Some glittering entries in City of Lights/Angels fest

With the regular distribution of many French films seemingly a thing of the past, the annual City of Lights, City of Angels Film Festival becomes an increasingly important event. Now in its eighth edition, the festival runs Monday through April 3 at the Directors Guild of America and opens with a premiere of Francis Veber’s “Tais-toi!” (“Ruby & Quentin”), which stars Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno in the title roles. Veber will be present for a Q&A; after the screening -- one of a number that will be followed by a filmmaker’s talk.

Four gems were available for preview. Anne Fontaine’s impeccably acted “Nathalie ...” comes up with some fresh twists to an old dilemma. Fanny Ardant’s Catherine is a beautiful, elegant Parisian who correctly discerns that her constantly traveling businessman husband, Bernard (Depardieu), has been unfaithful to her. Deeply wounded by his infidelity, Catherine on impulse hires a lovely young prostitute, Marlene (Emmanuelle Beart), who assumes the name Nathalie, to ensnare him and then fill her in on the explicit details. Catherine learns lots more than she bargained for -- especially about herself.

“A Birch Tree Meadow” profoundly reflects filmmaker Marceline Loridan-Ivens’ loss of her husband, renowned documentarian Joris Ivens (with whom she collaborated on many films), and her subsequent need to come to terms with being a Holocaust survivor. Loridan-Ivens calls her film fiction, but it strongly echoes her own experience. In what may well be the crowning achievement of a long, thriving career, Anouk Aimee is Loridan-Ivens’ alter ego, the regally beautiful, recently widowed Myriam, moved to return from New York to Paris for a 50th anniversary reunion of Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors. Myriam then becomes determined to return to Birkenau, where in the setting of the vast deserted camp Aimee’s radiant presence and Loridan-Ivens’ unwavering vision allow the viewer to experience the effect of an unspeakable past. Because Loridan-Ivens dared place a human presence in a derelict death camp, her film is even stronger than Alain Resnais’ classic 1956 short “Night and Fog.”

Philippe Le Guay’s “The Cost of Living” is an imaginative and engaging comedy about how money or the lack of it affects our lives and, more important, how individuals try to take charge of their own destinies with varying degrees of success. Le Guay focuses on about a dozen citizens of Lyon whose lives intersect -- sometimes unknowingly, other times profoundly. The two key figures are Vincent Lindon’s Coway, a warm, volatile truck driver turned restaurateur full of ambitions who has a terrible tendency to overextend his financial capacity, and Fabrice Luchini’s Brett, a compulsive cheapskate who is also chronically constipated.

Claude Rich plays a distinguished-looking business tycoon whose brush with mortality provokes him to turn his life upside down no matter the consequences to himself and others. Among other key figures is the beautiful, self-assured prostitute Helena (Geraldine Pailhas), who understands a great deal more about love than her clientele. “The Cost of Living” is an elegant, buoyant work anchored by the exemplary performances typical of its stars.

A highlight of the festival is the U.S. premiere of the digitally restored “Donkey Skin.” This exquisite 1971 musical version of the Charles Perrault fairy tale about a king whose dying queen requests that he marry only a woman more beautiful than she stars Catherine Deneuve, Jacques Perrin and Jean Marais.

The festival closes with Pierre Salvadori’s “After You.” The film opens promisingly with Antoine (Daniel Auteuil), a dedicated waiter in a charming Paris restaurant, rescuing a stranger, Louis (Jose Garcia), from hanging himself from a tree in a park. Antoine thereby becomes responsible for a man who has been reduced to jelly by the loss of his great love, the beguiling Blanche (Sandrine Kiberlain). Under Salvadori’s direction the film’s stars dazzle, but for all his frequently hilarious inventiveness Salvadori stretches out his brother’s-keeper tale to the point of weariness. A 109-minute running time is far too long for a comedy, even one that has as much going for it as this does. A trim may be in order for an American release.

*

Screenings

City of Lights, City of Angels Film Festival picks

Info: (310) 652-6563 or www.colcoa.com

Where: Directors Guild Theater, 7920 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood

* “Tais-toi!” (“Ruby & Quentin”),

Monday, 7:30 p.m. (invitation only) and Wednesday, 7:15 p.m.

* “Nathalie ...,”

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. (Theater 1)

* “A Birch Tree Meadow,”

Tuesday, 7:15 p.m. (Theater 1)

and April 3, 3:45 p.m.

* “The Cost of Living,”

Next Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

* “Donkey Skin,”

April 3, 1:30 p.m.

* “After You,”

April 3, 8:30 p.m.