21/01/2009

Just two years after the release of Private Property [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Belgian director Joachim Lafosse returns to local screens with his fourth film in five years: Private Lessons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques-Henri Bronckart
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile].

Presented at the 40th Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, the film surprised but didn’t disturb viewers as much as expected given its subject matter. In a Belgium that hasn’t yet come to terms with the crimes of paedophile Marc Dutroux, despite the law court’s decision, Private Lessons centres on a young teenager and academic failure who experiences a sensual awakening.

He is taken in hand – literally and figuratively – by a trio of adults who know no limits, be they emotional, generational or sexual.

The great strength of Private Lessons is to give back to viewers the role that is theirs. Exploring such a disturbing subject, where some directors would have chosen the easy option and offered a final judgement bound up in the narration, Lafosse "opens up" his film’s ending. The director seems to appeal to viewers, who are free but responsible for their own opinions.

Private Lessons was produced by Versus Productions and co-produced by France’s Mact, with backing from the RTBF, Eurimages, Canal + and CinéCinéma. The film is being launched by Cineart on nine screens in Flanders and Wallonia.

Alongside Sam Mendes’ highly anticipated Revolutionary Road [+see also:
trailer
film profile], several European titles will compete for audiences. These include James Watkins’s UK horror film Eden Lake [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Keilly Reilly (Euro Pudding, The Russian Dolls [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

There are also two major French releases, which have received enormous media attention. Jean-Paul Belmondo makes a comeback in Francis Huster’s Un homme et son chien [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“A Man and His Dog”). Meanwhile, Gérard Lanvin and Gérard Jugnot star in Frédéric Auburtin’s Envoyés Très Spéciaux [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Very Special Correspondents”).

Finally, also hitting theatres is Anna Novion’s French/Swedish co-production Grown Ups [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Moteur s’il-vous-plait and DFM Fiktion), which screened in the latest Cannes Critics’ Week .

(Translated from French)