French community – Aux Petits Soins™

Category: French community

Derrière le miroir

Posted on by Aux Petits Soins admin

From 1945 to 1982, the French magazine Derrière le miroir served as a virtual art exhibition for Galerie Maeght Paris, a prominent Paris art gallery that featured works by artists such as Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. Publisher/gallery owner Aimé Maeght incorporated original works from these artists to complement the exhibits, and the resulting monthly magazine became a work of art in its own right.

The current exhibition at the Broad Art Museum incorporates covers and prints from the MSU Broad collection, shedding a light on this unique aspect of modern art history. It also effectively showcases how Maeght’s personal approach to working with artists challenged time-honored boundaries between dealers and artists.

Stay tuned for details with an exact date for the APS Adult Conversation Night. And don’t forget to check out the exhibit, which is on display now through May 12, 2019.

 

 

 

 

“Un beau soleil intérieur” (“Let the Sunshine In”) at Celebration! Cinema

Posted on by Aux Petits Soins admin

 

Good news for fans of French cinema in Lansing! Or, at least, fans of Juliette Binoche and Gérard Depardieu.

Following its big win at the Cannes Film Festival last year, Un beau soleil intérieur (“Let the Sunshine In”) has arrived in Lansing. This French language film (with English subtitles) opens this weekend at Celebration! Cinema – showtimes are here. It’s a bittersweet romantic comedy about a divorced woman (Binoche) looking for her soulmate, and has gotten rave reviews since its release in the U.S. earlier this spring.

This film was brought in town by the East Lansing Film Festival​, which has been committed for over 20 years to screening foreign language films in this area. ELFF Director Susan Woods personally selected this film for Celebration!’s Indie Film Series, which brings independent and foreign films to Lansing nine months a year.

“When I found out this was available for local distribution, I did everything I could to make sure this could come to Lansing,” Woods said. “Because Lansing has a big international population, foreign films – especially French films – do very well here. And besides, Juliette Binoche is absolutely incredible. Everyone loves her.”

Binoche, of course, also starred in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The English Patient (1996) –which she won an Oscar for – as well as Chocolat (2000) and Godzilla (2014).

 

ELFF continues its run of French movies on the big screen

Posted on by Aux Petits Soins admin

This month, the East Lansing Film Festival is showing the French language film “Frantz” as part of its Spring Indie Film Series. The film was nominated in multiple categories at this year’s César Awards (the French version of the Academy Awards), including a win for Best Cinematography.

“It’s an absolutely beautiful movie, and something that definitely needs to be seen on the big screen,” says festival co-founder Susan Woods. “It captures an incredibly wide range of feelings, and the performances feel very much grounded in reality.”

The film is set just after WWI, and focuses on Anna (Paula Beer), a young German woman whose fiancé was killed in the trenches in France. When a handsome French stranger arrives in her town with a connection to her fiancé, Anna’s life is turned upside down. The film also explores the impact that war takes on both soldiers and their families, a theme that still rings true today.

“Even thought this takes place almost 100 years ago, the movie has this vibrant sense of timelessness,” Woods said. “I’m really eager to see how people react to this.”

The film will play at Celebration! Cinema, 200 E. Edgewood Blvd.
Lansing through the end of June. For dates and showtimes, go to celebrationcinema.com/location/Lansing or call (517) 393-7469.

“Frantz”  (114 minutes)
Rated PG-13
Directed by François Ozon
In French and German with English subtitles.

WATCH THE TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oop8_CgSgmo

French film: “Ma Vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”)

Posted on by Aux Petits Soins admin

Updated Monday, April 17 with showtime information through April 26.

OK, so it’s technically a Swiss movie, but all of the dialogue in “Ma vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”), the César award-winning and Oscar-nominated animated film, is entirely in French. The film is part of the Indie Film Series at Studio C!, presented by the East Lansing Film Society Film Series (ELFS) and Celebration! Cinema. 

Most of the showings are dubbed in English, but the Alliance Française-Michigan Capital Area Chapter has worked with festival organizers to ensure there will be some showings in French with English subtitles.

“It was such a great movie, and I’m eager to see it with its original French language soundtrack,” says festival co-founder Susan Woods. “It’s such a raw, poignant film, which has that distinct French blend of humor and sadness, and it was really surprising to see it recognized at the Academy Awards with these big films from Pixar and Disney. It really holds its own.”

“Courgette” focuses on 9-year-old Zucchini, who moves into a group foster home after the death of his mother. He begins to make friends with the other children, who have had similarly difficult lives. As he matures and wrestles with feelings about his complicated past, Zucchini gains the confidence to shape his future.

French language showings will play at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 21; 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 22; and 3:30 p.m. on Monday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 26. Studio C! is located at 1999 Central Park Drive in Okemos, just north of Meridian Mall. Additional showings will be held later this month — for show dates and times, call Studio C!’s office line at (517) 381-8100. 

“Ma vie de Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchini”)
Director: Claude Barras
Rated PG-13
70 minutes
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 100%
WATCH THE TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2TOf1kmfk

 

 

EnVie

Posted on by Aux Petits Soins admin

Lansing continues to add to its French culture. The newest addition is EnVie. It joins Le Bon Macaron, For Crepe Sake, The Creole, Chapelure (including the new Heights at Eastwood location) and Bridge Street Social, which either have authentic French items or are wholly devoted to French cuisine. It’s a good time to love French culture in Lansing!

envie1

You can read about their journey in the Lansing State Journal and City Pulse.

EnVie will offer casual, upscale dining in downtown Lansing (link)
By , Lansing State Journal, September 13, 2016

New in Town: EnVie (link)
By Allan I. Ross, City Pulse, November 16, 2016

Dheepan

Posted on by Aux Petits Soins admin

dheepan1

This Sunday, the Alliance Française-Michigan Capital Area Chapter will bring the Palme D’Or-winning film “Dheepan” to Studio C! in Okemos. It’s part of the group’s new Film Series, and will be followed by a discussion in the theater’s restaurant area.

“It’s an incredible film, and I’m eager to see what the other viewers have to say,” says series co-coordinator Ellen Sullivan. “It was a pretty controversial movie when it won at Cannes, but I think it has a lot of messages that are relevant right now.”

“Dheepan” is about a Sri Lankan soldier who poses as the husband and father of two other refugees so they can all escape their ravaged homeland. Arriving in France, the makeshift “family” sets about establishing a new life, only to find themselves once again embroiled in violence on the mean streets of Paris. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Jacques Audiard (“Rust and Bone”), “Dheepan” is in French and Tamil with English subtitles.

The film will play at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13 at Studio C!, 1999 Central Park Drive in Okemos, just north of Meridian Mall. For more information, please contact Ellen Sullivan at (517) 484-7417.