Thank God for French Cinema

The French Film Festival brings a certain je ne sais quoi back to Bíó Paradís

Back in the dark ages before Bíó Paradís opened its doors — and the eyes of Icelandic filmgoers — the only time one could see non-Hollywood films in Icelandic cinemas was during the French Film Festival. Connoisseurs would silently endure Christmas and New Year’s Eve before the real festivities began in the middle of January. I even remember pre-gaming when a friend borrowed a Serge Gainsbourg DVD from the library on the eve of the big fête.

Thanks to Bíó Paradís, we can now watch “foreign” films all year round, but the French Film Festival in January remains a special event. Now in its 25th year, it is as old as the century itself and possibly older than some of the cinemagoers. The French remain the only people who still go to the cinema almost as often as they did before covid and the only country where attendance has gone up year-over-year. Meanwhile cinemas continue to be shuttered here in Iceland and elsewhere around the globe. What’s more, many of the major French blockbusters are homemade.

One of these is The Count of Monte Cristo, the latest retelling of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale. Another is A Little Something Extra, about a father and son who seek refuge from the police in a summer camp for disabled people. The latter is also the opening film of this year’s festival. Personally I am most stoked for Daaaaaalí!, a biopic of sorts about the famed surrealist painter.

The Bíótek screens three classics monthly (typically on the last Sunday of the month), and those will also have a French focus over the course of the festival. A trio of ‘70s classics by Claude Sautet, all starring Romy Schneider and with one even featuring Yves Montand. Sacre bleu!

Even French Canada gets a nod in the festival lineup with Universal Language, about a man who travels from Montreal to Winnipeg to visit a dying mother. The Lingua Franca here is not French, or even English, but Farsi. Perhaps they missed a trick not having it in Icelandic, since Winnipeg is in the region of the new world we usually refer to as “Western Iceland.” All films are, however, shown with English or Icelandic subtitles, so viewers won’t lose the plot no matter the on-screen parlance.

Transtales, strippers and assisted suicide

Independent from the French Film Festival, there is no end of joy to be had in Bíó Paradís. The Icelandic/Norwegian-Icelandic/Danish standoff continues with Elskling and Hygge. A couple of films portray transwomen while simultaneously tackling other weighty themes. Woman of… shows the struggles of Aneila in two different systems as Poland transitions from communism to capitalism. Emilia Perez is almost a fairy tale of sorts, where a Mexican druglord not only transitions but also seeks a life very different from his dark past.

Anora, on the face of it, does not seem to be about very sympathetic characters. It centres on the son of Russian oligarchs who marries a New Jersey stripper, mostly to get back at his parents, it seems. But filmmaker Sean Baker excels at finding depth in types who at first don’t seem to have much of it. Heavies in parental employ come to split the couple up but nothing transpires as one would assume. The film gets better as it moves along and steers well clear of any genre tropes. Anora is showing up on many a best-of 2024 list and perhaps even surpasses Baker’s own Florida Project.

The Room Next Door is the latest film by legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. It’s seen as a lesser work in his oeuvre by many, not nearly as energetic as many previous films but then that is the point. It tackles the weighty subject of assisted suicide with sensitivity and no easy answers. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore trade lines in what often feels like more of a play than a film — quite a good one, though. As can be expected, both actresses excel, but perhaps it’s ironic that great actresses in their 60s can only get parts in films about killing yourself.

Party Fridays and Black Sundays

For those who want to warm up for the French Film Festival, there is a party screening of Before Sunset. If you managed to miss it over the past 21 years, the story is about French-American couple Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy, is a sequel to the hopelessly romantic Before Sunrise and asks what happens when starstruck lovers grow up.

Director Richard Linklater portrays the passage of time better than anyone, as evidenced by watching actors actually grow up and grow old in his masterpiece Boyhood. The Sunset trilogy — capped by 2013’s Before Midnight — also captures reality in a way many films avoid, although this lands sort of in between the romanticism of the first film and the authentic-sounding bickering of the third.

For more manly men, Lee Marvin stars in 1967 classic thriller Point Blank on the first Black Sunday of the month. The highlight of any week (or at least they should be), Black Sundays are held every other Sunday at Bíó Paradís, dedicated to cult classics.

See you at the concessions stand.

The French Film Festival runs January 17 to 26 at Bíó Paradís. Check out the full film lineup on via the local chapter of the Alliance Français, af.is or just head down to Bíó Paradís and enjoy what’s playing. Check bioparadis.is for all show times.