'Fame' operates with the emotional and narrative complexity of advertising and porn, engaging it's audience in the pursuit of the spectacle for it's own ends. The message is 'Success', which sounds a bit like the word 'sex' with the word 'sucks' tacked onto the beginning.

The Alliance Française French Film Festival, now in its 20th year, did the Sydney circuit this March, displaying some outstanding contemporary cinematic exports from France. One of the highlights in the comedy genre was that of Francis Veber’s latest film adaptation of his successful play, L’Emmerdeur (“A Pain in the Ass”).

We sat awkwardly in the back, suddenly robbed of the secrecy and anonymity of speaking Russian. All around us there flitted shreds of truncated Russian gibberish, tainted by the familiar broken syntax of immigrants who now think purely in their adopted language. At last, members of the Russian cultural nobility assembled far in front. Two bored-looking Russian models, presumably Shaknazarov’s actresses or dates, posed reflexively in response to camera flashes as a series of speakers shambled over to have their pictures taken with them. Some of them paused at the microphone to issues speeches to the waiting public, the content of these can be summarized as a sort of congratulation for everybody who turned up on the night: “Look how culturally aware you are! Look how lucky we are to have this screening. What a great day this is for foreign film!” At last, the director approached the podium and spoke in beautifully, stereotypically accented English. “Your job is to watch the movie” he reminded us. “I just hope it is not a waste of your time”.

There is something engaging about European War movies that Hollywood cannot match. It may be the attention to detail or the fascinating plots but what sets Les Femmes de l'ombre apart is its humbleness. In the film, people are people and not representatives of states. There are no inherently evil officers or cruel torturers. Everybody has their own motives to fight and war and society are the only enemies.