Films & Schedules - Literature

In this retelling of the tale of the wife-killing Bluebeard, Breillat reminds us all that the best fairytales are dark around the edges. The film intercuts between the stories of two pairs of sisters. The first is set in the 1950s and features a young girl who loves torturing her older sister with dramatic readings of the story of Bluebeard. In the second, set during the Renaissance, a young girl becomes engaged to Lord Bluebeard, despite the suspicious disappearances of his previous wives.

Following the death of their father, Anne and Marie-Catherine are cast from boarding school and sent back to their mother. With no money for dowry, younger sister Marie-Catherine agrees to wed the wealthy but notorious aristocrat Lord Bluebeard, whose previous wives have all suspiciously disappeared. Will Marie-Catherine be next? Both surprisingly straightforward and slyly subversive, Breillat’s telling of Charles Perrault’s lurid 18th-century fable teases out the class and gender conflicts present in the original, reminding us that the best fairy tales are tinged with perverse darkness. Using parallel storylines, Breillat intercuts the fairy tale itself with childhood scenes set in a safe, bourgeois home in the 1950s, where a young girl frightens her older sister, and herself, with repeated readings of the titillating Freudian tale.

Selected Filmography: 36 Fillette (87), Romance (99), Fat Girl (00), Sex Is Comedy (02), The Last Mistress (06).

Sponsored by TV5MONDE and with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

80 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Narrative Feature, French Language, Literature.

Based on the best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the tale of a disgraced journalist trying to crack a 40-year-old murder that may have been the work of a still-at-large serial killer.

An international crime thriller involving corporate intrigue, serial murder, and powerful Old World dynasties, Oplev’s taut film is based on the international best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson and will have you on the edge of your seat. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is a disgraced reporter about to go to prison. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is the mysterious girl of the title with a checkered past and a sideline in computer hacking. Together they are hired to investigate a 40-year-old disappearance at the request of eccentric, 82-year-old industralist Henrik Vanger. As they dig deep into the secrets of the Vanger family they begin to uncover a dark and bloody history that someone wants to keep hidden at any cost.

Filmography: Portland (96), Defense (03), We Shall Overcome (07).

Sponsored by Alaska Airlines.

152 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Literature.

A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.

Ulrich Tukur (The Lives of Others) gives a gripping performance as John Rabe, a German industrialist in China who, in 1937, intervened to save an estimated 200,000 Chinese civilians from the rape and slaughter perpetrated by the invading Japanese army. Reluctantly drawn into the relief effort by a coalition of fellow internationals, including an American doctor (Steve Buscemi) and a French school headmistress (Anne Consigny), Rabe and company create a safety zone at Rabe’s Siemens plant where refugees fleeing the Nanking massacre can take shelter. But mounting pressure from the aggressive Japanese commanding officer (Teruyuki Kagawa) pushes their resolve to the breaking point. Based on Rabe’s diaries (published as “The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe”), Gallenberger’s film is the winner of four German Film Awards including Best Film and Best Actor.

Filmography: Tango Berlin (97), Shadows of Time (04).

134 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, History, Literature.

The Letter for the King follows the medieval quest of sixteen-year old Tiuri, who risks his future as a knight to fulfill a promise, and in so doing discovers adventure, honor, valor, and love.

Based on the story by Tonke Dragt, The Letter for the King brings one of the most popular young-adult books in Dutch history vividly to life in this knights-on-horseback adventure. Sixteen-year-old Tiuri sets out on a dangerous journey marked by sword-clanging battles and unexpected help from a beautiful princess. On the eve of becoming a knight, he must sacrifice his own dreams when he promises a dying messenger that he will deliver an extremely important letter to the King. Join Tuiri on his perilous, life-changing journey through mountain, forest, and valley where not only lives but also kingdoms hang in the balance.

Selected Filmography: Mark of the Beast (80), The Dream (85), Nynke (01).

Ages nine and up.

Sponsored by French American International School.

108 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Family Fare, Literature.

When a volcanic eruption forces the Moomin family to take refuge in an old theater, Moominpappa decides to write a play for the family to perform.

Based on Tove Jansson’s well-loved “Moomin” books, this visually striking animated film will delight young children and big kids alike. A tranquil summer day is interrupted by a volcanic eruption, causing a flood in the Moominvalley. The water rises higher and higher in Moominhouse, forcing the family to take refuge in a strange house that floats by. The unusual lifeboat turns out to be a theatre. Moominpappa begins to write a play for the others to perform.

First Feature Film.

Ages nine and up.

Sponsored by Scandinavian Heritage Foundation.

75 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Animation, Family Fare, Literature.

Room and a Half portrays the life of Nobel prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky, who was forced into American exile in 1972.

Exiled to the United States in 1972, the famous Russian poet Joseph Brodsky always wanted to return anonymously to St. Petersburg, the city of his youth. Through a variety of imaginative techniques, 69-year-old animator Andrey Khrzhanovsky has made the Nobel Prize winner’s wish come true in Room and a Half. A fictional Brodsky narrates this nostalgic fantasy on board a cruise ship destined for Russia. Through a series of flashbacks he recalls his childhood, in particular the return of his father, laden with gifts, from World War II, and his parents’ affectionate reunion. It appears an idyllic time for the budding scribe who “live[s] in a city whose color [is] fossilized vodka.” Through the seamless fusion of documentary footage, classical Russian music, still photography, recordings of Brodsky reading his work, and beautiful, dreamlike animation, Khrzhanovsky has created a film as poetic as his subject matter.

First Feature Film.

130 Minutes    

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, Animation, Literature.

An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war, and terror to establish its dominance.

“Based on the best-selling book by Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine seeks to explain the rise of disaster capitalism: the exploitation of moments of crisis in vulnerable countries by governments and big business. The film traces the doctrine’s beginnings in the radical theories of Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, and its subsequent implementation over the past 40 years in countries as disparate as Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, Margaret Thatcher’s Great Britain, and most recently through the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Filmmakers Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross use a brand of artistic license to present a cinematic experience that takes this theory to a new audience. Warning: After viewing this film, you may interpret our world history in a new light.”—Sundance Film Festival.

Selected Filmography: Butterfly Kiss (95), Wonderland (99), 9 Songs (04), The Road To Guantanamo (05), A Mighty Heart (07).

82 Minutes    

Interests: Documentary Views, Literature.