Category: Screenings

Screening
dir. Pierre Billon, 1947, 93 mins – Courtesy of SND

In this adaptation of Victor Hugo’s drama starring Danielle Darrieux and Jean Marais, Don Salluste’s devilish plots for revenge on the Queen, who has exiled him from court, are put to the test when the loyalty of his pawn Ruy Blas shifts. A servant he has introduced to the court as a nobleman, whose wits and looks soon attract favours and affection from the Queen, Ruy Blas is soon appointed as Prime Minister. When the masquerade is revealed, tragedy ensues.

Related event:

• All About Victor Hugo

Related / Latest Publication:

Victor Hugo, Four Plays: Marion de Lorme; Hernani; Lucretia Borgia; Ruy Blas (Methuen Drama, 2004)

CinéKids
dir. Christophe Honoré, 2016, 106 mins

Christophe Honoré’s adaptation of one of the most classic stories of French chilren’s literature, written by the Comtesse de Ségur. Sophie is not the model little girl one would like her to be and often gets into trouble. She cuts her mother’s fish into tiny pieces, she just misses burning herself wading through quicklime, she tortures her wax doll or she cuts off her own eyelashes to look prettier. In one word, Sophie is constantly up to no good!

Related events:

• Goodbye Christopher Robin
• 500 Years of French Music and Poetry
• The Magic of the Haïku

Related / Latest Publication:

Comtesse de Ségur, Sophie’s Misfortunes (Simon & Schuster, 2011)

Screening
dir. Saverio Cosranzo, 2018, 2x50 mins

Discover the two first episodes of the screen adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s best-selling novels My Brilliant Friend. When the most important friend in her life seems to have disappeared without a trace, Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman immersed in a house full of books, turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their friendship. A tale that attempts to unveil the mystery of Lila, Elena’s brilliant friend. Her best friend, and her worst enemy.

Related events:

• Ferrante Fever
• European Dreams and Fictions

Related / Latest Publication:

Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend (Europa Editions, 2018)

Screening
dir. Giacomo Durzi, 2017, 74 mins – Courtesy of Modern Films

Using re-enactments of scenes from her novels in the locations where they are actually set, as well as archival material, photographs and animation inserts, Ferrante Fever gives life to Elena Ferrante’s literary production. Giacomo Durzi’s documentary presents Ferrante’s deeply intimate writing and sketches the identity of an author, who despite an international success, keeps herself unknown.

Related events:

• My Brilliant Friend
• European Dreams and Fictions

Related / Latest Publication:

Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend (Europa Editions, 2018)

© 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved.

CinéKids
dir. Simon Curtis, 2017, 107 mins

A rare glimpse into the relationship between beloved children’s author A. A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin, whose toys inspired the magical world of Winnie the Pooh.

Related events:

• Les Malheurs de Sophie
• The Magic of the Haïku

Related / Latest Publication:

A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh Classic Collection (Egmont, 2016)

Screening
dir. Cathy Verney, 2019, 3x30 mins – Courtesy of Canal Plus

UK Premiere of three episodes of the highly anticipated TV series adapted from Virginie Despentes’s acclaimed trilogy: starring Romain Duris as Vernon Subutex, a former record dealer in dire straits, who seeks shelter at his friend Alex Bleach’s place, a rock star in the midst of a comeback onto the scene. When the latter is found dead from an overdose, he leaves three mysterious videotapes to Vernon who vanishes in the streets of Paris. But the whole city comes looking for him…

Related events:

• Daughters of de Beauvoir #1: The Feminist Era
• Daughters of de Beauvoir #2: Simone de Beauvoir’s Legacy
• Memoir of War
• Fists / Poings

Related / Latest Publication:

Virginie Despentes, Vernon Subutex 2 (Maclehose Press, 2018)

© Elliot Erwitt/Magnum

Screening & Talk
dir. Imogen Sutton, 1989, 60 mins

Academy Award Nominee Imogen Sutton’s documentary Daughters of de Beauvoir interweaves the life of Simone de Beauvoir with those of the women she influenced – in particular through her seminal book The Second Sex published just 70 years ago. The film includes archive footage of de Beauvoir with Jean-Paul Sartre, and exclusive interviews with writers Kate Millett, Ann Oakley and Marge Piercy who all cite her as a major force in their lives. In partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Followed by a Q&A with director Imogen Sutton, novelist Margaret Drabble and biographer Sarah LeFanu, both interviewed in the original 1989 documentary, and essayist Mithu Sanyal, just published by Verso books. Chaired by Kate Muir, film critic and novelist.

Related events:

• Daughters of de Beauvoir #1: The Feminist Era
• Memoir of War
• Fists / Poings
• Vernon Subutex

Related / Latest Publications:

	Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (Vintage Classics, 2015)
	Margaret Drabble, The Dark Flood Rises (Canongate Books, 2016)
	Sarah LeFanu, In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction (Quartet Books, 1988)
	Imogen Sutton, Daughters of de Beauvoir (Women’s Press, 1989)
	Mithu Sanyal, Rape: From Lucretia to #MeToo (Verso Books, 2019)

Screening
dir. Emmanuel Finkiel, 2018, 127 mins

Memoir of War is an ambitious adaptation of Marguerite Duras’s challenging WWII semi-autobiography, The War: A Memoir (La Douleur), originally published in 1985 and drawn from diaries written during the war. When she finds two old notebooks in a forgotten box, Marguerite Duras (Mélanie Thierry) remembers her somewhat ambiguous past in the French Resistance and the unbearable pain of waiting for the return of her deported husband Robert Antelme.

The screening will be introduced by filmmaker and A Nos Amours co-founder Adam Roberts.

Adam Roberts has made films, notably with dancers Jonathan Burrows and Sylvie Guillem. He co-founded A Nos Amours with Joanna Hogg, to screen overlooked or important work that might not easily find an audience. A retrospective of films by Chantal Akerman and an exhibition of her installation work resulted between 2013 and 2015. Adam Roberts is currently working on a text following an award from the Stuart Croft Foundation.

Related events:

• Daughters of de Beauvoir #1: The Feminist Era
• Daughters of de Beauvoir #2: Simone de Beauvoir’s Legacy
• Fists / Poings
• Vernon Subutex

Related / Latest Publication:

Marguerite Duras, The War: A Memoir (The New Press, 2008)