Tag: Pierre Lottin

The Stranger
(L’Étranger)
(2025)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 10 April 2026
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(L’Étranger)
(2025)
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Director – François Ozon – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 120m

*****

A Frenchman living in French Algiers with an attitude of detachment is arrested following a violent incident with an Arab – adaptation of Albert Camus’ existentialist novella is in UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, April 10th

Albert Camus’ 1942 novella is a character study of a non-conformist to the widely held ideals of the day. Ozon’s film adaptation roughly follows its template, making some subtle changes which alter its overall stance and meaning.

The following synopsis contains spoilers, but, to be honest, given that this is an adaption of a significant work of French literature, and that you’ll get just as much if not more out of it if you read the book beforehand, I’m not convinced that knowing the plot in advance is a bad thing.

The novella has a two-part structure. First, it follows the life of its main, French Algiers-based protagonist Meursault from his receiving news of his mother’s death and taking time off work to attend her funeral, through his embarking on a relationship with the besotted Maria, to his involvement with his friend the local pimp Raymond Sintès and Meursault’s fatal shooting of an Arab, who has been following Raymond with murderous intent after Raymond mistreated his sister.… Read the rest

Tags absurdist world view, adaptation, Albert Camus, apartment building, Arab, Arab name, Arabic, Arabic language, argument, arrest, beats his dog, Benjamin Voisin, black and white, boss, Camus, care home, chaplain, character study, crime, criminal, cruelty to animals, deadpan, death sentence, death sentence of, Denis Lavant, detachment, dog-beating, elderly neighbour, existentialism, existentialist, France, François Ozon, French Algiers, French colonial racism, friend, funeral, girlfriend, going through the motions, grave, headstone, human dignity, imprisonment, Joël Cudennec, Killing an Arab, knife, L'Étranger, lack of ambition, low life, mannered performance, marry, misogyny, moral scruples, mother’s death, mourner, murderous intent, non-conformist, novella, period newsreel, Pierre Lottin, pimp, police, prison, prison chaplain, promotion, punishment, racism, Rebecca Marder, relationship, revisionist, sex scenes, shooting, spiritual matters, testify, The Stranger, time off work, trial, unpleasant sort, violent incident, wronged sister, wronged woman

Features Live Action Movies

When Autumn Falls
(Quand Vient l’Automne;
US: When Fall is Coming)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 19 March 2025
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(Quand Vient l’Automne;
US: When Fall is Coming)
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Director – François Ozon – 2024 – France – Cert. 15 – 102m

*****

A grandmother’s cooking accidentally poisons her daughter, who survives… in the ensuing emotional turmoil, past truths are revealed, which have devastating effects… – out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 21st

Michelle (Hélène Vincent) lives alone in rural Burgundy. She goes to church. She goes out picking mushrooms with her old friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Bolasko), who attempts to stop her picking the poisonous ones. At home, Michelle double-checks the mushrooms against photos and blurb in her mushroom reference book. She cooks the mushrooms. She gets a phone call telling her her guests are on the way. She is surprised that the driver is using Laurant’s car.

Her daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) arrives in the car with grandson Lucas (Galan Erlos) in tow. He is looking forward to spending the Summer with his gran. Valérie, however, is constantly angry, blaming her mum for everything, occasionally making remarks about “what you did”. She is clearly upset by something in their past history, although it’s unclear as to exactly what. Although grandmother has given daughter her former Paris apartment, Valérie also seems keen that Michelle sign over the current house to her under a scheme that would exempt Valérie from paying tax on it.… Read the rest

Tags accident, anger, apartment, bad death, bankroll, bar-tabac, blame, Burgundy, C.S.Lewis, cash-in-hand gardening, Catholic, church, cooking, criminal, elderly, elderly women, emotional turmoil, ex-con, food poisoning, France, François Ozon, Galan Erlos, good death, grandmother, guests, Hélène Vincent, hospital stomach pump, Josiane Bolasko, Ludivine Sagnier, mothers and daughters, mum-to-be, mushrooms, old women, parents and children, Paris, past history, past truths, Philippe Piazzo, pick mushrooms, Pierre Lottin, poison, poisoning, police, police captain, police station, pregnant, premeditated act, reference book, released from prison, rural, single mum-to-be, Sophie Guillemin, summer, tax-exempt, unfit mother, ungrateful, When Autumn Falls, work

Features Live Action Movies

When Autumn Falls
(Quand Vient l’Automne;
US: When Fall is Coming)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 3 March 2025
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(Quand Vient l’Automne;
US: When Fall is Coming)
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Forgiveness for the past

When Autumn Falls

Directed by François Ozon

Certificate 15, 102 minutes

Released 21 March

Reviewed in Reform magazine, March 2025.

Judge not lest ye be judged, we are told. At the start of this latest drama from François Ozon, an ever-reliable director who rarely repeats himself, a devoted, eightysomething grandmother Michelle (Hélène Vincent) accidentally gives her fortysomething daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) food poisoning when she picks and cooks mushrooms.

Once out of hospital, the daughter, unable to forgive her mum, takes the disappointed grandson Lucas (Galan Erlos) – who was to have spent the Summer holidays in the country with his beloved granny – back home to Paris.

The daughter’s reaction isn’t really about the food, though…

[Read the rest at Reform.]

[Read my longer review on this site.]

Trailer: