Priscilla, Me, Captain, Iris and the Men: What’s new at the cinema this week
What to see in theaters
THE EVENT
PRISCILLA ★★★★☆
By Sofia Coppola
The essential
Perfect reverse shot of Elvis by Luhrmann, Sofia Coppola signs a great film on the influence which reveals a breathtaking actress: Cailee Spaeny
Her name is Cailee Spaeny and she achieves a tour de force here. Play Priscilla Presley with exceptional precision, from the age of 16 to 29, from her meeting with King Elvis in 1959 until their separation in 1972. All under the direction of Sofia Coppola who continues to superbly plow the same furrow . Because his Priscilla dialogue with Virgin suicides, Somewhere And Marie Antoinette in this description of a young woman locked in a golden cage. Through her choice of simplicity which plunges us into the head of her heroine and a descent into hell of which she gradually becomes aware, Sofia Coppola recounts the influence in a magnificent gesture of filmmaker and sorority mixed together.
Thierry Cheze
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PREMIERE LIKED A LOT
ME, CAPTAIN ★★★★☆
By Matteo Garrone
Very far from his native Italy, the director of Gomorra Here follows the journey of Seydou, a young Senegalese who left Dakar with a friend to realize his dreams of the West. But his odyssey will turn into a nightmare: Seydou will come across fraudulent smugglers, be ransomed by the army then tortured in Libyan prisons before taking to the sea on a makeshift boat to cross the Mediterranean… In this infernal journey, Garrone refuses the socio-pensum or the edifying testimony and shows migration in an unprecedented way – sometimes very hard, often very violent – through the eyes of those who experience it. And his Me, Captain which strangely functions as a synthesis of all his cinema, relies on an exceptional casting, starting with the astonishing Seydou Sarr.
Gaël Golhen
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FIRST TO LIKE
YOUTH (SPRING) ★★★☆☆
By Wang Bing
A master in the art of long-term documentary, the Chinese Wang Bing explores the daily life of Zhili, a city entirely dedicated to textile manufacturing, where young boys and girls come to work day and night with the aim of buying a house , set up their own workshop or have the money necessary to start a family. The result turns out to be impressive. Without artifice (absence of voice-over, etc.), Wang Bing dissects the relentless mechanisms of the exploitation of a surplus workforce. But the great idea of the film is to bring this modern-day slavery into dialogue with the energy, the joy of surviving and the love stories of these young people barely out of adolescence. By shaking up the Dickensian aspect of the work, this contrast makes the film breathable. Too bad that by the radical decision of only giving essential elements for understanding the subject at the end of the film, Youth sometimes gets lost in an abstruse side.
Thierry Cheze
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FINNISH LOVE ★★★☆☆
By Selma Vilhunen
The subjects that seem the most hackneyed sometimes find themselves illuminated with a new light. Which is exactly what the Finnish Selma Vilhunen achieves here by treating polyamory in a sensitive and unique way. The story of a married woman who discovers that her husband is having an affair with another woman. But who, faced with the powerful love perceptible in this adulterous couple, offers those interested a free romantic configuration quickly transforming into a sentimental quartet. The stated objective of this heroine, played wonderfully by Alma Pöysti (headliner of the recent THE Dead leaves by Kaurismäki), is to preserve emotional bonds without destroying them. The protagonist working in the political environment, this polyamorous project, in no way similar to a long quiet river, also claims a collective and societal scope, like this surprisingly calm and soothing melodrama. A curiosity.
Damien Leblanc
THE FACTORY, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY ★★★☆☆
By Marianne Lère Laffitte
In 2019, the last French factory to manufacture recycled paper closed, putting 217 employees out of work. To fight against the disappearance of the structure, three men – two union workers and a manager – embark on a fierce fight to save the company. This documentary takes us behind the scenes of the social struggle where individuals attack gargantuan industrial powers. The good, the bad and the ugly of this film do not have much in common with Sergio Leone’s heroes, apart from their unparalleled determination to restore a semblance of fairness. Director Marianne Lère Laffitte surprises with her treatment of music: popular working-class songs interpreted like an opera. She finely inscribes the small stories in the big one and the unknowns in our memories. A bit like a western, basically.
Elias Zabalia
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FIRST TO MODERATELY LIKED
IRIS AND MEN ★★☆☆☆
By Caroline Vignal
After solar Antoinette in the Cévennes (which earned Laure Calamy a César), the Caroline Vignal-Laure Calamy duo reunites for a new comedy centered on desire. We follow Iris, a forty-year-old married mother of two who is bored in her relationship and signs up on a dating app that will allow her to boost her libido by increasing her experiences with a variety of men. But the charm ofAntoinette has difficulty operating here. Because of a vision of the sites sorely lacking in inventiveness and a sense of humor that is sluggish. We feel the filmmaker is less inspired in the Parisian settings than in the Cévennes nature. And if Laure Calamy gives her best (even in a musical comedy scene), the film ultimately falls into the ranks of ordinary comedies, just as Iris experiences a fairly banal adventure behind her revolutionary appearances.
Damien Leblanc
FIRST DID NOT LIKE
THE PLUNGER ★☆☆☆☆
By Francis Leclerc
Welcome in The Bear, less nervousness and genius. At the beginning of the 2000s in Montreal, Stéphane is a metalhead who, at the age of 19, discovered a penchant for gambling. From there, he dropped out of college, lost his friends, his apartment, and fell into debt at record speed. To earn a living (and continue to feed his addiction), he becomes a dishwasher in an Italian restaurant and discovers the chaos that reigns in the kitchen. Problem is, the film is built around a protagonist who inspires no sympathy: in addition to being a liar coupled with a manipulator, he makes a series of questionable decisions. Add to this clumsy voice-over, themes that are too skimmed over, and shaky performances and you get a funny film which, despite some interesting directing choices, surprises with its cruel lack of credibility… and interest. Failed dive for Francis Leclerc.
Lucie Chiquer
And also
The Hess, by Alexandre Lemoine-Courx
Night swim by Bryce McGuire
