clerk Archives - Jeremy C. Processing

Director – François Ozon – 2023 – France – Cert. 12a – 102m

*****

Two young women, an actress and a lawyer, take advantage of casting couch sex abuse of the former to boost both of their fledgeling careers – sharp period comedy with more to it underneath the surface is out in UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, October 25th

A swimming pool. A lavish, art deco mansion. Out of a door staggers a clearly distressed, young blonde woman. Leaving the estate, she walks down the street, bumping into people. The setting and her clothes indicate the 1930s.

Meanwhile, a middle-aged M. Pistole (Franck de Lapersonne) calls on young brunette tenant Pauline (Rebecca Marder) to demand 3 000 Fr for five months’ back rent. A qualified lawyer, she manages to negotiate 48 hours’ respite on the grounds that a hotshot producer wants to put her flatmate Madeleine in his new play, and money will follow once the contract is signed. However, once Madeleine (Nadia Tereszkiewicz from Only The Animals, Dominik Moll, 2019) comes in to spill her tale of woe – in a manner closer to screwball comedy than rape or crime drama – it rapidly becomes obvious that the situation has changed.… Read the rest

Widow Clicquot

Director – Thomas Napper – 2023 – UK – Cert. 15 – 90m

****

A nineteenth century French widow innovates in the male-dominated world of champagne production – out in UK cinemas on Friday, August 23rd

In the early nineteenth century, Veuve Clicquot established itself as something of an innovation in the world of champagne. You would imagine that if anyone were to make a period picture about it, it would be the French, but as may well be guessed from the English language translation title here, this is a British production using English actors speaking English.

There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with that, but given that France has a sizeable movie industry which, among other things, often makes period costume dramas, watching a film about an historical period in that country in English feels decidedly odd. Perhaps if there were more of an epic sense of scale (think: Napoleon, Ridley Scott, 2023) it might feel less so. The screenplay is based on a book by North American writer Tilar J. Mazzeo.

Perhaps it’s explained with greater clarity in the book, but the film assumes a familiarity on the part of the audience with the ins and outs of the Napoleonic Wars, which take place in the backdrop of the film and on the edge of the narrative, affecting it from a distance, as it were.… Read the rest