Film of the Week – Ma Vie de Courgette (a.k.a. My Life as a Courgette)

Whilst Lincoln Film Society is on hiatus for the foreseeable future and The Venue and other cinemas around the country are closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we thought we should keep community film appreciation alive through these testing times by curating a ‘film of the week’ series for members. These will be films readily available on Freeview TV or free catch-up services, so those without paid options won’t be excluded.

Keep an eye out on our blog here, our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and in our weekly newsletters for the selected titles. Our committee members will be picking the films and sharing their thoughts. You can join in the discussion in our new Facebook group, via Twitter or in the comments section of the website.

Our latest pick is Ma Vie de Courgette (a.k.a. My Life as a Courgette), which is available to watch on All4. Here’s a handy link to get straight to it, or you can use the search or browse options on your smart TV or mobile app.

It was chosen by LFS committee member Helen Hancocks. Here thoughts on the film are below, but first we’d also like to draw your attention to:

MyFrenchFilmFestival

Until April 27 2020, more than 50 French short films are available for free, worldwide and subtitled in many languages.

Now is the time to watch French Films!

Link to Festival Website

Ma Vie de Courgette (a.k.a. My Life as a Courgette)

France/Switzerland 2016
Dir: Claude Barras
Voices of: Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat
Cert PG
66 mins

Why did I choose My Life as a Courgette? I feel we need cheering up and reminding of good things (and definitely not Good Times the film).

It’s 62 minutes of life: sadness, growing pains, alcoholism, abuse, love and friendship. Basically, emotions, but don’t let that put you off. It’s truly just beautiful.

And it’s French! Fortunately it’s the French subtitled version, not the one dubbed by Hollywood.

Side note. If you are excited about Portrait of A Lady on Fire, as of this Friday you can see this on MUBI (7 day free trial available if you want to try it). I highly recommend catching this film as its director Celine Sciamma was one of the writers on Courgette. Also check out Girlhood and Tomboy which are also brilliant.

Hope you are all keeping safe and sound. I can’t wait for the day we are back at The Venue complaining how we didn’t understand the film we just watched. And I need to get my weekly raffle steps in.

www.helenhancocks.com

Trailer: