1-9 December 2006 (French in Edinburgh)
Friday 1 December
12:40 : FILM : Paris Nous Appartient (12A)
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
38 Home Street, Edinburgh EH3 9LZ
Email: cameo@picturehouses.co.uk
Director: Jacques Rivette Origin: France Year: 1960 Duration: 141mNote: this film is subtitled
Starring: Jean-Claude Brialy, Gianni Esposito, Betty Schneider,
Françoise Prévost , Daniel Crohem
"Set within Parisian Left-Bank society at its most self-obsessed, with
a good dose of Cold-War paranoia, an intriguing game for which no one
tells you the rules unfolds. Anne, a provincial student, is invited to
an arty party where she is inexorably sucked into a mystery involving
an American political refugee, a self-destructive femme fatale and a
Spanish activist who recently committed suicide. The film is just as
much about a long-vanished Paris of fleabag hotels and corduroy-clad
intellectuals as about its narrative. Charles Bitsch's cinematography
is extraordinary, managing to be both luminous and ominous at the same
time. The film is suffused with an irony that prefigures Rivette's
later fascination with the gaps between character and performance,
narrative and reality."
To book tickets, call 08707 55 12 31 or book online
15:30 : FILM: Du Rififi chez les hommes
@ The Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh - Tel.: 0131-228-2688 or website: www.filmhousecinema.com
"Jules Dassin | France 1955 | 1h58m | 35mm | French with English subtitles | 12
Cast: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel, Perlo Vita, Marie Sabouret.
A career criminal, just out of jail, gets his old crew together for one last job – a daring jewellery heist. The planning for this job is meticulous, down to experiments on a duplicate of the alarm system and the use of a stopwatch to time the movements of all local tradespeople. But all that is nothing compared to the care taken with the robbery itself. In a sequence that made Rififi's reputation and is still a model of tension and precision, Dassin spends a full 30 minutes on the actual robbery, a completely wordless half-hour (though it makes good use of sound effects) that racks the nerves and provides a masterclass in breaking and entering as well as filmmaking."
19:00 : SPEAK FRENCH : MEETUP CINECLUB
@Private venue - For more info see http://french.meetup.com/1/
Email: meetup@edilang.com
Another instance of this popular event, this time with a film chosen by members (looks as if Les Enfants du Paradis will make an appearance!). The principle is simple: you turn up with your tipple of choice (tea, coffee, wine, other...) and maybe some odds and ends to nibble on (olives, pop-corn...). We watch a film, and then we have a chat (not necessarily about the film!)
Great way to get to know people, practise your French (or your English) in a very social environment!
And it's all free!
Saturday 2 December
12:40: FILM
Paris Nous Appartient (12A): 12:40
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
12:40 : FILM : Le Grand Voyage
@ The Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh - Tel.: 0131-228-2688 or website: www.filmhousecinema.com
Ismaël Ferroukhi | France/Morocco 2004 | 1h48m | 35mm | French, Arabic, English, Italian and Turkish with English subtitles | PG
Cast: Nicolas Cazalé, Mohamed Majd, Jacky Nercessian, Ghina Ognianova.
"A tribute to the 97% of Muslims we never hear about in the Western world," is how French writer/director Ismaël Ferroukhi describes his pleasingly understated road movie. Le Grand Voyage's premise involves a devout elderly patriarch (Mohamed Majd) forcing his reluctant teenage son Reda (Nicolas Cazalé) to drive them from their home in France to Saudia Arabia on a once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage. No surprises that these mismatched protagonists learn from one another, yet this remains an engaging, well-acted and compassionate film.
Wisely the director doesn't provide us with detailed information about the duo's past experiences, giving Le Grand voyage the feel of a contemporary fable, whilst the air of mystery is further heightened by the elliptical editing style. And not only does the film successfully challenge cultural preconceptions of Islamic belief, but in the climactic scenes amidst the collective fervour of Mecca, it achieves an unexpected emotional intensity.
18:30 : FILM: Du Rififi chez les hommes
@ The Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh - Tel.: 0131-228-2688 or website: www.filmhousecinema.com
Sunday 3 December
12:40 : FILM : Paris Nous Appartient (12A)
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
15:30 : FILM: Du Rififi chez les hommes
@ The Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh - Tel.: 0131-228-2688 or website: www.filmhousecinema.com
Monday 4 December
12:40 : FILM : Paris Nous Appartient (12A)
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
Tuesday 5 December
12:40 : FILM : Paris Nous Appartient (12A)
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
21:00 : SPEAK FRENCH: @THE WORLD
Meet French speakers at The World - excellent and very recommended! I went there the other day, and there was quite a large crowd!
All ages welcome. - and best of all, it's all free!!9-10pm: English spoken
10-11pm: French spoken
(though not necessarily that strict!)
@ The World, on Thistle Street
Wednesday 6 December
12:40 : FILM : Paris Nous Appartient (12A)
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
19:30: MUSIC: Rudsambee
@Priestfield Parish Church, Edinburgh (£5)
"Unaccompanied voices in harmony, with songs from Scotland to Croatia, France to Iceland."More info: www.rudsambee.org.uk
Thursday 7 December
12:40 : FILM : Paris Nous Appartient (12A)
@Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh
18:00 : LECTURE : "Marguerite Duras, a myth, an opera"
@Institut Francais d'Ecosse (French Institute), Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh - Tel.: 0131 225 5366
More info: www.ifecosse.org.uk "Marguerite Duras, a major figure of the 20th century French literary scene remains, a decade after her death, a controversial character. Her minimal novels and to her activities in theatre, film, and journalism have given her both a national and an international notoriety. This lecture will offer an opportunity to rediscover an outstanding personality. The following evening, the Filmhouse will screen “Hiroshima, mon amour”, a film by Alain Renais on a scenario and the dialogues of Marguerite Duras, of course!"
A presentation by Joelle Pages-Pindon, an academic and author of the book 'Marguerite Duras'.
Friday 8 December
@ The Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh - Tel.: 0131-228-2688 or website: www.filmhousecinema.com
Alain Resnais | France/Japan 1959 | 1h26m | 35mm | French, Japanese and English with English subtitles | PG
Cast: Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas, Pierre Barbaud, Bernard Fresson.
"While in Hiroshima making a 'peace film', a French actress (Riva) begins an affair with a Japanese architect (Okada). Her passion for her new lover forces her to confront painful memories of a youthful affair she had with a German soldier in Nevers, France during the occupation, that soldier's death, and her subsequent shaming as a Nazi collaborator. Past melds with present, her personal pain and trauma with Hiroshima's horror, and her Japanese lover with the German, as she struggles to make her shattered psyche whole.
Alain Resnais' first feature, with a script by Marguerite Duras, has a complex structure and innovative use of flashbacks and sound, and was one of the first and most influential films of the French New Wave movement.
Joelle Pages-Pindon, an academic and author of the book 'Marguerite Duras', will introduce the film with a twenty minute presentation. Her introduction will be in French with an English translation. "
20:00 : SPEAK FRENCH : French Friday Meetup
@ Venue to be confirmed, Edinburgh - For more info see http://french.meetup.com/1/
Email: meetup@edilang.com
Saturday 9 December
19:00 : MUSIC : Madeleine Peyroux (£18)
@The Queens Hall, Clerk Street, Edinburgh
Tickets: 0131 668 2019"Often compared to the late great Billie Holiday, Peyroux’s smoke-and-whisky vocals perform classic songs by Holiday, Bessie Smith and Patsy Cline so convincingly that they become to sound like her own.
More info: www.madeleinepeyroux.com
She is an exceptional artist who channels vintage jazz and blues with pinpoint accuracy.
‘But it's Peyroux's stunning alto that delivers the unique experience. "Honeyed tones" is such an overused cliche, but in Peyroux's case completely apt - after 90 minutes of relentlessly sensual unctuousness, you feel slightly like a pollen-drunk bee. But in a good way.’ - Edinburgh Evening News"
19:45 : MUSIC: Rudsambee
@Rosslyn Chapel (£7-£5)
"Unaccompanied voices in harmony, with songs from Scotland to Croatia, France to Iceland."More info: www.rudsambee.org.uk
To look forward to....>
Coming soon: Film: PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (15) - 26 December
Thriller based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind.
10 Dec: 13.45: MUSIC : Rudsambee (Free) @ Museum of Scotland
10 Dec: 18:00 : MUSIC : Rudsambee (Free) @ St Giles' Cathedral
"Unaccompanied voices in harmony, with songs from Scotland to Croatia, France to Iceland."
Web: www.rudsambee.org.uk
13 Dec 13: 20:00 : SPEAK FRENCH : Speak, Drink & Be Merry Meetup
@ Venue to be confirmed, Edinburgh - For more info see http://french.meetup.com/1/
Email: meetup@edilang.com
14 Dec: 7.30 : Music: Scottish Chamber Orchestra: The Old Rivalry
"A comparison of dance music and symphonies from France and England featuring the composers Rebel, Charpentier, Haydn, Handel and Purcell by director and harpsichordist Richard Egarr." Web: www.sco.org.uk
Queen's Hall - 0131 668 2019 -- £8-£24 (£6-£18)
5 Jan 2007: 7.30 : MUSIC :Royal Scottish National Orchestra: New Year in Vienna
"New Year Viennese-style with a liberal dash of Strauss and little splash of French operetta all conducted by Dominique Trottein." --- Web: www.rsno.org.uk -- Usher Hall - 0131 228 1155 --- £10-£30 (concessions available)
7 Jan 2007: 18:00: Book-Club Meetup
@ Private Venue, Edinburgh - For more info see http://french.meetup.com/1/
Email: meetup@edilang.com
"The first real meeting for the book club. Details of the books etc can be found here: http://french.meetup .com/1/boards/view/v iewthread?thread=238 7668"
14 Feb 2007: 2.15 - France in America
Alison McCleery explores the little-known French islands of St Pierre and Miquelon. @ Royal Museum Lecture Theatre, 0131 247 4219 - £6; free for students and RSGS members
