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FILM

The French films with English subtitles to watch in October 2023

Lost in Frenchlation - the cinema club that screens French films with English subtitles - has a strong offering for October 2023.

Published: 27 September 2023 11:45 CEST
Lost in Frenchlation brings you the best French-language films with English subtitles.
Lost in Frenchlation brings you the best French-language films with English subtitles. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

Lost in Frenchlation‘s mission is simple – to open up the wonderful world of French cinema to people whose French is not yet good enough to understand a whole film without subtitles. 

The club has recently expanded to Biarritz, Caen and south-west France, but its October screenings are all in Paris.

Screenings are preceded by drinks allowing foreigners in the capital to make new friends and some of the October showings also include an optional walking tour, Q&A sessions (in English) with the film directors, stand-up comedy and even karaoke.

Here’s what is coming up:

Le livre des solutions 

Details – Friday, October 6th at Club de L’Etoile cinema, 14 Rue Troyon, 75017 Paris. Drinks from 18h, film starts at 19h, followed by Q&A with the director. Tickets €8-€10, book here. 

Film – This dark comedy, directed by Michel Gondry, focuses on a filmmaker who cannot stand to see his creative vision picked apart by an overbearing production team. In frustration, the protagonist flees to his aunt’s house to finish making the film untethered from the rest of his team. And that is when things start to fall apart. Starring Pierre Niney, this film is not to be missed. 

L’été dernier 

Details – Friday, October 13th at Club de L’Etoile cinema, 14 Rue Troyon, 75017 Paris. Women of Paris tour at 4:30pm, Drinks from 7pm, Screening at 8pm. Screening tickets €7-€8.5, book here. Walking tour tickets €15, book here. 

Film – Anne, a high-flying lawyer lives a conventional life with her husband, Pierre, and two young daughters. But when Theo, Pierre’s estranged 17-year-old son moves in, things get complicated. A strange and passionate relationship develops between Anne and Theo throwing family life into jeopardy. Directed by Catherine Breillat, this sensitive film won plaudits at Cannes.

Yannick 

Details – Thursday October 19th at Luminor Cinema, 20 Rue du Temple, 75004 Paris. Drinks from 7pm, standup comedy show at 8pm, screening at 8:30pm. Tickets €12-€16, available here. 

Film – This dark comedy follows the story of a Parisian theatre production taken hostage by an armed carpark attendent who is unhappy with the performance he sees on stage. Like many Quentin Dupieux films, it is packed full of witty one-liners and smart dialogue. First released at the Locarno film festival, Yannick received broadly positive reviews. 

Y_Digicut SPOT A_v2VOSTA from Lost in Frenchlation on Vimeo.

Les demoiselles de Rochefort 

Details – Sunday, October 22nd at Luminor cinema, 20 Rue du Temple, 75004 Paris. Drinks, karaoke and giveaway from 7pm, screening at 8pm. Tickets €7- €8.50, available here. 

Film – Les demoiselles de Rochefort was first released in 1967 and features one of the most iconic performances from French star, Catherine Deneuve. Lost in Frenchlation is showing the film again in October to mark Deneuve’s 80th birthday. The film follows the story of twin sisters who move to the big-city to escape the dreary life of small-town France and is seen as a masterpiece of 60s cinema. 

Le procès Goldman 

Details – Thursday, October 26th at L’Arlequin cinema, 76 Rue de Rennes, 75006 Paris. Drinks from 7pm, screening at 8pm, followed by a Q&A with the screenwriter. Tickets €8.50-€11, available here. 

Film – This gripping courtroom drama is based on the true story of the 1975 trial of Pierre Goldman – a left-wing activist accused of armed robbery and murder. The trial itself was one of the most prolific in French history and divided the country down political, ideological and racial lines. This tension is captured in Cédric Khan’s film. 

Anatomie d’une chute 

Details – Sunday, October 29th at L’Arlequin cinema, 76 Rue de Rennes, 75006 Paris. Drinks and custom ice cream from Kev Glace from 7pm, screening at 8pm. Tickets €8.50-€11, available here. 

Film – Anatomie d’une chute won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. When a man is found dead in the snow beneath a chalet in the Alps, investigators attempt to decipher whether he died by suicide or was murdered – by his wife. This psychological thriller is director Justine Triet’s best film yet. 

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CULTURE

Why is the Mona Lisa so famous (and why is it even in France)?

Being lauded as either the greatest artwork in the world or the most overrated tourist attraction in France, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa does not struggle to get attention. But why is this small portrait so famous?

Published: 17 May 2024 17:47 CEST
Why is the Mona Lisa so famous (and why is it even in France)?

Paris’ Louvre museum has recently announced that the Mona Lisa painting is to get its own room, a move that is at least partly in reaction to increasing complaints about the artwork being overrated, while tourists struggle to see it in the small, crowded space.

There aren’t many paintings that get a room of their own, so just what is it about Mona Lisa (or La Joconde as she is known in France) that attracts so many millions of tourists each year – and should you bother going to see her?

Why is it in France?

Let’s start with why the painting is in France in the first place, since both painter and subject are Italian (although Italy at that time was still a collection of city states which would not be unified into the modern country until 1861). 

In short, Mona Lisa is in France because her creator Leonardo da Vinci travelled with her, and he was in France when he died in 1519. The reason that he was in France is that he spent the last years of his life working on special commissions for king François I. He died at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise, in France’s Loire Valley. 

Upon his death Mona Lisa was taken into the French royal collection and various descendants of François I hung her in their palaces until the French Revolution happened in 1793.

After the Revolution, with the exception of a brief stint in Napoleon’s palace, the painting entered the collection of the newly-created Louvre gallery which – in the spirit of revolutionary equality – was opened up to the people so that they too could enjoy great art.

Various requests over the years – some polite, others less so – from Italy to return the painting have been firmly declined by the French state. 

When did it get famous?

In the 18th and 19th centuries Leonardo’s painting was a popular exhibit among museum visitors, but didn’t have any particular fame and wasn’t regarded as any more special than the numerous other artworks exhibited there.

Although some academic interest in the painting’s subject – most commonly thought to be Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo – stirred in the 19th century, her real fame didn’t arrive until 1911.

This is when the painting was stolen from the Louvre, a crime that became a sensation and a cause celèbre in France, even more so when the painting was finally found in 1913 after the thief had attempted to sell it in Italy.

The fame of the painting and the crime inspired contemporary artists such as Marcel Duchamp who created a playful reproduction of Mona Lisa (complete with beard and moustache) which in turn enhanced the painting’s recognition. The artistic trend continued with everyone from Andy Warhol to the ubiquitous student posters of Mona Lisa smoking a joint.

Former chairman of the French Communist Party Robert Hue views moustachioed Mona Lisa by dadaist painter Marcel Duchamp, lent out by his party for the first time for an exhibition in January 2002. Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP

A tour of the painting to the US in 1963 and to Japan in 1974 further enhanced the celebrity status.

21st century

These days it’s perhaps accurate to say that the painting is simply famous because it’s famous. As the best-known piece of art in the world it’s automatically on many tourists’ ‘must see’ list when they come to Paris – and a lot of tourists come to Paris (roughly 44 million per year).

Meanwhile the Louvre is the most-visited museum in the world, attracting roughly 9 million visitors a year.

Although some visitors find the painting itself disappointing (it’s very small, just 77cm by 53cm) the most common complaint is that the room is too crowded – many people report that it’s so jammed with visitors that it’s hard to even see the picture never mind spend time contemplating the artwork.

Should I go and see it?

It really depends on what you like – if your taste in art is firmly in the more modern camp then you probably won’t find that this painting particularly speaks to you. You will, however, find a lot in Paris that is much more to your taste, running from the Musée d’Orsay (mostly art created between 1848 and 1914) to the Pompidou Centre (featuring contemporary and experimental art) and much, much more.

If, however, Renaissance art is your bag then you’ll struggle to find a finer example of it than Mona Lisa, with her beautiful brushwork, detailed and intriguing background and realistic presentation.

If you do decide to visit, then be prepared for the gallery to be crowded – the Louvre now operates on a pre-booking basis but even having a pre-booked ticket won’t save you from the crowds.

If possible try to avoid the summer and school holidays and prioritise weekdays over weekends – the early morning or late evening slots tend to be a little quieter than others, but you’re going to have to be prepared to share her with many other art-lovers.

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