Virginie Efira – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Women Winners @ Cannes 2026 – Diane Carson reports

May 27, 2026May 31, 2026 Diane Carson Camera d’Or, geena davis, Marié-Clémentine Dusabejambo, Monia Chokri, Tao Okamoto, Un Certain Regard, Valeska Grisebach, Virginie Efira

The 79th Cannes Film Festival award ceremony held May 23, 2026, began on a high note with presenter Geena Davis noting that women have truly made advances in the filmmaking world. Smiling, she pointed to the 2026 official poster, a tribute to Thelma and Louise which premiered May 1991 at Cannes. There self-assuredly sit Geena Davis/Thelma and Susan Surandon/Louise atop the front seats of their iconic 1966 Ford thunderbird convertible, the car in which they escaped, at least for a while, patriarchal power. Honoring the film’s thirty-five year anniversary, the poster celebrates the pair’s enduring friendship, their challenge to male dictates, and assertion of their power. protagonist.

Reviews

A PRIVATE LIFE – Review by Susan Granger

April 6, 2026April 11, 2026 Susan Granger A Private Life, Anne Berest, Daniel Auteuil, jodie foster, mathieu Amalric, Rebecca Zlotowski, Sophie Guillemin, Virginie Efira

Not one of Jodie Foster’s best films but unusual because – in her protagonist performance – she speaks impeccable French, making A Private Life more of a curiosity than a ‘must see.’ When Paris-based American psychoanalyst Lilian Steiner (Foster) learns that her patient of nine years committed suicide, she sets out to prove that she was actually murdered, enlisting help from her ex-husband. While it’s not the first time Foster has acted in French, it’s the most significant role in the language that she’s ever played, working with a director – Rebecca Zlotowski – who co-wrote the script with Anne Berest with her in mind.

Movie of the Week

MOTW January 16, 2026: A PRIVATE LIFE

January 11, 2026January 13, 2026 Jennifer Merin A Private Life, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Daniel Auteuil, jennifer merin, jodie foster, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, mathieu Amalric, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, Rebecca Zlotowski, sandie angulo chen, sherin nicole, Simon Cohen-Solal, Virginie Efira

A psychiatrist’s personal and professional insecurities come together to send her spiraling in the wake of her long-time patient’s death in director Rebecca Zlotowski’s engrossing mystery/thriller A Private Life. Starring Jodie Foster in her French-language feature debut, the film follows Dr. Lilian Steiner (Foster) as she gets caught up in trying to prove that the engimatic Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira) didn’t die by suicide but, in fact, was murdered.

Reviews

JUST THE TWO OF US – Review by Leslie Combemale

June 13, 2024June 13, 2024 Leslie Combemale french films, Just the Two of Us, Melvin Poupaud, spousal abuse, Valérie Donzelli, Virginie Efira

Just the Two of Us is a sort of no bullshit, very French profile of one woman’s trauma that brings to mind that slick 90s US studio release Sleeping With the Enemy, which starred Julia Roberts. This new film features an actress who could be arguably labeled the Julia Roberts of France, Virginie Efira. Her character Blanche goes down the rabbit hole of self-doubt, fear, and shame many women suffering abuse go through, and being a French release, it’s not at all certain audiences will get the same kind of slick studio ending, or even whether she’ll survive.

Reviews

MADELEINE COLLINS – Review by Liz Braun

August 12, 2023August 12, 2023 Liz Braun Antoine Barraud, Bruno Salomone, Madeleine Collins, Mona Walravens, Navad Lapid, Quim Gutierrez, Virginie Efira

Madeleine Collins is not exactly a thriller, but it is the sort of spellbinding storytelling that keeps you in its grip throughout. It could be regarded as a psychological drama, and it certainly plays that way. On the other hand, the double life set-up offers a subversive and exaggerated look at the world of women, pulled as they are in different directions at all times. Either interpretation will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Movie of the Week Reviews

MOVIE OF THE WEEK September 18, 2020: SIBYL

September 13, 2020November 22, 2020 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments Adèle Exarchopoulos, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, gaspard ulliel, jennifer merin, justine triet, kathia woods, leslie combemale, loren king, motw, Movie of the Week, Pam Grady, sandie angulo chen, Sandra Hüller, sibyl, susan wloszczyna, Virginie Efira

The line between life and art becomes very blurred in Sibyl, French feminist filmmaker Justine Triet’s intimate, ethically complex drama about the titular Sibyl (Virginie Efira), an emotionally fragile psychotherapist who finds inspiration for her novel in her patient’s complicated life. But can she deal with her own insecurities and past entanglements?

Reviews

SIBYL – Review by Loren King

September 8, 2020September 12, 2020 Loren King 0 Comments Adèle Exarchopoulos, gaspard ulliel, justine triet, motw, Movie of the Week, Sandra Hüller, sibyl, Virginie Efira

Sibyl deftly balances romantic thriller and delicious drama with comic overtones about movie making. It’s one of the best on this rich subject since Truffaut’s classic Day For Night. Sibyl is a smart, surprising and sophisticated movie for adults, a refreshing reprieve from low bar moviemaking.