17 October 2025
ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU **** (vo Arabic, English)
This is a history of the Palestinian people personified by three generations of one family from 1948 to the present.
Cherien Dabis, the Palestinian/American producer, writer and director of this film has not made this a political statement but rather the saga of a family that lose their land and all control over their lives after the partition of Palestine. Playing the mother in the film, Dabis begins this tale when her son is badly wounded during a West Bank protest. She simply relates the events starting in 1948 with the grandfather of the family trying to protect his wife and children and hold on to his home and orange groves in Jaffa.
First shown at this year’s Sundance film festival, the tale continues through the years with generation after generation having to go through loss, humiliation and disrupted values, which Dabis handles with great discretion, making this grandiose film one that bears witness to the other side of history. The country of Jordan has chosen it as their foreign language film for the coming Oscars, and it is co-executive produced by Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo.
The Palestinian actors, Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri and his brother Adam Bakri, who play the grandfather, father and son, are all related and the two older ones have acted together before, as in the excellent film, “Wajib”, shown in Locarno in 2017. Those ties and their talent certainly add to the depth and emotion of the work. With all the tragedy and turmoil that has been going on in that region, this multi-awarded film is one not to be missed.
(Showing at the Bio, in Carouge)
PINK LADY *** (vo Hebrew)
Here is a story of a young ultra-Orthodox family in Israel that is shaken first by some vicious blackmail, then by the realisation of the wife that her husband is gay, despite his deep and committed love for her.
Mothers are brought in to help, the husband insists he will change and he wants to, the community is aghast. It’s a terribly painful situation for all involved, and this film by Nir Bergman tries to bring some understanding to the various characters’ needs and reactions. A delicate and courageous eye-opener.
MARCEL ET M. PAGNOL (A Magnificent Life) *** (vo French, English subtitles)
Marcel Pagnol was one of France’s most productive artists. Born in 1895 in the south of France and raised in Marseilles, he believed he would achieve great things, starting with writing sensitive poetry to his beloved mother who died when he was a teenager.
This beautifully hand-drawn animated biopic by Sylvain Chomet, the French director of the multi-award winning 2003 “Les Triplettes de Belleville”, is a fine homage to Pagnol who became a successful playwright, then moved into cinema when they became talkies, both as writer and director, and then went on to write books about his memories of the Provence, such as his earlier Marseilles Trilogy, including Marius, Fanny and César, which made him a popular, greatly loved figure in France. He was one of the first filmmakers to be elected, in 1946, to the prestigious Académie française.
What makes the film unique is that Marcel, the child, is the one who eggs on the aging Pagnol to write about his life for us, the audience. He is like a constant ghost guiding his elderly self. Clever.
CHIEN 51 **1/2 (vo French)
There are too many films with titles that just don’t fit, nor make sense. This is one of them – a mystifying title, but a well-done action film about dire future prospects, well acted by the beautiful Adèle Exarchopoulo and Gilles Lellouche, strongly directed by Cédric Jimenez. It builds into a both intimate yet dystopian view of what happens when AI becomes too powerful, controlling a future Paris with a literal apartheid of the haves and the have-nots.
We’re seeing a great many films coming out with these themes of control by the powerful few and resistance by the fed up masses. But then our fears of machines and technology that may become bigger than us, and the political trends that are pointing to worldwide autocracy, are driving these issues into the seventh art. Good for them – for films exert a definite influence, both for the positive but unfortunately also the negative.
DEUX PIANOS ** (vo French)
Arrogance. That’s what I came away with from this film, directed by the esteemed Arnaud Desplechin, about a strange love affair re-ignited when a famous pianist (an unconvincing François Civil) comes back to his hometown of Lyon. There is his elderly mentor played by the always arrogant Charlotte Rampling who has become a caricature of her aging self. There’s also a little boy in the park who recreates painful memories in our bewildered hero. And of course the woman he cannot forget, played by the sensual Nadia Tereszkiewicz.
None of it makes much sense nor creates much emotion. Once again, it’s terribly French in its attitude towards love, life and ambitions…overly dramatic, vague and unsatisfying. But the critics will praise it because of the complexity of Desplechin’s works.
ON FALLING *1/2 (vo English and Portuguese)
This film by Laura Carreira about a lonely Portuguese woman who is working in an Amazon-like distribution center in Edinburgh is a huge downer. Her painful shyness does not allow her to interact well with her co-workers, and her solitude grows worse as the film advances.
Neither a date film nor family entertainment, though it’s well-acted and done, but to what avail? With no nuances or relief, it’s just a sad, dull testament to the feelings of loss of so many migrant workers.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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