If you love French film, then the festival that opens this week, C’est Chic, is right up your allée. Between October 12 and 28, recent French releases will be given special screenings at three excellent venues, the National Gallery of Art, La Maison Française, and the AFI Silver Theater. You can purchase a pass ($60 for members of La Cinémathèque) through the Web site of La Maison Française, which will get you 13 films for 1 person (or 6 for 2 people, plus an extra). Students pay only $35. Here are some of the highlights:

>> Not part of the pass but quite an event: La Maison Française will host an opening night screening of Les Brigades du Tigre on Thursday (October 12, 6:30 p.m.) with the film’s director, Jérôme Cornuau. A reception will be provided by Café Bonaparte and music by a live jazz band. Tickets: $35. (4101 Reservoir Rd. NW)

>> Claude Chabrol’s latest film, L’Ivresse du pouvoir (Comedy of power, 2006), stars the talented and always on-the-edge Isabelle Huppert as a ruthless judge going up against a corrupt business. AFI: October 13 (7 p.m.) and October 19 (7 p.m.).

>> Chris Marker’s Chats perchés (The case of the grinning cat, 2004) is part documentary and part fiction. Graffiti featuring grinning cats appear in Paris after the September 11th attacks in the United States. Marker tries to understand what these images mean, leading us through a commentary on reaction to the Iraq War and the French youth movement. AFI: October 14 (2:20 p.m.) and October 15 (6 p.m.).