At Alliance Française on Fridays at 8 pm
The Alliance Française shows its series of French films in a small room in their building at 138 Charoen Prathet Road. The building is directly opposite Wat Chaimongkhon, near the Chedi Hotel. Tell your taxi "Samakhom Frangset" and/or "Wat Chaimongkhon." A contribution of 30 baht is requested; you pay outside at the information desk of the Alliance Française proper.
At Alliance Française on Friday, January 15: Quand tu descendras du ciel / When You Come Down From Heaven (2003) by Eric Guirado– 100 mins – France. English subtitles.
With Benoît Giros, Serge Riaboukine, Jean-Francois Gallotte, Anne Goesens.
Jerome has just arrived from his farm where there was not enough work. He's hired by the town hall and they give him the dirty jobs. Whereas most of his "colleagues" accept this disgusting work, it is not long before he takes a rebel stand, abetted by a young female journalist...
– Alliance description
French Culture.org, ÉricGuirado: Jérôme and his mother struggle to keep their dairy farm running. One morning, he heads for town to look for work for a couple of months. Jérôme then strikes up a friendship with La Chignole, a boisterous tramp, and gets hired by the local mayor to assist another worker, Lucien, to decorate the town’s Christmas trees. But it’s not long before an unexpected and less pleasant aspect of his job is revealed when city hall applies anti-begging laws to “clean out” the town center of its homeless people and tramps during the Christmas period. Lucien puts the pressure on and Jérôme, fighting his conscience, reluctantly carries out his job. That is until the day he discovers that La Chignole is one of the homeless convoy.
IMDb viewer: The title (=When you come down from Heaven) is borrowed from a Xmas song by Tino Rossi -which can be heard in Richard Pottier's "destins" (1948). The action takes place some time before Christmas. As Mary Chapin Carpenter sings in "Stones in the road" "(They) have been replaced by souls out on the street /We give a dollar when we pass /And hope our eyes don't meet" In this nice town, the town council wishes a merry Christmas to all the tramps out on the street. Some "security" men round up some of them whom they force to get into their van. Do not panic, it looks like Nazi methods, but no "special" showers are waiting for them. The mayor just wants to get rid of them because "for Christmas, there are too many people on the sidewalks and those people would spoil prettily decorated shops! So they leave them in the cold country, with a crate full of oranges.
Jerome has just arrived from his farm where there was not enough work. He’s hired by the town hall and they give him the dirty job to do. Whereas most of his "colleagues" accept this disgusting work, it is not long before he takes a rebel stand, abetted by a young female journalist.
Quand tu descendras du ciel is a strong movie, which does not lack focus or intensity and there's even a sensational nightmare scene where Jerome lives in a carton with hundreds of his fellow men on a big field.
Awards: Jean Carment Award, Audience Award – 2003 Angers European First Film Festival.
At Alliance Française on Friday, January 22: Les soeurs fâchées / Me and My Sister (2004) by Alexandra Leclère – 93 mins – France, Comedy/ Drama. English subtitles.
With Catherine Frot, Isabelle Huppert, François Berléand.
Louise, 36, is a charming young woman who is disconcertingly open and rather awkward. She’s a beautician and lives in Le Mans. Martine, 38, is her older sister. She’s a very beautiful, elegant woman, although aloof. She lives a deeply middle-class world in Paris. Louise has written a novel and she has an important meeting in Paris that could change the course of her life. She comes to stay with Martine for three days, during which time she and her obvious happiness drive Martine up the wall and shatters her life...
– Alliance description
DVD Times, Noel Megahey: Essentially a story of two sisters, one from the country with simpler attitudes who comes to stay for a short while with her sophisticated sister who lives in the big city – what sounds like a straightforward fluff comedy of manners actually has a darker, more bitter undercurrent that gives the film an unexpected weight.
At Alliance Française on Friday, January 29: Mon petit doigt m'a dit... / By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2005) by Pascal Thomas – 105 mins – France, Comedy/ Mystery. English subtitles. Adapted from the mystery thriller by Agatha Christie.
With Catherine Frot, André Dussolier, Geneviève Bujold.
An elderly woman who disappears. A village that, behind all its gossip, hides a dark secret, a house split in half, tombs that are better left untouched, a doll that reappears from the past, a terrifying lawyer who wears a death mask. It will take some doing for Prudence and Bélisaire Beresford, who have Hercule Poirot’s patience and Agatha Christie’s humor, to uncover the astounding truth...
– Alliance description
Films de France: Shortly after visiting their elderly aunt in a luxury retirement home, Bélisaire and Prudence Beresford are surprised by her sudden death. Prudence becomes convinced foul play is at work when she learns that one of the other old women she met in the home has mysteriously disappeared. In her aunt’s possessions, Prudence comes across a painting of a country house, a painting which awakens some dormant memory. Despite her husband’s objections, Prudence sets out to unravel the mystery...
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