On Monday evenings this August and September we offer you the chance to sneak away & treat yourself. Join us for a deliciously seasonal two course meal & a glass of wine,served from 7pm, followed by a Classic or contemporary French Film in our Secret Cinema Club for only £20. Space is limited so booking is essential.
Films are chosen from French language films, or iconic films with French directors or actors, and occasionally great films that are simply set in France. If you have any suggestions please feel free to give them to us as well.
Our upcoming films are:
Monday 3rd August
‘Cafe de Flore’
Jacqueline (Vanessa Paradis) is a young mother living in 1960s Paris with her disables son Laurent. Abandoned by her husband, Jacqueline sacrifices everything to care for her son and vows to give Laurent a “normal” life full of happiness. Antoine, is a successful DJ in present day Montreal who seems to have it all: a thriving career, two beautiful daughters, partner Rose, with whom he is passionately in love. However, nothing is perfect and Antoine’s ex-wife Carole remains devastated by their recent seperation. Cafe De Flore is an epic love story that chronicles the parallel fates of Jacqueline and Antoine and how two separate and extraordinary moments of passion can shake their lives across time.
Monday 10th August
‘7 years in Tibet’
True story of Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber who became friends with Dalai Lama at the time of China’s takeover of Tibet.
Monday 17th August
‘Le pacte des Loups’
France, 1766. Sent by the King to investigate a number of attacks by a terrifying wolf-like beast in Gevaudan, scientist and adventurer Gregoire de Fronsac and his martial-arts-trained Iroquois sidekick Mani arrive to find a community pregnant with many secrets. As the beast continues to ravage the area, Gregoire and Mani’s investigations reveal that it is in the control of a sinister local religious cult. But can they catch it before it claims any more lives?
Monday 24th August
‘Jeanne d’Arc’
In 1412, a young girl called Jeanne is born in Domremy, France. The times are hard: The Hundred Year war with England has been going on since 1337, English knights and soldiers roam the country. Jeanne develops into a very religious young woman, she confesses several times a day. At the age of 13, she has her first vision and finds a sword. When coming home with it, she finds the English leveling her home town. Years after that, in 1428, she knows her mission is to be ridding France of the English and so sets out to meet Charles, the Dauphin. In his desperate military situation, he welcomes all help and gives the maiden a chance to prove her divine mission. After the successful liberation of Orleans and Reims, the Dauphin can be crowned traditionally in the cathedral of Reims- and does not need her anymore, since his wishes are satisfied. Jeanne d’Arc gets set up in his trap and is imprisoned by the Burgundians. In a trial against her under English law, she can’t be forced to tell…
Monday 31st August
‘Intouchable’
French comedy drama charting an unusual friendship. Paul (François Cluzet), a rich aristocrat and habitual thrill-seeker, becomes quadriplegic after a paragliding accident. Alone in the world and unable to care for himself in even the most basic ways, Paul employs young Senegalese émigré Driss (Omar Sy) as his carer. Despite their very different backgrounds and outlooks on life, the two men quickly form a strong bond, teaching each other important life lessons about acceptance, respect and the true meaning of friendship in the process.
Monday 07th September
‘Colombiana’
1992. Colombia. Nine-year-old Cataleya witnesses her parents’ murder. Barely escaping the massacre herself, she takes refuge in the United States with Emilio, her gangster uncle… Fifteen years later, Cataleya works for him as a hit woman. Her calling card–an orchid drawn on the chests of her victims–is a message to her parents’ assassins. For Cataleya is determined to see her vengeance through to the bitter end… even if it means losing everything she loves.
Monday 14th September
‘Moliere’
1644, Paris, and 22-year-old Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known as Molière, is not yet the writer that history recognizes as the father and true master of comic satire, author of The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, and a dramatist to rank alongside Shakespeare and Sophocles. Far from it. He is, in fact, a failed actor. His Illustrious Theatre Troupe, founded the previous year, is bankrupt. Hounded by creditors, Molière is thrown into jail, released, then swiftly imprisoned again. When the jailors finally let him go, he disappears. The combined efforts of historians have unearthed no trace of him before his reappearance, several months later, when his troupe begins touring the provinces – a tour that will last for thirteen years, and culminate in Molière’s triumphant return to Paris in 1658.
Monday 21st September
‘The Bear’
A infant bear cub (Douce the Bear) witnesses the death of his mother in a rockslide and is forced to set out to fend for himself. The young bear encounters a giant grizzly (Bart the Bear), who at first cannot abide the young bear’s presence. However, the grizzly is soon ambushed by a pair of hunters – Bill (Jack Wallace) and Tom (Tcheky Karyo) – after an altercation with their pack animals. As the injured beast cleans his wounds in a stream, the young bear comes to his aid, and the giant takes the youngster under his wing. However, Bill and Tom have sworn revenge on the grizzly, and when they capture the young bear, it lures the giant back into the hunters’ camp. L’OURS, released in English-speaking countries as THE BEAR, was based on the novel King Grizzly by James Oliver Curwood.
