Film Screening:

Fidelio, l'odysée d'Alice / Fidelio, Alice's Odyssey

(Lucie Borleteau, 2015, 97 min, France, in French w/ English Subtitles, Color, DCP) 

-- Introduced by Camille Chanod, Romance Studies/PhD exchange student, Université de Paris-Diderot;Q&A to follow!

Lucie Borleteau makes her feature directing debut with this insightful study of a woman situated in an almost exclusively male milieu. Sailor Alice (Ariane Labed) joins the freighter Fidelio as a replacement engineer, soon discovering that the captain, Gaël (Melvil Poupaud), is a man with whom she was once romantically involved. Though she leaves behind a fiancé on land, she finds her feelings for Gaël have not abated. Buttressed by a remarkable international cast, the film presents a rounded portrait of a passionate woman faced with difficult choices.

-- Winner for Best Actress at Locarno International Film Festival (2015)!

-- Nominated for two César Awards including Best Debut Feature!

"Built four-square around Ariane Labed's engaging turn as eponymous sailor Alice, this feature debut from actress-turned-writer-director Lucie Borleteau strikes a delicate balance between the sensual and the matter-of-fact." - Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter 

"Easily the most fascinating film to come along and challenge traditional gender roles in the past year." - Peter Debruge, Variety

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Sponsors: The Center for French and Francophone Studies (CFFS), the Program in Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), the Department of Romance Studies, the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies (AAHVS), and the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies.