Farewell, My Queen (Les adieus à la reine), directed by Benoit Jacquot, appears to focus on Queen Marie Antoinette (played by Diane Kruger) but actually develops the character of fictional Léa Seydoux (played by Sidonie Laborde), who is the queen’s story reader. But there is not much to develop, as she does whatever she is […]

Sacrifice (Zhao shi gu er), directed by Chen Kaige, takes filmviewers back to the era of feudal China, when struggles for power occurred at the provincial level. The film, also known as The Flowers of War, is based on an opera from 583 bce. When the film begins, military leader Tu-Angu (played by Wang Xueqi)

POLISSE MAY ARREST YOUR ATTENTION Although most Parisians would not enjoy experiencing what is presented in Polisse, the film nevertheless won a Jury award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. Directed by Maïwenn (who also plays a cop, Mélissa), several child abuse cases are presented one after another, featuring victims, pedophiles, and the police

THE DICTATOR REVIVES POLITICAL FILMS Presidential election years usually are crammed with political films. Not 2012. Since our latest review (on March 1), nervous cinema barons have pandered to spring fever films—those focusing on relationships, trying to capitalize on young people seeking date nights in dark theaters, before the deluge of summer kiddie films. Now

MADONNA DIRECTS A FRAUDULENT W./E. Madonna clearly wants filmviewers to understand that Mrs. Wallis Simpson “gave up a lot” in marrying King Edward VIII. After all, the cliché about Edward’s abdication is that he “gave up the throne for the woman he loved.” But did Madonna have to misportray the entire affair? W./E. is a

MISS BALA IS A PAWN IN THE DRUG WAR Titles at the end of Miss Bala inform us that 36,000 persons have died in the Drug War in México over the past six years, while $25 billion in profits have been made. The film proceeds to introduce 23-year-old Laura Guerrero (played by Stephanie Sigman) as

DECLARATION OF WAR IS A WINDOW INTO FRENCH CULTURE AND HEALTH CARE The French film La guerre est déclaréé is about a young couple who meet, marry, have a child, but agonize as their baby’s malady turns out to be brain cancer. The only war in the film is the battle with cancer and how

BIG MIRACLE BRINGS RUSSIA TO THE AID OF AMERICA Journalist Adam Carlson (played by John Krasinski) happens to be in Barrow, Alaska, when he learns that three whales are trapped in ice, with only a small opening for air, five miles from the open sea. When he tapes the story in early 1988, world attention

A SEPARATION PROVIDES A SLICE OF LIFE IN IRAN THAT SHOULD DISPEL MISCONCEPTIONS Although A Separation focuses on how the foibles of adults impact children, non-Iranian audiences will marvel at several elements: Devotion to Islam establishes important moral boundaries, especially the need to be truthful. The wheels of Iranian justice are people-oriented rather than adversarial.

Although fictional, The Flowers of War (Jin líng shí san chai) provides yet another glimse of the horrors of the rape of Nanjing, this time literally. Based on the novel of the same title by Geling Yan and directed by Zhang Yimou, the film begins amid the carnage and chaos of Japan’s attack on China’s