France, Reminiscence, The Witches of Akelarre… Films to see or avoid this week at the cinema<

You can see

La Terre des hommes, a drama by Naël Marandin, 1h36

It is his land. Spread the word. He defends her. If necessary, it will be with gunshots. Bernard (Olivier Gourmet) is not joking. This Burgundian farmer is at his wit's end. The family farm is awash in debt. Fortunately, the girl wants to take up the torch. Constance has ethics and ideas. It's time to change. She counts on the support of Sylvain, apparently not a bad guy. Sylvain will not really keep his promises, but he will take advantage of his position to seduce Constance. She files a rape complaint.

Naël Marandin plunges his heroine, who struggles to avoid judicial liquidation, into an endless imbroglio. The director does not tell this episode with big black lines. He turns it into a tragedy in slow motion, describes the hushed negotiations between cattle buyers, dwells on subtle power relations, scrutinizes the intrigues of the cooperative. Diane Rouxel, who was already lighting Volontaire , by Hélène Fillières, swapped her uniform for rubber boots. Alone against all, she carries at arm's length this descent into hell in a daily life that is less and less rosy. Life goes on. It will never taste the same again. IN.

Read alsoVolunteer, a difficult love story within the French Navy

The Witches of Akelarre, a drama by Pablo Agüero, 1h 32

Strange that this language rolled up of “x” and “k” and these traditions where one dances and one sings vis-a-vis the moon. In the 17th century, the vultures of the Inquisition circled around the Basque coast ^and swooped down on the shepherdesses. They are destitute, their husbands are at sea. From this sinister chapter of history, the director Pablo Agüero imagines a nervous thriller, as if he had taken hold of a contemporary news item. A band of mischievous young women - but not in the sense these dark judges mean - are put in the dock.

The camera is lively, we are at their side. They are tortured. They are deafened with sermons. The director places two discourses face to face: the cold and rhetorical intelligence of the madmen of God, the funny and sinuous fantasy of the young women. The verb is ultimately their only sorcery. Thanks to him, they put their finger on the flaw of these inquisitors: if they see the devil's tail everywhere, it's because they dream of finding it. Their obsession reveals a perverse curiosity, which is accompanied by severe misogyny. Showing this is the great strength of this film, which is unfortunately too messy in places. BP

Read alsoRobert Zemeckis: “Witches have always made me laugh!”

Reminiscence, thriller by Lisa Joy, 1h 56

Spanish B using @padlet, https://t.co/5YG5SGEZca, and Jamboard to take our f2f CI card talks remote.Today's foc… https://t.co/p8dpqQLS4i

— SraWirtz Tue Jan 12 19:25:58 +0000 2021

In line with her brother-in-law Christopher Nolan, the creator of Westworld imagines a technology that revives memories that turn the past into an addiction. A peril braved by a private detective (Hugh Jackman). An unexpected reinterpretation of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this futuristic fable offers scenes between reality and fantasy of a retina-burning Miami submerged by the waves. Too bad the scenario bends at its end. CJ

Read alsoReminiscence: first images of the mental labyrinth of the creator of Westworld with Hugh Jackman

Don't Breathe 2, a horror film by Rodolfo Sayagues, 1h39

A few years after the bloody adventures of the first part, the Blind Man (Stephen Lang), a retired American elite soldier, takes a young orphan girl under his wing. When she is kidnapped, the darker part of the veteran takes over. If Fede Álvarez has left the helm of the production to his Uruguayan compatriot Rodolfo Sayagues, the creators of the Evil Dead - Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert - remain in production.

Read alsoJulia Ducournau, master of horror with "Grave" and "Titane"

To avoid

France, a dramatic comedy by Bruno Dumont, 2h14

France de Meurs (Léa Seydoux) is the star presenter of a continuous news channel. We discover her asking a falsely impertinent question to Emmanuel Macron during a press conference at the Élysée (the editing creates a perfect illusion). Its producer, Lou (Blanche Gardin), hand-grafted laptop, eyes riveted on social networks, exults at the back of the room. “People love it, it's going to be hot dick. " The tone is set.

When she is not reporting from the field, France lives in an apartment with a Nouveau Riche decoration overlooking the Place des Vosges. There she meets a son left to his own devices and a despised husband (Benjamin Biolay), an anonymous writer whose income is lower than his own. When France runs over a delivery man on a scooter, her popularity and self-assurance crack. Dumont and comedy, that makes two. The filmmaker laughs when he gets burned. With France, which claims to pin down our contemporary turpitudes, the caricature of allegory is embarrassing. E.S.

Read alsoBruno Dumont, poor France

Miss Marx, a drama by Susanna Nicchiarelli, 1h 47

When Karl Marx died, his daughter continued her fight by fighting for women's rights and the abolition of child labour. The actress Romola Garai does not demerit but the costumes weigh heavily. Placing rock on his images to make it all modern is not enough. E.S.