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what is it about french cinema? is it the actors? the romance? is it the vision of its auteur directors... 0h! ..or the sheer beauty of the french landscape and the capital city of paris? to explore the wonders of french cinema, we sought out and heard from four individuals who each have a passion for a french film classic. for the bbc paris correspondent hugh schofield, it's the absurdist comedy of mon oncle from film—makerjacques tati.

for french writer and film critic anais poirier, it's cyrano de bergerac... which she describes as a french monument. and for film professor annette insdorf, it's hiroshima mon amour, emblematic of the french new wave with its clever portrayal of memory. and for talking movies reporter emma jones, it's that much—loved romantic comedy amelie. buzzer sounds so, let's find out what it is about french cinema that excites so many people. welcome to france, and our talking movies celebration of french film classics. i'm tom brook. cinema in france is very much part of the country's heritage. it's rather like delicious french food — something worthwhile, something to be savoured. it can be daring, bold, audacious, thoughtful and, at times, quite sexy.

for many of us, french cinema made an imprint on our minds at a very early age. the oscar—winning short film the red balloon was a real favourite of mine — one of the first french movies i ever saw. it chronicles the adventures of a young boy in paris as he's followed by a red balloon which has a personality all of its own. i thought it was magical. only when i was older did i realise it had some of the sophisticated themes often found in french cinema. it made use of allegory. it had what appeared to be a religious subtext, emotional depth and a formidable cinematic power. gunshot another big favourite french film classic of mine was the crime drama breathless, released in 1960. it flew the flag internationally for the french new wave,

a movement characterised by first—time directors making personal, often idiosyncratic, self—conscious movies on a low budget. tyres screech the french new wave was ground—breaking, and it's still influencing the cinema of today. breathless was directed by celebrated french film—maker jean—luc godard. it was bold and audacious, especially in its editing, moving around in time. breathless is both a homage to hollywood film—making, but also a challenge to it. it was quintessentially french. it had originality and attitude, and i loved it.

one of my earliest memories of french cinema was watching my father as he laughed uncontrollably as he viewed a french film made in 1953 called monsieur hulot�*s holiday. it starred jacques tati, who also directed it. it was very silly, very playful, affectionate, absurd — and, in an odd way, it made me really love france. jacques tati was a formidable force in french cinema. he directed six films and appeared in many more. one of his films is also a favourite of my colleague hugh schofield, who is the bbc correspondent in paris, and has been living in france for some 30 years. the opening sequence has a wall with "mon oncle" written on it. i'm pretty sure it's just up — this one here. if you look at, on the... it's that wall there, it has written "mon oncle"

at the beginning of the film. i've chosen the film mon oncle — "my uncle" — by the late french director jacques tati. it's a film i've known for many, many years. it's a film that's slightly gone out of fashion but i think it should be back in fashion. it's a beautiful, touching film which feeds my urge for a bit of nostalgia for the old france with a lovely, light, humoristic touch. it couldn't have been made anywhere else but in france. i love jacques tati. we're in what they call old saint—maur — a little town just outside paris, in the banlieues of paris. and it's here in this very square thatjacques tati filmed part of mon oncle in 1957. what he does with the settings is draw a very clear contrast between here — and this is where monsieur hulot, the hero, lives, just right here — and then, just down the road — modern, the new, what's coming in.

and in the film, what's lovely is that there's this kind of borderline — and, really, he's obviously constructed it like a border, a frontier between the old and the new. and the frontier is this kind of broken—down old wall with an old gate and bricks all around it. on this side is here — lovely, old, popular, working class france, paris. and on the other side is what's coming — and you see the new blocks of flats, white in rectangles, and the big, clean lines of the roads emerging on the other side of this frontier. it's a great feeling to think that jacques tati would have been wandering around here. of course, it would've looked completely different. but these — all this would have been part of what he was using to create this wonderful setting for hulot�*s home town. it's the story of monsieur hulot, who has the misfortune of being the brother of this madame arpel,

who is the wife of monsieur arpel... ..who are the epitome of the modern, americanised, business—ised couple who live on the other side of this imaginary border line that runs through paris, where modernity is. and they live in this completely bizarre villa — which was constructed in tati's mind, obviously — and the prime example of his sort of architectural approach to film—making — a really, really weird modern house full of gadgets with this antiseptic garden, with a path that runs through it and this fountain like an upturned fish, which spews out blue water. he comes every day to look after his nephew, the boy. with the boy, he has little adventures around here in the good part of town. but then, he has to take him back in the evening to antisepticville. there was an originality in the conception which still shines through. originally, the statue had a pipe because monsieur hulot always had a pipe.

but a few years ago, they removed the pipe because it was decided that pipes were not acceptable any more. it's still watchable because the theme of old versus new, it's still there. glass shatters what he would make of france today, i have no idea. i mean, back then, he was worried about the way it was going and about modernity, and about the way people were being turned into little ants in factories, and so on. what monsieur hulot would think today, with everyone going around in their headphones and living in these atomised worlds, taking deliveroo, things to eat in their lonely rooms, rooms, god knows. buzzer so, i'm going to do a hulot impersonation and pull my trousers up. that's how he walks. chuckles one of the most—loved

french movies of all time has to be the costume drama cyrano de bergerac, released in 1990. it brought forth praise from both critics and audiences. this film version of the classic french novel is seen by its fans as a masterpiece. a critically acclaimed film about yearning masterfully transposed into cinema. the picture has become problematic because its star, gerard depardieu, is now a controversialfigure. he faces trial on charges that he allegedly sexually assaulted two women. but the film has legions of admirers who insist that its artistry has to be separated from any possible transgressions of its leading man. cyrano de bergerac is a french film classic that french writer and film critic anais poirier really loves. today, i mean, gerard depardieu has become, for some people,

a controversialfigure. there have been allegations. but cyrano de bergerac was made in 1990. gerard depardieu was 42 then, at the peak of his art. you forget that it's gerard depardieu. it's cyrano you're watching, and you're falling in love with cyrano de bergerac. i've chosen cyrano de bergerac, the film directed byjean—paul rappeneau in 1990. you know, it's a bit like the eiffel tower or notre—dame cathedral — it's a monument of a film. cyrano de bergerac is set in paris in 1640. this is cyrano�*s paris, the palais royal, just a stone's throw from the louvre. it's the story of this flamboyant poet and formidable swordsman, cyrano de bergerac.

he's in love with his cousin... ..the beautiful and intellectual roxane. it would be a match made in heaven, except for his nose. poor cyrano thinks that he's not worthy of love. he doesn't even risk telling roxane of his feelings. and roxane has a penchant for christian. christian has realised that roxane likes a witty man.

and he's not witty. and cyrano enters a pact, if you like, saying, you know, "i'm too ugly "to be loved and too "ugly to love. "but i will give you my wit, my verve. "and i will write those love letters to roxane." of course, roxane falls in love with christian. she doesn't know she's falling in love with the witty cousin cyrano.

it is a french monument like no other. it's a universal film about love, about adversity, about self—loathing, but also about bravery. about inner and outer beauty... ..which are universal values, universalthemes. now, let's move on to a rather different french film classic, and one that became a worldwide hit when it was released in 2001. amelie, starring audrey tautou, presents paris as audiences often want to see it — as a romantic, idyllic city of love. it's a favourite film of my talking movies colleague emma jones, and she visited the paris neighbourhood where the movie was set.

amelie, played by audrey tautou, is a young woman. she works as a waitress in montmartre. she lives this vivid interior life. and it leads her to try and do good deeds for people and make other people's lives better. but because of her shyness, she's unable to tackle the big

things in her own life. and one of those is a crush that she's got on a young man who she collides with one day in paris. this is very much a film about amelie�*s interior life. audrey tautou — so young, so beautiful — embodies this parisian amelie with her short cut blunt bob. i love the wayjeunet is always dressing amelie in red. it's a colour that suits her complexion beautifully, yet it's such a vivid colour for cinema. you've got this convergence of a genius, like a director, jean—pierre jeunet and an actress like audrey tautou. jean—pierrejeunet is a master of the whimsical and the fantastical.

he studied animation, and i think that's really, really evident in his body of work. so much in montmartre has become famous because of amelie, including here. montmartre has always been an artistic quarter but amelie — set at the beginning of the 21st century in these dazzling, hot, sunny parisian days, all these scenes set around sacre—coeur — and i think, in cinema, it gave paris a whole new lease of life just because of the romantic, idyllic, idealistic way that jean—pierre jeunet filmed amelie. it does belong to a different era, even though it still feels contemporary enough for us all to relate to. well, we're going to finish with another picture

that was emblematic of the french new wave. it's an adult love story, rather eerily set in a city devastated by an atomic bomb. it's a movie that makes us think about memory — or, more specifically, repressed memory. it requires our active engagement when we watch it. it's hard work at times but it's truly rewarding. it's hiroshima mon amour — and it happens to be one of the favourite films of the internationally renowned professor of film, annette insdorf. i ultimately chose hiroshima mon amour because... ..it was a ground—breaking motion picture. this was originally supposed to be a documentary... about the atomic bomb. but the director, alain resnais, decided that he couldn't do that. he admired the novels of marguerite duras, so he asked her to write

something that would evoke a romantic fictional tale... ..but set in the actuality of post—war hiroshima. it's strange to place a romantic story in the context of the devastation of the atom bomb. but the past keeps rushing in. every repressed emotion... child cries ..of the french woman takes over increasingly. and it's rare in french cinema prior to at least the mid—1990s to focus on a woman. and she's so well played by emmanuelle riva.

the editing makes us aware of how repressed memories are going to flood back in. he used editing in a way that, frankly, had not been done before. i mean, flashbacks existed in film long before hiroshima mon amour, but this was the first time that there were flash cuts — so fast, so imperceptible initially, that you don't even realise that you jumped out of the narrative. and then, these bits of memory build and build, and take over. hiroshima mon amour was extremely influential not only in 1959 and through the early �*60s, but beyond. the fragmented narrative structure was not something audiences were habituated to.

i am a film professor whose primary responsibility is to show my students the greatest work that has ever been done. i want them to see what it means to be meticulous in the construction of a film, in the screenwriting, in the shooting, and especially in post—production, in the editing, to create a complicated response on the part of the viewer, one that engages us emotionally and cerebrally and leads us to question our place in the historical and political world. looking back at these old classic french films has renewed my love of french cinema. i want to see more of it. these films, in decades past, are like great works of art, and they're still influencing many of today's top directors. also, it's reassuring to note that french cinema

is still so very much alive. it's becoming more daring, more diverse. it continues to be ground—breaking. it's often audacious, and one thing you can always count on is that it often has a lot of attitude — and that's a big compliment — and i thinkjust what great cinema needs to have. well, that brings our look back at some great classics in french cinema to a close. we hope you've enjoyed the show. please remember, you can always reach us online at: so, from me, tom brook, and the rest of the talking movies production team here in france, it's goodbye as we leave you with a french original — edith piaf singing la vie en rose, which was also performed memorably by marion cotillard in the 2007 film la vie en rose. la vie en rose

by edith piaf plays. hello there. we had a very wet start to the day on saturday with low pressure in charge, extensive and pretty heavy outbreaks of rain. through —— the afternoon got a bit better — sunny spells came through but we also had quite widespread showers, like this shower cloud working across

the horizon in the scottish borders. now, the wettest place in the whole of the uk was rothamsted, in hertfordshire, near luton and here, we had 37mm of rain — that compares with the monthly average of 52. so, in other words, we had, well, nearly three—quarters of a month's worth of rain in just the space of 2a hours. now, showers have continued to affect eastern areas of scotland, northeast england into the first part of the night but over the next few hours, many of the showers will tend to fade away but i think we'll see another clump working into wales and southwest england as we head into the first part of sunday. now, sunday is overall the better of the two days of the weekend. many of us will start off with some sunshine first thing in the morning but we'll have those showers from the word go across wales and western england and through the day, those showers push eastwards. it is always across england and wales that the heaviest downpours are likely to be with some hail and thunder mixed in, and, to a degree, northern ireland seeing heavy downpours, too. in scotland, there will still be showers but they perhaps won't be quite as heavy as the ones we've seen over the last 2a hours. now, monday's forecast, it's another pretty unsettled day. again, starting off

on a promising note. many areas will start the day dry and sunny but showers will develop across northern areas of the uk and it looks like we'll see another area of rain start to work into the southwest, so that could affect southwest england and parts of southern wales as well. the area of rain is associated with this next area of low pressure, which pushes its way northwards across the country very slowly through tuesday and wednesday, so tuesday looks like probably the wettest day of the week ahead. extensive and heavy outbreaks of rain in england and wales. some wet weather for northern ireland. eventually, the rain reaches northwards into scotland and again, as the rain eases off, it willjust be followed by heavy showers and thunderstorms. top temperatures high teens to low 20s, much as the temperatures have been over recent days. that is below average for this time of the year. and beyond that, it does stay pretty unsettled. might see something a little bit less soggy as we head towards the following weekend. bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. a fifth democratic member of congress calls onjoe biden to withdraw from the us presidential race. keir starmer says he will have to make tough decisions

"and make them early" in his first full day as uk prime minister. the gaza health ministry says an israeli strike on a school has killed at least 16 people. and iran's first reformist president in two decades acknowledges there's a "difficult path ahead". iam i am helena iam helena humphrey. good to have you with us. us presidentjoe biden is under increasing pressure to end his 2024 re—election campaign. on saturday, a fifth democrat in the us house of representatives issued a statement calling for mr biden to step aside. congresswoman angie craig of minnesota said she admires president biden, and takes pride in the legislation passed in his first term. however, she then went on to say, "i respectfully call "on president biden to step aside as the democratic "nominee...and allow for a new generation of leaders "to step forward". ms craig cited last week's cnn debate, where president biden

appeared lethargic up against donald trump.