Théatre: Compagnie Claude Beauclair

Nov. 13 (M)
Fine Arts Center Auditorium of Calvin College, 7:30 p.m.

(1994)

Sept. 19 (T) Martha Miller 243, 6:30 pm
Sept. 20 (W) Granberg, 6:30 pm

It comes like lightning. The Nazis overrun France and for its people it begins the most miserable of times. Yet it’s not so miserable that the goodness of one man cannot triumph. In Les Miserables, two-time Academy Award winner Claude Lelouch fashions a magnificent achievement that won the Golden Globe Award as 1995’s Best Foreign Film. Legendary Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as Henri Fortin, a true and simple man whose life parallels that of Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo’s great novel. But those parallels do not mean a simple updating of Hugo’s tale. Instead, Lelouch uses them to frame a towering cascade of events, traits and emotions: nobility, suffering, persistence, joy, hate, longing, love, greed, betrayal, war, peace and life-affirming joy and hope.
(177 min.)

(2004)

Oct. 10 (T) Granberg 6:30 pm
Oct. 16 (M) Martha Miller 243 6:30 pm

A rich, complex and deeply pleasing movie showing a pair of ex-lovers' parallel lives. Arnaud Desplechin's latest film, in spite of its harsh contents, is utterly entertaining, fascinating, moving and even funny. The storyline about Nora's relationship with her father, her ex-boyfriend and her son, and then again Ismael's relationship with Nora's son and with his family are very powerful. When in the end, Nora discovers the secret pages of her father's diary, or when Ismael spends an afternoon with Nora's son, it is devastating. Seldom are movies able to translate human emotions so beautifully. Just for that, Rois et reine is a must see.
(150 min.)

(2004)

Nov. 15 (W) Martha Miller 243 6:30 pm
Nov. 21 (T) Granberg 6:30 pm

Aptly titled, this film is a rollicking, quirky, over 2000-mile journey from France to Saudi Arabia - in a car! - by an unwilling son and his pious father on the 'hadj', the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Despite (or perhaps because of) his finals and a girlfriend, the son acquiesces. Framed by the strange landscapes of the former Yugoslavia and the deserts of the Middle East, we see through the father and son all the clashes of our age (terrorist/hostage, East/West, old/new, religion/secularism, have/have-nots, etc.) woven into a metaphorical tapestry of character transformation. Both pilgrims learn lessons in faith and love and we learn that neither are what they seem.
(108 min.)