The version of the festival that will be holed up at the Theater of the Living Arts (334 South St.) for the next two weeks dwells largely on the new productions. Of the seven films, each to be given a two-day showcase at TLA, only Andre Techine's "Barocco" is familiar: It was a Christmas attraction at the Ritz in 1980.
Otherwise, everything on hand at the TLA for the next 14 days will be nouvelle vague, spanking new in terms of time, style and - surprise! - their consideration of l'amour.
Love is the cornerstone of the French cinema - love of life, love of women, love of men, love of film - and these seven are no exceptions. But don't expect anything fuzzy or sentimental. The French make hard-edged movies, complicated and psychologically dense films, no matter how lyrical they might seem to be, and there's always a keen sense of fun in their deployment of desire.
The French love Love - it's in their blood - and their movies on the subject linger in the mind because they tend to come with an unmistakably authentic residue of autobiographical feelings.
One more thing: If nothing else, the festival should convince you that France currently has the best - perhaps the only - Movie Stars around these days. It is dominated by Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu (on hand in three and two films, respectively), who remain the axioms of contemporary French cinema and, to a lesser degree, by the knockout womanliness of Isabelle Adjani (in two features) and Nathalie Baye (alas, in only one).
Of the seven films being screened, I have previewed two (in addition to ''Barocco") - Philippe Labro's "Rive Droite, Rive Gauche" and Techine's ''Hotel des Ameriques - and will review them here. I will also attempt to provide superficial impressions of the others.
