French film

The breakout French hit of the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival, where it premiered to multiple, raucous standing ovations, writer/director Carine Tardieu’s charming romantic comedy is a winning tale of parenthood, love and family, both lost and found.

When lonely 45-year-old widower Erwan discovers by accident that that man who raised him isn’t his real father, he begins a search for his biological one. Thanks to a local private detective he soon locates the mischievous, 70-something Joseph, whom it seems his mother may have known briefly. Erwan soon falls not only for his charm, but that of the impetuous Anna, who has ties to them both. But the conflicting loyalties become compounded by the pregnancy of his own daughter who defiantly refuses to name the father.  Soon Erwan’s families begin to collide, to unexpected, hilarious and moving effect.

Offering a terrific showcase for her brilliant cast, director Carine Tardieu skillfully weaves a wholly-entertaining exploration of love, coincidence and human connection. Few films manage to pluck both the heartstrings and the funny bone.  It’s a delight.

Light-hearted, sharp and funny, the kind of French comedy that doesn’t come around so often nowadays. – The Hollywood Reporter

The comedy favourite of Cannes. Invigorating and intelligent. -Le Parisien  ★★★★★

Beautiful, touching and hilarious. This film will move you. – Elle Magazine ★★★★

France, 2017 | Language: France | 100 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director:  Carine Tardieu

Cast:  Francois Damiens, Cecile De France, Guy Marchand, Andre Wilms, Alice de Lencquesaing

Presented with the support of the French Embassy and the Institut Français.

We’ve had massive audiences this season and have had to turn people away.

Anticipating huge interest in the two upcoming films that have been nominated for

the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film [among other awards]

and to avoid further disappointment, we have added screenings for these films:

Shoplifters [Japan], Thursday 7 March at 5:45pm and 8pm.

Box office for first screening opens at 5:15pm.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2018.  A drama of rare complexity and quality about the forces holding a struggling family together, it reveals a Japan rarely seen. 

A masterpiece – The Irish Times ★★★★★

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family.

A film by Kore-Eda Hirokazu, the director of Still Walking, Like Father, Like Son and Nobody Knows.

A film of rare depth and quality that explores the meaning of family, and suggests that real parenthood is not given, but earned. – The Guardian ★★★★★

Kore-eda’s great subject is the contemporary family, a topic that gives him an immensity of themes, including loss, love, class, alienation in the modern world…a perfect story about being human. – The New York Times

Japan, 2017 | Language:  Japanese | 121 minutes | Cert: 15A

Director:  Hirokazu Koreeda

Cast:  Kirin Kiki, Lily Franky, Moemi Katayama