Bertrand Usclat and Martin Darondeau’s hilarious laugh-a-minute comedy is a wonderfully chaotic love letter to the theatre.
The Comédie-Française is one of France’s most revered arts institutions, and the oldest still-performing theatre company in the world. There is one golden rule: the play is NEVER cancelled. Unfortunately for theatre producer Nina (Pauline Clément), everything is unravelling just three hours before the premiere of her first production – an ambitious retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Her lead actor is stuck on a train, tensions are exploding, passions flaring, equipment breaking down and egos are clashing. With panic setting in and the clock ticking Nina must hold things together at all costs. Will the show go on?
France’s hit summer comedy and the runaway winner of four awards at the Alpe d’Huez comedy Film Festival, Comédie Française is a delicious behind-the-scenes farce which is unafraid to poke fun at the highbrow reputation of French theatre. Featuring a cast of real-life members of the Comédie-Française company, this is a gleeful, knowing parody and a sheer delight.
Original language: French
Presented with English subtitles
HOW DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR TEACHERS?
Take your seats and face the front: how different are the spaces of the classroom and the cinema?
School is a near-universal experience with deep emotional connections and investments. From Internet role models to constant, polarising debates about teachers and child welfare, we live in an age of great uncertainty around education.
Many famous films about schools and teaching are inspirational dramas — think Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society. What about grounded, sensitive films that more deeply explore the challenges and complexities of teaching and school life?
Taking place shortly after the Lexi’s run of Bad Apples, this season invites audiences to experience a range of lesser-seen films about schools from four European countries: France, Slovenia, Croatia and Germany. Two of the four titles have never screened theatrically in the UK outside festivals.
Each screening will include an introduction, with a panel discussion after the final screening.
CLASSROOM CINEMA is a film season curated by Tom Saer, in collaboration with the Film Studies, Programming and Curation Master’s at the National Film and Television School (NFTS).
Bora reunite for more unmissable Brazilian cinema at The Lexi Cinema in partnership with Cine Brazil!
Throughout August we're screening 4 Brazilian classics from the 2000s, and in September a bonus film to close things out.
Rewatch the saudosos classics or catch them for the first time on the big screen.
📽️ A Dog's Will (Auto da Compadecida) - Aug 2, 4 & 6
📽️ City of God (Cidade de Deus) - Aug 9, 10, 12 & 13
📽️ Ó Paí, Ó - Aug 16, 18 & 20
📽️ Basic Sanitation the Movie (Saneamento Básico) - Aug 23, 25 & 27
📽️ Bacurau - Sep 6 & 10
All Sunday screenings will have an introduction before the film.
All films with English subtitles.
