A biopic on the baroque genius of Vivaldi, the star couple Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson on the verge of breaking up… The cinema selection of Figaro.
DAO – To see
Dramatic comedy by Alain Gomis – 3 hours 05
The most generous and welcoming family of the last Berlinale was by far that of DAO, a very long feature film by the Franco-Senegalese Alain Gomis (3 hours 05). The director of Felicite weaves together two ceremonies, a wedding in France and a funeral tribute in Guinea-Bissau – three days of festivities. Gloria (Katy Correa) bridges the gap between the two. She marries her daughter and honors her father’s memory as an ancestor. DAO is somewhat the African version of Mektoub my love, with less sex and more trance.
In the style of Kechiche, Gomis conveys the duration of the celebration, the energy of the bodies, but also tells many stories along the way and brings out characters, played by professional actors (Samir Guesmi, Thomas N’Gijol, Nicolas Bouchaud) or not. Here or there, children play football, men remember their fathers’ spankings, the old recall colonization, and the women mention polygamy. A sprawling film on transmission without long speeches or clichés. E.S.
The Figaro’s opinion: 3/5
Sorda – To see
Drama by Eva Libertad Garcia – 1 hour 40
Forget La Famille Belier and its comic vein led by Francois Damiens and Karin Viard, hearing actors who play deaf characters. With Sorda, the Spanish director Eva Libertad immerses us in the deaf community to raise awareness of the obstacles they face. She does so by portraying a mixed couple – a hearing husband and his deaf wife – who are expecting a child.
Present before the birth, the difficulties multiply, especially since the baby can hear. Through a mise-en-scène that avoids close-ups to focus on the movements of hands in sign language, a focus on the sound environments of the characters, and on lighting – darkness being a zone of total absence of communication for the deaf – she literally makes us “hear” deafness. A first in cinema for this handicap. F.V.
The Figaro’s opinion: 3/5
More related content:
- “Nobody can say how a deaf person hears”: with the movie Sorda, Eva Libertad makes us hear deafness
Vivaldi et moi – To see
Biopic by Damiano Michieletto – 1 hour 51
Without patriarchy, we would not have the codes to understand cinema. Vivaldi et moi, the first feature film by the opera director Damiano Michieletto, freely inspired by Stabat Mater, the novel by Tiziano Scarpa, has the merit of not being a biopic, a Wikipedia profile in images of the flamboyant Italian composer. If Vivaldi is the centerpiece of the plot, he is not the protagonist. The heroine of Vivaldi et moi is Cecilia, a pretty 20-year-old violinist (Tecla Insolia). Imprisoned, the term would be more accurate. She is a resident of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. In the early 18th century, the institution shelters and trains young orphans in music, forming an excellent all-female orchestra.
Vivaldi teaches, composes, conducts with unprecedented fervor within these walls. The conductor takes Cecilia under his wing, has her make a new violin by the best luthier in the city. The sad eyes of the girl shine with a new fire. Michieletto films Vivaldi’s baroque genius and Cecilia’s taste for freedom with a simple classicism. He undermines academicism both in his portrayal of the Doge’s City and in his staging of concerts. He also does not neglect the romanticism of this woman’s destiny. Patriarchy has at least one virtue, that of being a great reservoir of fiction. E.S.
The Figaro’s opinion: 3/5
More related content:
- Cannes 2025: our review of Die, My Love, where Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson flounder in absurdity
Hokum – To see
Horror film by Damian McCarthy – 1 hour 41
American actor Adam Scott, star of the series Severance and Parks & Recreation, reconnects with his Irish roots thanks to this horror film with Celtic folkloric accents. Hokum relies on the power of suggestion to scare. Successful writer Ohm Bauman crosses the Atlantic and goes to the region of Cork to scatter his parents’ ashes in the forest bordering the isolated inn where they spent their honeymoon. The novelist’s curiosity is piqued when he learns that the bridal suite of the establishment is condemned, as it is said to be haunted by a vengeful witch.
When an employee disappears, Ohm sneaks into the room to find out for himself. His scientific mind and his conscience, tormented by childhood grief, will be severely tested. The seasoned director Damian McCarthy transforms the suite into an oppressive labyrinth. Clocks, canopy beds, wallpaper, trinkets shaped like cherubs… The camera lingers on the slightest everyday object and turns it into a source of hallucination or bad omen. Not to mention the access to the cellars, whose darkness and solitude are interspersed with strange noises. The threat in Hokum is invisible, lurking in a deceptive simplicity and economy of means. C.J.
The Figaro’s opinion: 2.5/4
More related content:
- Cannes 2025: our review of Die, My Love, where Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson flounder in absurdity
Sukkwan Island – Can be seen
Drama by Vladimir de Fontenay – 1 hour 55
Selected at the 2025 Sundance Festival, this adaptation of David Vann’s novel transplants a divorced father (Swann Arlaud) and his son Roy (Woody Norman) to the far north. Tom, who lost sight of his son, offers the teenager an ambitious survival experience: spend a year cut off from civilization and screens in a cabin nestled in a small island in the Norwegian fjords. During the summer, Roy is amazed by this wild land without boundaries. Father and son get to know each other. But this bond cracks with the arrival of winter and more extreme conditions.
The harsher the climate, the more Tom loses his grip and becomes invisible, volatile, and paranoid, unable to grasp that his son is not like him. The French director Vladimir de Fontenay, known for the HBO series Privileges, creates an immersive experience for the viewer. His camera captures the fantastic landscapes and flamboyant nature. He creates a beautifully lethal closed-door scenario, which unfortunately does not hold up until the end, due to an abrupt and literal final act. C.J.
The Figaro’s opinion: 2/4
More related content:
- Cannes 2025: our review of Die, My Love, where Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson flounder in absurdity
Die My Love – To avoid
Drama by Lynne Ramsay – 1 hour 58
On the poster, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson initially promise a great deal of glamour that could burst off the screen. Wrong. The Scottish director of A Beautiful Day (2017) instead works to dismantle this star couple to better serve her dark obsessions and her vision of a cinema dedicated to family traumas. The young woman is overwhelmed by her role as a model mother. For her son Harry’s six months, we see her near the house in the tall grass, crawling towards the baby’s cradle, like a panther, knife in hand. The warning signs accumulate.
Little House on the Prairie turns into an eerie, Hitchcockian Psycho-like abode. The discomfort is deep, latent, permanent. Poor Jackson, decidedly weak, can only watch his wife descend into madness. With Die, My Love, the Glasgow filmmaker could have created a shocking film. Instead, she delivers a sad derivative of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in a female version, caricatured, cumbersome, and demonstrative. O.D.
The Figaro’s opinion: 1/5
More related content:
- Cannes 2025: our review of Die, My Love, where Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson flounder in absurdity
