 Film: Could This Be Love? If you’re in the mood for something with a continental flavour, keep in mind that the Alliance Francaise French Festival has again arced up in Sydney and will shortly be wending its way north to Brisbane after a quick dogleg down to Melbourne. Over ten days, Brisbane’s Francophiles will have a chance to wet their appetites with stories of love, romance, intrigue, a little more love, the odd animation, some more romance, and for something different, a bit of smoochie. And what would you expect from the country that has made its reputation as a source of, and inspiration for lurve? It makes perfect sense then, that the first film I previewed was Could This Be Love? (pictured) And it turned out that it was love, but the road to endearment was fraught with peril. Billionaire computer hardware developer Lucas (Vincent Lindon) has been burnt in the search for love, especially by gold-diggers looking for his money, or duplicitous mata haris probing for weakness in the act of industrial espionage. So when he meets a beautiful, but unattainable ceramicist commissioned to produce a large mosaic for his new foyer, Lucas thinks he may have fallen once again. As his employees scramble to protect their share portfolios, and his security advisor implements plans to place the new love interest under surveillance, Lucas sets about reining in his emotions in the hope of working out whether Elsa (Sandrine Bonnaire) might truly be the one. For something a little less frivolous, you should consider two more homages to love in Waiting For Someone or Love Songs. The first, situated in a provincial French village, focuses on a small café owned by divorcee Louis Renard (the always excellent Jean-Pierre Darroussin, last seen here in Conversations with My Gardener). Louis sneaks out every other lunchbreak to rendezvous with working girl Sabine (Florence Loiret), and while he would love to take things further, Sabine has plans to move to the big smoke. Louis’s sister Agnes (Emmanuelle Devos) has long been married to hypochondriac Jean-Philippe (Eric Caravaca), and things are going stale—the entry into her life of the mysterious Stéphane (Sylvaine Dieuaide) brings a breath of fresh air. Simultaneously poignant and amusing, Waiting for Someone offers an antidote for all of those formulaic rom-coms dribbling out of Hollywood. Gen Y-ers looking for something more their style should have a look at Love Songs, a risky effort from Christophe Honoré, who made the excellent Inside Paris with Romain Duris in 2006. This time around, his protagonists are early twenty-somethings with confused sexuality running through their veins. Ismaël (Louis Garrel) thinks he can have his cake and eat it, as he juggles a strange love triangle with Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) and Alice (Clotilde Hesme). But a sudden, shocking loss means that all will have to re-evaluate their choices. Honoré makes a brave decision to have his characters suddenly launch into song every now and then; fortunately, the result hits more than misses. If Love Songs doesn’t whet the appetites of all those lovelorn ex-emos, it might be worthwhile taking the chance of venturing In Mom’s Head with the snarly teenager Lulu (Chloé Coulloud) whose bitch of a mother is determined to ruin her daughter’s life with an obsession over bowel movements. When Lulu discovers evidence that her colourless mother had a vibrant youth, she realises that there might be hope for reigniting some long-dormant passion—the danger in wishes is that they sometimes come true… While I only copped a fleeting taste of the fare on offer this year, the programme available at www.frenchfilmfestival.org promises much, much more. No excuses, then – merci, Alliance Francaise and Palace Cinemas! THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2008 screens March 20-30 at Palace Centro Cinemas
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