Culture Representation: Taking place in France, the comedy/drama film “A Private Life” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A psychiatrist plays amateur detective with her ex-husband when she suspects that a former client died by murder instead of suicide.
Culture Audience: “A Private Life” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and well-acted movies that combine dark comedy with psychological drama.
Jodie Foster and Virginie Efira in “A Private Life” (Photo by Jérôme Prébois/Sony Pictures Classics)
“A Private Life” is an occasionally uneven dark comedy about a psychiatrist who teams up with her ex-husband when she suspects a former client was murdered. Jodie Foster’s appealing performance keeps the movie interesting. To its credit, “A Private Life” doesn’t get too convoluted when it comes to the investigation for this suspected murder.
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, “A Private Life” was written by Zlotowski, Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and made the rounds at other film festivals in 2025, including the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “A Private Life” takes place primarily in Paris and was filmed on location in Paris and in Normandy, France.
In “A Private Life,” Foster is protagonist Lillian Steiner, a psychiatrist who leads an orderly life. Lilian, who lives alone and who works from her home office, has been divorced from her ex-husband Gabriel “Gaby” Haddad (played by Daniel Auteuil) for at least 20 years. Lillian and Gaby have one child together: a adult son named Julien Haddad-Park (played by Vincent Lacoste), who has recently become a first-time father to an infant son named Joseph. Lillian adores her grandson but is slightly uncomfortable with the reality that she is now a grandmother.
Near the beginning of the movie, Lillian is concerned that her client Paula Cohen-Solal (played by Virginie Efira) has skipped their past three sessions. Paula has been Lillian’s client for the past nine years. Paula is a cellist in a classical music orchestra. Paula’s husband Simon Cohen-Solal (played by Mathieu Amalric), who is domineering and arrogant, is the orchestra’s conductor.
Meanwhile, another client named Pierre Hallam (played by Noam Morgensztern) tells Lillian during a session that it will be his last session with her. Pierre had been trying to quit smoking, and he says he recently underwent hypnotism, which he believes has “cured” him of the desire to smoke. Therefore, Pierre tells Lillian, he no longer needs Lillian as a therapist, and this will be their last session together.
Soon after Lillian loses Pierre as a client, Lillian gets even worse news: Paula has died. Lillian finds out when Paula’s young adult daughter Valérie Cohen-Solal (played by Luàna Bajrami) tells Lillian about Paula’s death, which has officially been ruled as a suicide. Valérie asks Lillian if Lillian knows why Paula would want to kill herself, but Lillian says she can’t reveal that information because of patient/therapist confidentiality.
Valérie invites Lillian to the shiva wake for Paula. At the shiva wake, Simon verbally lashes out at Lillian, whom he blames for Paula’s death. Simon orders Lillian to leave. Lillian knew that Paula was unhappily married to Simon. Simon’s hostile reaction to Lillian makes her wonder if Paula was murdered.
The rest of “A Private Life” shows Lillian’s suspicions increasing as she finds out other things that indicate Paula could have been murdered, especially when she discovers that Simon had a mistress named Perle Friedman (played by Aurore Clément). Lillian tells Gaby about her suspicions, and they decide to become amateur sleuths. Along the way, the former spouses also confront past resentments and unresolved issues about the demise of their marriage. Gaby was the one who wanted the divorce because he felt that Lillian didn’t love him anymore.
“A Private Life” features a few quirks to the story. Lillian has a vivid dream that she was a male musician colleague of Paula’s in the same orchestra, and Paula was having a secret affair with this colleague. Lillian begins to wonder if she has psychic abilities. Lillian’s eyes also keep watering for unknown reasons.
During the investigation, Lillian discovers more about Paula and more about herself. Foster and Auteuil’s scenes together are entertaining to watch, as Lillian and Gaby feel rekindled sparks of attraction to each other and have to decide whether or not to act on this attraction. Despite a few areas of the movie that drag, “A Private Life” is a relatively brisk psychological mystery that has engaging performances and should satisfy most viewers who are inclined to be interested in this genre.
Sony Pictures Classics released “A Private Life” in select U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on January 16, 2026. The movie was released in France on November 26, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an undetermined period of time in England and in France, the action film “Afterburn” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asian people and one African American) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: After an apocalypse that has left the world controlled by fascists in Europe, a treasure hunter is recruited to find the Mona Lisa, and he encounters many villains along the way.
Culture Audience: “Afterburn” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and stale action movies that don’t do anything creative.
Kristofer Hivju and Daniel Bernhardt in “Afterburn” (Photo courtesy of Endurance Media)
“Afterburn” is a generic and terribly made action movie about a treasure hunter looking for the Mona Lisa in a post-apocalyptic world. This mindless flick (which has lackluster acting and mostly forgettable scenes) looks like a filmmaker tax write-off. A surprise plot twist in the movie doesn’t make the story any better because it’s just an example of lazy screenwriting.
Directed by J.J. Perry, “Afterburn” was written by Nimród Antal and Matt Johnson. The movie takes place in an unnamed time period in England and in France, after an apocalypse has devastated Earth. (“Afterburn” was actually filmed in Slovakia.)
In the beginning of the movie, protagonist Jake (played by Dave Bautista), an American bachelor with no children, says in a voiceover that he’s a treasure hunter who works mostly underwater. He brags that he’s skilled at finding “anyone” and “anything.” Jake says that before the apocalypse, he had a comfortable life where he worked independently.
The apocalypse is described as a “solar flare” that caused all electricity and electronic devices to stop working. Warlords seized various governments and are controlling large parts of Europe. It’s implied that this fascist rule also has power over the rest of the world.
Six years after the apocalypse, Jake is living in London. He says, “I resumed finding things, but the world is a much more dangerous place.” Jake is now less of a treasure hunter and more of a scavenger, who goes to abandoned houses to find valuables to sell.
Jake is shown in an abandoned house that apparently used to be occupied by wealthy people. He fights off a group of six or seven goons who are disguised in police uniforms. It’s the first of many unrealistic scenes where Jake is single-handedly able to take on several armed and dangerous opponents and win without any serious wounds.
It turns out that Jake was at this house for a reason: He was sent there by someone calling himself King (played by Samuel L. Jackson) to find a particular Stradivarius violin. Jake retrieves the violin and goes to a palace to deliver the violin to a woman named Fuentes (played by Eden Epstein), King’s chief assistant, who wears a fedora and dresses like she’s in a 1940s spy movie.
Fuentes tells Jake that King has a new assignment for him: Go to France and steal the famous Mona Lisa painting. Jake doesn’t want to do it. Jake says all he wants to do is work on his beloved sailboat, where Jake can do what he wants and tune out the troubles of the world with his pet dog, whose name is Smoke.
Who is King? His real name is August, an American crime lord who’s the self-appointed leader of the United Kingdom and who insists that everyone call him King. Apparently, King is in a power struggle with a military general named Volkov (played by Kristofer Hivju), who has an army of fighters in continental Europe.
King describes Volkov as an “agent of chaos” and explains to Jake that during the apocalypse, the French government was able to secretly hide all of France’s most important national treasures, including the Mona Lisa. (The Louvre Museum in Paris has famously been the home of the Mona Lisa.) King wants the Mona Lisa to use as leverage in the ongoing feud that he has with Volkov.
Jake doesn’t want to go across the English Channel to France for other reasons. Jack makes this comment to Fuentes and King about continental Europe: “There’s nothing there but warlords, diseases and EDM [electronic dance music].” It’s the movie’s attempt at comedy, but most of the jokes in “Afterburn” fall very flat. The movie’s cringeworthy dialogue is laughable for the wrong reasons.
King tells Fuentes that he will make an offer to Jake that Jake can’t refuse. Jake is summoned back to King’s palace, where King tells him that if Jake can get the Mona Lisa for King, then King will give a lot of power to Jake. King says that Jake can have the title of “motherfucker of cultural appropriation.”
There would be no “Afterburn” movie if Jake didn’t go on this mission. And so, Jake goes to France (he leaves his dog Smoke in London to be temporarily looked after by Fuentes) and experiences the usual fights and chases that happen in low-quality action films such as “Afterburn.” Along the way, Jake teams up with a warrior stranger named Drea (played by Olga Kurylenko), who becomes Jake’s ally during the battles with Volkov and his thugs. Drea is a formulaic female sidekick in derivative action movie.
Vokov has a subordinate named Gorynych (played by Daniel Bernhardt), who does a lot of Volkov’s dirty work on the front lines of battle. During this mission, Jake and Drea get help from an unnamed airplane pilot (played George Sommer) and a priest named Father Samson (played by Kevin Eldon), who gives a dune buggy truck to Jake and Drea. Father Samsom just happens to have this truck ready to go at his abandoned church. Yes, it’s that kind of movie.
The costume design for “Afterburn” is all over the place, much like the movie’s disjointed narrative and direction. Jake and Drea dress like they have rejected costumes from “Mad Max” movies. King has a fur-lined coat and hat that look like what Eddie Murphy’s royal character wore in 1998’s “Coming to America.” The airplane pilot dresses like a 1940s combat pilot. (His rickety plane also looks like combat aircraft from the 1940s.) Korlov wears a Nazi-inspired military commandant uniform.
Even though Jackson shares top billing in “Afterburn,” his screen time in the movie is less than 15 minutes. Jackson and the rest of the principal cast members just go through the motions in this “only doing it for the money” garbage film. Bautista and Kurylenko, whose Jake and Drea characters are obvious eventual love interests for each other, don’t have convincing chemistry with each other. The movie’s villains are sterotypical snarling caricatures.
In addition to having a dull story full of plot holes, “Afterburn” suffers from creatively bankrupt direction and plodding pacing. The movie’s plot twist is utterly stupid. And the ending of “Afterburn” is idiotic schmaltz. A short mid-credits scene doesn’t add anything meaningful to this limp story. The only thing that feels authentic about “Afterburn” is the movie’s prophetic title, because viewers will feel the burn of regret after watching this time-wasting junk.
Endurance Media released “Afterburn” in U.S. cinemas on September 19, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in France and briefly in London, the comedy/drama film “Mr. Blake at Your Service” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An affluent British widowed businessman returns to the French manor where he and his deceased French wife met, and he unexpectedly becomes a problem-solving butler at the manor.
Culture Audience: “Mr. Blake at Your Service” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and old-fashioned movies about lonely people who create a familial bond together.
Fanny Ardant, Eugénie Anselin, Émilie Dequenne, Philippe Bas and John Malkovich in “Mr. Blake at Your Service” (Photo courtesy of Sunrise Films)
In a day and age when contemporary-set movies strive to be edgy or provocative, “Mr. Blake at Your Service” does the opposite. Grouchy cynics will dislike this comedy/drama that is old-fashioned and flawed but has a sweet nature and enough good performances to carry this film, which is about an unlikely English butler who breaks down social class barriers at a French manor. “Mr. Blake at Your Service” wraps up in a way that’s a little too contrived and has some other questionable filmmaking choices, but viewers who can tolerate watching the first third of the movie will probably like the rest of the film.
Directed by Gilles Legardinier, “Mr. Blake at Your Service” was co-written by Legardinier and Christel Henon. The movie is based on Legardinier’s 2012 novel “Complètement Cramé,” which means “completely burnt out” in French. “Complètement Cramé” is the French-language title of the movie, which also has the title “Well Done,” depending on where the movie was released. The movie’s biggest flaw is its uneven pacing: It’s too slow in some areas and then has a screwball slapstick sequence rushed in toward the end.
“Mr. Blake at Your Service” begins with Andrew Blake (played by John Malkovich), a successful businessman from England, refusing to attend the 28th annual Innovation Tradition Awards, a gala ceremony taking place in London. Andrew is being given the prestigious Man of the Year Award, but he has chosen to stay home instead. His close friend Richard Ward (played by Al Ginter), who is at the venue, has been frantically calling Andrew on the phone to ask when Andrew will make his appearance at the ceremony.
When Andrew finally picks up the phone to talk Richard, he tells Richard in no uncertain terms: “Thank everybody, but I won’t join the party.” Richard says in an annoyed tone: “I swear, I’ll make you pay for this.” Andrew responds, “Life is already presenting the bill, my friend.”
The reason why Andrew wants to skip this ceremony is because he’s been grieving over the death of his wife Diane, who died because of an unnamed reason four months ago. Diane and Andrew had been married to each for more than 40 years. Andrew met Diane (who was a native of France) when he had been hired to teach her English when he stayed at a grand manor in France called the Beauvillier Mansion.
Andrew and Diane have an adult daughter named Sarah, who is semi-estranged from Andrew because she says she’s too busy to visit him. It’s implied that Andrew was a workaholic for most of Sarah’s life. Now that Andrew is close to retiring and is a widower, Sarah hasn’t set aside time to spend with Andrew in the way that he had hoped.
Andrew tells Richard that Andrew and Diane had promised each other that they would go back to Beauvillier Mansion one day. Sadly, Diane died before they could make that journey. Andrew still has his heart set on going back to Beauvillier Mansion (which operates as a bed-and-breakfast vacation spot) to relive his fond memories of the early days of his “love at first sight” romance with Diane.
Richard drives Andrew to the train station. And when Andrew arrives at Beauvillier Mansion without a reservation, he finds out that the mansion’s owner has died and has left behind massive debts that his widow Nathalie Beauvillier (played by Fanny Ardant) now has to handle. Nathalie has gotten an offer to sell the mansion. And it’s very likely that she will.
In the meantime, Beauvillier Mansion needs to book more guests to stay financially afloat and is in desperate need of a butler. Nathalie doesn’t want to book any guests until the mansion has a full-service staff. The mansion’s sassy cook Odile (played by Émilie Dequenne) has placed an ad for a butler to work at the mansion.
When Odile opens the door to greet Andrew, she thinks that Andrew is someone who has answered the butler ad. When Andrew finds out the mansion’s predicament, he tells Odile: “I’d do anything to live here again, even just for a while.” And so, Odile comes up with the idea for Andrew to pretend to be a butler without telling Nathalie that he’s really not a butler. In exchange for his services, Andrew can stay at the mansion for free room and board.
The rest of “Mr. Blake at Your Service” is a light-hearted farce of Andrew trying to keep his real identity a secret from Nathalie and other people who live on the mansion’s property. Much later in the movie, Richard and his wife Melissa Ward (played by Anne Brionne) show up at the mansion, as Andrew is involved in this butler charade. In various ways, Andrew teaches certain things to these residents, while he also a learns things from them. Odile, the only person who knows Andrew’s secret, is standoffish to him at first, but she starts to warm up to Andrew when she accepts that his compliments to her (such as telling her that her cooking is worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant) are genuine.
The mansion’s unsophisticated groundskeeper Magnier (played by Philippe Bas) first meets Andrew one night by shooting a gun at Andrew because he thinks Andrew is a thief. Magnier (who has a crush on Odile that could be mutual) and Andrew later become friendly and do things such as play chess together. Andrew teaches Magnier table etiquette, so Magnier can impress Odile on a dinner date. Yes, it’s that kind of movie.
The mansion’s bachelorette housekeeper Manon (played by Eugénie Anselin) is distressed because she’s pregnant with an unplanned baby and is afraid of telling her boss Nathalie about this pregnancy. Manon is in love with the baby’s father (who is never seen in the movie) and is having relationship issues with him. Guess who gives advice to Manon on how to fix the problems in her love life?
The movie’s cornball comedy is most evident when it has to do with interactions with two of the movie’s supporting characters, one of who is not human. Odile has a Persian cat name Mephisto, who doesn’t like to be touched and reacts to humans in the way that cute and wise cats do in these types of sentimental movies. There’s also a demanding and difficult guest named Madame Berliner (played by “Mr. Blake at Your Service” co-writer Henon), whose storyline ends with one of the most ridiculous parts of the movie.
One of the things that might annoy some viewers of “Mr. Blake at Your Service” is how Malkovich (who is American in real life) speaks in the movie. He gives his Andrew Blake character a slow, often-hesitant speaking cadence to demonstrate that Andrew is not fluent in the French language. Malkovich usually plays weirdos and/or villains in movies, but Andrew is not that stereotype: Andrew is just a lonely and earnest soul who finds more than he expected in staying at this mansion.
Ardant gives a perfectly fine performance as Nathalie, the elegant manor widow who is tryng to hold on to her dignity while struggling with the financial burdens of the mansion. Andrew offers to give her financial advice, but Nathalie doesn’t want him to know the details about her financial problems, partly because of pride and partly because she thinks that Andrew is a butler who wouldn’t know how to help her.
Dequenne has the most complex role as Odile, who purposely doesn’t like to share a lot of personal information about herself. Dequenne’s performance hints that Odile has had her heart broken in the past, but Odile doesn’t want pity and doesn’t want to tell the details. Andrew is the catalyst for Odile to look at the world with less suspicion.
“Mr. Blake at Your Service” doesn’t make the title character saintly. He has a side to him that can be rude and irritable. And sometimes his grief clouds his judgment. However, the movie has a heartfelt message of developing familial bonds with people, sometimes at a low point in someone’s life, and understanding that meaningful relationships often transcend differences in social classes.
Sunrise Films released “Mr. Blake at Your Service” in U.S. cinemas on June 20, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on August 12, 2025. The movie was released in France on November 1, 2023.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 2023, in Saint-Martial, France, the dramatic film “Misericordia” features an all-white group of people representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: An unemployed con artist goes back to visit a bakery family whom he used to work for, and he proceeds to cause chaos in their lives.
Culture Audience: “Misericordia” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in twist-filled psychological dramas about con artists and their victims.
Pictured clockwise, from center: Tatiana Spivakova, Salomé Lopes, Sébastien Faglain, Catherine Frot and David Ayala in “Misericordia” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow/Janus Films)
“Misericordia” is a spellbinding psychological thriller about how a con artist fools people into thinking he’s harmless but is actually intent on causing havoc in people’s lives. It’s a superbly acted story about manipulation and murder. Some of the subject matter is intended to be unsettling in showing how victims of con artists can continue to dismiss or ignore indications or evidence that they’ve been conned because it’s easier than facing the truth.
Written and directed by Alain Guiraudie, “Misericordia” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2024, including the Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. “Misericordia” (which takes place in 2023, in the small town of Saint-Martial, France) received seven nominations, including Best Picture, at the 2025 Cesar Awards, the French version of the Oscars.
“Misericordia” (which takes place in 2023) begins by showing Jérémie Pastor (played by Félix Kysyl), a con artist who’s in his 30s, returning to Saint-Martial, after many years spent living somewhere else. He has most recently lived in Toulouse, France. Jérémie used to live in Saint-Martial when he worked for a family-owned bakery. The family’s patriarch Jean-Pierre Rigal (played by Serge Richard, seen in photos and flashbacks), who was the bakery’s manager, has recently died at the age of 62. Jérémie is back in town to attend the funeral.
Jérémie’s presence gets mixed reactions. Jean-Pierre’s widow Martine Rigal (played by Catherine Frot) seems happy to see Jérémie. By contrast, Martine’s son Vincent Rigal (played by Jean-Baptiste Durand), who’s about the same age as Jérémie, isn’t thrilled to see Jérémie and asks him when he’s going back to Toulouse. Jérémie says he’s only visiting for a few days. He ends up staying much longer than that.
Jérémie tells people he is currently unemployed and has no plans on what to do with his life. Martine assumes that Jérémie’s unemployment means that he’s struggling financially, so she generously invites him to stay at her house. She says that Jérémie can sleep in the bedroom that Vincent had when he lived there. Vincent has his own home with his wife Annie Rigal (played by Tatiana Spivakova) and their son Kilian Rigal (played by Elio Lunetta), who’s about 7 or 8 years old.
Vincent is slightly annoyed to see Jérémie sleeping in Vincent’s former bedroom. He’s also suspicious that Jérémie has come back to Saint-Martial to take over the bakery. Now that Jean-Pierre is deceased, Vincent is expected to become the chief manager of the bakery. Jérémie assures Vincent that he has no intentions of working at the bakery again.
In a conversation with Vincent, Jérémie mentions that he recently broke up with a girlfriend whom he had been dating for three years. The movie eventually shows that Jérémie is bisexual, queer or sexually fluid. Jérémie doesn’t put a label on his sexuality. After a while, it’s pretty obvious that he’s sociopath who will have sex with or try to seduce anybody if it’s a way to get what he wants.
And that’s why there’s another reason why Vincent is highly suspicious of Jérémie: He senses that Martine has a weird crush on Jérémie: Martine treats Jérémie like a second son, but she also seems to be sexually attracted to Jérémie. Vincent is concerned that Jérémie will take advantage of widow Martine’s loneliness.
There’s an even more complicated twist to this dynamic, which further explains Vincent’s apprehension and resentment about Jérémie. When Jérémie used to work at the bakery, Jérémie told Jean-Pierre that he was in love with him. It’s unclear if Jean-Pierre did anything sexual with Jérémie, but Jérémie is the type of person who would at least try to sexually seduce someone he wants to target.
Martine and Vincent know about all Jérémie’s “romantic feelings” for Jean-Pierre, which is why Vincent is alarmed that his mother Martine seems so willing to let Jérémie back into their lives, even if it might be for a few days. The tension starts to grow between Jérémie and Vincent when Vincent sees that Martine is treating Jérémie like a son who has permanently come back home to live with the family.
A local elderly priest named Philippe Griseul (played by Jacques Develay) is a friend of the family and frequently stops by the house to visit. Martine lives near a wooded area, where the priest likes to pick mushrooms. One day, Father Griseul is on one of these mushroom-picking walks when he sees Vincent and Jérémie playfully roughhousing in the woods. It’s not a real fight, but there’s some real anger simmering between Vincent and Jérémie.
Another person who affects the dynamics between Jérémie and the Rigal family is Walter Bonchamp (played by David Ayala), a middle-aged bachelor who lives near Martine. Walter is an eccentric loner who doesn’t know Jérémie very well. But when Jérémie sees Walter again, Jérémie pretends that they were good friends during the time that Jérémie worked at the bakery.
The word “misericordia” is a Latin word for having compassion or pity for someone. And that is the reason why Jérémie is a successful con artist. He’s not handsome, nor is he especially charismatic. But he has a “sad sack” way about him that makes people feel sorry for him and want to offer to help him. Vincent can see right through Jérémie, which is one of the reasons why Jérémie and Vincent clash with each other.
As already revealed in the trailer for “Misericordia,” Vincent disappears and is reported missing to the local authorities. Two unnamed police officers (played by Sébastien Faglain and Salomé Lopes) show up and start investigating. Jérémie is the main person of interest because he was the last-known person to see Vincent alive.
Jérémie denies anything to do with Vincent’s disappearance. The cops put Jérémie under surveillance anyway. He becomes paranoid, which starts to affect what he does. About halfway through the “Misericordia,” the movie shows what happened to Vincent, so there’s no real mystery. The only mystery is if whoever is responsible for Vincent’s disappearance will be caught and held accountable.
Kysyl gives a compelling performance as manipulative Jérémie, who is not as “smooth” as he likes to think he is. Although the other cast members give very good performances, “Misericordia” is effective mainly because Kysyl is convincing in his “Misericordia” role as a con artist who pretends to be a “regular, harmless guy” but is actually the opposite. “Misericordia” has an ending that some viewers might dislike, but it’s an ending that is uncomfortably realistic, considering everything that takes place in this memorable story.
Sideshow/Janus Films released “Misericordia” in select U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on March 28, 2025. The movie was released in France on October 16, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1940s France and in 2020s New York City, the dramatic film “White Bird” (based on the graphic novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A French Jewish grandmother tells her 15-year-old American grandson the story of when she was hidden from Nazis by a compassionate gentile family during World War II in France.
Culture Audience: “White Bird” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the novel on which the movie is based, the movie’s headliners, and stories of about the Holocaust.
Helen Mirren and Bryce Gheisar in “White Bird” (Photo by Larry Horricks/Lionsgate)
“White Bird” might get some comparisons to “The Diary of Anne Frank,” but “White Bird” is a fictional story that won’t be considered a classic. This dramatic film has good performances from the principal cast, despite the movie’s treacly tone and drab dialogue. Overall, the message of “White Bird”—showing kindness and bravery when society becomes consumed by hate—transcends any noticeable flaws in the movie.
Directed by Marc Forster and written by Mark Bomback, “White Bird” is based on R.J. Palacio’s 2019 graphic novel of the same name. The “White Bird” novel was also turned into a regular novel that was published in 2023, the year that the “White Bird” movie was originally going to be released. After several delays, the “White Bird” movie was released in 2024.
The “White Bird” movie has two different timelines: The first timeline is in 2020s New York City. The second timeline is in 1940s France and is depicted in flashback scenes told through the memory of one of the story’s main characters. (“White Bird” was actually filmed in Prague, Czech Republic.)
In 2020s New York City, 15-year-old Julian Albans (played by Bryce Gheisar) is a new student at an elite prep school called Yates Academy. He is introverted and a little socially awkward. On his first day at Yates Academy, Julian is invited by a fellow student named Rahmiya (played by Priya Ghotane) to join the school’s social justice club. Rahmiya also invites Julian to sit with her at the same table for lunch. Julian politely declines to join the social justice club because he doesn’t seem to want to get involved in any political issues.
A stuck-up student named Dillon (played by Teagan Booth) introduces himself to Julian while Julian is sitting with Rahmiya. Dillon says Julian’s mother plays tennis wth Dillon’s mother, who told Dillon to protectively “look out for” Julian and befriend him. Dillon rudely tells Julian: “This is the loser table.” Dillon then says that Julian should have lunch with Dillon and his friends on the following day.
At Julian’s home, a family member makes a surprise visit: Julian’s French grandmother Sara Blum (played by Helen Mirren), who has arrived from Paris. Julian and Sara have not seen each other for years. Sara offers Julian a glass of wine, but he declines and reminds her that he’s too young to legally drink alcohol.
Julian tells Sara about how he’s a new student at Yates Academy because he was expelled from a previous school for being cruel to another boy. (This is in reference to Julian being a character in the 2017 movie “Wonder,” which is also based on a Palacio novel.) Julian says he has learned to be “normal,” which Julian defines as not being cruel or nice but just “minding your own business.” Sara looks slightly appalled that this is Julian’s definition of being “normal,” so she says she is going to tell him what happened to her when she was a child in France during the Nazi occupation of the 1940s.
Most of the movie consists of Sara’s childhood story told as flashbacks, beginning when Sara (played by Laura Hudeckova) was 5 and 8 years old. Sara describes her childhood before the Nazi occupation as happy and idyllic. She was an only child in a loving, middle-class household in the village of Aubervilliers-Aux-Bois.
Her happily married parents were surgeon Max Blum (played by Ishai Golan) and math teacher Rose Blum (played by Olivia Ross), who would take her on picnic trips. These picnics are Sara’s most treasured memories of Sara’s childhood, she tells Julian. Sara comments, “I was a bit spoiled, but I didn’t see it that way.”
But trouble began brewing for Jewish people in their community when the Nazis occupied France in 1940. The Nazi persecution of Jewish people began gradually. First, Jewish people began to lose their jobs and financial freedoms. (Nazis seized bank accounts of Jewish people.)
Then, Jewish people (who were often identified by neighbors who were paid to identify Jews) were rounded up by Nazis and usually separated from family members. Jewish people were then sent to be imprisoned, starved, tortured, and usually murdered in what the world now knows were death camps during this Holocaust. The Holocaust became a central cause during World War II.
At the beginnng of the Nazi occupation in France, teenage Sara (played by Ariella Glaser) is a student at a co-ed high school named École Lafayette, where most of the students are not Jewish. Her two best friends are “popular girls” in the school: Mariann (played by Selma Kaymakci) and Sophie (played by Mia Kadlecova), who are really “mean girls.” This clique and other students at the school sometimes bully a disabled student named Julien Beaumier (played by Orlando Schwerdt), who uses a cane to walk.
Other student bullies at the school are cruel Vincent (played by Jem Matthews) and his two sidekicks Jerome (played by Jordan Cramond) and Henri (played Yelisey Kazakevich). These bullies have given Julien the insulting nickname Tourteau (which means “crab” in French) because they think he walks like a crab sea creature. Sara doesn’t participate in the bullying of Julien, but she doesn’t do anything to stop it either. She can also sense that Julien has a crush on her.
Sara has a talent for drawing. And one day in a classroom, one of her teachers notices an illustration that Sara has made of a white bird. The teacher advises Sara: “A gift is a treasure. Never stop drawing, Sara.”
Sara first begins to suspect that something wrong is happening in the community when her mother Rose announces during dinner one evening that she was abruptly fired from her job for no credible reason. Sara’s father Max has been hearing stories about Jewish people in France being rounded up by Nazis and disappearing. Max thinks Rose was fired because she’s Jewish. He’s alarmed enough to suggest that the family flee as soon as possible to a nation that isn’t occupied by Nazis.
Rose is adamantly against the idea. She thinks what is happening with the Nazi occupation will eventually subside and go away. Rose says she doesn’t want to uproot her life to move to another country. And she doesn’t want to frighten Sara, so Rose scolds Max for even talking about their lives possibly being in danger in front of Sara.
Sara soon finds out that her father was correct about his fears. At school, she notices that she is beng treated differently for being Jewish. This bigotry then escalates until one day, Nazi soldiers show up at the school and take away all students, faculty and staff who are Jewish. Through a series of harrowing circumstances and actions, Sara manages to escape in the Mernuit forest nearby. The Nazi soldiers can’t find her, so they leave. It should come as no surprise that school bully Vincent becomes a Hitler youth informant for the Nazis.
The trailer for “White Bird” already reveals the essence of the story. Julien (who is an only child) comes to Sara’s rescue and brings her to his home to hide. Julien’s parents Jean Paul Beaumier (played by Jo Stone-Fewings) and Vivienne Beaumier (played by Gillian Anderson) show her kindness and compassion by deciding to hide Sara in a barn near the family house, which is somewhat isolated in the rural town of Dannevilliers. Jean Paul is a sewer worker, which is why Julien is familiar with the sewage tunnels in the area.
Sara learns through the Beaumier family that her parents were taken by the Nazis. Jean Paul and Vivien promise Sara that they will do everything they can to find out what happened to Sara’s parents and reunite Sara with her parents. During the time that Sara is hidden in the Beaumier family barn, she and Julien become closer. And their friendship turns into a chaste and tentative romance.
In an attic window, Sara can see a white bird that appears in a tree directly across from the window. This white bird becomes a symbol of hope and freedom for Sara, who does not know how long she will be sequestered and hidden and if she will ever see her parents again. Jean Paul and Vivien also put their lives at risk when the Beaumier family’s upstairs neighbors Monsieur Lafleur (played by Miroslav Taborsky) and Madame Lafleur (played by Zuzana Hodkova) begin to suspect the Beaumier family of hiding a Jewish person.
“White Bird” has some suspenseful moments but offers no real surprises. Perhaps the weakest part of the movie involves a risky trek through the snow-filled forest and an encounter with a wolf. The wolf looks very fake, with substandard visual effects. This phony-looking scene lowers the quality of the movie.
However, the acting in most of the movie is earnest, even if it at times it seems like the cast is trying too hard in their acting instead of performing more naturally. Mirren has played the role of a wise grandmother in so many other movies, what she does in “White Bird” is competent and effective but not anything extraordinary. The other principal cast members also give capable performances, with Glaser and Schwerdt performing in their roles quite nicely as teenagers who grow close and find love under these horrible circumstances.
“White Bird” could have used more authenticity in depicting French people. Most of the principal cast members are obviously not French and don’t have convincing French accents. It’s a noticeble discrepancy that doesn’t ruin the film but it’s an example of how “White Bird” lacks certain attention to realistic details that prevent it from being a completely well-made film. However, most viewers of “White Bird” will find something to appreciate about it so that it shouldn’t be considered a waste of time to watch this somewhat formulaic movie.
Lionsgate released “White Bird” in U.S. cinemas on October 4, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in France, in 1889, the dramatic film “The Taste of Things” has an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A renowned chef and his longtime live-in cook are lovers, but she resists his attempts for them to have a more committed relationship.
Culture Audience: “The Taste of Things” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stars Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel and movies about people who love to cook.
Juliette Binoche Benoît Magimel and Galatéa Bellugi in “The Taste of Things” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)
The slow-paced drama “The Taste of Things” isn’t for everyone, but it’s a mature story of what can happen when a famous chef tries to get his longtime personal cook to marry him. There’s plenty to like in this movie for romance fans and cuisine enthusiasts. The movie spends almost much as much time detailing the preparation of food as it does on showing how these two people live and love together.
Written and directed by Trân Anh Hùng, “The Taste of Things” is based on Marcel Rouff’s 1924 novel “La Vie et la Passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet,” which is French for “The Life and the Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet.” “The Taste of Things” had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where Trânwon the prize for Best Director. “The Tatse of Things” then made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2023, including the New York Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival and AFI Fest. “The Taste of Things” was France’s official selection for the category of Best International Feature Film for the 2024 Academy Awards, but the movie didn’t get any Oscar nominations.
In “The Taste of Things” (which takes place in 1889, in France), Dodin Bouffant (played by Benoît Magimel) is a renowned chef and a middle-aged, never-married bachelor with no children. He has been in a sexual relationship with his live-in cook Eugénie Chatagne (played by Juliette Binoche), who is also middle-aged, never-married, and has no children. Eugénie has been Dodin’s live-in cook at his manor for the past 20 years.
Dodin and Eugénie love each other, but she doesn’t want to commit to marrying him. She tells Dodin that she’s happy with the way their relationship is. Eugénie has turned down Dodin’s marriage proposals multiple times.
Will persistent Dodin get Eugénie to change her mind? That’s the question that lingers for most of “The Taste of Things,” as the movie fills up its time with scenes of preparations and servings of elaborate multi-course meals. Dodin decides he’s going to cook for Eugénie as a way to show his love.
Dodin is also seen with a group of five affluent male friends in many social situations, including when he and these friends get invited to dine with the prince of Eurasia (played by Mhamed Arezki), who originally invited just Dodin, but Dodin insisted that his friends get invited too. Dodin’s five closest friends are Grimaud (played by Patrick d’Assumçao), Magot (played by Jan Hammenecker), Beaubois (played by Frédéric Fisbach), Augustin (played by Jean-Marc Roulot) and Rabaz (played by Emmanuel Salinger). Rabaz is the one who stands out the most because he is a compassionate and very busy doctor.
Eugénie has an assistant cook named Violette (played by Galatéa Bellugi), who’s in her 20s and is a very loyal employee. Near the beginning of the movie, Violette’s niece Pauline (played by Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), who’s about 11 or 12 years old, is at Dodin’s manor to visit and is introduced to Eugénie and Dodin. It isn’t long before Eugénie notices that Pauline is a prodigy in culinary arts, with extraordinary senses of taste and smell. Eugénie wants to formally teach Pauline how to be a chef but first must get permission from her parents.
“The Taste of Things” is not a movie that makes any grand or provocative statements about life. The story also holds very little surprises. A few scenes of Eugénie fainting and clutching her abdomen in pain are foreshadowings of what happens to her in the last third of the movie, which won’t be a shock to anyone who’s read “La Vie et la Passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet.”
The reliably engaging performances by Binoche and Magimel are worth watching in how they portray this bittersweet romance. Binoche and Magimel have easy chemistry with each other, since they were partners from 1998 to 2003 and have a daughter together named Hana, who was born in 1999. Magimel and Binoche also co-starred in the 1999 drama “Children of the Century.” The tone of “The Taste of Things” is quietly sensual, which is best appreciated by viewers who know that not all movies about romance have to be about messy breakups and predictable makeups.
IFC Films released “The Taste of Things” in select U.S. cinemas on February 9, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on February 14, 2024. The movie was released in France under the title “La Passion de Dodin Bouffant” on November 8, 2023. “The Taste of Things” will be released on digital and VOD on March 28, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Lucho, France, the dramatic film “Our Father, the Devil” features a cast of white and black characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A nursing home chef is disturbed when a Catholic priest is a visitor at her job, and she is convinced that he is the same person who caused trauma to her in her childhood.
Culture Audience: “Our Father, the Devil” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in suspenseful dramas about people with dark secrets.
Souleymane Sy Savane in “Our Father, the Devil” (Photo courtesy of Cineverse/Fandor)
“Our Father, the Devil” is a well-acted psychological drama that offers a fascinating portait of a woman’s complicated feelings about revenge, religion and redemption. The movie also explores issues regarding PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and long-term effects of childhood trauma. “Our Father, the Devil” is a slow-burn story that effectively shows how pent-up emotions can erupt in ways that lead to problematic consequences.
Writer/director Ellie Foumbi makes an assured feature-film directorial debut with “Our Father, the Devil,” which had its world premiere at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival. The movie then made the rounds at several festivals in 2022 and 2023, including the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. In addition, “Our Father, the Devil” was nominated for Best Feature at the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
“Our Father, the Devil” takes place in Lucho, France, where protagonist Marie Cissé (played by Babetida Sadjo) is an African immigrant working as the head chef of a nursing home. Marie, who is a bachelorette with no children, is very good at her job. Marie keeps mostly to herself and lives alone in a small apartment. Marie’s closest friend is a co-worker named Nadia Benoit (played by Jennifer Tchiakpe), who works as an orderly at the nursing home.
Nadia confides in Marie about her fertility issues. Nadia and her husband want to start a family, but Nadia hasn’t gotten pregnant. Nadia worries about her chances of getting pregnant after her husband will move out of the home for a long-distance job. Marie is a compassionate friend who comforts Nadia when Nadia gets emotional about these worries.
Marie’s boss is nursing home manager Sabine Leplanche (played by Maëlle Genet), who is demanding and shows hints of being xenophobic. In an early scene in the movie, Sabine goes in the nursing home’s kitchen to taste some of the food before it gets served to the residents. Sabine scolds the sous chef for making soup that is too spicy for Sabine’s taste. Sabine tells the sous chef in a condescending tone: “We’re not in Algeria,” Sabine comments. “The sous chef replies defiantly, “Good thing I’m French.”
One of the nursing home residents named Jeanne Guyot (played by Martine Amisse) has taken a liking to Marie, who has a good rapport with Jeanne. When Jeanne’s adult son Thomas Guyot (played by Maxence David) makes a rare visit to Jeanne at the nursing home, it’s obvious that this mother and son have a tension-filled relationship. Later in the movie, Jeanne makes a confession explaining why she thinks she sees a lot of herself in Marie.
One day, Jeanne tells Marie that Jeanne recently changed her will to cut Thomas out of any inheritance. Jeanne then surprises Marie by giving her the keys to Jeanne’s guest home, which is in remote wooded area. To Marie’s shock, Jeanne tells Marie that Jeanne has signed over the deed to the house to Marie. Jeanne insists that Marie accept this unexpected gift.
Marie seems comfortable around women, but she shows obvious discomfort and sometimes hostility in the company of men whom she thinks are giving her unwanted attention. An early scene in the movie shows Marie at a cafe, where a server named Arnaud Charpentier (played Franck Saurel) tries to flirt with her, but she’s standoffish and rebuffs his attempts to engage in a friendly conversation with her. Based on this brief and uncomfortable talk, Marie is a regular customer, and Arnaud has been noticing her for a while, because he knows what she likes to order.
Another scene shows just how “on edge” Marie is. She’s walking down a street by herself at night, when she notices a man walking behind her. She thinks this stranger is following her. And when he walks close enough to her, she pulls a knife on him. When Marie sees that the stranger means no harm, she quickly makes an apology. What would cause Marie to be so paranoid and combative?
The answer comes a little later in the movie, when a Catholic priest named Father Patrick (played by Souleymane Sy Savane) visits the nursing home to give a sermon. Marie looks like she’s seen a ghost when she first sees Father Patrick, who says he’s from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Marie goes to a computer and finds an article with the headline “Young Warlord ‘The Oracle’ Found Dead in a Bush.”
The sight of Father Patrick has unnerved Marie so much, she asks Sabine for a few days off, but Sabine declines the request because the nursing home is currently understaffed. In the nursing home’s cafeteria-styled dining area, Marie has to serve Father Patrick. Marie is visibly uncomfortable in his presence. Later, after the nursing home’s kitchen is closed, he goes to the kitchen to ask Marie if he can have more of the stew that he was served earlier. This conversation changes the course of the story.
Without giving away too many details, it’s enough to say that Marie is certain that Father Patrick is actually someone she used to know from her past. She thinks Father Patrick is someone who caused a lot of pain and trauma in her life. Father Patrick vehemently denies Marie’s accusations and insists that she has him mistaken for someone else.
There’s more to the story than this identity mystery. The truth is eventually revealed in a gut-wrenching emotional scene. Although all of the principal cast members give skilled performances, the movie’s emotional heart is in Sadjo’s riveting performance. For her role in “My Father, the Devil,” Sadjo was nominated for a 2023 Gotham Award for Outstanding Lead Performance. Foumbi’s absorbing writing and directing make viewers feel that they are right in the middle of the emotional journey that Marie goes on in the movie.
“Our Father, the Devil” raises provocative questions about how much people should be defined by past actions, how much people might be able to change, and how much trust can be put into people who might not be showing their true selves to others. Although some extreme things happen in the movie, “Our Father, the Devil” maintains a realism about it all that looks credible. This memorable film shows in intriguing ways how people judge themselves when they are judging others.
Cineverse and Fandor released “Our Father, the Devil” in New York City on August 25, 2023, and in Los Angeles on September 1, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on October 10, 2023.
Culture Representation: Taking place in France, the dramatic film “Anatomy of a Fall” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A famous novelist, who is a German immigrant, is accused of murdering her husband, who fell out of a third-floor window in their home.
Culture Audience: “Anatomy of a Fall” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching well-acted psychological thrillers and courtroom dramas.
Milo Machado Graner in “Anatomy of a Fall” (Photo courtesy of Neon)
“Anatomy of a Fall” is an above-average mystery thriller that will leave people guessing about the answer to the mystery. The movie is a little too long, but the courtroom scenes are riveting. “Anatomy of a Fall” had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where the movie won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize.
Directed by Justine Triet (who co-wrote the “Anatomy of a Fall” screenplay with Arthur Harari), “Anatomy of a Fall” is a sprawling movie with a total running time of 152 minutes. The film achieves a tricky balance of spending a lot of time exploring the psyche of the story’s protagonist while still giving viewers the feeling that the protagonist is still too mysterious to completely know. This inscrutability is why the ending of the movie is effective but will be unsettling to viewers who want clear and undeniable answers at the end the story.
“Anatomy of a Fall” begins by showing a fateful day in the life of an affluent family living in a fairly remote French Alps chalet near Grenoble, France. The family has been living in this chalet for about one year. Early on in the story, one of the family members will die on the house’s property.
Sandra Voyter (played by Sandra Hüller) is a German immigrant who is a well-known, successful novelist. Her husband Samuel Maleski (played by Samuel Theis) is a university professor who is an aspiring writer. Their 11-year-old son Daniel (played by Milo Machado Graner) is visually impaired because his optic nerves became permanently damaged after he was accidentally hit by a motorcycle when he was younger. Daniel isn’t completely blind but his vision very limited.
The day starts off in a fairly normal manner. It’s winter, so there is snow all around, but the day is sunny and clear. Sandra is being interviewed in the family home by a graduate student journalist named Zoé Solidor (played by Camille Rutherford), who is a star-struck fan of Sandra.
During the interview, Sandra gets annoyed because Samuel is in the third-floor attic and is playing music that is loud enough to be heard in the room where the interview is taking place. An irritated Sandra loudly tells Samuel to turn down the music more than once before he finally does so. The song that he’s playing is Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band’s cover version of 50 Cent’s 2003 song “P.I.M.P.,” which is played several times later in the courtroom scenes.
After Zoé leaves, Daniel comes back from a walk with his guide dog, a Border Collie named Snoop. (The dog’s name is real life is Messi.) To his horror, Daniel finds the dead body of Samuel on the ground outside the home. It appears that Samuel has fallen out of the attic window of the house. Was it an accident, suicide or murder?
Those are the questions that continue to swirl when Sandra becomes a person of interest when the investigation into the death begins. Sandra claims she was taking a nap at the time that Samuel fell out of the window. About an hour into the nap, she heard Daniel scream when he found Samuel’s body.
She also tells investigators and her defense attorney Vincent Renzi (played by Swann Arlaud) that she thinks Samuel’s death was an accident. Vincent tells Sandra, “Nobody is going to believe that. I don’t believe that.”
An autopsy reveals that Samuel had a severe blow to his head before he died, but the cause of death is ruled as inconclusive. Sandra then changes her theory of how Samuel died by saying that he could have committed suicide. She tells authorities and Vincent that she remembers that about six months earlier, she found Samuel unconscious in a puddle of his vomit because he had taken an intentional overdose of sleeping pills.
Sandra, who admits she was the only other person in the house when Samuel died, becomes the only suspect. She’s arrested for murder, indicted, and then goes on trial, one year after Samuel’s death. Sandra pleads not guilty. Her defense is that the blow to Samuel’s head probably came from a small wooden shed located directly beneath the window, with the theory being that Samuel hit his head on the shed during the fall, before he fell on the ground. However, there was no DNA found on the roof of the shed.
Vincent tells Sandra early on when they begin working together that he doesn’t know if she’s guilty or not guilty, but he expects her to be honest with him. As time goes on, people find out that Sandra has many secrets. She’s often dishonest and rude, which affects her credibility and likability. But is she guilty of murdering Samuel?
One of the truths that come out during the trial is that Samuel and Sandra had a troubled marriage before he died. Sandra and Samuel met when they were both living in London, and he had just become a university professor. Their relationship revolved around “intellectual stimulation, even at the expense of everything else,” says Sandra.
Samuel and Sandra had a volatile marriage that got worse after Samuel convinced Sandra to move from London back to his native France. Sandra tells Vincent in a private conversation that she was very happy in London. She bitterly says of the decision to move to France: “I left my shithole in Germany to live in his shithole.” Sandra tells Vincent that Samuel was a frustrated and wannabe novelist who couldn’t finish a manuscript and was jealous of her success as a published author.
Sandra, who is openly bisexual, is described in the movie as being very seductive and alluring when she wants to be. She admits that she had sexual relationships outside the marriage, including an affair with a woman. Samuel knew about these affairs. According to Sandra, he wasn’t happy about the infidelity, but he tolerated it.
More suspicion falls on Sandra when it’s revealed that Samuel secretly made an audio recording of a violent argument that he and Sandra had the day before he died. The recording is played in court, but it’s difficult to tell from the recording who initiated the violence. At the time of Samuel’s death, Sandra had a bruise on her elbow. She says she got the bruise from accidentally bumping into a kitchen counter at her home.
One of the more memorable aspects of “Anatomy of a Fall” is how this entire ordeal affects Daniel. After the death of Samuel, introverted Daniel becomes very depressed to the point where it’s difficult for him to get out of bed. He’s assigned a child therapist named Marge Berger (played by Jehnny Beth), who is compassionate and tries to remain as neutral as possible with Daniel about what she thinks about Sandra.
As time goes on in the trial, the prosecutor (played by Antoine Reinartz) and the media seem determined to place the marriage of Sandra and Samuel on trial too. Sandra is also judged for not being a stereotypical image of a warm-hearted, nurturing and virtuous mother. It’s the movie’s way of observing how society can judge mothers who are on trial for murder.
Sandra is not cruel, but she is certainly a complicated person. The movie leaves it up to viewers to decide how manipulative she might or might not be. Hüller gives a masterful performance as someone who thinks she’s smarter than the average person and has little to no patience with anyone who doesn’t agree with her point of view. Graner gives a standout performance as vulnerable Daniel, who might have some secrets of his own.
“Anatomy of a Fall” has well-written courtroom scenes that will keep viewers interested in what will happen next. There’s also a point in the movie where it looks like Sandra and Vincent look like they’re attracted to each other. Will they act on this attraction? And is Sandra faking this attraction to manipulate Vincent? It’s a testament to the excellent writing and performances in “Anatomy of a Fall” that the movie raises many questions but the answers are not always predictable or simple.
Neon will release “Anatomy of a Fall” in select U.S. cinemas on October 13, 2023. The moviewill be released on digital an VOD on December 22, 2023.
Célestine and Ernest in “Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” (Image courtesy of GKIDS)
“Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia”
Directed by Julien Chheng and Jean-Christophe Roger
Available in the original French version (with English subtitles) or in a dubbed English-language version.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an alternate version of France, the animated film “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” (a sequel to 2012’s “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” features a cast of animal characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Best friends Ernest (an elephant) and Celestine (a mouse) go on a trip together and get entangled with authorities who want to ban music that the authorities think is problematic and are looking for the leader of a resistance movement that wants to defy this ban.
Culture Audience: “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of of the first Ernest & Celestine” movie and animated films that combine adventure with social commentary.
Ernest and Célestine in “Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” (Image courtesy of GKIDS)
“Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” packs a lot of serious issues (such as government oppression and family conflicts) into an engaging story that has whimsical animation and memorable characters. There’s enough joy to balance out the heavy topics.
Directed by Julien Chheng and Jean-Christophe Roger, “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” was written by Guillaume Mautalent and Sebastien Oursel. The movie is a sequel to 2012’s “”Ernest & Celestine.” Both movies take place in an alternate version of France where there are talking animals.
In “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia,” Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse have a mishap when Celestine accidentally breaks Ernest’s rare violin. He tells her that they have to go to Gibberitia to find the person whom Ernest says can repair the violin.
The encounter a storm on the way but make it to Gibberitia, where they find there are strict rules in place about music. The police say that only the C note is allowed in Gibberitia. Anyone caught violating this “musical agitation” law can be arrested. Someone named Octavius is an outlaw for this reason.
Ernest and Celestine also find out that the police in Gibberitia are looking for someone known only as EFG, who is considered to be the leader of the “music agitators.” Most of the movie is about the mystery of EFG and EFG’s real identity. Viewers will also learn some interesting facts about Ernest, who visits estranged members of his family. The friendship between Ernest and Celestine evolves through a deeper understanding of what Ernest has been through in his past.
“Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” adeptly balances the story’s comedy and drama. It’s the opposite of the slick, computer-generated animated films that get churned out by major corporate studios. The movie evokes a tone of simpler times and can be enjoyed by people of many different generations.
GKIDS released “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia” in U.S. cinemas on September 1, 2023. The movie was released in France on December 14, 2022.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1967, in Ireland and in France, the dramatic film “The Miracle Club” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Four women, who are from a working-class suburb of Dublin, travel to Lourdes, France, in search of personal miracles in their lives, but the trip becomes more about confronting their grief and resentments.
Culture Audience: “The Miracle Club” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the star headliners and are interested in watching somewhat sentimental European dramas about different generations of women.
Laura Linney and Mark O’ Halloran in “The Miracle Club” (Photo by Jonathan Hession/Sony Pictures Classics)
“The Miracle Club” offers no real surprises in this retro drama about four women who travel together to Lourdes, France, and confront their pasts. The lead actresses’ performances, especially from Laura Linney and Kathy Bates, are worth watching. “The Miracle Club” is the type of drama that’s a dying breed, simply because it takes a very traditional/old-fashioned approach to telling this story cinematically. There’s an audience for this type of movie, but it’s the type of audience that prefers movies that were made in the 20th century.
Directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan, “The Miracle Club” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. Even though the movie’s story is centered on four women, “The Miracle Club” has an all-male team of writers: Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager and Jimmy Smallhorne wrote “The Miracle Club” screenplay. When a movie about women is written and directed by men, the movie sometimes has a very patriarchal tone. There’s a whiff of that patriarchal tone in “The Miracle Club,” but the heart of the movie is how the women interact with each other without influence from husbands or clergymen.
“The Miracle Club,” which is set in 1967, opens in Ballygar, Ireland, a working-class suburb of Dublin. A senior citizen named Lily Fox (played by Maggie Smith) is looking mournfully at a cliffside memorial plaque dedicated to her son Declan Fox, who drowned at sea in 1927, when he was 19 years old. Declan was the only child of Lily and her husband Tommy Fox (played by Niall Buggy), who is now retired.
Declan’s death has left a void that Lily and Tommy don’t like to talk about. Lily has a cranky and very judgmental personality that is outmatched by Tommy’s cranky and judgmental personality. When Lily comes back from visiting the memorial dedicated to Declan, she gets this scolding from Tommy: “You’re not visiting our son. You’re visiting a pile of rocks and sand that don’t mean anything.”
Lily is in an amateur singing trio with two friends who live nearby and who all know each other from going to the same church: Eileen Dunne and Dolly Hennessy. (They are all devout Catholics.)
Eileen (played by Bates) is a middle-aged married mother of six children. Eileen’s oldest child is inquisitive Cathy Dunne (played by Hazel Doupe), who’s about 15 or 16 years old. Eileen’s husband is Frank Dunne (played by Stephen Rea), who likes to think he’s the head of the household, but outspoken Eileen is really the one who runs things in this crowded home.
Dolly (played by Agnes O’Casey, in her feature-film debut) is sweet-natured and in her 20s. She’s also a married mother. Her husband George Hennessy (played by Mark McKenna) is very bossy and impatient. Dolly and George have two children together: Their son Daniel Hennessy (played by Eric Smith) is about 5 or 6 years old, and he happens to be mute. Their daughter Rosie Hennessy (played by Alice Heneghan) is an infant.
George gets annoyed when Dolly asks him to donate some of their money to the church. The family is on a tight budget. Dolly and George’s marriage is also under some strain, because George has become disappointed and frustrated that Daniel is mute. Dolly is hopeful that Daniel will eventually begin talking, which she thinks can happen with the right amount of prayers and encouragement. George, who has grown cynical and bitter about Daniel’s muteness, doesn’t think religion will have anything to do with getting Daniel to talk.
Lily had a longtime best friend named Maureen. Their dream was to take a trip to Lourdes, France. It’s a city whose main claim to fame is the Grotto of Massabielle (also known as the Grotto of the Apparitions), which has a reputation for being a place where miracles happen, ever since the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared to a local woman in 1858. Unfortunately, Lily and widow Maureen won’t be going to Lourdes together because Maureen has recently died.
In Ballygar in 1967, Maureen was on the church’s committee for an upcoming fundraiser: a local talent contest where the winner gets a trip to Lourdes. It’s been decided that the fundraiser will go on in Maureen’s honor. (Brenda Fricker has the voice of Maureen when one of Maureen’s letters is read on screen after Maureen’s death.) Lily, Eileen and Dolly choose to become a “legitimate” singing group and enter the contest. They name their group the Miracles.
Even though all of their husbands think that the Miracles have little to no chance of winning, viewers already know from what’s revealed in “The Miracle Club” trailers that Lily, Eileen and Dolly end up going to Lourdes anyway, with Daniel also along for the journey. (This review won’t reveal whether or not they won the contest.) It’s a bittersweet trip, since they all wanted Maureen to go on this trip too. It will be the first time that Lily, Eileen and Dolly will travel outside of Ireland.
There’s someone else who’s going on the trip with them to Lourdes: Maureen’s estranged daughter Chrissie Ahearn (played by Laura Linney), a middle-aged bachelorette who has been living in the United States and hasn’t been back in Ballygar since 1927, the year that Chrissie moved away as an outcast. Chrissie has reluctantly come back to Ballygar for Maureen’s funeral.
The only person in town who seems to welcome Chrissie is Father Dermot Byrne (played by Mark O’Halloran), who is the chief priest at the local church and the officiator at Maureen’s funeral. Lily and Eileen react to Chrissie’s hometown visit with a lot of hostility toward Chrissie, because of something that happened in 1927. Dolly, who wasn’t even born when this grudge happened, tries to stay neutral, but Lily and Eileen tell Dolly to stay away from Chrissie. Father Dermot takes on the role of peacemaker and suggests to Chrissie that she go on the trip to Lourdes, not just as a tribute to her mother but also to possibly heal old emotional wounds with Lily and Eileen.
Eileen, Chrissie and Declan used to be the best of friends. But something caused a rift in this friendship that led to Chrissie abruptly moving away and cutting off contact with almost everyone she knew in Ireland. Eileen felt abandoned by Chrissie and hasn’t forgiven her.
As already revealed in the trailers for “The Miracle Club,” Chrissie tells Eileen that Chrissie didn’t abandon anyone but Chrissie was “banished.” Chrissie’s “secret” is very easy to figure out before it’s revealed. It’s the most obvious reason why a teenage girl would be sent away from her home in 1920s Ireland.
That’s not the only secret being kept before there’s the inevitable confession to the rest of the group. Lily wants to go to Lourdes for miracle help with her grief over Declan. Dolly wants her miracle to be for her son Daniel to talk. Eileen wants a miracle that has to do with a secret that Eileen is keeping. Eileen’s big secret is also not very surprising.
“The Miracle Club” goes through the expected scenes of discomfort as unwelcome travel companion Chrissie has awkward and tension-filled interactions with Lily and Eileen. It should come as no surprise when Chrissie has to share a hotel room with Lily, who has the most unresolved issues with Chrissie. It’s explained that the hotel is booked up, so there’s no other room available. It’s a very contrived scenario for a movie, because Chrissie could have stayed at another hotel.
“The Miracle Club” doesn’t really waste time, but it doesn’t have any genuine suspense about Chrissie’s secret, which is the main source of the conflict between Chrissie and Lily. Eileen doesn’t find out this secret until much later. The banter between the women is often realistic, but the scenarios around them sometimes look too phony.
“The Miracle Club” pokes fun at male egos by showing how the husbands of Lily, Eileen and Dolly have trouble coping with household duties while their wives are away. Suddenly, these “macho” men find out that they’re kind of helpless and ignorant about a lot of things that they thought were easy to do, just they because they’re thought of as “women’s responsibilities.” It’s the movie’s obvious way of showing that spouses shouldn’t take each other for granted.
The issue of Daniel’s muteness is handled with sensitivity, but it often takes a back seat to the main story about the feuding between Chrissie, Lily and Eileen. Chrissie is the only one of the four women who isn’t religious. She’s grown disillusioned about religion because she thinks religious people are very hypocritical. (Her disillusionment is another big clue about her secret.)
Linney and Bates, as estranged friends Chrissie and Eileen, have the most realistic dynamics in the movie and give the best performances. Smith is doing yet another “grumpy old woman” role that she seems to be stuck doing in the later stages of her career, although the character of Lily has some emotionally impactful scenes toward the end of the film.
O’Casey makes an impressive feature-film debut as Dolly, who is somewhat of “third wheel” to Lily and Eileen. At times, it’s not quite convincing that Dolly could be close friends with Lily and Eileen, because Dolly seems more like a sidekick than someone whom Lily and Eileen treat as an equal. O’Casey brings some very good nuance to this role portraying a mother who tries to be cheerful to everyone on the outside but is worried sick about her mute son.
“The Miracle Club” is not the type of movie where people should expect outrageous things to happen. There’s also no supernatural element to the story, even though much of it takes place in “miracle destination” Lourdes. The Miracle Club” has solid performances and a story that’s the equivalent of familiar comfort food. It’s not going to change the world, but it can be entertaining to people who like this type movie.
Sony Pictures Classics will release “The Miracle Club” in U.S. cinemas on July 14, 2023.
