Four Films

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Two (at least obliquely) about writing:

Ficción (English title: Fiction), in Spanish, directed by Cesc Gay, written by Tomàs Aragay and Cesc Gay, and starring Eduard Fernández as Àlex, Javier Cámara as Santi, Montse Germán as Mònica, and Carme Pla as Judith. I liked this film so much that I watched it again the next day, though my sympathies were different the second time around.

Comme une Image (English title: Look at Me), in French, directed by Agnès Jaoui, written by Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui, and starring Marilou Berry as Lolita Cassard, Jean-Pierre Bacri as Étienne Cassard, Agnès Jaoui and Laurent Grévill as Sylvia and Pierre Millet, and Keine Bouhiza as Sébastien. This was the second time I had seen this film as well. The first time, I have to admit that I couldn't relate to it somehow and found Lolita less than sympathetic as a character. However, this time, I thought that it was an interesting take on what it means to be successful as a writer, parent, spouse, and person in general.

The other two were darker in terms of subject matter but visually stunning:

Da hong deng long gao gao gua (English title: Raise the Red Lantern), in Chinese, directed by Yimou Zhang, written by Su Tong and Ni Zhen, and starring Li Gong as Songlian, Caifei He as Meishan (Third Wife), Cuifen Cao as Zhuoyan (Second Wife), and Shuyuan Jin as Yuru (First Wife). This film was absolutely gorgeous.

Aimée and Jaguar, in German, directed by Max Färberböck, written by Max Färberböck and Rona Munro, and starring Maria Schrader as Felice Schragenheim (Jaguar), Juliane Köhler as Lilly Wust (Aimée), and Johanna Wokalek as Ilse.