The Alliance Française French Film Festival in Australia: The largest outside France

People overseas may wonder why some of us in Australia, a country so far away from Europe, are interested in a French film festival. Well, we’re a curious mob, and the Alliance Française French Film Festival allows us to experience a slice of French culture, understand the different perspectives of the French, and connect with like-minded enthusiasts.

Another important reason we love this French film festival is its quality programming. The films chosen are top shelf and cover a wide range of genres, with great directors, actors, and cinematographers. There’s usually ‘something for everyone’.

In 2024, the Alliance Française French Film Festival in Australia saw over 188,000 attendees, making it the largest French film festival outside France. According to the Alliance Française, it was also the second-largest national paid cultural event in Australia, surpassed only by the Taylor Swift tour – “a true testament to the Festival’s immense cultural impact”.

There is still plenty of time to explore this festival around Australia from 4 March to 27 April. For dates in your area, go to https://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org

Film Reviews

Army of Shadows/L’armée des Ombres

Presented at Cannes Classics last year, this fascinating 1969 film about the French resistance in World War II has been restored.

Rather than a united French resistance to thwart the Germans, this film shows us the people in the resistance warts and all, with internal disagreements and the no-holds-barred punishment meted out to people who, either through torture or threats, give up information to the enemy.

The film begins with Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), the head of a French resistance cell, who is captured and sent to a Nazi torture camp then to Gestapo headquarters where he manages to escape. Later, he finds out who betrayed him and takes the traitor to a safe house to be executed. But unexpected new neighbours have moved in, and the discussion centres around how to kill the traitor quietly.

There are other small interesting touches; for example, when Gerbier is being chased, he runs into a barbershop and gets a shave. The barber can see what’s going on – Gerbier is puffing and sweaty when he enters the shop – so after the shave, he gives him a different coloured coat to wear on his way out so he looks different.

Also interesting, to film the opening shot of German troops marching on the Champs-Elysees, the director won an exemption from a French law that prohibited German uniforms on the boulevard.

Legendary French actress Simone Signoret (who won an Oscar for Room at the Top a decade earlier) makes an appearance as a talented escape strategist.

It’s fascinating to see a war film made closer to that time – when members of the French resistance would still be alive and in their stories in relatively recent memory. It’s not a documentary, but it certainly feels real, which shouldn’t be surprising as it is based on the writer-director Jean-Pierre Melville’s experience in the French Resistance and Joseph Kessel’s 1943 book of the same name.

Army of Shadows is a deceptively slow-moving film, understated but full of tension.

Holy Cow/Vingt Dieux

Holy Cow is set in the beautiful rolling green hills in the Jura region of France, close to Switzerland. While I would be in heaven to be around this wine and cheese region, the film’s protagonist, 18-year-old Totone (Clément Faveau), is bored with it all. He lives with his dad and younger sister on a cheese farm but is only interested in drinking, sex, and having fun with his mates.

But Totone’s world is suddenly turned around when his father dies in a tragic accident. He is now the sole carer for his little sister Claire (a lovely performance by Luna Garret), and needs to work out how to get some money. He starts by selling his father’s farm equipment to make ends meet.

After getting a job cleaning vats at another cheese farm, Totone learns about a €30,000 Comté cheese competition, which he thinks will solve his money problems. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to make cheese. He and his surprisingly supportive mates learn how – from attending public demonstrations to watching YouTube tutorials. Of course, some bad decisions are made, and it’s not easy going for these young kids trying to enter a highly professional game. But we as the audience do learn a lot about cheese making.

Holy Cow throws us a bit of a curve ball. We think the film is about the cheese competition, but it is a character-driven story about the people around Totone, including a sort of girlfriend who runs a dairy and her brothers who he antagonised early on in the film. It doesn’t help that Totone is working at their dad’s cheese farm, and they are looking for any opportunity to beat him up.

This is the debut feature of director Louise Courvoisier, who also grew up on a farm in the same area. Seemingly a tradition in French films, she uses non-professional actors, and in this case, including real farmers.

This film seems to wander aimlessly, but that’s part of its charm. Just settle in, go with the flow, and enjoy!