Who what?

Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010) is a 'pseudo-documentary' of the British graffiti artist Banksy, the street art stencil legend. Not only has his talented work brought him exorbitantly priced sales but he has remained invisible throughout - no-one has ever seen him! But the film isn't about his life: it's about the French shopkeeper-cum-fan-cum-filmmaker who wanted to make a film about Banksy. Nor did it debut at Berlin this week, but at the Sundance festival in January.

Why should I go and watch the film?

To (re-)discover the world of street art. To appreciate the humour and irony of Banksy as well as his sector, which has been delivered via a pacifist rebellion

Strong points

Excellent description of the world of graffiti. Good rhythm for a film. Lots of creativity, self-derision and that oh-so-British humour. Banksy succeeds in thumbing his nose at the pitfalls of modern art - i.e. saying it's in just because it's 'in'

Weak points

Have you ever heard a French person speaking rubbish English for an hour? Unbearable

Rating out of 5: ****

4/5: a bit of humour, irony and self-mocking in this world of depressed people, cameras and mainstream Hollywooders does some good

Post-premiere reactions

Laughs from the first minutes into the film when Banksy announces: 'This film is good, I think, especially if you're not expecting much.' Huge disappointment at there being no press conference though ;)

Watching this film will make you want to

Run and find this Thierry Guetta alias Mister Brainwash, who is allegedly based in LA - does he really exist? Or is it another one of Banksy's pranksies...

By Sebastien Vannier live from the Berlin film festival

Check out images of our curious correspondents in Berlin going on the Banksy mystery hunt in Berlin here

by Agnes Emri

Approaching the end of the Berlinale, I feel more and more justified to generalize about this year’s competition section. One film after the other, a specific thematic element keeps showing up: women having relations with men many years their junior.

Let us recap the films that made their debut at the Berlinale. For starters, there was The Reader by Stepehn Daldry, where a 15-year-old boy (played by 18-year-old David Kross) is seduced by a women in her thirties (34-year-old Kate Winslet).

In Stephen Frier’s Cheri, set in 1920s Paris, the character of 51-year-old Michelle Pfeiffer sets up house with a young lad, played by 28-year-old Rupert Friend.

In Richard Loncraine’s My One and Only, Anne Deveraux (Renee Zelwegger, 40) is searching for a new husband to provide for her and her two teenage boys. At one point in the story, there is a younger man, Bud (Nick Stahl, 30) who falls for her. Although nothing comes from this encounter besides a hug and kiss on the cheek, it is in the air that something could easily happen. Bud here is the one telling Anne just how special she is, making her appreciate herself, and helping her on the road to independence.

Mithcell Lichtenstein’s Happy Tears is a story about two sisters reuniting in their old family home to deal with their past and their senile father. But in a drug induced frenzy, who comes along to admire, console and finally impregnate Jayne (played by 41-year-old Parker Posey)? Non other, than a teenage-looking boy, played by 23-year-old Billy Magnussen.

This is not just an American phenomonan. The final film in the competition section is Tatarak by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. Can you guess the plot? A middle-aged married woman, Marta tries to find happiness in the arms of a much younger man, Boguś.

What should we conclude form all of this? Dating older women is the new trend? Or is it that love should know no boundaries (over the age of consent)?

Today, it is socially accepted for older men to date younger women. It is about time the opposite also becomes acceptable. 2009 is testing (or widening?) our liberalism. For one, Michelle Pfeiffer thinks “it's a positive step in the right direction."

photos: kk+/flickr, Berlinale

More from the Berlin Film Festival, reviews and news from the red carpet in the magazine

La journée de la jupe

Very similar to Cannes last golden palm laureate “The Class”, director Jean-Paul Lilienfeld depicts in his film the flaws found in French education: insufficient staff, violent students and latent ethnic conflicts. The school becomes a social hot spot where different cultures, classes and religious views clash with each other.  Good-will of the teacher alone can not solve the problem. Sonia Bergerac (Isabelle Adjani) is completely overstrained with her job in front of tyrannic students. Eventually she decides to bring a gun to class and introduces radical new teaching methods. Things escalate when she gets involved in a hold up that involves students, parents, police, a desperate principal and voyeuristic media alike. Lilienfeld has produced a drama which is sometimes a bit far fetched, but which refuses easy guilt patterns. Politicians, teacher and students are equally accused. The message is clear: all of them have to get back in the boat to save an ailing education system.   

photo: Berlinale

More from the Berlin Film Festival, reviews and news from the red carpet in the magazine