A pop icon, family dramedy and explosive plotline: The latest in French cinema

Critic Perrine Quennesson takes us through the latest releases in the world of French cinema, with two family stories that transport us to convincing versions of France in the 1960s and 1990s. “My Mother, God, And Sylvie Vartan” tells the story of a devoted mother, played by Leïla Bekhti, who is prepared to move mountains for her son. Meanwhile “Queen Mom” charts an immigrant family’s experience as they come up against stereotypes about North Africans and attempt to overcome the obstacles planted in their path; the film also offers a comical and fantastical take on one of the bogeymen of French history classes. A volcano on the brink of eruption in Guadeloupe distils social and political tensions in “Magma” and we discuss Thierry Frémaux’s love letter to the Lumière brothers, as he documents the birth of cinema and its modern conventions.