Athlone Film Club continues its new season on Tuesday January 31 at 8pm in the Dean Crowe Theatre with some comic relief...French style!
Potiche is a hugely enjoyable French farce and a comedy of female emancipation with a witty script and terrific performances from Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu.
Set in Northern France in 1977, the director Francois Ozon brings the audiences back to the mild-mannered drawing room comedy of an earlier era of French cinema. Told with sly humour and eye-catching period detail, Potiche offers frothy fun underpinned by some astute observations about the dawn of feminism and the seismic changes in French society in this period.
Suzanne (Deneuve ) is the submissive, housebound wife of wealthy industrialist Robert Pujol who oversees his umbrella factory with an iron fist and is equally tyrannical with his children and ‘potiche’ or trophy wife.
When the workers go on strike and take Robert hostage, Suzanne steps into manage the factory. To everyone’s surprise, she proves herself a competent and assertive woman of action. But when Robert returns from a restful cruise in top form, things get complicated.
There will be a complimentary wine reception in the theatre bar from 7.30pm which gives members a chance to socialise and discuss the upcoming film. Details of membership of the club can be accessed on www.athlonefilmclub.com You can also come along as a temporary member for the night.
