Mean girls Lolita in spite of myself, A silence, Making of: What’s new at the cinema this week

What to see in theaters

THE EVENT
MEAN GIRLS LOLITA IN SPITE OF ME ★★☆☆☆

By Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.

The essential

This adaptation of the musical, itself inspired by the original 2004 film, keeps a large part of its promises, although it struggles to keep up with the frenetic pace of its beginning.

The afocianados of Lolita in spite of myself will not be lost. Mean girls, Lolita in spite of myself uses the codes exactly. We follow Cady who, having returned from Africa, is about to begin “normal” schooling in an American high school, within which the two co-directors will take contagious pleasure in resurrecting the stupidity of the Plastics. With at the head of the clan, Regina George (played by Reneé Rapp) who sweeps aside Rachel McAdams’ version in 2004. Here we have her badass version. Neither Nabokov’s innocent Lolita, nor Kubrick’s manipulative one, but a lioness who roars to the rhythm of her desires. Beyond Regina’s metamorphosis, the Lolita in spite of myself 2024 claims specifications in line with its times, in particular by taking on LGBTQIA+ causes head-on. And if it does not manage to keep up the hectic pace of its start, it remains a pleasant update of the phenomenon Lolita in spite of myself which makes you want to watch the 2004 film again.

Manon Bellahcene

Read the full review

PREMIERE LIKED A LOT

A SILENCE ★★★★☆

By Joachim Lafosse

In a large bourgeois house, Astrid (Emmanuelle Devos) maintains a fragile balance between a turbulent son and a husband (Daniel Auteuil), a lawyer on the edge of the abyss. The latter, officiating in a kidnapping case, finds himself the target of a media conflict. That’s about all we’re told. However, we quickly understand that a secret weighs heavily on the family ready to implode. The story inspired by a news item gives the actors the opportunity to prove their accuracy. The plot loses us the better to disturb us, gradually revealing despicable behavior treated with coldness and without judgment. And Lafosse elegantly depicts the failings of a woman consumed by the shame of her powerlessness and who struggles to keep her head above water in the tumult.

Downhold on Assie

Read the full review

FIRST TO LIKE

THE DREAM LIFE OF MISS FRAN ★★★☆☆

By Rachel Lambert

Fran (Daisy Ridley, excellent, in the midst of a post-indie reinventionStar Wars) is an office worker leading a dull life, in a small town without history but paralyzed by her social phobias, locked in her morbid thoughts. These take the form of still compositions, where Fran sees herself lying in hyperrealistic settings, tinged with surrealism. A minimalist plot is set in motion when a new colleague arrives in his company who will little by little help Fran to come out of her shell. The film brilliantly plays the card of muted sensations, like a very fine fabric, which almost tears at any moment, but woven in such a subtle way that we easily get lost in its contemplation.

Frédéric Foubert

Read the full review

MAKING OF ★★★☆☆

By Cédric Kahn

An experienced director who begins shooting a film retracing the fight led by workers to save their factory. But the adventure quickly turns into a nightmare for this committed artist, between the lies of his producer, the exuberant personality of his main actor or the precariousness of the technicians which will generate a social conflict. Eager to explore the world of cinema from the inside, Cédric Kahn chooses the angle of comedy and the strength of Making Of is to touch, within humorous situations, the power relations and economic inequalities which weaken creation. Kahn thus succeeds in a fundamentally political work on the sometimes brutal inadequacy between ideals and actions and offers a touching self-portrait as well as a scathing picture of the tensions in France today.

Damien Leblanc

Read the full review

SCRAPPER ★★★☆☆

By Charlotte Regan

A 12-year-old girl copes with boredom by stealing bikes and procrastinating in a large apartment where she lives alone without the knowledge of social services since the premature death of her mother. And when her teenage-looking father comes into her life to regain control, she turns against this man who abandoned her just after her birth. scrapper succeeds where so many others feel good movies failed: by choosing not to judge her characters, Charlotte Regan ends up making them sunny, larger than life. Debutante Lola Campbell illuminates this perfectly melancholy film which navigates with agility between the tearful and the funny, with the highlight being a magnificent complicity shared between her and Harris Dickinson (Wirelessbe).

Yohan Haddad

IF ONLYT I COULD HIBERNATE ★★★☆☆

By Zolijargal Purevdash

Centered on the journey of a disadvantaged teenager who lives on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia, and aims to win a prestigious scientific competition while struggling to care for his brother and sister abandoned by their alcoholic mother , the filmmaker’s first feature film Zoljargal Purevdash far exceeds expectations of a simple social film. The yurt district, where the majority of Ulaanbaatar residents live, constitutes a stunning cinematic setting which catches the eye with its dizzying contrast with the upscale buildings of the city center. In this poor and polluted environment where coal is burned to resist a winter which sometimes reaches -35°, the young and brilliant hero struggles for a better future and the precision of the staging, which connects us to the unwavering energy of this overwhelmingly self-sacrificing boy grips the heart.

Damien Leblanc

THE SHEPHERDS’ RESPONSE ★★★☆☆

By Jean Samouillan

As crises and disasters multiply, some young people decide to go back to basics. The Shepherds’ Response tells the story of this young generation training to perpetuate the pastoral tradition in France. From goat breeding to cheese making, autonomy, respect for animals and nature are the pillars of their philosophy. Following a community of shepherds in Ariège, Jean Samouillan delivers a meditative documentary, sometimes hypnotic and deeply humanist. We become attached to these individuals whose ideals become reality every day, through patience, work and solidarity. Without ever claiming to be the solution to everything, the lifestyle presented nevertheless has the merit of being a real attempt towards an alternative existence.

Elias Zabalia

Find these films near you thanks to Première Go

FIRST TO MODERATELY LIKED

BONNARD, PIERRE AND MARTHE ★★☆☆☆

By Martin Provost

After Seraphine (on the painter Séraphine de Senlis) and Violet (on the writer Violette Leduc), Martin Provost continues his portraits of artists and behind the scenes of creation. And this by relying once again – after Yolande Moreau and Emmanuelle Devos – on a first-rate casting, the amazing Vincent Macaigne and Cécile de France in the lead, in the roles of Pierre Bonnard and his wife and muse Marthe. The idea is to rehabilitate the latter, present in a third of her husband’s works but generally from behind, and renowned – wrongly – for her dirty character. Provost achieves this by delving into the intimacy of the couple, from the excitement of bodies and hearts to Bonnard’s deceptions. But there is something too academic, too framed, too demonstrative in his staging as in his writing to carry us away. And once again, his film remains stuck at the stage of intentions.

Thierry Cheze

TAKE CARE OF THE EARTH ★★☆☆☆

By Guy Chapouillié

“The earth is in love”: these are the words of farmers in the south of France to describe the soil when it sticks and the earth is well treated. In his documentary, Guy Chapouillié goes to meet farmers defending organic, respectful and reasoned agriculture. Whether they are winegrowers, breeders or farmers, these men and women learn from the land and reinvest this knowledge in its interest. Unfortunately, the system is quite cold, close to reporting, and the succession of interviews gradually drowns us in a repetitive rhythm. Even if each individual filmed brings their own vision of the agricultural world, the film suffers from a lack of education regarding all the technical jargon of this environment.

Elias Zabalia

And also

The Last Dance, by Sabry Jarod

The covers

Ivan Tsarevich and the changing princess, by Michel Ocelot

Mother Joan of the Angels, by Jerzy Kawalerowicz