FOCUS ON A FILMMAKER:
STEPHANE BRIZÉ 

 

Following Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Michel Hazanavicius, Cédric Klapisch, Alain Resnais, Julie Delpy and Bertrand Blier, writer-director Stéphane Brizé  will be honored by COLCOA on Thursday April 27 with the special presentation of two movies including the U.S. Premiere of his new film A Woman’s Life. The writer-director of Mademoiselle Chambon and The Measure of A Man, will have a one-hour conversation with the COLCOA audience during a Happy Hour Talk.

 

 

Renoir Theater - 2:00 pm

 

NOT HERE TO BE LOVED (Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé)

Drama • 2005 • Special Presentation • COLCOA Classics

As part of our focus on filmmaker Stéphane Brizé, COLCOA is pleased to reprise his deft 2005 romantic drama, Not Here To Be Loved, presented at the festival as a U.S. Premiere in 2006.  This deceptively simple story centers on Jean-Claude, a weary, middle-aged divorcee whose life isn’t exactly going nowhere. Circling the drain is more like it. As a court bailiff, his daily routine brings misery to others in the form of eviction notices and property seizures. His only outlet is the weekly rest home visit to his craggy, belligerent, ungrateful father, who had Jean-Claude’s thankless job before him. To top it all off, Jean-Claude’s doctor informs him that his health is failing. Looking for an exercise regimen, Jean-Claude signs up for tango lessons, where he meets the too young, too pretty, and too betrothed Françoise. Despite the obstacles, a romance blossoms, and the connection soon has them both re-thinking life’s possibilities. Georges Wilson (father of Lambert Wilson) brilliantly channels rage and fear at the ravages of old age as Jean-Claude’s father, while Patrick Chesnais and Anne Cosigny bring a heartrending chemistry to the screen. César nominations went out for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

 

(Free access on a first come first served basis – No reservation needed)

 

 

 

4:00 pm ~ 5:00 pm

HAPPY HOUR TALK

A one-hour conversation with writer/director Stéphane Brizé

(Free admission – Followed by a wine and cheese reception).

 

 

 

Truffaut Theater - 7:15 pm

 

A WOMAN’S LIFE / Une Vie

West Coast Premiere • Drama • France, 2016

 

Winner of the prestigious Prix Louis-Delluc for 2016, A Woman’s Life brings a formalistic rigor to Guy de Maupassant’s essential French novel Une Vie, and the result is that rare costume drama that refuses to romanticize the world it depicts. Spanning the life of the aristocratic but essentially powerless Baroness Jeanne Le Perthius des Vauds, the saga begins in Normandy 1819, when Jeanne is leaving the convent where she has been raised and educated. Jeanne’s sheltered and idyllic upbringing sets her up for a lifetime of bitter disappointments beginning with an arranged marriage to Julien de Lamare. Her imagined prince charming quickly turns into a philandering ne’er-do-well after he gains control of Jeanne’s inheritance. Tight framing, elliptical scenes, and shifting timelines lend immediacy to this moving depiction of a woman boxed in by a repressive society organized first and foremost to preserve the privilege of a few highborn men. Judith Chemla’s meticulous performance as Jeanne earned a nomination for a 2017 Best Actress César Award. A Woman’s Life will be released in U.S. theaters by Kino Lorber Films later this year.

 

(Followed by a q/a with writer/director Stéphane Brizé)

 

 

ABOUT STEPHANE BRIZÉ

 

Citing the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach and Lars Von Trier as his influences, writer/director Stéphane Brizé makes films exploring emotionally charged situations experienced by emotionally inarticulate characters. Born in 1966 in Rennes, Brizé’s initial experience in film was as an audiovisual technician. After taking top honors for a short in the Festival De Cognac, he shifted to filmmaking. His first feature, Les Bleu des villes (1999) screened at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and proved to be a box office success. In 2006, Stéphane Brizé was introduced to an American audience at COLCOA with the U.S. premiere of his second feature, Not Here to be Loved and screened this year as part of his tribute. The same year, Claude Lelouch produced Brizé’s Entre adultes, a film conceived after a challenge to write the screenplay in ten days with the collaboration of his actors. In 2009 his Mademoiselle Chambon (COLCOA 2010) tells the story of an unexpected romance. Praised for its patience and delicacy, the film won many awards, including a Best Adaptation César Award. A Few Hours of Spring received four 2013 César Award nominations, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (with co-writer Florence Vignon), Best Actress and Best Actor. The film has its U.S. premiere at COLCOA 2013. In 2015, The Measure of of Man was nominated for a Palme d’Or and actor Vincent Lindon, who worked for the third time with Brizé, won the prestigious Best Actor Prize in Cannes.