On Screen This Week
Amélie : 9pm Friday 16 Jan on Maori TV
This is quirky but one of my absolute favourite movies !
The film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of Amélie Poulain, played by Audrey Tautou, a shy and quirky waitress who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better while dealing with her own isolation.
Amelie n’est pas une fille comme les autres. Sa vie est simple. Elle aime casser la croûte des crèmes brûlées, faire des ricochets au bord de la Seine, observer les gens et laisser son imagination divaguer. À 22 ans, coup de théâtre, Amelie se découvre un but : réparer la vie des autres. Elle invente alors toutes sortes de stratagèmes pour intervenir incognito dans l’existence de plusieurs personnes de son entourage.
Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckZzQJTg0jY&t=3s
Films at Luxe Cinemas :
Tauranga & Papamoa
My Brother’s Band (En fanfare) ON NOW in Tauranga
Highly recommended !
Thibaut (the exceptional Benjamin Lavernhe, Delicious) is a beloved and internationally celebrated orchestra conductor who travels the globe. When a health crisis and subsequent DNA test inadvertently reveals he was adopted as an infant, Thibaut discovers the existence of a younger brother, Jimmy (rising star Pierre Lottin), who lives in more modest circumstances; he works in a school cafeteria, cares for his mother and plays the trombone in a community brass band. The pair seem to have little else in common other than a love of performance, but sensing his sibling’s exceptional talent, Thibaut decides to remedy the injustice of fate and try to help nurture his brother’s untapped gifts.
Thibaut est un chef d’orchestre de renommée internationale qui parcourt le monde. Lorsqu’il apprend qu’il a été adopté, il découvre l’existence d’un frère, Jimmy, employé de cantine scolaire et qui joue du trombone dans une fanfare du nord de la France.
Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvT2Cd8bq0U
Nouvelle Vague
From 22 January 2026
Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Zoey Deutch, Guillaume Marbeck, Aubry Dullin, Adrien Rouyard, Antoine Besson, Jodie Ruth-Forest
Richard Linklater’s NOUVELLE VAGUE charts the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’.
After writing for Cahiers du cinéma, young Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) decides making films is the best form of film criticism. Believing that the only necessary components of a good story are “a girl and a gun”, he sets out to film his debut feature ‘Breathless’, a low budget feature about a gangster couple. With the charismatic lead Jean-Paul Belmondo (Audry Dullin) and American actor Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch), the three begin to make history.
The film is a love letter to the revolutionary magic of the French New Wave and a homage to Godard’s influential 1960 film, capturing its youthful dynamism and creative chaos.
Le film raconte la production du long métrage À bout de souffle (1960) de Jean-Luc Godard et la création de la Nouvelle Vague. Une lettre d’amour à l’âge d’or du cinéma français.
Paris, 1959. Un réalisateur inconnu, un producteur aventureux, un budget dérisoire, une équipe minuscule, et le projet fou de tourner un premier film en 20 jours avec un embryon de scénario. Le film capture l’instantané et l’insouciance – la méthode de travail révolutionnaire et souvent chaotique de Godard.
DVDs to Lend Out
I have approximately 120 French DVDs that anyone who is still able to view DVDs is most welcome to borrow. There are comedies and dramas, recent and older films, famous actors and less famous. All are subtitled in English.
Let me know if you don’t have, but would like, the catalogue and then make your choice.
shelley@lovefrench.nz or ph 07 578 9416. No charge.
Au petit écran – on the Small Screen
Netflix : Lots of excellent French series & films to suit all tastes.
Library Movie Streaming:
All you need is a Tauranga City library card and the internet and you will be able to access over a thousand films and documentaries via Beamafilm, or classical music, concerts, ballets ,documentaries, artist portraits and education programmes via Medici TV. All access is free.
For more info: https://library.tauranga.govt.nz/digital-library/streaming
PS: The library also has real books and, in particular, a French novel section.
TV NZ OnDemand : has a number of French movies in their Foreign Language section:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/categories/foreign-language
Maori Channel : Keep an eye out for their Sunday evening films that are usually repeated at noon on the Monday. They frequently show foreign films and often French ones.
https://www.maoriplus.co.nz/
