Once Upon My Mother – Film Review

Another day, another film festival! This French-Canadian comedy-drama, an affectionate tribute to motherly devotion and love, is playing in Melbourne as a part of the Jewish International Film Festival.

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Leon: The Professional – Film Review

A stylish and eccentric thriller that feels thoroughly French despite the English-speaking cast and the New York setting, with Natalie Portman in what surely must be one of the most memorable child performances of all time.

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Film Review

My first reaction to the title of this movie was to wonder if it was something in the spirit of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, maybe a horror parody of Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady? But no, instead this exquisite French film is a sumptuous and sensual drama about an impossible love between two women in 18th-century Brittany.

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Farewell, My Queen – Film Review

The royal palace of Versailles and its doomed queen Marie Antoinette get a new perspective in this French film, which covers the last fraught days of the monarchy through the eyes of a young woman serving as the queen’s official reader. While ultimately somewhat slight, the movie’s eavesdropping-on-history approach is compelling, and gains a lot from being shot at the real location.

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