Cycling with Moliere and Without Reasonable Doubt

These were the two very interesting, and one very amusing, movies I saw this week. The first at the French Festival was filmed on L'Ile de Re in Brittany, and was a beautiful sketched two-hander about a faded misanthropic retired actor's relationship with a slightly younger colleague. Played by two of France's pre-eminent actors it was a delight for theatre lovers, and also just for the lovely storyline, which although improbable came off with a lot of panache, thanks to the superb acting skills and excellent direction. Very enjoyable indeed.

The other vastly different cinematic experience was at the Film Archives. Called 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt' it was a dramatised docu-drama about an unsolved murder in the seventies in rural New Zealand. Grainy and gritty, it showed a police force more interested it getting a result than in scrupulous honesty. The suspect was interned for nine years having been judged gullty by the jury, the subsequent appeal was rejected, and finally the man was released as wrongly convicted after an awful time in Mt Eden gaol. It was very sad indictment of modern Kwi policing, and the movie, well acted by English actor David Hemmings and also  Aussie man John Hargreaves, was quite watchable if only for historic reasons. Always good to see old Kiwi movies in order to discover this Island culture.

Later this week I will have a few more French movies to see, hope they are as good as this excellent one.