Sydney Film Festival 2022 sees a return to cinema on 8 June. In this article, we let you know about the French language films showing at this year’s festival. Over the coming weeks, we will also let you know about multilingual films of which French is one of the languages, and films from France that aren’t in French. So, let’s get to it – French language films at Sydney Film Festival 2022.
Director: Caroline Monnet
Languages: English, French and Anishinaabemowin
Québécois filmmaker Caroline Monnet’s directorial feature debut is a social drama that’s an ode to the vitality and resilience of the Algonquin people of Northern Quebec.
An Indigenous graduate student, Mani, returns to her reserve in Quebec to advocate for a community referendum banning the sale of alcohol, placing her at odds with Laura, a bootlegger who profits from the sale of alcohol in the community.
Countries: Belgium, France, Netherlands
Director: Lukas Dhont
Starring award-winning Belgian actors Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker (also in Custody, Incredible but true at SFF 22) and Kevin Janssens.
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother.
Incredible but true (Incroyable mais vrai)
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Starring actor and filmmaker Alain Chabat and Grégoire Bonnet.
A goofy time-travel comedy where an average suburban couple move into their dream home but with a mysterious basement.
Elsewhere, a man’s robot penis explodes.
One Fine Morning (Un beau matin)
Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
Countries: France, Germany
With a father (Pascal Greggory) suffering from neurodegenerative disease, a young woman (played by Léa Seydoux) lives with her eight-year-old daughter. While struggling to secure a decent nursing home, she runs into a friend Clément (Melvil Poupaud), who although being in a relationship, embarks on an affair.
One Year One Night (Un Año, Una Noche)
Director: Isaki Lacuesta
Countries: Spain, France
A gut-wrenching sombre drama of how a binational couple navigate severe post-traumatic stress following the survival of the 2015 Bataclan nightclub massacre.
Starring Noémie Merlat (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (Persian Lessons).
Inspired by Ramón González’s book Peace, Love and Death Metal and based on recollections from real survivors of the 2015 attack in Paris.
Country: Senegal
Languages: French, Wolof, Spanish
Director: Jean Luc Herbulot
Three mystical mercenaries take on earthly and other-worldly enemies in a dazzling action-crime-horror-Western-fantasy.
The Passengers of the Night (Les Passagers De La Nuit)
Director: Mikhaël Hers
Set in 1980’s Paris, this slice-of-life drama follows a single mother played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, and her two teenage children over a decade of tumultuous domestic life.
With exquisite production design, a lovely soundtrack and clever use of archival footage, this heart-warming film is filled with small acts of kindness that have profound effects.
Country: France
Director: Ivan Calbérac
Starring French award-winning actors Éric Viellard , Isabelle Carré and Bernard Campan.
Adaption of an award-winning play by the same name in the Renaissance Theatre 2019.
Set in a picturesque French town, depicts the charming story of two lonely souls finding love through similar interest in wine.
WANT MORE FILM?
For French films you can watch at home, check out our articles:
Alliance Française 2020 French Film Festival films to stream/rent online
Sydney Film Festival Selects: Even more French films on SBS on Demand
Which films are you planning to see at Sydney Film Festival 2022?