Opening Night Gala

The lush romantic comedy Living Out Loud has many surprises, but none greater than the artistry achieved by Richard LaGravenese in his directorial debut. The qualities that have made him one of the top contemporary screenwriters are all on display here: an imaginative, unpredictable storytelling style; an ability and desire to delve deeply into adult emotions- and a rare talent for creating interesting women characters. In Living Out Loud, LaGravenese has outdone himself, creating-a deeply moving, often hilarious fable about loneliness, love, and second chances. He has also elicited award-worthy performances from Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito, who are at their absolute best.

Hunter plays the jilted wife of a wealthy Fifth Avenue doctor; DeVito is the elevator operator she has barely noticed until her life has been turned upside down. Of course this odd couple is drawn together, but there is nothing routine about how their story unfolds. As they try to navigate the dangerous territory between friendship, romance, and sheer lust, Hunter and DeVito are equally hilarious and heartbreaking. Set against a silky jazz background exemplified by Queen Latifah's seductive performance of Goin' Out of My Head, Living Out Loud casts a magic spell from beginning to end-including a massage scene in the middle that will leave you gasping. - David Schwartz.

Closing Night Gala

The School of Flesh
L'Ecole de la Chair)
Benoit Jacquot

France, 1998, 105 mins.
US PREMIERE
Producer Fabienne Vonier
Screenwriter Jacques Fieschi
Director of Photography Caroline Champetier
Production Design Katia Wyszkop
Editor: Luc Barnier
Principal cast: Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Martinez, Vincent Lindon, Marthe Keller, Francois Berleand.

In her illustrious career, French actress Isabelle Huppert has consistently chosen roles that contradict her delicate, freckle-faced appearance. Working with a pantheon of directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Marta Meszaros, Maurice Pialat, Hal Hartley, and Claude Chabrol, Huppert has created vibrant portrayals of transgressive women whose violent or romantic urges place them outside bourgeois society.

With The School of Flesh, Benoit Jacquot has created an exquisite, deeply moving character study built around a stunning performance by Huppert. In the director's words, it is a film "that she is the focus of, the backbone, literally a film shot around her."

Adapted from a post-war novel by Yukio Mishima, The School of Flesh is about a successful businesswoman who falls in love with a young man. The story is an inversion of the classic film noir in which an older man falls for a dangerous femme fatale, only to find his orderly life shattered. Transposing a distilled Japanese style to present-day France, Jacquot uses a clean, classical approach tell a tale of deep passions boiling just beneath controlled surfaces. Huppert's Dominique is a powerful portrait of a woman seeking a sexual bond as well as something more elusive - an intimate connection. - David Schwartz