HIGHWAY is available on Digital, On Demand, and in Select Theaters July 29, 2022.

Rated R

Morgan Freeman and Juliette Binoche as Sally in Paradise Highway. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate
Frank Grillo as Dennis in the thriller film, PARADISE HIGHWAY , a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in THE TRUTH Opens Friday at The Hi-Pointe Theatre in St. Louis

The Hi-Pointe Theater, at 1005 McCausland Ave in St. Louis, is the best place to see movies. Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in THE TRUTH opens there Friday July 10th.

Legends of French cinema Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche join masterful filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters, Still Walking) to paint a moving portrait of family dynamics in THE TRUTH. Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) is an aging French movie star who, despite her momentary lapses in memory, remains a venerable force to be reckoned with. Upon the publication of her memoirs, her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) returns to Paris from New York with her husband (Ethan Hawke) and their young daughter to commemorate its release. A sharp and funny battle of wits ensues between the mother-daughter duo, as Lumir takes issue with Fabienne’s rose-colored version of the past. Reflected cleverly by Fabienne’s latest role in a sci-fi drama, their strained relationship takes a poignant journey toward possible reconciliation. Charming, bold, and imbued with endless emotional insight, THE TRUTH offers a relatable look at human relationships, featuring exquisite performances from its all-star cast.

The Critics love THE TRUTH:

Peter Travers at Rolling Stone says:

“….You don’t want to this thrilling standoff between two French legends-Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche -who are double dynamite as a mother and daughter with different ideas of what constitutes the truth.”

Jeff York at The Establishing Shot says:

“…. (THE TRUTH) stands as one of the year’s most exquisite, plumbing the depths of an actor’s life and the complexity of relationships in the fallout from it.”

Robert Pattinson in HIGH LIFE Arrives on Blu-ray and DVD July 9th

An A-list cast stars in the haunting, thrilling, and visually stunning space odyssey High Life,arriving on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD July 9 from Lionsgate. The film will also be available on Digital on June 11 and On Demand on June 25 from A24. Visionary director Claire Denis brings this eerie sci-fi film to life with stars Robert Pattinson, Academy Award® winner Juliette Binoche (1996, Best Supporting Actress, The English Patient), André Benjamin, and Mia Goth. “A stunning space odyssey that will blow your mind” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), the Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh™ film premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews. TheHigh Life Blu-ray and DVD will include two making-of featurettes and will be available for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.

Monte (Pattinson) and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of the solar system. The crew—death-row inmates led by a doctor (Binoche) with sinister motives—has vanished. As the mystery of what happened unravels, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive.

BLU-RAY / DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

·         “Audacious, Passionate, and Dangerous: Making High Life” Featurette

·         “Visualizing the Abyss: The Look of High Life” Featurette 

CAST

Robert Pattinson         Damsel, Good Time, Twilight franchise

Juliette Binoche          The English Patient, Chocolat, Ghost in the Shell 

André Benjamin          TV’s “American Crime,” Jimi: All Is By My Side, Semi-Pro

Mia Goth                     Suspiria, The Secret of Marrowbone, A Cure for Wellness

NON-FICTION – Review

Juliette Binoche as “Selena” in Olivier Assayas’s Non-Fiction. Courtesy of IFC Films. A Sundance Selects Release.

Juliette Binoche stars as an actress married to an editor at a distinguished French publishing house, in writer/director Olivier Assayas’s latest film NON-FICTION. Assayas is known for smart, emotionally sharp dramatic films such as THE CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA and PERSONAL SHOPPER, but in NON-FICTION, he takes a lighter, comic approach, while still having something smart and sly to say about contemporary life.

In NON-FICTION, the discussions focus on books and publishing but whether it is a sex comedy with commentary on the future of literature and publishing, or a commentary on that with a side of sex comedy, isn’t really clear. Nor does it matter. Either way, the film is a delight – assuming you like both French bedroom comedy and witty conversations about the future for books in a digital world. Much of that discussion takes place in bed, at dinner parties or in restaurants and bars, as these financially-comfortable Parisians try to figure out the future for literature. They live in a kind of bubble, part of Assayas’ winking humor.

There is a lot of talking in this film but what marvelous dialog – smart, far-reaching, insightful and intriguing conversations about literature and publishing in a world of digital media, Twitter and e-readers, against a backdrop of a changing world. Or maybe one that “the more it changes, the more it remains the same,” as the saying goes.

Radiant and brilliant as ever, Juliette Binoche stars as Selena, the actress wife of Alain (Guillaume Canet), an elegantly-dressed editor at a revered old publishing house. One of Alain’s longtime writers is Leonard (a very funny Vincent Macaigne), a disheveled mess of a man whose appearance is the very opposite of polished Alain. Despite his rumpled appearance, Leonard’s novels are based on his own thinly-disguised romantic adventures. It is an example of Assayas’ sly humor that the dumpy Leonard is the one writing about his romances, and also that gorgeous Selena is secretly having an affair with him. But this is a French film, so of course Alain is having his own secret affair, with Laure (Christa Theret) the young business school grad the company brought on to handle “digital transition.” Meanwhile, Leonard lives with Valerie (comedian Nora Hamzawi, in a nice dramatic debut), the idealistic assistant to a socialist politician. It’s very French.

The French title of the film translates as “Double Lives,” which is actually a more apt title if less a literary allusion. Leonard calls his barely-fictionalized books “auto fiction.” When Selena’s husband Alain tells her Leonard has brought him a new book, she worries that her husband will figure out she is the inspiration for one of the characters. But Leonard has put him off the scent by hinting that another woman, a news anchor, is the inspiration. It hardly matters, as Alain is not very taken with Leonard’s new book and declines to publish it. Meanwhile, Selena worries that she is hurting her acting career if she signs up for a fourth season of the cop show she is starring in. The show is called “Collusion” but everyone calls it “Collision.”

There is a lot of talking in this film, so a lot of subtitles to read. But such engrossing conversations, touching on technology trends across several years, which blurs the time period. Blogging, Twitter, e-books, publishing on demand and other topic are all discussed, with some characters lamenting the death of reading while others maintain it is an age when there is more reading and writing than ever, just online, and tweets are like haiku. People reference literary figures and thought but also bandy about terms like “fake news”and mention films like“Fast and Furious,” in discussions that are both thought-provoking and slyly tongue-in-cheek.

The breath of the conversations are bracing, far-ranging and sometimes ridiculous but always interesting. At the same time these people talk, they go about their comfortable lives, in endless rounds of dinner parties or fashionable restaurants, disconnected from more ordinary concerns. The one character who is grounded in the real world is, in a sly ironic twist, Valerie, who works for a politician.

Sly humor runs throughout this playful, intelligent film. Like in his dramas, the characters have weighty, serious conversations about contemporary culture and life, but here those conversations might take place in bed or around a dinner table. Juliette, a classically trained actress, worries about signing up for a fourth season of the TV cop show she’s starring in. The show is called “Collusion” but everyone think it is called “Collision.” Leonard resets one of the sexual encounters in his novel from a movie theater showing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to a screening of the art-house drama “White Ribbon” because it sounds more classy, even if the film is about the rise of the Nazis which gives the book’s sex scene a creepy subtext. The characters discuss which actors they can get to read for audio books, and someone suggests Juliette Binoche for one – with Binoche right there in the scene. It is both funny and weird.

For those who like French sex comedy and books, Olivier’s clever sly comedy NON-FICTION is a treat not to miss. NON-FICTION, in French with English subtitles, opens Friday,June 14, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

HIGH LIFE – Review

Robert Pattinson in a scene from Claire Denis’ HIGH LIFE. Courtesy of A24.

For her first English-language film, renowned French director Claire Denis sends Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche into space on a mission to a black hole. Beautiful yet bleak, HIGH LIFE is more contemplative and ambitious than the typical space drama, but it perhaps does not rank among the best works of the 72-year-old innovative auteur director who gave us BEAU TRAVAIL and 35 SHOTS OF RUM.

The director co-wrote the script with Jean-Pol Fargeau. HIGH LIFE opens on a spaceship far out among the stars, with a man (Pattinson) and a baby as the sole survivors. We know there is a backstory to this, and eventually it is revealed in flashback. The film has moments of violence, bursts of sometimes graphic sexuality, and maintains a creepy tension, but it also moves slowly for most of its running time, meditating on the human condition.

The people on this journey through space are certainly not living the high life. They are convicts who have been offered service on a space mission to a distant black hole, as an alternative to their life (or death) sentences. The mission is to gather and transmit back information that might give Earth access to unlimited energy. The trip is long and while a few will serve as crew, most will be test subjects in experiments during the long trip. The convicts have been told they will return after the mission, although that is a lie.

The film grapples with that central deceit early on, in a flashback to Earth where a professor (Victor Banerjee) struggles with society’s guilt over the lie. The truth is that the convicts on the spaceship are traveling near the speed of light, which means they will age very slowly. As they make their very long journey, decades will fly by on Earth. Even if they could return, everyone they know will be long dead.

The science touches are among the film’s most interesting aspects. Besides addressing the way time slows as one approaches the speed of light, HIGH LIFE also depicts what might happen at the black hole’s event horizon.

The creepy side of the script is in what happens along the way, as the convict passengers are subjected to unsettling experiments by the ship’s doctor, also a convict, played chillingly by Binoche.

People going mad in space is not a new idea but Claire Denis uses it in a different way. There are hints of Andrei Tarkovsky’s SOLARIS and the 1973 PAPILLON, as Denis combines commentary on society’s treatment of prisoners and a story about on the resilience of the human spirit. It is ambitious stuff although not all of it comes together.

The cast also includes Mia Goth, as an impulsive woman who is unraveling after years in space. The ship is self-sufficient, growing food and recycling air, water and waste, and largely runs itself, with a little help from crew. These convicts never were the most stable people to begin with but the long journey has taken its toll. They are coping, or failing to cope, in various ways. Andre Benjamin plays Tcherny, a gentle man who prefers to spend his time in the shipboard garden, which provides food and oxygen. Other strong performances are provided by Agata Buzek as pilot Nansen and Lars Eidinger as captain Chandra.

In the lead role, Pattinson gives one of his better performances, tamping down his highly emotive style for something a bit more restrained. Pattinson has chosen roles mostly in indie and art-house films since leaving his TWILIGHT film days, with mixed results. This role is a more successful one for him, although it is too far from mainstream for his remaining fans of his early days.

HIGH LIFE has a moody, eerie visual beauty, thanks to cinematographer Yorick LeSaux, and a haunting score, which adds to its sense of tension. The film has a creepiness to it, and it does not quite find the right balance between that element and its more meditative side.

Still, the story about human minds coming undone in space and about about human resilience is admirable and ambitious. The film is full of unexpected twists, just like life, and features a surprisingly satisfying ending.

Fans of art-house films will find this thought-provoking drama more satisfying than mainstream audiences, although it is not Claire Denis’ best. HIGH LIFE has its moments but its mix of slow meditation on the human condition does not entirely gel, and that aspect does not mix as well with the thriller/horror aspects of the story as one might hoped. It is a thought-provoking film but not Denis’ most successful. Mainstream audiences expecting a thriller, as the trailer suggests, will likely be confused by the film’s focus on the passengers’ inner human journey and its social commentary on society’s treatment of prisoners.

HIGH LIFE opens Friday, April 19, at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater and Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche Star In Trailer For A24 Films Sci-Fi Drama HIGH LIFE

From director Claire Denis, starring Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Andre Benjamin, and Mia Goth, watch the trailer for HIGH LIFE.

The film, a staggering and primal film about love and intimacy, suffused with anguished memories of a lost Earth, premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and was met with overwhelming praise from the critics.

” “High Life” can’t be separated from Pattinson’s omnipresent performance, and he seems perfectly attuned to the uncanny demands of Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau’s challenging script, which is so precise, almost deterministic in its details, yet so elusive in overall effect. With few words of dialogue, but a great deal of screen time, he also carries this foreboding, dissociative film’s slender thread of connection in the relationship between Monte and the baby (named Willow, according to the sinister lullaby that is the closing track, written by Staples, performed by Tindersticks, and sung by Pattinson). But we shouldn’t overstate: His presence, plus the loosely familiar genre, and the English language dialogue, might make you believe this is a more accessible Claire Denis film than we’ve seen. It is not.” – Variety

“Claire Denis Takes Robert Pattinson on an Erotic Space Odyssey in This Mesmerizing Look into the Void.” – IndieWire

“Every day is a battle to stay sane (less apparent among Denis’ feats here is that she has casually constructed a remorselessly honest look into the psychological ramifications of incarceration), so extreme, bizarre measures must sometimes be called on. With an achievement of this calibre it’s hard to resist hyperbole: High Life contains the single greatest one-person sex scene in the history of cinema.” – The Guardian

“haunting score by regular composer Stuart A. Staples (of the Tindersticks) and production design by Francois-Renaud Labarthe (Personal Shopper) that gives the ship a very dirty and dysfunctional sheen, mirroring the lives of its turbulent passengers, who can only remain in peace for so long.” – The Hollywood Reporter

From A24 Films, HIGH LIFE opens in theaters April 12, 2019.

LET THE SUNSHINE IN – Review

Juliette Binoche as Isabelle in Claire Denis’ LET THE SUNSHINE IN. Courtesy of Sundance Selects. A Sundance Selects release.

Legendary French director Claire Denis teams with legendary star Juliette Binoche for a tale of Parisian artist who is searching for true love at middle age, in the French-language LET THE SUNSHINE IN (Un Beau Soleil Interieur).

Claire Denis takes us on as emotional journey with Binoche, one that leads more to self-discovery and insights than romance, as her character explores romantic possibilities. Surprisingly, this is the first film collaboration of these two giants of French cinema. The film is billed as romantic comedy but the comedy is both subtle and very French. Also very French are the conversations, which often tend towards the philosophical and world-weariness, but with a dash of idealistic hope.

Along her journey in search of true love, Binoche’s Isabelle tests the romantic waters with a varied series of men, each with his own flaws and appeal. In some ways, it is the kind of romantic quest we are more used to seeing in movies about men looking for “the one” yet it is specifically a woman’s story.

Beautiful, sophisticated Isabelle (Binoche) has a successful career as an artist, and lives in Parisian apartment with a studio where she paints. She seems to have it all but after divorcing her husband Francois (Laurent Grevill), she now is hoping to find true love. With her natural beauty, Isabelle has no trouble attracting male attention but love is another matter. The frustrating thing for her is that she keeps meeting men who aren’t emotionally available or are just looking for a fling at most.

Binoche is so gorgeous, it is a little hard to believe she doesn’t have men constantly falling in love with her, but maybe it is that Isabelle keeps focusing on the wrong ones. Binoche inserts a kind of desperation to be loved in this artist’s search, even reconsidering the ex-husband she left at one point. But she is looking for something authentic, something real and lasting. In her romantic quest, she encounters several men who, in an initial romantic glow, seem to offer that possibility but roadblocks appear quickly.

Binoche is very touching in the role, showing us all her character’s emotional vulnerabilities, her tendency to jump in too quickly at the illusion of love, and her dignity in picking herself up to try again. Binoche’s tender, honest exploration of Isabelle’s emotional roller coaster will resonant deeply for many women.

The cast also includes Nicholas Duvauchelle, Paul Blain, Xavier Beauvois and the legendary Gerard Depardieu, as a psychic Binoche’s character consults in an effort to resolve her love life.

LET THE SUNSHINE IN is a very French film, which will please Francophiles but maybe not all American audiences. Not surprisingly, the ending of LET THE SUNSHINE IN is typically French, leaving Binoche’s artist still on her quest for love but perhaps more comfortable with her journey towards the true love she deserves.

LET THE SUNSHINE IN opens Friday, May 25, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars