In this episode of Lost in Frenchlation, hosts ARBL Murray (Alex Brook Lynn) and Manon Kerjean sit down with filmmaker Vladimir Rodionov at the Luminor Theater during a special Valentine’s Day screening of his romantic comedy Anges & Cie (Angels & Company / Angels Inc.).

Set in a world where everyone has a personal angel, the film treats love like a workplace: angels are assigned “clients,” they follow you through every awkward, intimate moment, and they try (sometimes badly) to steer your life from above. At the center are two almost-lovers who keep colliding and missing each other, while their angels clash like rivals in a buddy comedy. But what happens when a few angels go off-script and decide to let love get messy on its own?

Vladimir breaks down the long road of making a first feature (nearly a decade from idea to release), why he’s obsessed with “high concept” premises you can sum up in one sentence (“what if angels were real?”), and how he built a world where angels operate like a bureaucratic company: hovering behind you, influencing choices, and sometimes giving truly terrible advice.

The conversation goes deeper than the rom-com label: intuition vs. destiny, “signs” that kept him going while the film was hard to finance/cast, whether a darker sequel could exist, and how love can be a surprise that pulls you outside your bubble. They also talk about modern romance in the age of apps (love as an “algorithm” vs. chaos), how movies shape the way we understand love, and what French cinema offers beyond couple-dom: friendship, empathy, and stories for anyone spending Valentine’s Day solo.

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Welcome to Lost in Frenchlation a show about contemporary French cinema with a smattering of history. Today we are at the Cinéma du Panthéon in the 5th arrondissement of Paris with Arnaud Desplechin talking about his film Deux Pianos as it screens. The film stars Charlotte Rampling, Nadia Tareskavich, and Francois Civil.

Deux Pianos is about a piano prodigy, Mathias, who has been away for a long time, he returns to Lyon to play music with his mentor Elena (Charlotte Rampling). He runs into the love of his life Claude, he hasn’t seen her for many years. She has a young child and is married to Pierre. When Pierre suddenly dies questions about who the son’s father really is comes up, Mathias wonders if he will stay and try to make a family with the young widow or continue on his path toward musical brilliance and a solitary life.

This is the second time we have had Arnaud on our show and as always we are able to delve into the mechanics of making films and crafting art and story. Arnaud shares with us his childhood experiences with the young widows in his family, how he feels about motherhood, and his writing process with partner Kamen Velkovsy.

I’m Alex Brook Lynn (Also Known as ARBL Murray) with Manon Kerjean talking with our only recurring and favorite guest Arnaud Desplechin.

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Today on Lost in Frenchlation we talk to the renowned director Diane Kurys about her most recent film Moi qui t’aimais (Me who loved you.) Diane has had a truly incredible career. In this episode she shares with us the story of her parents falling in love as Jews in Europe during the holocaust, how that influenced her films about the nuances of love and commitment, and of course we talk about what it was like to write and direct a film about the complicated marriage of two French Entertainment Icons, Simone Signoret and Yves Montand.

Moi qui t’aimais is the story of a famous love affair between French entertainment royalty: Simone Signoret and Yves Montand. They had a wild and deep, but also fraught love. They were married from the 50s until her death in 1981. During that time they became one of the most influential couples in France.

Find out more about the cinema club Lost In Frenchlation on https://lostinfrenchlation.com/

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On November 13th, at L’Arlequin cinema, Manon Kerjean screened Revoir Paris for the 10th anniversary of the Paris terrorist attacks. Revoir Paris is set during the attacks of 2015.

During the screening, Manon and ARBL Murray (Alex Brook Lynn) were able to interview the filmmaker who captured that fateful day so remarkably, Alice Winocour. Alice talked to us about the impetus to make the film, using sound design to help the audience feel the memory fragmentation and trauma of the characters.

Alice also talks about how she immerses herself in a subject entirely while making a film and what it means to have represented this story, the story of so many victims, and of Paris itself.

Find out more about the cinema club Lost In Frenchlation on https://lostinfrenchlation.com/

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On this episode of Lost in Frenchlation, we talk to Suzanne Lindon and Paul Kircher about what it was like to star in the new film by Cedric Klapisch, La Venue de l’avenir (French Title), Colors of Time (English Title). As always ARBL Murray (Alex Brook Lynn), and Manon Kerjean interviewed the pair as their film screened at Le Balzac Cinema during a Lost in Frenchlation event.

Suzanne and Paul share about what it was like to embody characters from the turn of the 19th century in Paris, as the modern city began to emerge. We talk about art, life, emotional scenes, and legacy.

La Venue de l’avenir (Colors of Time) is about four cousins who inherit a house in rural Normandy. They are encouraged to sell it to make way for a large development but after they visit the house they begin to discover the story of their ancestors, notably a young woman named Adèle (Suzanne Lindon). They trace her story through Paris as the city is really starting to embrace the modern age.

Both Paul and Suzanne are born and raised Parisians and recommend the film Le Péril Jeune (Good Old Daze) and a quintessential coming of age film about young Parisians.

Find out more about the cinema club Lost In Frenchlation on https://lostinfrenchlation.com/

You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

On this episode of Lost in Frenchlation Manon Kerjean and ARBL Murray (Alex Brook Lynn) interview Giulio Callegari the director of the new robot comedy ‘Un Monde Merveilleux’ or the English version ‘Robot T-O’

The film is set in the not so distant future in which robot companions have hit the consumer market and are now as common as the I-phone. We meet Max and her 10 year old daughter Paula who live off stealing and small time hustles. When they steal an outdated robot model and try to re-sell it, things don’t work out as planned and Max is separated from Paula and stuck with only the robot named Tio to help get her daughter back. Although Max hates technology and how robots have changed the world, she learns a few lessons from her new robot friend.

Originally a screenwriter for various films and TV shows, Gulio has made his directorial debut with this film. Guilio talks about the classics that inspired the parent/ child dynamics in this film like Cassavetes’ Gloria and Eastwood’s A Perfect World. We delve into what makes Blanche Charlie the perfect modern day Charlie Chaplin and why we should all be afraid of robots with cute faces.

This episode was recorded at the Luminor Theater in Paris.

For more information on the cinema club Lost in Frenchlation and how to watch some movies with us go to https://lostinfrenchlation.com/

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In this Episode of Lost in Frenchlation we talk to Laura Piani, the writer and director of ‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,’ a new romantic comedy about a woman who lives between the pages and struggles to finish her own story. Laura shares with us why she decided to direct, what inspired this story, and how she chose to show the work of Jane Austen in a new light.

We delve into some of the autobiographical elements of the film: The main character works at the famed Shakespeare and Co. as did Laura herself– and discuss the male archetypes in the films wonderfully funny love triangle, and the best book Laura ever read.

For more information on Lost in Frenchlation, the cinema club click here:

https://lostinfrenchlation.com/

The hosts for this episode are Manon Kerjean and ARBL Murray (Alex Brook Lynn). This episode was recorded and produced by World Radio Paris.

It’s that time of year again! The Cannes Film Festival wrap up! There were anarchists sabotaging electrical systems and fainting spells during the screenings but was it also an exciting year for cinema? Our guest Youri Rebeko helps us unpack it all and shares his top picks and biggest disappointments this year.

Youri is a screenwriter, composer, and one of the hosts of the popular French cinema podcast La Perche.

This episode is produced and hosted by Manon Kerjean and ARBL Murray and recorded in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.

Notes on Episode:

Youri’s Picks

Sirat

Left Handed Girl

A Simple Accident

Manon’s Picks

Des Preuves d’Amour

La Petite Dernière

For more information about Lost in Frenchlation and to buy tickets go to:

https://lostinfrenchlation.com