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This year's Cannes film festival showcased a crop of French films that are well worth looking out for when hit the UK
Lovers of French cinema have plenty to look forward to. At the Cannes film festival we were treated to an intensely French spectacle, certain to be released in British cinemas very soon: Jeune Et Jolie, or Young And Beautiful, by François Ozon, the story of a young woman's sexual awakening. Perhaps only French cinema could get away with this trope, but the performance by newcomer Marine Vacth is tremendous, and the cameo by Charlotte Rampling is enjoyably bizarre.
Marion Cotillard is one of the best actors in the world; her face conveys emotions and thoughts with miraculous clarity and sympathy. This year, she is starring in The Immigrant , the new film from American auteur James Gray, which is sure to be a draw for all those who love this great French performer. Another actor who is emerging as one of France's biggest stars is Bérénice Béjo, who was in Cannes with Le Passé (The Past), a brilliant film by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi; this, too, is certain to arrive in the UK before long. She plays Marie, a woman who works in a Paris pharmacy, harassed and hassled by life and by her romantic situation. Marie is trying to finalise her divorce from an Iranian husband, who has arrived in Paris to sort out the paperwork, while at the same time embarking on a relationship with a man who has emotional burdens of his own. Béjo's performance is a marvel. UK cinemagoers may know her as the silent movie star in The Artist. Now she confirms her talents as a grown-up, intelligent presence on the screen. France and the French will be a potent force in cinemas this year.
