As the storms rage outside below is an eclectic selection of French DVDs for Valentine’s Day
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37°2 LE MATIN/BETTY BLUE (18) 1986 FRANCE BEINEIX, JEAN-JACQUES
DVD – £19.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
Betty (Béatrice Dalle) walks into his life handyman Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) who works beach resort during the day and writing a novel in the evening. The unpredictable Betty thinks Zorg novel is a masterpiece and takes on the job of getting it published. However as Zorg is drawn out of his shell by a free-spirited Betty, she slowly begins to descent into insanity.
A BOUT DE SOUFFLE/BREATHLESS (PG) 1959 FRANCE GODARD, JEAN-LUC £19.99
Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking tale of the brief love affair between petty criminal Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and young American student Patricia (Jean Seberg).
LES AMANTS DU PONT-NEUF (15) 1991 FRANCE CARAX, LEOS £19.99
Alex (Denis Lavant) is a Parisian down-and-out who returns from a homeless shelter to his more regular bed under Paris’ oldest bridge, the Pont-Neuf. There he meets Michele (Juliette Binoche), a young painter who is slowly going blind. The pair fall in love, but their happy life together is sure to be disrupted when Michele’s past catches up with her.
AMELIE/LE FABULEUX DESTIN D’AMÉLIE POULAIN (15) 2001 FRANCE JEUNET, JEAN-PIERRE £19.99
Oscar nominated film about a young French girl whose sole purpose of life is to help others.
AMOUR (12A) 2012 FRANCE HANEKE, MICHAEL DVD – £15.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
Academy Award-winning drama about a couple, Anne and George, in their 80s
Anne is left wheelchair-bound and has lost her will to live. George tries to remind her of the beauty and worth of life itself and the love that they share for each other.
LA BELLE ET LA BETE (PG) 1945 FRANCE B/W JEAN COCTEAU £19.99
Jean Cocteau’s classic surrealistic take on the well-known fairy tale. When Beauty’s father picks a rose at a deserted castle, a beast in Prince’s clothing appears and tells him he must die. He sends the man home to say good-bye to his family, whereupon Beauty offers to take her father’s place. She goes off to the castle but instead of killing her, the beast falls in love with her.
COCO & IGOR (15) 2010 FRANCE KOUNEN, JAN DVD – £19.99 BLU RAY – £24.99
French drama based on the love affair between fashion designer Coco Chanel and Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.
CYRANO DE BERGERAC (U) 1990 FRANCE RAPPENEAU, J.P. £19.99
Gerard Depardieu stars in this Oscar nominated film. Brilliant 17th century swordsman and poet Cyrano (Gerard Depardieu) is cursed with a very large nose and he feels this makes him too ugly for his beloved Roxanne (Anne Brochet). Consequently, he pours all his energy into helping his handsome but unintelligent friend, feeding him the lines he needs to win her heart. Unfortunately this plan backfires, leading the lovely Roxanne to fall in love with Cyrano’s beautiful words just as much as she does her suitor’s handsome face.
LE DERNIER MÉTRO/LAST METRO (PG) FRANCE 1980 TRUFFAUT, FRANCOIS £19.99
Set in 1942, in German occupied Paris a Jewish theatre owner Lucas Steiner (Heinz Bennent) has handed over the control of his theatre to his actress wife Marion (Catherine Deneuve) while he hides out in the cellar, hoping to avoid capture by the Nazis. During rehearsals for the next production, the presence of a womanising actor (Gerard Depardieu) and a Nazi-sympathising journalist cause many difficulties for Marion.
Eventually, she is forced to decide between her loyalty to her husband and her love for her countrymen, and acts out her solution in the production she has been rehearsing. Nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, the film also won 10 French Academy Awards in 1981.
ENFANTS DU PARADIS (PG) 1945 FRANCE B/W CARNE, MARCEL £19.99
Set in 1840’s Paris, Garance has three equally determined suitors: Fréderick (Pierre Brasseur), an actor, Pierre François (Marcel Herrand), a thief, and the aristocratic Édouard (Louis Salou).
The lives of the four men become intertwined as they pursue Garance, with increasingly dangerous consequences for all.
LA FÉE/THE FAIRY (PG) 2011 BELGIUM ABEL/GORDON/ROMY £15.99
A slice of Tati-esque magical-realist whimsy from Belgium-based filmmakers and former clowns Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy. In the coastal town of Le Havre, an offbeat romance blossoms between hotel clerk and hopeless romantic Dom (Abel) and barefoot redhead Fiona (Fiona Gordon), who is possibly an escaped mental patient, but claims that she is a fairy godmother and offers the enraptured Dom three wishes. She makes two of his wishes come true before disappearing, prompting Dom to jump onto his bicycle and take to the streets of Le Havre in search of his lost love.
LES HERBES FOLLES/WILD GRASS (12) 2009 FRANCE RESNAIS, ALAIN £15.99
Alain Resnais directs this adaptation of a novel by Christian Gailly. After dentist Marguerite Muir (Sabine Azema) has her handbag stolen, her wallet is found by the troubled Georges (Andre Dussollier), whose mid-life crisis is causing him to behave erratically and rendering him unable to perform even the most straightforward tasks. As Georges deliberates at length over what to do with the wallet, and Marguerite becomes increasingly curious about the identity of its finder, the two become drawn into an elaborate series of encounters which may or may not blossom into a romance.
HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (PG) 1959 FRANCE B/W RESNAIS, ALAIN £15.99
Love story between a French actress and a Japanese architect.
MA VIE EN ROSE (12) 1997 FRANCE BERLINER, ALAIN £19.99
A big screen treatment for one of France’s most revered singers, Edith Piaf. From the slums of Paris to the limelight of New York, Piaf’s life was a battle to sing and survive. Raised in poverty, Edith’s unique voice and her passionate romances and friendships with the greatest names of the period – Yves Montand, Jean Cocteau, Charles Aznavour, Marlene Dietrich, Marcel Cerdan and others – made her a star all around the world.
POPULAIRE (12) 2012 FRANCE ROINSARD, RÉGIS £17.99
French drama set in the 1950s following a young woman who yearns for more than the humdrum existence she seems destined for.
LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG/ UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (U) 1964 FRANCE DEMY, JACQUES £17.99
A story of lost love, with all the dialogue sung rather than spoken.
PRICELESS/HORS DE PRIX (12) 2007 FRANCE SALVADORI, PIERRE £19.99
Charming romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the French Riviera . Jean, a shy young bartender is mistaken for a millionaire by beautiful scheming opportunist woman.
LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER/PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER (15) 2010 FRANCE TAVERNIER, BERTRAND £17.99
Period romance based on a 1622 novella by Madame de Lafayette. Set against the backdrop of the Catholic/Protestant wars that tore France apart in the 16th century.
UN COEUR EN HIVER (15) 1992 FRANCE SAUTET, CLAUDE £19.99
A violin maker falls for a talented and beautiful young violinst (Emmanuelle Beart), who is already living with his friend and former business partner.
VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT/UN LONG DIMANCHE DE FIANÇAILLES (15) 2004 FRANCE JEUNET, JEAN-PIERRE £19.99
As World War I draws to an end, Mathilde has received word that her fiancé Manech
is wounded and lost in no-mans-land. She goes out to find him.
In French with English subtitles
DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/french-dvds
CYRANO DE BERGERAC (U) 1990 FRANCE RAPPENEAU, J.P. BLU RAY ONLY – £17.99
VALLEY OF LOVE (15) 2015 FRANCE GUILLAUME NICLOUX £15.99
www.worldonlinecinema.com 