In mid-19th century France, Eugénie has worked for twenty years alongside the famous gastronome Dodin. She’s an expert at preparing French dishes, poring over the writings of Antonin Carême, a pastry chef from the same era, preparing her foods, adding a touch of novelty and carefully choosing radishes and carrots from the vegetable garden outside Dodin’s home. Over time, a passion develops between ... more >
MOVIES
When the private chaos of a relationship becomes public matter; “ANATOMY OF A FALL” | Cannes
Sandra Hüller and Swann Arlaud
Directed by Justine Triet
My other favorite this year along with “The zone of interest” is “Anatomy of a fall” (“Anatomie d’une chute”), directed by Justine Triet. It’s a courtroom drama around a writer's sudden death at his chalet. His wife (Sandra Hüller) is also a writer. The disorder of their relationship, their child, who became blind following an accident that the father agonizes over, the woman’s need for space, her ... more >
The Wes Anderson-directed “ASTEROID CITY” makes landing | Cannes
Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks
Directed by Wes Anderson
“Asteroid City” is a visual feat of a movie with little in the way of substance, in fact, this might be the most contrived Wes Anderson film I've watched. Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Liev Schreiber and Adrien Brody star in it, which adds heft but the photography is helliciously rendered in saturated pastels and so it's weird. This film brought a sense of emptiness in me. During its two ... more >
Jessica Hausner comes to Cannes with “CLUB ZERO”; tuck in | Cannes
Mia Wasikowska and Sidse Babett Knudsen
Directed by Jessica Hausner
Jessica Hausner takes concepts such as workaholism or dieting and makes them into extremes. In her 2019 film “Little Joe” a scientist became so engrossed in cultivating her indoor plants that she would choose them over her children. “Club zero” takes place in a high-school in a non-descript city. Ms. Novak (Mia Wasikowska), a nutrition teacher just joined the school, she comes with her own branded ... more >
Revolution, jihad and family ties in “FOUR DAUGHTERS” | Cannes
Hend Sabri, Olfa Hamrouni and Eya Chikahoui
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania
In 2015 two of Olfa Hamrouni’s four daughters left home to join the Islamic State in Libya. Tunisia was becoming known as the leading exporter of jihadists then. “They were eaten by the wolf,” the mother ominously says in the beginning in an attempt to rationalize their absence, her remaining two daughters by her side. Part-confessional, part-memorial “Four daughters,” ("Les Filles D'Olfa" in the ... more >
Jonathan Glazer’s “THE ZONE OF INTEREST” | Cannes
Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
English filmmaker Jonathan Glazer (“Sexy Beast”; “Under the Skin”) was in Cannes this year for the first time with “The Zone of Interest,” a stunning new film about the Auschwitz concentration camp, more specifically about the family life of the camp’s top commander, a German officer named Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) who lives in the house next to the camp with his wife and their children and ... more >
Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan as two paramedics in the eye of the storm in “BLACK FLIES” | Cannes
Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan
Directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
In “Black Flies” the full-frontal reality of two nighttime paramedics grabs you at the throat and doesn’t let go. The new Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire film is an infernal ride of double-shifts and bullying and death into the belly of the beast, the film pops, hits hard, the image is jumpy, the screams are loud, it’s a pressure-cooker, I came out of there traumatized and a little shaken. This is not the ... more >