Deneuve Hits BAM at Francophilia Fest

BAM is to host a near-month-long retrospective of Catherine Deneuve’s films, from March 4 to March 31. The season will be a high-water mark in New York’s interest in French cinema–March 3 to 13 will see the “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema” series at Walter Reade, which opens with a Deneuve performance in the new film Potiche and includes appearances by French director Catherine Breillat and actor Gaspard Ulliel. Can a city so transfixed by its homegrown cinema (Film Forum is currently showing Pacino’s grit hits from the 1970s) so easily go Gallic?

Deneuve will appear at BAM and Walter Reade to promote Potiche–and may find herself wondering from whence the outpouring of affection stems. The last time the Observer was this intrigued by a BAM retrospective, the theater was screening Lindsay Lohan’s greatest hits.

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_