France

“Eclectic” is a word that only begins to describe the filmmaking of Bruno Dumont, whose films have run the gamut from stark, minimalist realism to surrealist slapstick. In a career defined by the unexpected, Dumont may have delivered his biggest surprise yet with FRANCE. Léa Seydoux stars as France de Meurs, a dynamic TV journalist driven by ambition and narcissism, someone who always seems to make the story about her. However, when a traffic accident does in fact place France at the center of a scandal, she experiences an existential crisis. How can she live in a reality that exceeds her ability to control the narrative?
FRANCE is a dark comedy of sorts, one that presents a critique of mass media which is vicious yet precise, showing exactly how the human misery that comprises so much TV news is shaped into bite- sized mini-dramas for Western consumption. But Dumont does not stop there. With unexpected formal flourishes that recall the great Douglas Sirk, FRANCE suggests the roiling inner life of a woman who may not actually have one. Whether reporting from a war-torn village or falling into an unexpected affair, France sees all scenarios exactly the same: a soap opera in which she is the undisputed star. (Michael Sicinski)

In the presence of Bruno Dumont.

Bruno Dumont: LA VIE DE JÉSUS (1998), L’HUMANITÉ (1999), TWENTYNINE PALMS (2003), FLANDRES (2006), HADEWIJCH (2009), HORS SATAN (2011), CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1915 (2012), P’TIT QUINQUIN (2014, TV-Miniserie), MA LOUTE (2016), JEANNETTE, L’ENFANCE DE JEANNE D’ARC (2017, TV), JEANNE (2019)