2024 2025 Season

The Charlemagne Ciné-Club meets eight times per year and offers an eclectic mix of the classic and the modern, the serious and the funny, black & white and colour, French (6) and German (2). All films are shown in the West Worthing Baptist Church hall with a brief introduction with projection starting at 19.15. Individual WTA annual membership £7.50 and the cost of £5per film, payable at the door, covers a glass of wine/fruit juice and something to nibble as well as the film.

10^th October                   Le Château de ma Mère                    1990

The sequel to « La Gloire de Mon Père » which was a popular choice in our 2023-2024 season. It is based on Marcel Pagnol’s somewhat romanticized autobiography and is set in picturesque Provence.

14^th November               Au Revoir les Enfants                       1987

Set in the Second World War the film, directed by Louis Malle and based on hiwn experiences, is about two Jewish children who are given refuge in a catholic boarding school. Golden Lion winner in the year of production.

12^th December                Lola Rennt [Run, Lola, Run]              1998

A German experimental thriller. The story follows a woman named Lola who needs to obtain 100,000 Deutschmarks in twenty minutes to save the life of her boyfriend Manni. The highest-grossing German film of its year and the German entry for Best Foreign Language film.

9^th January                     Les Misérables                                  2019

Nothing to do with Victor Hugo’s novel. Though inspired by the 2005 riots, it is set in 2018 Paris which is beset by racial tension and centres on relationships between police and the local populace. The events largely take place over a single day and end in violence. A prize winner at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

13^th February                  La Kermesse Héroïque                      1935

The oldest film in our season but it remains splendidly entertaining. Set in the early 1600s, a Spanish occupying force arrives in a small Flemish village and when the cowardly males seek cover, the women take over. Françoise Rosay (wife of the director Jacques Feyder) is outstanding whilst Louis Jouvet makes a memorable appearance. Best foreign film in 1936.

13^th March                     Ballon                                             2018

A German political thriller, based on the authentic experiences of two families living in the East who try to escape to the West in 1979 using a home-made hot air balloon. Both entertaining and offering valuable historical insight.

8^th May                          Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot        1953

Perhaps the most famous of the handful of films made by Jacques Tati. It is a gently satirical look at the experiences of a confirmed and accident-prone bachelor – M. Hulot – in a northern France seaside resort. You have to accept the slow pace but the visual gags remain both charming and funny. A touch of nostalgia too! One of the small number of films that can be described as a “classic”.

12^th June                        Le Placard                                       2001

Though there are elements of farce, the film is also a sensitive comedy of character. François Pignon (Daniel Auteil) is about to be fired by his firm but is advised to pretend to be gay as the firm will not dare to sack him for fear of being charged with sexual discrimination. Well directed by François Veber (Le Dîner de Cons) and sympathetically acted by Auteil and Depardieu.