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France

BOARDING GATE
2007, Olivier Assayas, France, 106 min.
With Asia Argento, Michael Madsen, Kelly Lin

Assayas, whose CLEAN won the EU Film Festival’s Audience Award in 2006, returns to the mind-bending international intrigue of DEMONLOVER. Asia Argento, a vision of Eurosluttiness in tattoos and black underwear, becomes embroiled in an industrial conspiracy aimed at entrepreneur and former lover Madsen. In the tradition of Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW, the first halfof the film is all pressure-cooker confinement, the second half all pell-mell pursuit as Argento flees to a labyrinthine Hong Kong where every ally is a potential enemy. In English. Preview courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

Saturday, March 8, 9:00 pm
Wednesday, March 12, 8:00 pm

A GIRL CUT IN TWO
(LA FILLE COUPÉE EN DEUX)
2007, Claude Chabrol, France/Germany, 115 min.
With Ludivine Sagnier, Benoît Magimel

“Chabrol’s MATCH POINT: a deliciously dark and well-observed tale that marks a fine return to form.”--Boyd van Hoeij, european-films.net

Old master Chabrol just keeps rolling along with another smooth-as-silk thriller (inspired by the notorious 1906 murder of Stanford White) that incorporates black comedy and sardonic social observation. The magical title refers both to a world of deceptive surfaces and to the plight of the heroine, a Lyons weathergirl (the luscious Sagnier of SWIMMING POOL) who finds herself desired by two men: a fickle, much older novelist François Berléand) and a spoiled-rotten rich kid (Magimel in a flamboyant, film-stealing performance). In French with English subtitles. Preview courtesy of IFC in Theaters. 35mm. (MR)

Sunday, March 23, 3:00 pm
Tuesday, March 25, 6:00 pm

LAGERFELD CONFIDENTIAL
2007, Rodolphe Marconi, France, 89 min.

“Flashy, dazzling... It exerts an undeniable fascination that suggests a tantalizing synthesis of LET’S GET LOST and UNZIPPED.”--Patrick Z. McGavin, Screen International
“Diverting... Lagerfeld turns out to be an extraordinarily clever and monstrously interesting character.”--Lisa Mullen, Sight & Sound

This cinema-verité portrait of the legendary fashion designer approaches its elusive subject through on-the-run observation rather than retrospective analysis. Black-clad, pony-tailed, unapologetically arrogant, King Karl strides through a Felliniesque domain of chic and glitter, making snap decisions, dispensing aphorisms (“Fashion is ephemeral, dangerous, and unfair”), and dropping occasional revelations about his homosexuality, childhood, and personal habits. In French with English subtitles. Preview courtesy of Koch Lorber Films. 35mm. (MR)

Saturday, March 29, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, April 1, 6:00 pm

PRICELESS
(HORS DE PRIX)
2006, Pierre Salvadori, France, 104 min.
With Audrey Tatou, Gad Elmaleh

In this scintillating Gallic variation on PRETTY WOMAN and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, a Riviera gold digger (Tatou of AMÉLIE) mistakes a smitten hotel employee (Elmaleh of THE VALET) for a potential sugar daddy, milks him dry, then gives him expert advice on how to be a gigolo, although he’d much rather have the teacher than the lesson. Channeling Audrey Hepburn, the radiant Tatou is a vision in gorgeous gowns and plunging necklines. In French with English subtitles. Preview courtesy of IDP Distribution. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

Sunday, March 9, 3:00 pm

ROMAN DE GARE
(aka CROSSED TRACKS)
2007, Claude Lelouch, France, 103 min.
With Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon

After a series of ponderous dramas, Lelouch returns to his freewheeling roots with this twisty, trickily structured thriller/romance that playfully jumbles art and life. A best-selling novelist (Ardant) is questioned by the police about the mysterious disappearance of her ghostwriter. As a manhunt closes in on a serial killer known as the Magician, an abandoned young woman (Audrey Dana) at a gas station is approached by a helpful stranger (Pinon). Could the “ghost” be the author of the crimes as well as the books? In French with English subtitles. Preview courtesy of IDP Distribution. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

Sunday, March 16, 3:00 pm

TELL NO ONE
(NE LE DIS À PERSONNE)
2006, Guillaume Canet, France, 125 min.
With François Cluzet, Kristin Scott Thomas

Based on Harlan Coben’s best-selling novel, TELL NO ONE was a smash hit in France, where it won four César awards, including Best Director and Best Actor. Eight years after his beloved wife was brutally murdered, a still-grieving doctor (Cluzet) receives a message from her: “Tell no one. We’re being watched.” Meanwhile, incriminating evidence puts the police on his tail. A high-octane thriller with heart, TELL NO ONE features a sensational foot chase, an outstanding music score, and a top-notch supporting cast including Nathalie Baye, François Berléand, Jean Rochefort, and Jalil Lespert. In French with English subtitles. Preview courtesy of Palm Pictures. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

Saturday, March 15, 9:00 pm
Tuesday, March 18, 6:00 pm

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