NZFFF 2017 Tranche 2

La fille de Brest / 150 Milligrams

Based on the actual struggle of Dr Irene Franchon, a French whistleblower who uncovered fatal heart deformities caused by a weight loss drug. Franchon is played by Sides Babett Knudsen, and the film begins with her noting the deformity of heart valves in a patient undergoing open heart surgery; it traces her unravelling the correlation that exists across multiple patients, escalating to an epidemiological survey; the rejection of her findings by a manufacturer-influenced regulator; and her last resort of publishing a book revealing the problem.

Something that I appreciated about the film is that it didn't stint on depicting the research side of the story; it speaks to the science of Franchon's work.

Planétarium / Planetarium

Roping in Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp as American teenage mediums, this film tries to touch on a tremendous range of themes: the spiritualism craze of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; creepy film producers promoting young women for all the wrong reasons; the rise of fascism in Europe; the tensions of art and commerce in filmmaking. It was an interesting, if flawed, watch.