Girl Meets BoyóWith Knife ëGirl on Bridgeí Is Charming Tale of Creative Obsession by Max Alvarez As the fall movie-going season approaches, French filmmakers are enlivening the dreary U.S. art cinema market with evidence of why their nationís cinema has established itself as the preeminent producer of illuminating cinematic essays on intense male-female relationships. Two such imports from Franceó"Girl on the Bridge" and "Alice and Martin"óare currently vying for the attention of Washington, D.C., francophiles. Leconteís Dreamlike ëBridgeí A filmmaker with a great command of cinematic compositions, Patrice Leconte brings his noted stylistics to a simple and unabashedly charming tale of creative obsession. The 1998 film "Girl on the Bridge (La Fille sur le Pont)" is considerably lighter than Leconteís more sophisticated comedies "Ridicule" and "The Hairdresserís Husband." But what distinguishes the film from the others is the black-and-white Panavision cinematography of Jean-Marie Dreujou. The relinquishing of traditional color technology gives the romantic fable a dreamlike, surrealistic quality that is all too rare in an era of homogenized filmmaking. The beautiful AdÈle (Vanessa Paradis) has a propens ity for falling into bad relationships with men, and she makes a vain attempt to jump from a bridge at night into the Seine. Her suicide is barely thwarted by Gabor (the always reliable Daniel Auteuil), a circus performer in professional decline who decides to enlist her for his tired knife-throwing act. AdÈleís sensual presence at the receiving end of the most harrowing knife stunts brings the duo instantaneous success but also contributes to the complexities of an already tenuous and erratic camaraderie. "Girl on the Bridge" has an intoxicating ambience, and the appeal of the two lead actors compensates for the underdeveloped nature of Serge Frydmanís screenplay, which has a tendency to become as sidetracked as the central characters. Through simple mannerisms and silent exchanges, Auteuil and Paradis convey the intensity of Gabor and AdÈleís passions without actually making physical contact. Visually, Leconte and Dreujou collaborate to produce striking monochromatic images, although the latterís photography is compromised by indifferent laboratory processing. While some sequences appear too influenced by European television commercials, othersóparticularly two knife-throwing scenes where Auteuilís implements arouse Paradis by their close proximity to her bodyóhave a magical and sensual power. In French with English subtitles, "Girl on the Bridge" is now playing in Washington, D.C., at the Loews Cineplex Outer Circle 2 and at the Shirlington 7 in Alexandria, Va. Consult newspapers for show times. Binoche Triumphs in ëAliceí Patrice Leconte films are prone to concentrating more on style than substance while those of AndrÈ TÈchinÈ are quite the opposite. The director of "Wild Reeds (Les Roseaux Sauvages)" and "Thieves (Les Voleurs)" does not favor elaborate or multi-textured camera compositions. Nevertheless, TÈchinÈ gets under the viewerís skin with his psychological probing of souls in torment, creating conflict in a gradual manner that sometimes requires tremendous patience. "Alice and Martin (Alice et Martin)" reunites TÈchinÈ with actress Juliette Binoche (their last collaboration was the 1985 "Rendezvous"). In the unglamorous and realistic role of a struggling musician living in Paris, Binoche propels the film emotionally. In fact, she is often emoting for two peopleóthe second being her attractive but far more limited co-star Alexis Loret. Loretís Martin has never recovered from the jarring experience of being introduced at age 10 to his real father (Pierre Maguelon). He approaches 20 with considerable instability, relocating to Paris to live with his brother Benjamin (Mathew Amalric) and the latterís friend Alice (Binoche). The friendship between the gay Benjamin and Alice is platonic, and Martinís increased infatuation with her leads to a troubled courtship that functions at the whims of his psychotic episodes. The traumatic bond between these tortured lovers would have more of a devastating potency were Loret in the same dramatic league as Binoche. Ironically, given TÈchinÈís reserved photographic style, the resonating moments in the film are visual ones: Martin awakening in a Spanish seaside cottage to an overexposed view of the water; Martin, during the height of mental illness, imagining family images from his youth; and Alice wandering through a wedding reception playing her violin, her mind anxiously pondering the fate of her troubled Martin. In French with English subtitles, "Alice and Martin" is now playing in Washington, D.C., at the Loews Cineplex Odeon Janus 3. Traditions Clash in Chinese ëShowerí The Chinese drama ëShower (Xizhao)í uses as a shortcut for extracting tears from audiences the timeworn introduction of a lovable mentally handicapped character to offset the central characterís angst. It is an all-too-familiar dramatic device, but director/co-writer Zhang Yang shows admirable restraint under the circumstances. Zhangís film is a visually modest and offhandedly sentimental account of the clashing of cultures in modern day for-profit China. The Beijing of Citicorp office buildings and rampant commercialism is gradually consuming the decaying communities that have given the urban landscape its soul. This is inventively illustrated in the opening sequence where a man takes a high-tech automated shower that provides a dramatic contrast to the public bathhouse serving as central setting for the story. Da Ming (Pu Cun Xin) is a successful businessman summoned back to the old neighborhood by his retarded brother Erming (Jiang Wu). Their father, Master Liu (Zhu Xu) is happily running his menís bathhouse and catering to the needs of various beloved eccentrics. Among the regulars are two elders who stage regular cricket-fighting matches, a younger man of poor voice who has an uncontrollable urge to sing "O Sole Mio" while showering, an impotent crank desperate to avoid his wife, and so on. But the colorful bathhouse and its surroundings are to be demolished for a shopping mall. The gentle, heartfelt emotions of "Shower" are presented rather straightforwardly and with few intellectual surprises. Former music video director Zangís approach is relatively consistent with the international trend away from politically and ideologically driven subsidized films. But a tribute to those aspects of Chinese urban culture that are fast disappearing is worthy of a weightier interpretation. In Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, "Shower" is now playing in Washington, D.C., at the Loews Cineplex Odeon Dupont Circle 5 and the Cinema Arts Theatre in Fairfax, Va. Kurosawaís ëRaní at AFI Throughout September, the American Film Institute Theater at Kennedy Center will present a new 35mm print of Akira Kurosawaís 1985 epic "Ran." The directorís final samurai spectacular is a Japanese rendering of Shakespeareís "King Lear" with the action relocated to 16th-century feudal Japan. The 161-minute filmís major set-piece is the sacking of the clan leaderís castle by rival armiesóan extraordinary sequence that resurrects great silent filmmaking techniques in that it is presented without sound effects. The AFI will also present a rare showing of Kurosawaís lovely final film "Madadayo" (1993) in which Tatsuo Matsumura movingly portrays a university professor retreating from academia during World War II. Both "Ran" and "Madadayo" are in Japanese with English subtitles. "Ran" screens Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.; Sept. 9, 16 and 23 at 2, 4:50 and 7:40 p.m.; Sept. 10-15 at 7 p.m.; Sept. 17 and 24 at 1, 4 and 7 p.m.; and Sept. 18 to 22 at 7 p.m. "Madadayo" will be shown Sept. 25 to 27 at 6:30 p.m. Admission to the AFI Theatre is $6.50 for general admission and $5.50 for AFI members. Max Alvarez is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.