Tag: Paris

Exhibition on Screen
James McNeill Whistler

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 14 2026
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James McNeill Whistler

Exhibition on Screen: James McNeill Whistler

Director – David Bickerstaff – 2026 – UK – Cert. U – 90m

*****

A look at the work of 19th Century painter Whistler, seen through the lens of the 2026 Tate Britain exhibition – out in UK cinemas from Tuesday, 15th September

Before watching this latest Exhibition on Screen feature, I was able to visit Tate Britain’s stunning James McNeill Whistler show, which sits very much at the film’s core. The film had the effect of making me want to go back for further visits.

Exhibition on Screen’s film opens with shots of a Victorian concert hall interior where the unseen Whistler (voice: Bret Jones) is addressing the room with his spoken lecture on art, something the film will return to towards its close. After a montage of brushes, painting surfaces and palettes, establishing shots of Tate Britain take us straight into the current Whistler show. “People sometimes think of Whistler as being based in French art, and sometimes as being based in British art,” explains Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850-1915, Tate Britain, “whereas…he was very much an independent…and very much leading the avant-garde in both those countries.”

Susan Grace Galassi, Curator Emeritas, The Frick Collection, New York, who considers Whistler one of the greatest American artists, notes that he didn’t distinguish between fine or applied art, that he was as great a painter as he was a printmaker.… Read the rest

Tags 1855, 19th century, 2026, A. O. Koritskii, America, American, American South, aristocrats, Arrangement, art, Art Critic, art historian, art history, art lessons, artisan, avant-garde, backstreets, bars, birthplace, blue Japanese porcelain, bohemian, Boston, Bret Jones, British art, brushes, butterfly, Can-Can, Carol Jacobi, Charles Baudelaire, Charles Lang Freer, Chelsea, chief engineer, Coastal Survey, coastline, coin, collection, commission, common people, concert hall, Connecticut, countryside, critic, cult of personality, curator, dancer, dandy, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, David Bickerstaff, display, disreputable, draughtsmanship, draw, drawing, drawings of coastlines, East End, England, etch, etching, everyday life, exhibition, Exhibition On Screen, F.R. Leyland, fabric, falling out, family, feud, fine and applied art, Finette, France, freedom, French art, Gustave Courbet, Harmony, Henry Murger, house brushes, independent, interior, interior design, irascible, James McNeill Whistler, Japan, Japanese, Japanese porcelain, Kensington, La Vie Boheme, lecture on art, letters, life size photographs, London, Lowell, Manet, Massachusetts, military surveyor, Mme Gérard, modern life, Modernism, money and payment, monogram, moral, motif, New York, Nocturne, one good eye, ordinary, outsider, painter, painting, painting as painting, painting surfaces and palettes, panel, Paris, Patricia de Montfort, peacock, peasants, Phil Grabsky, poet, Pomfret, porcelain, Pre-Raphaelite, printmaker, printmaking, prostitutes, provocateur, Rachel Campbell-Johnston, railway construction, railway engineer, railways, Rembrandt, responsible male, river, river bridges, river painting, River Thames, Rotherhithe, rural and urban, Russia, Salon d’Exposition, self-portrait with a pipe, self-promotion, self-publishing, shelving, ships, smoking a cigarette, Southerner, Spanish wall coverings, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg to Moscow, Stephen Calloway, sting in the tail, story, struggling artist, studies, subject, surveyor, Susan Grace Galassi, Symphony, Tate Britain, temper, Thames, The Frick Collection, The Peacock Room, UK, upbringing, urban, Velázquez, Victorian, Wapping, West Point Military Academy, Whistler, Whistler’s mother, workmen

Features Live Action Movies

La Femme Infidèle
(The Unfaithful Wife)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 9 2026
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(The Unfaithful Wife)

La Femme Infidèle (The Unfaithful Wife)

Director – Claude Chabrol – 1969 – France – Cert. 15 – 98m

*****

A man suspects his wife is having an affair, hires a private detective, and then acts upon what emerges… – back out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 11th; Claude Chabrol – Elements of Crime, a season of the director’s films, plays at BFI Southbank from Tuesday, September 1st to Tuesday, October 6th 2026.

Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet from Just Before Nightfall, 1971; Cop au Vin, 1985, both Claude Chabrol; The Bride Wore Black, François Truffaut, 1966) lives outside Paris with his wife Hélène (Stéphane Audran, then the director’s wife, from Les Biches, 1968, Le Boucher, 1970, both Claude Chabrol; Babette’s Feast, Gabriel Axel, 1987) and pre-teenage son Michel (Stéphane Di Napoli from Que la Bête Meure, Claude Chabrol, 1969).

He works in an office in Paris, to which he commutes by car. She often goes into town, for instance to get her hair done or visit the cinema. One day, he becomes suspicious and hires a private detective to follow her, who reports back that she is visiting the apartment of another man Victor Pegala every few days.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

De Gaulle
Résistance
(La Bataille de Gaulle
L’Âge de Fer)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date August 28 2026
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Résistance
(La Bataille de Gaulle
L’Âge de Fer)

De Gaulle: Resistance (La Bataille de Gaulle: L’Âge de Fer)

Director – Antonin Baudry – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 160m
*****
Feeling betrayed by France signing an armistice with the Germans in 1940, General De Gaulle leaves for London to set up and command alternative Free French forces – first part of a two-part movie is out in UK cinemas on Friday, August 28th

1940. In the brief but decisive Fall of France, De Gaulle (Simon Abkariam) – later described by a detractor as a “petty general” – overtakes a French tank column to see for himself what the Germans are doing (after an aide bringing news admits he’s not actually seen it for himself). With his military car under tank fire, De Gaulle uses his arm to signal his driver when and how to change direction so that he can accurately assess the situation before the French tanks turn up and destroy the German tank.

Days later, he is horrified to see Marshall Pétain (Alain Libolt) sign an armistice with Germany. As far as De Gaulle is concerned, Pétain and Admiral Darlan (Matthieu Kassovitz), who supports Pétain, do not speak for France. De Gaulle with the one aide prepared to accompany him leaves for London hoping to enlist the support of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Simon Russell-Beale) who gives him a nightly broadcasting slot on BBC radio and a house in Hampstead.… Read the rest

Tags 1940, 1940s, activist, Admiral Darlan, Africa, against the odds, aide, Alain Libolt, Algiers, Allies, Anamaria Vartolomei, answer the phone, anti-Semitism, Antonin Baudry, armed forces, armistice, battle, battle scene, BBC, Benoît Magimel, betrayal, Bir Hakeim, bombing raid, branding, British Prime Minister, broadcast, Cameroon, Campbell Scott, Churchill, command, Congo, cross the border, Darlan, De Gaulle, De Gaulle: Résistance, desert battle, diplomacy, driver, embassy, emblem, enlist, Fall of France, fathers and sons, fellow countrymen, fire on fellow countrymen, fix the taps, Florian Lesieur, forbidden, forces, Free French, French Colonial, General De Gaulle, General Kœnig, Germany, government, guardian, Hampstead, history, idealism, Jew, jungle, Karim Leklou, logo, London, losses, madcap plan, Marshall Pétain, Matthieu Kassovitz, military, modern history, naval rout, Navy, Nazi, negotiation, North Africa, Paris, Paris protest, Pétain, plumber, President, President Roosevelt, prime minister, principle, protest, radio, railway station, refusal to fire on fellow countrymen, Roosevelt, sailors, Second World War, siege, Siege of Bir Hakeim, Simon Abkariam, Simon Russell-Beale, skirmish, Southbound train, statesman, suicide mission, tank, tank column, uncle and aunt, uncles and nephews, under fire, US President, Vichy France, war, war movie, wild card, Winston Churchill, World War II, World War Two, WW2, youth

Features Live Action Movies

Once a Thief
(Chung Hang Sei Hoi,
縱橫四海,
lit: Criss-Cross
Over Four Seas)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date July 2 2026
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(Chung Hang Sei Hoi,
縱橫四海,
lit: Criss-Cross
Over Four Seas)

Once a Thief (Chung Hang Sei Hoi, 縱橫四海,
lit: Criss-Cross Over Four Seas)

Director – John Woo – 1991 – Hong Kong – Cert. 15 – 107m

****1/2

Lightweight caper movie bult around three orphans – two boys in love wth the third child, a girl – raised to become professional art thieves – 4K Restoration plays as part of Bullets and Brotherhood: the Films of John Woo at BFI Southbank from Friday, 3rd July to Friday, 31st July, and is out on 4K UHD on Friday, 3rd August

Three orphans adopted from the street are raised together in Hong Kong by gang boss Chow (Kenneth Tsang) to become professional art thieves – with the two boys Red Bean Pudding (Chow Yun Fat from Hard Boiled, 1992; The Killer, 1987; A Better Tomorrow, 1986, all John Woo) and James (Leslie Cheung from Happy Together, Wong Kar-wai, 1997; A Chinese Ghost Story, Tsui Hark, 1987; A Better Tomorrow, John Woo, 1986) growing up equally in love with the girl Red Bean (Cherie Chung from Wild Search, Ringo Lam, 1989, An Autumn’s Tale, Mabel Cheung, 1987; Peking Opera Blues, Tsui Hark, 1986).… Read the rest

Tags action, art thieves, Bullets and Brotherhood: The Films of John Woo, caper movie, car chase, car stunt, cat burglar, Cherie Chung, Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong, John Woo, Kenneth Tsang, Leslie Cheung, motorbike stunt, Once a Thief, orphans, Paris, Remy Julien, stunt

Features Live Action Movies

A Private Life
(Vie Privée)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date June 22 2026
No Comments on A Private Life
(Vie Privée)

A Private Life (Vie Privée)

Director – Rebecca Zlotowski – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 107m

****

A psychiatrist with an unusual eye problem must unravel the mystery of the recent death of one of her patients – out in UK cinemas on Friday, June 26th

Parisian psychiatrist Dr. Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster from The Mauritanian, Kevin Macdonald, 2021, The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme, 1991; Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976) is having a hard time. One of her patients Pierre is terminating his sessions after years of treatment following his visit to a hypnotist who managed to cure him of his long-standing smoking habit in one session; indeed, he may sue Dr. Lilian for non-effectiveness of treatment. Another regular Paula hasn’t turned up for her last two sessions, and Dr. Lilian is chasing the invoices.

The reason Paula hasn’t turned up, Dr. Lilian learns in a phone call from Paula’s daughter Valérie (Luana Bajrami (Luana Bajrami from Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma, 2019)), is simple: Paula has just died. Valérie invites Dr. Lilian to the Shemira (basically, a Jewish wake) only for Paula’s outraged husband Simon (Matthieu Amalric from Nino, Pauline Loquès, 2025; The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, 2014; Munich, Steven Spielberg, 2005) to tell her to get out.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

Nino
(Nino)

Nino (Nino)

Director – Pauline Loquès – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 96m

****1/2

A young man attempts to cope with the news that he has throat cancer in his first weekend following diagnosis – out in UK cinemas on Friday, June 19th

There are some films you watch which are so close to parts of your own life that it’s impossible to be objective about them. This doesn’t happen very often to this writer, but it happened on this film. Over a year ago, completely out of the blue, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a UK citizen I’m entitled to free healthcare, and as a cancer patient my treatment is fast-tracked. My initial experience was of being tested for cancer, waiting a week or so for the results to come back, and having the presence of the cancer confirmed. That gave me around ten days to adjust, but it was a terrible shock. Not least because my (mis)understanding was that men didn’t get breast cancer, only women did, so that couldn’t possibly be what I had. And, obviously, it was life-changing.

Cut to the film Nino. A name film, named after its central character. What follows is my own highly personalised reaction as a cancer patient / survivor.… Read the rest

Art Features Live Action Movies

Leonora
in the Morning Light
(Leonora
im Morgenlicht)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date May 29 2026
No Comments on Leonora
in the Morning Light
(Leonora
im Morgenlicht)

©Mirjam Kluka, Dragonfly films, Alamode Film

Leonora in the Morning Light (Leonora im Morgenlicht)

Directors – Thor Klein, Lena Vurma – 2025 – Germany, Romania, Mexico, UK – Cert. 15 – 103m

In Mexico, France, Spain and the England of her childhood, Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington must confront her personal demons – out in UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, May 29th

Deserted hillsides, a sliver of a road, eventually a tiny red car moving along it, to the accompaniment of a pulsating electronic score suggesting the present day. Another stretch of road: the car drops off the woman, in stylish trousers and blouse, who smokes observing the landscape. The driver gets out to photograph her, much to her displeasure, but he’s run out of film.

An illustrated title card: Death. Xilitla, Mexico, 1951. The man takes her to the rooming house of Edward (Ryan Gage), leaving her as he promises to look after their son. Outside the window, she can hear the two men discuss all that has happened to her. Her madness.

She and Edward are riding with others in the back of a lorry on a road. In Spanish, she asks a woman on the lorry (Yasmira Escárrega) about her amulet – “a sacred stone that illuminated the path through the underworld”.… Read the rest

Tags 1938, 1939, 1940, 1951, adaptation, Alexander Scheer, amulet, André Breton, animal spirit, arrested, art, art history, artist, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Cat Jugravu, Chiki Weisz, consulting room, Dali, death. Xilitla, delirium, Denis Eyrley, doctor, drawing, drawing room, electric shock therapy, Elena Poniatowska, England. childhood, family, fathers and daughters, field, France, Garden of Eden on Earth, gates of hell, gendarme, German alien, German invasion of France, Germany, Heaven, holocaust survivor, horse, hospital, hunt, hyena, Irish, journey, jungle, key, lake, Las Pozas Gardens, Lena Vurma, Leonora Carrington, Leonora in the Morning Light, locked door, lorry, lover, Luis Gerardo Méndez, madness, marketplace, Max Ernst, memory, Mercedes Bahleda, Mexico, mural painter, nanny, novel, Olivia Vinall), painter, painting, paradise, Paris, path through the underworld, Peggy Guggenheim, photography her, Remedios Varo, Romania, Ryan Gage, sacred stone, San Martin D’ardeche, Santander, shoot, South Of France, spider’s web, sprite, staircase, Surrealism, Surrealist, Surrealist gathering, Thor Klein, title cards, UK, viewing platform, Vivienne Soan, Wren Stembridge, writing, Yasmira Escárrega

Features Live Action Movies

Father Mother
Sister Brother

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date April 10 2026
No Comments on Father Mother
Sister Brother

Father Mother Sister Brother

Director – Jim Jarmusch – 2025 – US – Cert. 12a – 110m

*****

Three separate stories follow visits by three separate sets of adult siblings to, respectively, an elderly father, an elderly mother, and a deceased parents’ cleared home – streams exclusively on MUBI from Friday, May 29th

This harks back to a couple of earlier Jarmusch movies which similarly consist of a small number of stories: Night on Earth (1991) with five cabbies on one night in different cities and Mystery Train (1989) with its three linked stories set during one night in Memphis. There’s no suggestion that the three stories in Father Mother Sister Brother – set in rural North America, Dublin and Paris – are taking place simultaneously, international time differences notwithstanding, but they could well be, because all three take place in similarly good weather conditions. The first is rural, with snow on the ground, while the latter two are urban.

All three of FMSB’s stories feature similarities which link them beyond the overall siblings / parent(s) theme. These are both expected – car journeys to the home of the parent or parents, time spent in their presence or absence – and unexpected – skateboarders seen from the can en route, a Rolex watch.… Read the rest

Tags ‘fake’ Rolex, Adam Driver, afternoon tea, Antony Vaccarrello, apartment, author, buttoned down, cakes, call out, car journey, car problems, Cate Blanchett, Catherine George, Charlotte Rampling, cleared home, colour co-ordination, deceased, divorce, drinking cups of tea, Dublin, elderly, evasive, Father Mother Sister Brother, financial situation, Frederick Elmes, give money, grifter, Indya Moore, Jim Jarmusch, Luka Sabbat, make a toast, Marco Bittner Rosso, Mark Friedberg, Mayim Bialik), novel, parents and children, Paris, pink-haired, plane crash, presence or absence, reprobate, Rolex, romantic fiction, self-reliant, siblings, skateboarder, table, tap water, tea, Tom Waits, town house, trust, twentysomething, twins, Uber, Vicky Krieps, visit, Yorick le Saux

Art Documentary Exhibitions Features Live Action Movies

Exhibition on Screen
Frida Kahlo
Special Edition
with new material from
the making of an icon

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date May 19 2026
No Comments on Exhibition on Screen
Frida Kahlo
Special Edition
with new material from
the making of an icon

Exhibition on Screen: Frida Kahlo – Special Edition
with new material from the making of an icon

Director – Ali Ray – 2020, 2026 – UK – Cert. U – 93m, 101m

*****

The tragic yet resonant life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and her transformation into a modern, cultural icon – out in UK cinemas from Tuesday, May 19th

As dour piano chords play, a title announces that Frida Kahlo held only three solo exhibitions in her lifetime. This is contrasted with an auction where “one of her most complex self portraits” The Dream (The Bed) / El Sueño (La Cama) (1940) auctions for a starting price of $22m and selling for $47m. As of November 2025, this was the highest ever value for a work by a female artist achieved at an auction.

Now, in 2026, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Tate Modern, London collaborate on a major exhibition entitled Frida: the making of an icon, opening on Friday, June 19th at the Tate. Exhibition on Screen’s Special Edition of their 2020 film concludes with ten minutes of newly shot footage of that exhibition.

Frida works at a writing desk as she (voice: Diana Bermudez) reads the latter she is composing.… Read the rest

Tags 1910 Mexican Revolution, a German immigrant, abortion, activist, advertising, affair, Alfredo Vichis Roque, Ali Ray, Amelia Mesa-Bains, androgynous, animals, Anna Chancellor, anti-birth, anti-colonial, architect, art, art exhibition, artist, Astrid Hadad, athletics, attention-seeking, auction, bedridden, biographer, biographies, bisexual, bleeding, bleeding womb, blood, blood vessel, bone treatment, boyfriend, braid of flowers, brand, Brandels University, brown-skinned heroine, buried, bus accident, Carlos Phillips Olmedo, Carmen Lomas Garza, Casa Azul, Catherine Wood, Catholic, celeb, censorship, Chicano, Christian, Christian symbolism, civil rights, civil war, clothes, colonialism, colour photographer, Communist Party, communities, confined, consumer culture, corpse, counterculture, cracked landscape, Cristina Kahlo, curator, day and night, defiant, defiant gaze, desolation, Detroit, Diana Bermudez, dictatorship, Diego Rivera, Diego Riviera, disability, divorce, divorce proceedings, doctor, doctor’s orders, dog, dog deity, Dolores Olmedo Museum, earring of a hand, earrings, exhibition, Exhibition On Screen, faith journey, fathers and daughters, female body, fingerprint, folk culture, fractured spine, Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo Museum, Frida: the making of an icon, Gabriel Porras, gallery, Gannit Ankori, gay identity, gender fluidity, global brand, global food supply, green, group show, Hayden Herrara, Hilda Trujillo, Hindu, Hindu symbolism, historian, hope, hospital visits, housebound, Houston, husbands and wives, hybridisation of plants, iconicity, identity, injury, Interim Director, Juan O’Gorman, Las Cachuchas, Latin American Art, Le Corbusier, left-wing, letter, library, London exhibition, love affairs, Luther Burbank, Madonna and child, male and female, man plant, manifesto, Mari Carmen Ramirez, marriage, Mary McCartney, matriarchy, medical bills, medical training, menagerie, Mexican art, Mexican Woman, Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico City’s National Preparatory School, miscarriage, mixed race, mothers and daughters, mouth, Munchausen syndrome, mural, Muralism, museum, Museum of Fine Arts, myth, nails, naive painting, necklace of thorns, new government, new social movement, New York, newspaper article, Nickolas Muray, nun, opening night, opposites, ornate rings, orthopaedic brace, pain, painting, Paris, philosopher, Polio, politics, portrait, posing for photographs, pre-Hispanic art, pregnancy, Professor of Art History, prostitute, public buildings, religious paintings, Renaissance, retablos, retablos artist, revolution, revolutionary, roots, rules, Rupert Garcia, San Francisco, sartorial identity, schooling, scientist, self-portrait, sexual violence against women, sisters, skull, solo exhibition, Spain, Spanish / Indian descent, Spanish colonialism, spider-monkey, stabbed to death, still life, student movement, studio, sun and moon, surgery, surgical scissors, Surrealism, Tate External Curator, Tate Modern, Texas, the Blue House, The Human Condition, three quarter portraits, Tijuana, Tobias Ostrander, torso, tourist boats, Tracey Emin, trauma, UK, umbilical chord, underworld, US, vaginal blood, Warhol, Warholesque silkscreen print, wealth, women artists, work from photographs, workers' rights, writer, writing desk, Xolotl, Yasumasa Morimura, yin and yang

Features Live Action Movies

Paul & Paulette
Take a Bath

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 5 2025
No Comments on Paul & Paulette
Take a Bath

Director – Jethro Massey – 2024 – France – Cert. 15 – 109m

****

A young American photographer in Paris runs into a girl obsessed with the darker side of French history – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 5th

Opening with sepia-toned engravings then photos depicting the last couple of centuries of Paris, this switches to an image of a girl walking and kneeling and a male “Once there was a girl” fairytale voiceover about a girl who would immerse herself in history, who was drawn both to the stars and the gutter, who liked Bad Things. Immediately, it’s juxtaposed with a female “Once there was a boy” voiceover about a boy who came to Paris with a camera around his neck. He photographs the girl. She confronts him. He points out that before her execution (on which site the girl has been kneeling, as if awaiting execution) Marie-Antoinette would have had her hair cut so as not to impede the blade. The girl has long, black hair.

In voiceover, she talks about how a spoon’s meaning changes once you know that Marilyn Monroe ate ice cream with it on the last day of her life. They visit a church which appears to contain the site of Marie-Antoinette’s cell.… Read the rest

Tags Adolf Hitler, American in Paris, American photographer, Bataclan killer, bedroom, bullet holes, camera, Catholic, church, coming out, Communards, communion wafers, courtyard, crime, crime scene, criminal, Elvis Presley, engravings, Europe, execution, exhibition, fairytale, Fanny Cottençon, firing squad, France, Gabrielle Bompard, Gilles Graveleau, hair, haircut, history, Hitler, Hitler’s apartment, James Gerard, Jérémie Galiana, Jesus Christ, Jethro Massey, Kim Jong Un, kneeling, Laurence Vassiere, lesbian, LGTBTQI+, Margot Joseph, Marie Benati, Marie-Antoinette, Marilyn Monroe, move out, murderer, old flame, parents, parents and children, parents and daughters, Paris, Paris Commune, Paul & Paulette Take a Bath, pedestal, Pentax camera, photo shoot, real estate, relationship, romance, Salzburg, scissors, suit, The Bloody Trunk Affair, transubstantiation