Mubi’s François Ozon season invites wider exploration of the sometimes overlooked French director
For such an unpredictable and frequently adventurous film-maker, it’s interesting how François Ozon seemed to slip into the slightly lesser-valued European auteur establishment: a respected name who routinely pops up in major festivals, gets good reviews and wins the odd prize or two, yet rarely inspires the ardent director-worship reserved for the likes of Haneke or Almodóvar.
Despite alternating like no one else between handsome French classicism and queer, sinuous genre kink, Ozon, now 52, occasionally seems at risk of being taken for granted. His latest, the strong, stirring Catholic church abuse drama By the Grace of God, practically asks to be underestimated, offering viewers familiar-seeming procedural trappings before the wallop of its emotional inquiry hits. (It’s still in cinemas, though also available to stream via Curzon Home Cinema.)