Teenagers argue over life and love in award-winning GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE
CINÉSALON: GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE (L’ESQUIVE) (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2003)
French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Tuesday, October 20, $14, 4:00 & 7:30 (later screening introduced by Nicolas Bouchaud)
Series continues through October 27
212-355-6100
www.fiaf.org
FIAF’s CinéSalon series “Theater & Cinema” continues October 20 with Abdellatif Kechiche’s poignant 2003 drama, Games of Love and Chance. Winner of the César Award for Best Film, Best Director, Best Writing (Kechiche and Ghalia Lacroix), and Most Promising Actress (Sara Forestier), the film follows a group of teenagers, mostly of North African descent, in the housing projects of Seine-Saint-Denis as their everyday lives intersect with the play that is being put on in their French literature class, Marivaux’s 1730 romantic comedy, The Game of Love and Chance. In the class play, Forestier is Lydia, a bit of a diva who is portraying Lisette, a maid posing as a wealthy woman, opposite the always loud and angry Frida (Sabrina Ouazani), who is Silvia, a wealthy woman pretending to be a maid. Rachid (Rachid Hami) is initially Arlequin, but he is bribed out of the role by Krimo (Osman Elkharraz), who desperately wants to get close to Lydia. However, he has no real interest in acting, and no talent, which upsets their teacher (Carole Franck), who is looking forward to staging a quality show. Krimo’s pursuit of Lydia also creates more problems with his on-again, off-again longtime girlfriend, Magali (Aurélie Ganito), who believes the two are destined to be together no matter what. And when Krimo’s best friend, Fathi (Hafet Ben-Ahmed), gets involved, things threaten to get explosive. Kechiche, who also won the César for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for The Secret of the Grain and the Palme d’Or for Blue Is the Warmest Colour, explores class distinction, teenage awkwardness, and artistic expression in the film, which is shot by Lubomir Bakchev primarily with a handheld camera and features powerful performances by the young cast. The differences between the language spoken in Marivaux’s play and the slang of the boys and girls in the hood can be a bit much at times, and the English subtitles are almost ridiculously outdated and stagy, but you’ll get used to it. Kechiche clearly has an eye for new talent; three of his five films featured young women who went on to win the César for Most Promising Actress (Forestier in Games of Love and Chance, Hafsia Herzi in The Secret of the Grain, and Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue Is the Warmest Colour). Games of Love and Chance is screening in Florence Gould Hall on October 20 at 4:00 and 7:30; the later show will be introduced by actor and director Nicolas Bouchaud, who starred in The Exercise Was Beneficial, Sir at FIAF in May 2014. The series, highlighting films about theater, concludes October 27 with François Truffaut’s The Last Metro.