TV5MONDE Program Highlights – May 2023
Film
May 1 - May 31, 2023
The international French-language network TV5 Monde is showing several fantastic programs in May. The program includes premium films, a chance to discover exciting new series, fun-filled variety shows, and engaging documentaries! We’ve rounded up some of the very best must-see programs this month, get ready to immerse yourself in French culture!
TV5 Monde
Cannes Special
L’invité—May 16-May 19 at 8:20am ET/ 5:20am PT, May 20-21 at 1:50pm ET/ 10:50am PT, May 22-26 at 8:20am ET/ 5:20am PT, May 27 at 1:50pm ET/ 10:50am PT
(times subject to change)
Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet Special
- Host Patrick Simonin will be on the red carpet interviewing the stars at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Host: Patrick Simonin (France 2023)
Genre: News
A Good Man—May 2 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
(English ST)
Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus beginning May 3
- Aude and Benjamin are in love and have been living together for six years. After several failed IVF attempts and multiple miscarriages, Aude is devastated that she may never be able to have a child. So, Benjamin, who is actually a transgender man, decides that he will carry the baby.
Director: Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar (2020)
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Soko, Vincent Dedienne
Genre: Drama
Awards: 2020 Cannes Official Selection, 2021 Festival del Cinema Europeo Best Film Winner
Tralala— May 7 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
U.S. Premiere
Also available on Cinema on Demand beginning May 5
(English ST)
- A middle-aged singer/songwriter takes on a new identity as a guitarist who disappeared while searching for the Virgin Mary.
Director: Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu (France, 2021)
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Josiane Balasko, Mélanie Thierry
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Official Selection – Out of Competition, Midnight Screening
Bonne mère— May 9 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
U.S. Premiere
(English ST)
- Nora, a cleaner in her fifties, watches over her little brood on a housing estate in northern Marseille. She worries about what is going to happen to her grown-up son Ellyes, in preventive custody for several months, and awaiting his trial for robbery with a mixture of hope and worry.
Director: Hafzia Herzi (France, 2021)
Cast: Halima Benhamed, Sabrina Benhamed, Jawed Hannachi Herzi
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Un Certain Regard – Ensemble Prize Winner.
Serre-moi fort— May 14 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
(English ST)
- A woman runs away from her family, forcing her husband to take care of the children she left behind. Based on the play “Je reviens de loin” by Claudine Galéa.
Director: Mathieu Amalric (France,Germany 2021)
Cast: Vicky Krieps, Arieh Worthalter, Anne-Sophie Bowen-Chatet, Sacha Ardilly
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Official Cannes Premieres Selection
Une histoire d’amour et de désir— May 16 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
(English ST)
- Ahmed, a young Algerian-born suburbanite, meets the attractive Farah at university. Having recently arrived in Paris, the young Tunisian introduces him to a collection of sensual and erotic literature in Arabic that he never suspected existed. Very much in love and consumed with desire, Ahmed tries to resist.
Director: Leyla Bouzid (France,Tunisia 2021)
Cast: Sami Outalbali, Zbeida Belhajamor
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Critics’ Week Official Selection
Jane par Charlotte— May 21 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT
(English ST)
- Charlotte Gainsbourg films her mother, Jane Birkin. An exchange that covers several years, gradually erasing the artists, leaving just two people, a mother opposite her daughter, exposed in an intimate, unique, and universal conversation.
Director: Charlotte Gainsbourg (France, 2021)
Genre: Documentary
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Golden Eye Nominee, César Awards 2023 Best Documentary Film Nominee.
France— May 25 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
- Celebrity journalist of a twenty-four hour news channel, France sees her world turned upside down when she injures a pedestrian in a traffic accident. The young woman tries to withdraw into a simple anonymous life, but her fame relentlessly pursues her…
Director: Bruno Dumont (France, 2021)
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Benjamin Biolay, Blanche Gardin
Genre: Dramedy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Palme d’Or Nominee, Canne Film Festival 2022 Best Actress César Nominee (Léa Seydoux)
Don Juan— May 28 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
U.S. Premiere
(English ST)
- Abandoned on his wedding day, Laurent, an actor playing the stage role of Don Juan, can’t stop himself from seeing his ex-fiancée in all the women he comes across. Attempting to soothe his broken heart, he tries chatting them up, but none are interested…
Director: Serge Bozon (France, Belgium, 2022)
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Virginie Efira, Alain Chamfort, Damien Chapelle
Genre: Dramedy Musical
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2022 Official Selection
Les magnétiques— May 30 at 8:30pm ET/ 5:30pm PT
(English ST)
- A bunch of friends broadcast a free radio station from their home in 1980s rural France. After one of them is called away to Berlin for his military service, he desperately wants to keep broadcasting with his friends.
Director: Vincent Maël Cardona (France, Germany, 2021)
Cast: Thimotée Robart, Marie Colomb, Joseph Olivennes
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 SACD Prize (Directors’ Fortnight) Winner, César Awards 2022 Best First Film Winner.
Documentaries – TV Monde
Marthe Keller, du mur de Berlin à Hollywood— May 16 at 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT
(English ST)
Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus: https://www.tv5mondeplus.com/en/details/vod/106922142_74079A
(English ST)
- The actress Marthe Keller remembers her happy childhood in Switzerland, her adolescence in Berlin facing the sinister wall, her dream of becoming a dancer. She looks back to her arrival in Paris, her love affair with the film-maker Philippe de Broca, and her life in America, with Al Pacino… Portrait.
Director: Nicolas Henry (France 2020)
Genre: Documentary
Le mystère Bardot— May 24 at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT
(English ST)
Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus: https://www.tv5mondeplus.com/en/details/vod/107064567_74079A
- Who hides behind Brigitte Bardot? Extraordinarily photogenic, a tumultuous love life, the ultimate sex symbol for the 1950s and 1960s, the actress, singer and animal rights activist left an indelible mark on her era. Despite over 30,000 photos published in the press, her true personality has long-remained in the shadows.
Director: Sophie Agacinski, Gilles Nadeau (France 2012)
Genre: Documentary
1918-1939: Les Rêves brisés de l’entre-deux-guerres— Mondays, starting May 1 at 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT
(English ST)
- Following the fates of children, women and men by means of their diary notes, letters and memoirs. It is people who make the history of Europe come alive with their dreams, fears, decisions and life paths.
- The November 11, 1918 armistice sealed Germany’s defeat. Non-commissioned officer in the Kaiser’s navy, Hans Beimler took part in the Kiel mutiny. Marina Yurlova, former child soldier, is saved by a Czech officer. In Berlin, Apolonia Chalupiec from Poland, dreams of becoming an actress. Marie-Jeanne Picqueray goes up to Paris.
Director: Jan Peter, Frédéric Goupil (Germany, Luxembourg, France 2018)
Genre: Documentary Series, History
L’avenir nous appartient— Mondays, starting May 1 at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT
(English ST)
Also streaming on TV5MONDEplus: https://www.tv5mondeplus.com/en/details/vod/106991882_74079A
- The Quebec journalists Émilie Perreault and Monic Néron wonder what the future holds in store for our society. They head off in search of initiatives that are as inspiring as they are innovative.
- Paul Arcand opens the doors of his studio. Jean-Martin Fortier, organic farming pioneer, offers online lessons in market gardening. Élodie and Stephan apply the principles of joint custody. Régine Laurent returns to the Santa Cabrini Hospital where her commitment to the trade union movement first began.
Director: Jean-François Poisson (Canada 2021)
Genre: Documentary Series, Environment
Series
L’art du crime—May 28 at 11:30 pm ET/8:30 pm PT
Season 6, EP 1 Premiere
(English ST)
· Police officer Antoine Verlay and art historian Florence Chassagne investigate crimes in Paris related to art and cultural property. Their contradictions cause turbulence, but at the same time also success.
· The body of a young woman is found in a photographic studio, apparently murdered whilst reconstituting a work by Manet. Verlay and Chassagne follow the evidence to the theft of a masterpiece by the painter from the Boston Museum. Chassagne asks a former lover, specialist in stolen artwork, for help.
Director: Christelle Raynal (France 2022) Cast: Nicolas Gob, Éléonore Bernheim, Philippe Duclos, Benjamin Egner, Salomé Partouche
Genre: Thriller
TV5 Monde Plus
Cannes Special
Gueule d’ange—Streaming beginning May 3
(English ST)
- One day, Marlene suddenly chooses to abandon her daughter for a man she has just met during yet another night of excess. Elli must confront her mother’s demons to get her back.
Director: Vanessa Filho (France, 2018)
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Ayline Aksoy-Etaix, Alban Lenoir
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2018 Un Certain Regard Award Nominee
Les particules—Streaming beginning May 3
(English ST)
- As winter sets in and P.A. sees the world shifting around him, he starts to observe strange phenomena in the environment. The changes are imperceptible at first, but gradually his whole world seems to be on the brink.
Director: Blaise Harrison (France, 2019)
Cast: Thomas Daloz, Néa Lüders, Salvatore Ferro
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2019 Golden Camera Nominee
Si le vent tombe—Streaming beginning May 3
(English ST)
- Alain, an international auditor, has arrived to assess the airport of a small self-proclaimed republic in the Caucasus in order to give the green light for its reopening. Edgar, a local boy, runs his own peculiar small business outside the airport. After interacting with the child and other residents, Alain is able to discover this isolated land and will risk everything to allow the country to open up.
- Nagorno-Karabakh is an Armenian province that was annexed to Azerbaijan by Stalin in 1921. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, its inhabitants called for independence, a plea which eventually sparked a war initiated by the Azeri authorities. Since then, despite a ceasefire, the two sides have maintained a volatile relationship that continues to claim numerous lives.
Director: Nora Martirosyan (Armenian, Belgian, French 2020)
Cast: Thomas Daloz, Néa Lüders, Salvatore Ferro
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2020 Official Selection
Libre—Streaming beginning May 3
(English ST)
- An olive grove farmer on the southeast French border tries to help immigrants without papers, many of them black, crossing over from Italy, but runs into bureaucratic and racist obstructions.
Director: Michel Toesca (France, 2018)
Genre: Documentary, Immigration
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2018 Official Selection
Films
Les jeunes amants—Streaming beginning May 3
(English ST)
- At 70, Shauna is free, independent and has long-since abandoned a love life. Yet her meeting with Pierre, twenty-five years younger, disconcerts her. He sees her as a desirable woman, one he is immediately attracted to and has no fear of loving. But Pierre is married with a family…The film was dreamed of by director Solveig Anspach, inspired by the last love of her mother, who died before she could finish it. Her friends, including director Carine Tardieu, took charge of it.
Director: Carine Tardieu (France, 2022)
Cast: Fanny Ardant, Melvil Poupaud, Cécile de France, Florence Loiret Caille
Genre: Dramedy
Documentaries
Jane Birkin, Oh! Pardon Tu Dormais…—Now Streaming
TV5MONDE Co-Production
https://www.tv5mondeplus.com/en/details/vod/107109888_74079A
- Taking inspiration from her eponymous play about a couple and their relationship, Jane Birkin opens her heart in this new album, presented live at the Paris Philharmonic. Slowly matured in an orchestral pop vein, it is the result of a close collaboration with Étienne Daho and Jean-Louis Piérot.
Director: Guillaume Klein (France, 2022)
Genre: Concert
TV5 Monde Cinema
Theme: French films from major festivals
Dernière étage gauche gauche— available beginning May 5
(English ST)
French, English subtitles. A man’s ordinary day becomes a nightmare when he gets taken hostage.
Director: Angelo Cianci (2010)
Cast: Hippolyte Girardot, Fellag, Judith Henry
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Berlin International Film Festival 2011 FIPRESCI Prize Winner
Tralala— available beginning May 5
(English ST)
A middle-aged singer/songwriter takes on a new identity as a guitarist who disappeared while searching for the Virgin Mary.
Director: Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu (2021)
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Josiane Balasko, Mélanie Thierry
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Selection – Out of Competition, Midnight Screening
Drôle de félix—available beginning May 5
(English ST)
A combination of circumstances gives a young man the opportunity to go to Marseille and finally meet the father he’s never known.
Director: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau (2000)
Cast: Sami Bouajila, Pierre-Loup Rajot, Ariane Ascaride
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Berlin International Film Festival 2000 Jury Award Winner
25 degrès en hiver—available beginning May 12
(English ST)
A single father tries to help a Ukrainian woman find her missing boyfriend.
Director: Stéphane Vuillet (2004)
Cast: Carmen Maura, Jacques Gamblin, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Berlin International Film Festival 2004 Jury Award Winner
Les Harkis—available beginning May 12
(English ST)
Set during the Algerian War (1954-1962), a group of impoverished young Algerian men, known as Harkis, volunteer to join the French Army.
Director: Philippe Faucon (2022)
Cast: Théo Cholbi, Omar Boulakirba, Pierre Lottin
Genre: Drama
Awards: Cannes Film Festival 2022 Director’s Fortnight official selection
De nouvelles de la planète mars— available beginning May 12
(English ST)
A man tries to be a good father, a kind ex-husband, a nice colleague, and an understanding sibling. But all this changes when he reunites with a psychotic college friend.
Director: Dominik Moll (2016)
Cast: François Damiens, Vincent Macaigne, Veerle Baetens
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Berlin International Film Festival 2016 official selection
I comète—available beginning May 19
(English ST)
During the summer in a Corsican village, kids brighten the streets, teens hang out, and adults discuss the future while elders reflect on time passing by.
Director: Pascal Tagnati (2022)
Cast: Jean-Christophe Folly, Cédric Appietto, Apollonia Orsoni
Genre: Drama
Awards: Festival de Cannes 2021, ACid official selection
Camille—available beginning May 19
(English ST)
The story of Camille Lepage, a photojournalist who was killed in the Central African Republic.
Director: Boris Lojkine (2019)
Cast: Nina Meurisse, Fiacre Bindala, Bruno Todeschini
Genre: Drama
Awards: The Rome Film Festival 2019 Official Selection
Le sixième enfant—available beginning May 26
(English ST)
Barely scraping by, a pregnant couple decides on an unthinkable arrangement as they expect their sixth child.
Director: Léopold Legrand (2022)
Cast: Sara Giraudeau, Benjamin Lavernhe, Judith Chemla
Genre: Drama
Awards: César Awards 2023 Nominee, Best First Film
Le grand bal—available beginning May 26
(English ST)
Every summer for almost 30 years, more than 2,000 people come from all over Europe to a small town in the French countryside, and dance for 7 days.
Director: Laetitia Carton (2018)
Genre: Documentary
Awards: Cannes Films Festival 2018 Official Selection