So you might not be summering in France this year — c’est la vie — but starting tonight, TIFF Cinematheque has given us the next best thing: a staycation at the movies with the aptly-titled Summer in France film series. Featuring over three dozen classics of French cinema from la crème de la crème of auteurs (Renoir! Truffaut!), this festival ensures that a bon vivant lifestyle will be possible this summer. Remember: BYOB (bring your own beret).
Below, our top five French flicks to catch this été.
Diabolique – July 20
Upon first glance of the title, try not to think of that awful Sharon Stone–Chazz Palminteri remake. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 original film about two women who conspire to murder their mutual lover is better, and actually quite terrifying. And remember: don’t reveal the ending!
The 400 Blows – July 23
We love insolent teenage boys (Holden Caulfield, Alex P. Keaton, all the boys in Stand By Me), so it’s no surprise we’re looking forward to François Truffaut’s autobiographical first feature about a twelve-year-old delinquent hero. The film also helped usher in French New Wave and therefore changed how we viewed movies forever.
Belle Du Jour – July 26
Before Fifty Shades of Grey came into our lives with its titillating tales, there was the 1967 film Belle Du Jour, Luis Buñuel’s shocking surreal comedy about a Parisian housewife (Catherine Deneuve in her international star-making turn) who satisfies her masochistic fantasies by working as a daytime prostitute. Mon dieu.
La Femme infidèle – August 3
Unavailable in Canada for more than thirty years, Claude Chabrol’s suspenseful and sexy thriller (which inspired Adrian Lyne’s Unfaithful in 2002) recounts the deadly breakdown of a couple’s marriage after a bored housewife begins an afternoon affair.
Breathless – August 9
Jean-Luc Godard’s jazzy, artistic debut is part of pretty much every film school’s curriculum for a reason: his classic film about a small-time hoodlum on the run and his carefree American girlfriend revolutionized film’s form and style — oh, and every woman wanted Jean Seberg’s cute pixie cut.
Summer in France, TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre, 350 King St. W., 416-968-3456. July 13 – Sept. 2.
