French Women Filmmakers • Julia Ducournau

Grave/Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016, 98 min., Rated R., France & Belgium) I didn’t faint in classy cannibal horror – but I didn’t much fancy lunch. Raw is a a complex drama of adulthood, sex, conformity, hazing, body image and lust.

French Women Filmmakers • Agnès Varda

Les glaneurs et la glaneuse / The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000, 82 min. Documentary, France) I wanted to make a documentary. And then this little digital camera pushed me to create something personal, I wanted to seep into the film in a carnal way.

French Women Filmmakers • Claire Denis

Chocolat (Claire Denis, 1988, 105 min., France) Chocolat appropriates the conventions of a romance plot to comment on restrictive social structures. It’s brilliantly executed—a story told completely in small but significant gestures.

French Women Filmmakers • Audrey Diwan

L’événement / Happening (Audrey Diwan, 2021, 100 min., France) Happening is … an impeccably produced movie, faintly old-fashioned in its vehement emotional message, adapted from an autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux.

French Women Filmmakers • Euzhan Palcy

Rue Cases Nègres / Sugar Cane Alley (Euzhan Palcy, 1983, 103 min, Martinique) Euzhan Palcy strikes me as proof that great directors can come from anywhere, but they must know they are great directors and trust they are great.