This year I started off the festival by a couple of French films over the weekend…

“L’empreinte de l’ange” was a drama… The main character, played beautifully by Catherine Frot, got on your nerves until you found yourself liking and sympathizing with her towards the end of the film… Some scenes seemed almost too wondrously unreal, until you realized the story was based on a true event… The acting of the two French ladies, Sandrine Bonnaire included, was strong and beautiful, making the whole movie experience even more rewarding.

“Je veux voir”, preceded by the short film “Expectations”, is also a great story/documentary where Catherine Deneuve, the stunning French actress, finds herself in Beirut where she was invited to see the post war (Israel v. Lebanon) scenery and experience it firsthand… Her guide during the movie is Rabih Mroué, a Lebenese actor and the conversations between the two was magnifying… I loved the scene when Rabih was admiring a dialogue of Catherine’s in “Belle de jour” and when he was asked to say his favorite dialogue of the film in Arabic… And the last scene of the film was love at first sight… The shot of the car driving in a night in Beirout with the greatest background song by Scrambled Eggs…

So far, the festival has brought me major joy… Yes!

More to come…

S