The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to wrap up the Rendezvous with French Cinema Series with the one-night-only debut of the award-winning “In the Courtyard” — starring Academy Award-nominee Catherine Deneuve.
Forty-year-old musician Antoine (Gustave Kervern) suddenly decides to end his career. After several days’ aimless wandering, he is hired as the caretaker of an old residential building in Paris. Mathilde (Catherine Deneuve) is a recently retired resident, generous-spirited and deeply involved with the management company of the building.
After she discovers a crack in her living room wall, Mathilde’s worry gradually turns to panic — what if the building were to collapse? Slowly, Antoine develops a fondness for this woman he is afraid will slip into madness. Through a confusion of misfires and anxiety, the two develop an awkward friendship — funny yet solid — which might just get them through this difficult patch.
Rendezvous with French Cinema — a co-presentation of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance Films — attests to the sheer variety and vitality of contemporary French filmmaking. The lineup includes established masters, critics’ favorites, and actor-turned-directors who have fully come into their own as filmmakers, alongside some of the emerging talent from what has been called France’s next New Wave.