You’re invited to The Empire Cinema 2025 French Film Festival!
Friday May 23rd - Opening Night - 'Monsieur Aznavour'
6.30pm for 7.00pm
Tickets $35.00 - catered by Mark Chance with sparkling wine on arrival!
Directed by: Grand Corps Malade & Mehdi Idir
Stars: Charles Aznavour, Marie-Julie Baup, Camille Moutawakil, Bastien Bouillon
Film Run Time: 134 minutes
Tahar Rahim is MONSIEUR AZNAVOUR, transforming into the iconic singer/songwriter for this lavishly entertaining biography of the man who beat all odds to not only become one of France’s best-loved entertainers, but personified French culture to the rest of the world.
Born in Paris in 1924 as the son of Armenian refugees, Charles Aznavour’s formative years are spent in poverty, but distinguished by his parents’ passion for music and theatre. Ridiculed for his short stature and raspy tenor voice – traits he would in time fully embrace – Aznavour’s early attempts at a showbiz career during the Occupation falter.
Whilst gifted, his material finds more success in the hands of others, including his friend Pierre (Bastien Bouillon), and later the imperious Edith Piaf (a scene-stealing Marie-Julie Baup), who becomes a highly influential mentor and supporter. But by the 1950s, Aznavour finally realises his own ambitions; his empathetic ‘chansonsʼ about the heartbreaks, confusions and passions of the common man, catapult him to global attention.
Led by its starʼs astonishing performance and stunning vocal prowess, MONSIEUR AZNAVOUR is a true tour de force – as intimate as it is spectacular – and serves as a triumphant reminder of the power and impact of music.
Saturday 24th May - 'My Brother's Band' (En Fanfare)
2.00pm
Tickets: Adults: $16.00, Concessions: $14.00
Directed by: Emmanuel Courcol
Stars: Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco, Jacques Bonnaffé, Clémence Massart-Weit
Run Time: 103 minutes
Follows two very different siblings separated by fate and reunited by their love of music.
Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe, Delicious, C’est la vie!) is a beloved and internationally celebrated orchestra conductor who travels the globe. When a health crisis and subsequent DNA test inadvertently reveals he was adopted as an infant, Thibaut discovers the existence of a younger brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), who lives in more modest circumstances; he works in a school cafeteria, cares for his mother and plays the trombone in a community brass band. The pair seem to have little else in common other than a love of performance, but sensing his sibling’s exceptional talent, Thibaut decides to remedy the injustice of fate and try to help nurture his brother’s untapped gifts.
An eruptive crowd favourite wherever it has premiered, MY BROTHER’S BAND is a rousing, feel-great trip to the cinema, expertly striking the perfect harmony between laughter and tears.
Saturday 24th May - The Deluge (Le Déluge)
4.30pm
Tickets: Adults: $16.00, Concessions: $14.00
Directed by: Gianluca Jodice
Stars: Guillaume Canet, Mélanie Laurent, Aurore Broutin, Hugo Dillon, Fabrizio Rongione
Run Time: 101 minutes
Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet take centre stage in writer-director Gianluca Jodice's historical drama, evocatively depicting the last days of the French Revolution and the fates of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI.
1792. The official Parisian residence of the king, the Tuileries Palace, has been stormed. Louis, Marie Antoinette and their children have been arrested and confined in a medieval chateau in the city centre. Far from the splendour of Versailles, where the family and their retinue had lived until only a few years earlier, they are vulnerable for the first time in their lives. While the King naively tries to keep spirits high and manners intact, his pragmatic and imperious wife is far more realistic about their predicament, and the destiny that likely awaits them…
Drawn from the diaries of Louis XVI’s personal valet, this exceptionally crafted drama features not only marvellous production design and cinematography, but incredible costumes by twice Oscar-nominated designer Massimo Cantini Parrini. Dominated by the exceptional performances of its two leads, THE DELUGE is a compelling dramatic rejoinder to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and Benoît Jacquot’s Farewell My Queen, which both depicted the royal couple’s lives well before the party was over.
Saturday 24th May - The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte Cristo)
7.00pm
Tickets: Adults: $16.00, Concessions: $14.00
Directed by: Alexandre de La Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte
Stars: Pierre Niney, Bastien Bouillon, Anais Demoustier, Anamaria Vartolomei, Laurent Lafitte
Run Time: 178 minutes
Pierre Niney leads a stellar cast in Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s thrilling new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ adventure, the first French cinematic treatment of the iconic tale of romance and redemption in over fifty years.
Marseille, 1815. The dreams of principled young sailor Edmond Dantès are about to come true; promoted to ship’s captain, he can finally marry the love of his life, Mercédès. But his success inspires jealousy… betrayed by his rivals, Dantès is denounced as a member of a pro-Napoleon conspiracy and incarcerated without trial in an isolated prison.
After years of solitude, Dantès befriends the inmate in the adjacent cell, Abbé Faria, who reveals the location of a hidden treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. An extraordinary plan is hatched to exact revenge on the three men who wronged him…
Sunday 25th May - The Thread (Le Fil)
2.00pm
Tickets: Adults: $16.00, Concessions: $14.00
Directed by: Daniel Auteuil
Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Grégory Gadebois, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Alice Belaïdi, Suliane Brahim
Run Time: 115 minutes
Auteuil stars as Jean Monier, a well-past his prime defence lawyer who – ever since discovering he was responsible for a killer being exonerated – prefers to work as a prosecutor. But one evening he agrees to help his over-committed wife and fellow counsel Annie by meeting with Nicolas Milik, a shell-shocked father of five who has just been arrested for the murder of his troubled wife. Milik’s predicament inexplicably touches Jean; the more he pieces together the case, the more he becomes convinced of Milik’s innocence. Soon Jean rediscovers his passion for his vocation and becomes obsessed with exposing the real killer.
Characterised by typically first-rate performances from its stellar cast, this pulled-from-the-headlines drama – based on true events and adapted from the memoirs of lawyer-turned-bestselling author Jean-Yves Moyart –- is a gripping exploration of guilt, conceit and the slippery nature of justice. Packing a genuine punch, THE THREAD’s conclusion lingers long after the credits have rolled.
Sunday 25th May - The Stolen Painting (Le Tableau Volé)
4.30pm
Tickets: Adults: $16.00, Concessions: $14.00
Directed by: Pascal Bonitzer
Stars: Alex Lutz, Léa Drucker, Nora Hamzawi, Louise Chevillotte, Laurence Côte
Run Time: 91 minutes
Inspired by incredible true events, acclaimed writer/director Pascal Bonitzer’s sharp and engrossing new social comedy follows a self-assured auctioneer whose professional and personal integrity is challenged by the discovery of a long-lost masterpiece.
Paris, present day. Brash 40-something André Masson, a hotshot modern art appraiser at prestigious high-end auction house Scottie’s, receives word that a painting by Egon Schiele may have been found in a young factory worker’s home in the Alsatian city of Mulhouse.
Though highly sceptical, André travels to view the canvas with his ex-partner Bettina who is also an expert valuator, only to be convinced of its authenticity as a masterwork long assumed destroyed by Nazi officials during WWII. For André, the ramifications of this once-in-a-lifetime find for his career and for his contentious relationship with his less-than-reliable intern Aurore, will prove both unexpected and transformative.
Skillfully brought to life by an array of both endearing and duplicitous characters, THE STOLEN PAINTING is a thrilling exploration of the often-cynical world of art dealing and collecting, where the jaw-dropping prices aren't always related to the rarity of the object. It’s savvy and sophisticated entertainment.
