Question of Taste: Valérie David-McGonnell of Cork French Film Festival
Valérie David McConnell, Cork French Film Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane
Valérie David-McGonnell is president of Alliance Française de Cork and Co-Director of the 2022 Cork French Film Festival, with Josselin Le Gall. She grew up in Arras, in the north of France, and moved to Cork over 20 years ago.
- The Cork French Film Festival runs Sept 1-4. See https://corkfrenchfilmfestival.com
A Time To Risk All, the biography of Mary Elmes by Clodagh Finn. Mary Elmes was born in Cork and studied French and Spanish in Trinity College Dublin before she travelled to Spain then France as an aid worker. She is known for rescuing hundreds of children from the Rivesaltes detention camp in France during the Nazi occupation in the Second World War.
I watch the French film Bad Seeds two weeks ago and really enjoyed it. It was directed by Kheiron who also plays the lead role in the film, with Catherine Deneuve. It is about a thief who is forced to work as an educator with a group of difficult teenagers.
I was in Paris for a few days in July and I went to see La Nuit aux Invalides: « Napoléon - The Flight of the Eagle », a beautiful Sound and Light show about Napoléon Bonaparte and the history of the Invalides building where he is buried.
I love listening to music in different languages. At the moment I often play Libre by Belgian singer Angèle, Candy by Rosalía, and Blinding Lights by The Weeknd.
There are so many great French-language films. I’m going to be unoriginal and name one of the most popular French films of all times: Intouchables (with Omar Sy and François Cluzet). It is a comedy-drama inspired by a true story. It is about the friendship between a wealthy quadriplegic and his caretaker just released from prison.
I don’t watch much TV but I have binge-watched the French political drama Baron Noir. I also find the French series Call My Agent very entertaining. Laure Calamy, who plays the role of Noémie in the series, plays the lead role in Full Time which will screen as part of this year’s Cork French Film Festival.
On the radio, I mostly listen to music.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (I can’t believe his film Amélie celebrated its 20th anniversary last year already!), Jacques Audiard (I loved The Beat That My Heart Skipped and Rust and Bone) and Maïwenn (for her movies Polisse and Mon Roi).
In 2019, I had dinner with French film director and actor Emmanuel Finkiel who was our special guest at the 30th Cork French Film Festival. I loved listening to him talking about how he adapted Marguerite Duras’s book La Douleur for the cinema and about his experience of working with French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard.
I would travel back to the late 1880s in Paris so that I could witness the gradual construction of the Eiffel Tower and the 1889 Exposition Universelle!
Délicieux, meaning ‘delicious’ is a film that takes place right before the French Revolution in 1789. Manceron, an extraordinary yet temperamental chef is sacked from his culinary position as head chef for the Duke of Chamfort. After Manceron is fired for having served potatoes as one of the dishes (which is considered an insult to the hierarchy), he finds the help of a young woman. Embarking on his own revolution, he decides to open the first restaurant as a place of pleasure for all who will enjoy his gastronomical talent.
Julie, a former marketing researcher and divorced mother of two, goes to great lengths to raise her children in the countryside, while also juggling a high pressure job as a maid in a luxury hotel in the centre of Paris. When she finally holds down an interview for a dream job, a national strike breaks out paralysing the public transport system. In this modern and realistic classic, Julie must set off on a race against time, in a life or death situation, to look after the children, make it to work on time and try to get another job at the height of her abilities, before time runs out.
This dramatic animated feature film is about the journey of two siblings, Kyona, and her brother Adriel, who have set out to escape those who are hunting them down, in hope of reaching a new country that will give them the freedom they need and a more lenient regime. The film enthusiast will join the siblings and follow their journey, as they watch them grow up to escape the hardship in search for freedom, with multiple trials to face in order to reach their destination.
This comedy-drama film, featuring renowned James Bond actress Léa Seydoux (who plays protagonist France de Meurs), follows the life of a star television journalist who gets caught in a spiral of events, eventually leading to the downturn of her career. While she juggles her busy career and personal life, France’s life turns upside down as she gets into a car crash. As France tries to shy away from the limelight, her fame continues to pursue her.
In the underprivileged suburbs of Paris in the early nineties, a group of teens join to form a hip-hop group as a way of expressing their emotions. As the hip-hop culture grows, it becomes the best means as a form of revolt by the youth towards the police.
As two young graffiti-artists turned musicians become the voice of their generation with their raw talent and defiant energy as real life rappers, they struggle to find their voice amongst racism, economic disparity, and police violence.
Playground presents a sensitive yet hard hitting children’s view of their first day in school, presenting an everyday reality for many young students. Seven year old Nora, alongside her big brother Abel, sees Nora struggling to fit in and find her place in the playground. As she soon notices her older brother in the same situation, she tries to seek help from their father, but Abel forces her to remain silent, as he continues to face the harassment from his bullies. “Un monde”, which translates to “a world”, follows the struggle of Nora and Abel, as she faces conflict in what way to protect her brother.
This French romantic drama film by Clare Denis, explores a woman who is torn between two lovers. Sara, a radio journalist, is living in Paris with Jean, an ex con-man who is struggling to get back on his feet. After returning home from their loving holiday, Jean’s best friend François shows up to offer Jean a job. Following a break-up with François 10 years ago, Sara sees it as an opportunity to pick up things where they left off, leaving her in a vulnerable position and in the middle of a love triangle.
Note: Z and The Sleeping Murders are two classic films directed by Costa Gavras that are a tribute to French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, who passed away in June.
Based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos, this political thriller is about the public murder of a prominent politician and doctor, after what appears to have been a cover from a traffic accident. Given the political climate at the time in Greece, this raises troubling questions due to the activist stance of the murdered politician. While it’s too late to save Z’s life, a postmortem finds evidence that the killing was not an accident, while attempts are made to cover up the death by government and military officials.
Released during the mid sixties, this French mystery film is about a young girl who is travelling to Paris for the first time in a sleeping carriage with six other passengers. Upon arrival, the girl is found dead. The police, led by Inspector Grazzi, question the five passengers who travelled the same carriage, suspecting that one of them is responsible. As the investigation continues, more of the passengers are murdered, and it is up to the final two to figure out the mystery before they become the next victims.
- Cork French Film Festival happens between September 1-4, at the Gate Cinema - see https://corkfrenchfilmfestival.com
