Film Review: Mascarade (Masquerade)

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 29 June 2023 22:47

Written by Gilbert Seah

MASCARADE (MASQUERADE) France 2022) **

Directed by Nicolas Bedos

MASCARADE is a 2022 French comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicolas Bedos. The film premiered and was screened out of competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

There are two references to Somerset Maugham at the start of the deliciously wicked film MASCARADE (French spelling for Masquerade).  The film opens with his quote: “The French Riviera is a sunny place for shady people.”  The French Riviera or Le Cote D’Azur is the setting of the film’s story.  The second reference is one of the film’s gay characters (Maugham is himself a gay writer) buying one of the villas owned by Maugham and is unable to keep up with the property expenses.

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Film Review: Les Enfants de les Autres

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Tuesday, 13 June 2023 08:06

Written by Gilbert Seah

OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN (LES ENFANTS DE LES AUTRES) (France 2022) **

Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

Virginie Efira stars as a teacher whose new relationship with a single father becomes complicated when she begins to connect with his young daughter, Lelia, in this romantic drama. For Rachel (Virginia Efira), each moment with her new boyfriend, Ali (Roschdy Zem), is pure bliss.  They share everything, including his precious four-year-old daughter Leïla (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves).  The situation is precarious: the more time Rachel spends with Leïla, the more she cannot help but feel like a mother to the child.  But Leïla already has a mother, Alice (Chiara Mastroianni) .  Rachel also has a younger sister who is pregnant.  Rachel wants a child of her own but her biological clock is running out.  

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Film Review: Mon Crime (The Crime is Mine)

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Thursday, 15 June 2023 23:43

Written by Gilbert Seah

MON CRIME (The Crime is Mine )(France 2022) ***½

Directed by Francois Ozon

In the 1930s, a young struggling actress becomes famous after being accused of the murder of a producer that the audience is led to believe she did not commit.  Or maybe she did actually commit the murder.  The truth comes out at the film’s half mark.

Everyone loves a good play about murder.  THE CRIME IS MINE or MON CRIME is adapted from the Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil’s 1923 French theatre play.  The play survives the test of time and director Ozone (my personal favourites SITCOM, LES AMANTS CRIMINELS) ensures one is constantly watching a film based on one as the film is stagey, but in a good way.

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Film Review: L'Employee du Mois

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Tuesday, 09 May 2023 14:38

Written by Gilbert Seah

L’EMPLOYEE DU MOIS (Employee of the Month)(Belgium 2021) ***
Directed by Veronique Jadin

The film’s setting is the office of a company selling cleaners called EcoCleanPro.  Middle-aged Ines (Jasmine Douieb), the protagonist and staff at the company, is reliable and eager to please and is always at the beck and call of her boss Patrick. Ines is tasked with mentoring young trainee Melody (Laetitia Mampaka) - whose mother used to work at the company - and she embraces her mentoring role to the sarcastic, closed-off Melody.  However, while Ines treats her work seriously, her male co-workers and her boss, Patrick (Peter Van den Begin), consistently belittle her, ordering her to do menial tasks. With her patience running out, Ines meets with Patrick to ask him for a raise, and he proceeds to not only disparage her request, but also grab her violently and assault her.  Ines pushes him away as Melody walks into the office, and an accidental violent incident is committed.  Melody is now complicit in Ines’ crime, and both women must decide how to cover their tracks and clean up their mess.

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