Sex symbol-turned-animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot is threatening to join actor Gerard Depardieu in Russian exile unless France halts the scheduled euthanasia of two sick circus elephants.

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Cinema to dishonour France

Serious cinema, or canny commercialism? Liese Spencer examines the current French vogue for in-your-visage film violence

Football: Eric the Red part two

The film star is a footballer for one night. By John Lichfield

Film: Godzilla: my part in his downfall

The grandaddy of screen monsters is back in town. James Mottram talks to the actor Jean Reno about playing number two to a giant digitised lizard, while Joseph Gallivan asks whatever happened to good old rubber puppets

Preview: Watch Catherine Deneuve

The Institut francais has scored a huge success in persuading film icon Catherine Deneuve to open its newly-named cinema, Cine Lumiere on 19 March. Fittingly, the occasion will also feature the UK premiere of Deneuve's most recent film Les Voleurs by Andre Techine and the launch of the cinema's Catherine Deneuve Season, which spans 32 years and 17 films (Je Vous Aime pictured below).

Film: Angry young man of French cinema

`La Maman et la Putain', a classic of 1973, is an essay on male emotional immaturity. Chris Darke looks back

Movie News: A few good menhirs

Gerard Depardieu looks as if he has finally landed the role he was born to play. Goscinny and Uderzo's Asterix and Obelix has detailed the pugnacious Gauls' resistance of the Romans for nearly 40 years and is slated to make the big-screen next year.

Videos: L'Appartement (15), Artificial Eye (available to rent 23 Feb)

In Gilles Mimouni's engrossing romantic thriller, Max (Vincent La Haine Cassel) risks losing his wife-to-be and career to pursue a woman he believes to be his lost love. You won't have seen a film so intricately structured since The Usual Suspects, but don't expect to have to wait until the death to have the narrative knots unravelled.

Cinema: Un homme for all seasons

Likeable and versatile, with hidden depths - Daniel Auteuil is the perfect French actor. Robin Buss met him

Film: Aide-memoire

A retrospective of Gaumont films suggests that French cinema's mix of high art and mass appeal has been the century's biggest antidote to Hollywood. By Chris Darke

Inaction man

Chris Darke celebrates the ambiguous on-screen persona of Alain Delon, French cinema's most impassive star

Coming up for air

One dive into `The Big Blue' and Jean Reno was a star. But his rapid rise to success brought on a bad case of the bends. Now he's resurfaced and getting his life back on an even keel.

How plain Jane lives through her Hurt

FILM

The good, the bad, the ugly

CANNES DIARY Norman Wisdom turned up, and the Hollywood stars stayed at home. But strong entries and the right decisions made this a Cannes Festival to remember. Sheila Johnston, our woman on the Croisette, took notes
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'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'

Masculinity in crisis?

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'
Have US shock jocks gone too far?

Have US shock jocks gone too far?

An incendiary remark from Rush Limbaugh may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters
The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey pays more income tax than big cities of the North

The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey

Elmbridge pays more income tax than big cities of the North
Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies

Michael Landy's artistic marriage made in heaven... and hell
'He will always be a friend': Jackie Stewart backs Polanski

'He will always be a friend'

Jackie Stewart backs Roman Polanski
The price of pacifism: Refusing to go to war is finally being recognised as a brave act

The price of pacifism

From the Second World War refusenik to the 19-year-old Israeli, Holly Williams talks to five people who risked shame and suffering to take a stand as conscientious objector.
'It was mass hysteria': Jason Isaacs on groupies, theatre bores and snogging James Bond

Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond

To millions, Jason Isaacs is one of Harry Potter's arch enemies – but his wife prefers him as a Scottish TV detective.
Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?

Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?

Thomas Hodgkinson spent a week at the tiny platform off the Suffolk coast to find out.
Not a bad bone: Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

If you ignore cutlets and ribs, you'll risk missing out on some delicious and easy meals, says our chef.
The experts' guide to summer: From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz

The experts' guide to summer

From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz
Sex, drugs and fast cars: The legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Early glimpses of Ron Howard's film Rush suggest it will portray Hunt as a high-living lothario, with an insatiable appetite for partying.
Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation when using drugs and alcohol. It was hurting my life'

Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation'

The next Vanilla Ice or the next Eminem? Macklemore doesn't have a record contract – but he does have the UK's biggest-selling single of the year.
Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Sri Lankan cuisine is light, sunny, wonderfully spiced – and so easy to cook from scratch. Just as soon as you've broken into the coconut, that is.
Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Doctors are hailing the revamp of a Bath neonatal unit, where babies sleep more and feed better, as the model for patient care
One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

Epecuen was submerged under 10 metres of water in 1985. Now the floods have gone – and 83-year-old Pablo Novak has moved back in