What to see at the cinema in July? The 4 films not to be missed

The Flamboyant Return of the Count of Monte Cristo

The count of Monte Cristo, by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière (France, 2 h 58). Released on June 28.

The French blockbuster takes us on an ocean of human passions. Breathtaking costumes and sets, chiseled dialogues, rhythm, preserved historical backdrop: this three-hour film passes in a flash. From the first sequence, with the metamorphoses of the hero, Edmond Dantès, the filmmakers take us on an extraordinary journey, along which they preserve the variety of genres of the novel imagined by Alexandre Dumas in 1846. Read our full review. Catherine Escrive.

Spirit, are you there?

The mediumby Emmanuel Laskar, dramatic comedy. 1 h 20. In theaters.

Michael (Emmanuel Laskar) is disoriented. His partner has just left him, on the day of his mother’s (Noémie Lvovsky) funeral. A figure whose legacy he does not accept, she who worked as a medium in the Var and claimed to have given him the gift of communicating with the deceased. However, his meeting with Alicia (Louise Bourgoin), a sensitive painter and widow of an architect, will push Michael to take on the role of a clairvoyant. For this profound comedy about mourning, actor and director Emmanuel Laskar drew inspiration from his personal history. The son of hippies, he experienced a solitary adolescence in the Var. “I took refuge in the Thoronet abbey to write dialogues with the spirits, a way of inventing a company for myself and connecting to something bigger,” he remembers. It was also during this period that he was marked by the death of his best friend’s father. This great reader of works on religions, who defines himself as “a practitioner without any particular doctrine”, decided to give his film a burlesque tone, close to Buddhism. “I like koans, little riddles posed by the Zen master to his disciple, where the sacred takes the path of humor”, he specifies. On screen, the ghosts, who appear in saturated colors like Ghostbusters, have a great time, continuing to remake the world, dance, love each other in the eyes of the medium. Throughout this saraband of ghosts, death does not seem to be an end for the living, as long as the memories of shared moments and what has been accomplished are cherished. Alicia will understand this when she uses the gentleness she felt with her husband as a driving force to forge new bonds and continue to create. A path of resilience that was that of Emmanuel Laskar: “Even if it never replaces the loved one, the artistic gesture offers consolation.” Faustine Prévot

Our opinion: PPP

(Not so) exquisite corpses

English dinner, by Matt Winn, comedy. 1h30. In theaters July 17.

Weakened by a bad investment, Tom, a brilliant architect, and his wife Sarah must sell their London home. They then organize a last dinner with their friends Richard and Beth, a couple from opposite ends of the spectrum: he, an unscrupulous lawyer, and she, an exemplary marriage counselor. But another of their old acquaintances, Jessica, an unpredictable journalist, imposes herself at their table. After telling them the truth about abandoning their youthful ideals, she hangs herself in the garden… and the story changes. Sarah, convinced that the sale will not go through if the body is discovered, tries to convince the others that it must be moved… This is a scathing British satire, punctuated in nine short chapters, in the vein of A Little Murder Between Friends. Starting with an initial drama and outrageous adventures, director Matt Winn questions what the establishment is prepared to sacrifice for its social status. Friendship, love, and perhaps even… its soul. FP

Our opinion: PP

India and its underworld

Santosh, by Sandhya Suri, drama. 2 h 08. In theaters July 17.

Presented as part of the Un Certain Regard selection at the last Cannes Film Festival, this very successful Indian thriller cannot leave you indifferent. The filmmaker Sandhya Suri portrays Santosh, a young widow from northern India who inherits her husband’s police position, as the law allows in this country. But when the heroine must lead the investigation into the murder of a teenager from a lower caste, she finds herself plunged, in spite of herself, into the daily violence of Indian society. Religious intolerance, misogyny, corruption: Santosh becomes a witness to all these evils that she can do nothing about alone. If this fast-paced psychological thriller is particularly intense and well-constructed, it should be noted that it contains a scene of great violence. Sensitive souls abstain. Catherine Escrive

Our opinion: PP

A very discreet hero indeed

A life, by James Hawes, biopic. 1:49 a.m.

This feature film depicts the life of London banker Nicholas Winton, wonderfully played here by Anthony Hopkins. In 1938, when the city of Prague was about to fall into the hands of the Nazis, this man of absolute determination and courage organized the rescue of 669 Jewish children from the ghetto of the Czechoslovakian capital, who were doomed to death in concentration camps. The young survivors were welcomed into English families thanks to the convoys organized by this hero who remained unknown until 1988. Classically crafted, this moving film is a work of remembrance in a very elegant way. Essential. CE

Our opinion: PPP