Boston French Film Festival - Visiting Hours (La prisonnière de Bordeaux)

The Boston French Film Festival returns with an exciting lineup that captures the textures, tensions, and petits bonheurs (small joys) of contemporary French life. The festival opens with Three Friends, Emmanuel Mouret's bittersweet comedy about love, infidelity, and emotional entanglement among a trio of women. Catherine Deneuve leads The President's Wife, a sly comedy about politician Bernadette Chirac's bid to step out from her husband's shadow. Winner of the 2024 Jury Prize and Best Actor award in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes, Souleymane's Story is a gripping portrait of life on the margins. Holy Cow brings charm to the lineup with a tale about a teenage cheesemaker chasing a contest prize, while Night Call delivers high-stakes thrills as a locksmith races through Brussels during a night of unrest. Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte's sweeping new adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo reminds us that French cinema, like the country's literature, still revels in grand tales of betrayal, justice, and revenge.

Together, these films offer a vivid snapshot of a society in motion—ever-evolving while remaining rooted in the passionate pursuit of artistic and intellectual truth. Grab some French wine and cheese at Taste and join us for these evocative stories.

Schedule of Events:

2:30 pm–4:15 pm - Visiting Hours (La prisonnière de Bordeaux)

Directed by Patricia Mazuy (France, 2024, 108 min.). French with English subtitles.

Two of France's finest actresses—Isabelle Huppert and Hafsia Herzi—deliver riveting performances in this layered, emotionally charged drama from Patricia Mazuy (Paul Sanchez Is Back!; Saturn Bowling). Set against the backdrop of a French prison, Visiting Hours follows the unexpected bond that forms between Alma (Huppert), an elegant woman of means, and Mina (Herzi), a young mother struggling to make ends meet, after a chance meeting during visits to their incarcerated husbands.

Premiering to acclaim at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Visiting Hours confirms Mazuy's reputation as a master of tonal complexity, fusing elements of melodrama, class critique, and quiet suspense. As the women's relationship deepens, so too do the cracks between their worlds, leading to a final act that is both explosive and deeply humane.

Visually lush and psychologically sharp, this slow-burn fable of privilege, guilt, and fragile connection builds to a finale that is as surprising as it is inevitable. A film of rich contradictions—and of two unforgettable performances at its core.

"Huppert dazzles.… in the hands of two actresses working wonders with the physicality that ties their characters together, this is the kind of enjoyable French flick that grips you all the way through its winning, winking final shot." —Variety

Members
$12.00

Nonmembers
$15.00

Location: Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium (Auditorium 161)

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