FILM NOIR

 

For the ninth year, the most popular COLCOA series is back with three premieres of films dedicated to the famous genre, symbol of the mutual influence of French and American cinemas.

 

The series is scheduled on Friday, April 25 in the TRUFFAUT Theater.

 

 

5:30 pm

Our Heroes Died Tonight (Nos héros sont morts ce soir)

North American Premiere

 

Set in early-sixties Paris, this minimalist, cinematic noir,written and directed by David Perrault, plunges into the seedy world of semi-professional wrestling, where backroom dives smell of Gauloise and sweat, and the fights are all rigged. Simon ekes out a living playing “The Specter”, a masked hero in need of a nemesis. Enter Victor, Simon’s lunky friend from the old days of the Algerian war. Fresh out of the Foreign Legion, Victor is in need of a gig. Rehearsed by Simon’s skeevy bosses, Victor is dubbed “The Butcher of Belleville”, and together, their new act gets the francs rolling in. But as these flawed characters grapple with their own narrow ideas of identity, masculinity, and friendship, this bare-knuckled film begins to brawl with a lot more than its milieu trappings might suggest. The staged beatings begin to take their toll, and Victor’s traumatic war experience leaves him uneasy wearing the villain’s mask. He decides to restore order, and be the hero for once...

 

 

7:30pm

THE LAST DIAMOND (Le Dernier Diamant) 

International Premiere 

 

The Florentine, a fabled, 137-carat yellow diamond last seen in 1918, has resurfaced and is up for sale in an exclusive Antwerp auction house. Simon, a master thief and ex-con on probation is coerced into taking on the biggest, riskiest theft of his career, one that involves a long con with the diamond’s dangerously seductive owner, Julia. Simon assembles the pieces of his elaborate ruse suspecting that he is just another piece of someone else’s jigsaw puzzle. But when no one is who they appear to be, the streetwise don’t make their move until the last mask comes off. Co-writer/director  Eric Barbier follows the tradition of Melville’s Le Cercle Rouge and The Thomas Crown Affair and Yvan Attal teams up with The Artist Academy Award-nominee star Bérénice Bejo to bring the sophisticated heist movie roaring back to life.

 

 

10:15 pm

LOVE IS A PERFECT CRIME (L’Amour est un crime parfait) 

West Coast Premiere • After 10

 

An attractive student has gone missing after spending the night with Marc, a philandering professor at the University of Lausanne. Marc’s reputation precedes him, and as expected, the school’s resident Lothario is soon under suspicion by the authorities. Less expected, however, is the appearance of the missing student’s beautiful stepmother Anna, poking around for clues. Marc, a man at the mercy of his own appetites, decides to make her his next conquest. Adapted from Incidences by Philippe Dijan, whose other novels inspired the films Betty Blue and Unforgivable, this chilly thriller, co-written and co-directed by Arnaud & Jean-Marie Larieu, uses its Swiss Alps setting to maximum effect. Mathieu Almaric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Quantum of Solace) is commanding as the cigarette and sex addicted lit teacher with a sister hidden amongst the skeletons in his closet.