Discover your cinema week with ten unmissable films programmed on French television:
Sunday
Titanic
Directed by James CAMERON
With Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Drama – Romance / USA / 1998 / 3h14
20h55 on TF1
Synopsis: Southampton, April 10, 1912. The largest and most modern liner in the world, renowned for its unsinkability, the "Titanic", sets sail for its first voyage. Four days later, it hit an iceberg. On board, a poor artist and a bourgeois woman fall in love.
We no longer present the immense fresco of James Cameron, the film epic that traces the sinking of the Titanic, a ship deemed unshakable and indestructible. Filming lasted 160 days spread over eight months from July 1996 to March 1997. In the end, James Cameron had enough to screen twelve non-stop days of film. Titanic is divided into two distinct parts, first a romance in due form during a cruise that goes without a hitch, confrontation of social castes, impossible romance, a fresh and touching relationship enhanced by the performances of the two very convincing interpreters. Even if Kate Winslet later declared that she hated this film, from Celine Dion's music, to the meek romance, through this endless conclusion, the actress owes a lot to James Cameron's film. The second part is a well-conducted but endless survival disaster that features Manichean characters, highlighting the lack of solidarity of individuals in the face of danger. There will remain this cult conclusion that everyone knows, where Rose prevents Jack from climbing on the piece of wood. So was there room for two? Titanic had fourteen nominations, tied with Joseph L.'s Eve . Mankiewicz (1950), and won eleven Oscars , equalling the record held by Ben-Hur (1959, William Wyler). It won statuettes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Music, Best Song, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Costumes, Best Set Design, Best Special Effects, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing.
Top Gun
Directed by Tony SCOTT
With Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins
Action / USA / 1986 / 1h49
20h55 on NRJ12
Synopsis: Young flying ace and hothead of a school reserved for the elite of the US naval aviation ("Top Gun"), Pete Mitchell, known as "Maverick", falls under the spell of an instructor while competing for the title of best pilot…
Generational film in power Top Gun is a classic inked in its time, a true stereotype of 80s cinema. Carried by a breath so characteristic of this era Top Gun was the must of entertainment at the time, whether in impressive live-action scenes or by the new charisma of a certain Tom Cruise at the beginning of his career. While a sequel is still being negotiated Top Gun is certainly a cult film for many. Academy Award for Best Song.
Monday
The Corniaud
Directed by Gérard OURY
With Bourvil, Louis de Funès
Comedy / France / 1965 / 1h50
9:00 pm on France 2
Synopsis: Saroyan, a trafficker, uses an honest shopkeeper named Antoine Maréchal to take a Cadillac filled with heroin from Naples to Bordeaux.
After Poisson d'avril (1954) and La Traversée de Paris (1956), Le Corniaud was the third film to reunite Bourvil and Louis De Funès. Le Corniaud is the fourth film and the first big popular success of Gérard Oury just before the triumph of La Grande Vadrouille. It is also his first full-length film in color and his first real comedy. A success that is explained by the presence of this memorable duo of French cinema, funny actors, inspired and especially invested in their roles. In the second half of the twentieth century they were the bosses.
The Sound of Music
Directed by Robert WISE
With Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
Musical / Great Britain / 1966 / 2h54
20h55 on Chérie 25
Synopsis: A widower will see his tranquility terribly threatened by the charm of a governess hired to watch over her numerous offspring.
Julie Andrews, the star of Mary Poppins, was the headliner of this cute and yet so popular romantic comedy. Considered a classic of the genre, the feature film is a sequence of rather annoying songs against the backdrop of the Second World War. A true classic for fans of the genre, we invite others to go their way.
Tuesday
Troy
Directed by Wolfgang PETERSEN
With Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Peter O'Toole, Sean Bean, Rose Byrne, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson
Peplum / USA / 2004 / 2h35
20h55 on HD1
Synopsis: In ancient Greece, the abduction of Helen, Queen of Sparta, by Paris, Prince of Troy, is an insult that King Menelaus cannot bear. With family honor at stake, Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother and powerful king of Mycenae, gathered all the Greek armies to bring Helen out of Troy.
Less impactful than Gladiator or Kubrick's classic: Spartacus, Troy is nevertheless worth the detour for an impressive staging and mastered from start to finish. Tracing the famous story of Melenas, Peterson gives pride of place to his actors, including Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, full of charisma and rage. Their fight (Achilles vs. Hector) is a lesson in choreography, an impressive confrontation, brilliantly executed. Very Americanized and probably lacking fidelity, this work remains a very pleasant high-end entertainment.
Thursday
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Directed by Wes ANDERSON
With Ralph Fiennes, F Murray Abraham, Matthieu Amalric, Adrian Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson
Comedy / Great Britain / 2014 / 1h40
20:55 on TMC
Synopsis: The film traces the adventures of Gustave H, the man with the golden keys of a famous European hotel between the two wars and the floor boy Zero Moustafa, his most loyal ally. The search for a stolen painting, a priceless work dating from the Renaissance and a conflict over an important family heritage form the fabric of this story in the heart of old Europe in full transformation.
A choral film with a four-star cast, Wes Anderson's latest film (Life Aquatic Life) to date is in line with his art. Very precise symmetrical shots, a dose of funny and controlled action, crazy characters, unexpected situations, cameos of stars and especially an aesthetic through the sets, costumes and staging inked in a welcoming kitsch. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a funny and intelligent travelling party full of surprises. Oscars for Best Set Design, Best Costumes, Best Makeup and Best Music.
Chicken Run
Directed by Peter LORD and Nick PARK
With Mel Gibson
Animation / Great Britain / 2000 / 1h24
20h50 on Gulli
Synopsis: In 1950, in England, in Yorkshire, the peaceful life of the chicken coop of the Tweedy farm seems to please its tenants. The food is plentiful and the place is warm. But the Ginger hen is far from sharing the opinion of her sisters: she dreams of wide space and freedom. Every day, she tries unsuccessfully to escape from the farmyard. The courageous Ginger is patient to make her volatile friends understand that the fence is not around the farm but in their heads.
With the same animation as Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run has the same qualities as the crazy adventures of these two friends. Clay animation, intelligent characters for sophisticated dialogue, entertaining action scenes, all carried by a strong and precise message: the holocaust suffered by oppressed minorities throughout time and the world. Chicken Run , in addition to being a distant tribute to The Great Escape , is a clear and precise portrait of prison camps during the war, in addition to being a manifesto of an ethnic group led into slavery by men, in this case chickens forced to lay eggs.
V for Vendetta
James McTEIGUE
With Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving
Fantastic / USA / 2006 / 2h10
20h55 on HD1
Synopsis: London, in the 21st century. Evey Hammond does not want to forget anything about the man who saved her life and allowed her to overcome her most distant fears. But there was a time when she only aspired to anonymity to escape an omnipotent secret police. Like all her fellow citizens, too quickly submissive, she accepted that her country had lost its soul and had given itself en masse to the tyrant Sutler and his supporters.
Adapted from Alan Moore's cult comic book of the same name, V For Vendetta is a superhero movie that is very popular with the public. Convincing to fans of the comics, V for Vendetta has also seduced film lovers, one of the few films of the genre that manages to agree neophytes and aficionados. Carried by a bald and very invested Natalie Portman , V for Vendetta can rest on the unwavering charisma of his character, a gentleman everyone tortured and hidden under a universal mask, representation of an abstract and powerful union. Hero of the people, Robin Hood of modern times, V is a character brilliantly written by Alan Moore and very well directed in the film. It is the basis of impressive action scenes, a well-rehearsed story, until a high-flying ideological finale.
The Game
Directed by David FINCHER
With Michael Douglas, Sean Penn
Thriller / USA / 1997 / 2h08
20h55 on Chérie 25
Synopsis: Nicholas Van Orton, a shrewd businessman, receives a strange gift from his brother Conrad on his birthday. This is a game. Nicholas gradually discovers that the stakes are very high, although he is not sure of the rules or even the real goal. He gradually realizes that he is being manipulated even in his own home by unknown conspirators who seem to want to make his life fly in shatters.
Always very effective, David Fincher signs a thriller of manipulations and paranoia solid and harnessing. Michael Douglas is absolutely memorable in this character wandering between false pretenses, personal sensations and illusions. Wonderfully well written The Game manipulates its viewer as well as its character, until a covert and offensive denouement. David Fincher demonstrates once again that he is one of the geniuses of this twenty-first century.
Witness
Directed by Peter WEIR
With Harrison Ford, Danny Glover, Viggo Mortensen
Thriller / USA / 1985 / 1h52
20h45 on Paris Première
Synopsis: Inspector John Book investigates a murder whose only witness is a young boy from the Amish community. Discovering that his superior is the instigator of this crime, John Book takes refuge with this pacifist community.
The father of The Truman Show and The Circle of Missing Poets interferes with Witness in the daily life of the Amish. A way of presenting a people that suffers many prejudices and remains unknown to the popular consciousness. Driven by the charisma of Harrison Ford who demonstrates here his talent to play everything, the feature film is a powerful and exciting police investigation, punctuated by its injustices. Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
