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The Tenth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series continues this weekend. — The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the mid-1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema. This year’s fest kicked off last weekend with a screening of Bertrand Tavernier’s acclaimed documentary My Journey Through French Cinema.

There are two more events for the Tenth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival happening this weekend:

Saturday, March 9th at 7:30pm – Casque D’Or. Ticket information can be found Here

Jacques Becker lovingly evokes the belle epoque Parisian demimonde in this classic tale of doomed romance — the French equivalent of the legend of Frankie and Johnny. When gangster’s moll Marie (Simone Signoret) falls for reformed criminal Manda (Serge Reggiani...

Of all the great directors France has produced since the Lumière brothers put light to celluloid, the greatest may be Jean Renoir, son of the painter Pierre-August and director of two movies considered by many critics among the best ever made: “La Grande Illusion” in 1937 and “The Rules of the Game” two years later. The latter has appeared in the Sight & Sound Top Ten poll (voted by critics and directors) every decade since 1952; it is worth noting however that the movie was slated upon its release, and even banned in France by the government.

Similarly when Boudu Saved From Drowning, one of his first sound movies – from 1932 – was finally released in America in 1967 it was met generally with bafflement and condescension (one of the few voices of praise was Pauline Kael’s). And like “Rules of the Game” it is now, correctly, regarded as a classic.

The title character is a tramp,...

Tron: Legacy (PG)

(Joseph Kosinski, 2010, Us) Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde. 125 mins

Less a brand-new vision of the future than an upgrade of the old one, this reboot delivers digital thrills beyond your wildest electric dreams, but ties itself in knots with an analogue-era plot. There's sleek, sexy design, gladiatorial arcade game action and Daft Punk-scored retro styling, but questions pile up as Hedlund seeks to rescue his long-lost Zen-spouting dad (old Jeff Bridges) from Tron-world and its evil techno-führer (young Jeff Bridges).

Burlesque (12A)

(Steve Antin, 2010, Us) Christina Aguilera, Cher, Cam Gigandet. 119 mins

A rags-to-riches showbiz fable that makes Mariah Carey's Glitter look self-effacing and Showgirls avant garde. The mask of Cher presides over a bitchy La club where Aguilera's talent for warbling while modelling frilly lingerie eventually shines through.

Catfish (12A)

(Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, 2010, Us) 84 mins

The perils of social media are spelt...

A welcome revival for Jean Renoir's superb urban pastoral comedy from 1932, which proves the adage that no good deed goes unpunished. By Peter Bradshaw

Jean Renoir's urban pastoral comedy from 1932 was last revived in UK cinemas just five years ago, as part of a director's retrospective. Well, it's good to see it again. Charles Granval plays Lestingois, a well-to-do Parisian bookseller, who in a mood of high-spirited goodwill – brought on by the agreeable affair he is having with his housemaid – impulsively dives into the Seine to rescue a drowning tramp, and invites him to stay in the family home. The object of this instantly and intensely regretted act of kindness is Boudu (Michel Simon): smelly, bearded, ungrateful. He repays Lestingois's charity by lustfully pursuing his wife and his maid. The movie dramatises the old adage about no good deed going unpunished, or perhaps it demonstrates how inscrutable...