The Connection (La French)

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Q&A with director Cédric Jimenez and stars Gilles Lellouche and Céline Sallette! U.S. Premiere

“A prelude to The French Connection… all the period details are right.” – Stephen Holden, New York Times

Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) plays radically against type in this gripping thriller from the files of the same criminal ring that inspired William Friedkin’s classic The French Connection. Dujardin is Pierre Michel, a Marseilles magistrate who dedicates himself to apprehending fearsome heroin czar Gaetano Zampa (Gilles Lellouche, Little White Lies). As in the policiers by Jean-Pierre Melville that it evokes, the principled antagonists of The Connection are two sides of a coin, more like one another than the rats in their respective organizations. Director Cédric Jimenez uses late-70s music and fashion to resurrect the disco-age backdrop against which their vendetta played out. Though highlighted by Dujardin’s Delon-esque turn, the all-star French cast includes Benoît Magimel (Isabelle Huppert’s pupil/pursuer in The Piano Teacher), and the luminous Céline Sallette (House of Pleasures) as Pierre Michel’s wife. Nominated for two César Awards. A Drafthouse Films release.

Part of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2015

• Country France
• Language In French with English subtitles
• Rating NR
• Running Time 135 minutes
• Director Cédric Jimenez

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