What’s Arriving in 2024?

Here’s a list of a dozen French language titles that were screened at international film festivals in 2023. From last year’s list, most of the films eventually made their way to US cinemas (at least in the major markets) or to streaming. Let’s hope that some of these will make it online and into American theaters (maybe even in Santa Rosa!). You can find out more on each film by clicking through the images on the website Letterboxd, at

https://letterboxd.com/pzingg/list/french-films-of-2023/

  • Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet (Drama; France, 2023) – A film that mixes marriage story and courtroom drama, as an enigmatic writer whose husband died; but was it suicide or murder? Winner of two Golden Globes awards.
  • Bonnard, Pierre & Marthe by Martin Provost (Biopic; France, 2023) – A study of the post-impressionist painter and his muse, Marthe de Méligny.
  • Brother and Sister by Arnaud Desplechin (Drama; France, 2022) – In this sequel to A Christmas Tale, two siblings are forced to try to negotiate some kind of coexistence after their parents are involved in a near-deadly car crash.
  • The Crime is Mine by François Ozon (Comedy; France, 2022) – In 1930s Paris, two young women become embroiled in a murder case, turning its scandalous headlines to their mutual advantage.
  • Diary of a Fleeting Affair by Emmanuel Mouret (Comedy; France, 2022) – Love, inevitably and maybe impossibly, emerges in a contractually arranged affair in this acutely observed comic drama.
  • Forever Young by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Drama; France, 2022) – An autobiographical group portrait of a tight-knit class navigating their first year studying under the late director Patrice Chéreau at famed French theater school Les Amandiers.
  • The Gravity by Cédric Ido (Drama; France, 2022) – Drug dealer Christophe returns home to the housing projects after serving time in prison, only to find that the familiar milieu has changed in his absence.
  • The Green Perfume by Nicolas Pariser (Thriller; France, 2022) – A humorous, finely-tuned, thoroughly French evocation of Hitchcock’s lighter work in this suspenseful thriller.
  • Mother and Son by Léonor Serraille (Drama; France, 2022) – A portrait of the complex, sometimes painful relationship between an African immigrant mother and her sons, spanning 20 years of their ever-shifting relationship following their arrival in France from the Ivory Coast in 1989.
  • The Nature of Love by Monia Chokri (Romance; Canada, 2022) – When 40-year-old Sophia is sent by her long-time partner to supervise renovations at their country chalet, she meets Sylvain, and their erotic coup de foudre threatens to scorch all within range.
  • The Night of the 12th by Dominik Moll (Thriller; France, 2022) – Two detectives investigate the murder of a young woman set on fire one night after leaving a party in a small quiet Alpine town.
  • The Taste of Things by Tran Anh Hung (Comedy; France, 2023) – A sumptuous and impossibly romantic tribute to love, food, and joie de vivre. France’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film for the 96th Academy Awards.

These film synopses are adapted from the websites of Film at Lincoln Center and the Mill Valley Film Festival.