IFI FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2021: HOLD ME TIGHT Director: Mathieu Amalric 97 mins, France, 2021, Subtitled, Digital Book cinema tickets Mathieu Amalric’s sixth turn as director is an adaptation of Claudine Galea’s play I Am Coming Back From Far. Clarisse (played beautifully by Vicky Krieps), a mother and wife, abruptly abandons the family house, her husband Marc (Arieh Worthalter) and their preteen children, Lucie and Paul. As she drives away making her escape, her imagination runs wild – she imagines them going about their daily lives, she imagines her return, their death… Are these stories real, memories or fantasy? Has she even really left? Director’s note: Amalric’s fluid, intuitive direction perfectly dissolves fantasy and reality editing a fractured landscape of images, voiceovers, and soundscapes. Screening as part of the IFI French Film Festival, November 17 – 28. Director: Mathieu Amalric 97 mins, France, 2021, Subtitled, Digital