Welcome to the 2020 Alliance Française French Film Festival

The cinema foyer is buzzing. Delicious, sparkling wine and gooey, robust cheese are in abundance. Needless to say, both of the latter are as French as the 31st edition of the Alliance Française French Film Festival, satiating its guests as we prepare for another exciting slate of French films.

Inside the cinema, people are packed together, chattering excitedly. (Yes, a lot of which is in French.) Before the screening, we are treated to an address from the Artistic Director Phillipe Platel, who describes the films he has lovingly programmed at this year’s festival, from the pastoral drama In the Name of the Land to the “Quentin Tarantino-esque” Deerskin to the Catherine Denueve tribute, among which is the Jaques Demy-directed Donkey Skin, in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Each film sounds as tantalising as the last, and I would recommend staking out a programme here. 

But Milk Bar were treated to the Australian premiere of La Belle Epoque, a film that Platel picked for its humour and whimsy, and a film I am pleased to say does not disappoint.

La Belle Epoque tells the story of Victor (Daniel Auteuil), a man who lumbers through life disappointed and disillusioned by the world and how much changed since he was a young man. Before there were telephone calls, vinyl records, newspapers in print, and now there’s technology, and its far-reaching tentacles that affect everything now coated in nostalgic amber. Alongside him is his wife, Marianne (Fanny Ardant), who, after finally having had enough with his disinterest in his own life, asks for a divorce, and tells him she is sleeping with someone else anyway. Victor’s quest to get back to himself is to go back to the past (so to speak) – after he reconnects with a young man named Antoine (Guillaume Canet), who is enduring a relationship crisis all on his own, and who has a company that offers a very specific service to its clients, recreating the past so clients can revisit their memories or enact long-held fantasies.

It doesn’t appear to have the makings of a love story, but La Belle Epoque is so painfully romantic I found myself crying even at its most wistful, quiet moments. Anchored by Auteuil’s deeply measured and sincere performance, the film works within the bounds of the unlikely scenarios in which it places its characters, and in fact is a deeper, more surprising film than I would have expected from its synopsis. Ardant and Canet give strong performances, and the film’s set design, music, and buoyant humour add to the charm.

Given the festival’s programme of nearly 50 feature films, there is a lot to enjoy at this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival, but if you don’t have time to see more than film, La Belle Epoque is an excellent, if not transportive, choice. 

Alliance Française French Film Festival 2020 
Wednesday, 11 March to Wednesday, 8 April 2020
affrenchfilmfestival.org