On a cold autumn evening in Moscow, Alexandra was headed to a cinema, hoping to escape reality for a few hours by taking in a new French comedy.

With Hollywood boycotting the Russian market over Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine, French films are one of the few cultural windows Russians have left to the West.

And even as relations between Paris and Moscow have sunk to their lowest in decades, French cinema has retained its popularity as aficionados seek a big-screen dose of “art de vivre”, the French philosophy of living well and savouring the moment.

“French films create a colourful bubble where I want to stay,” Alexandra told AFP, allowing her to “pause my thoughts about what’s going on in the world.”

The Moscow cinema hall showing Cedric Klapisch’s dramatic comedy “Colours of Time” — re

See Full Page