Wow, I have actually seen a lot of those films. And a lot of those were in French class in school. Kept us interested, I guess.
Inara: Mal, this isn't the ancient sea. You don't have to go down with your ship. Mal: She ain't going down. She ain't going anywhere.
'Out Of Gas'
Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Jars - Sep 16, 2006 10:08:08 am PDT #4357 of 10001
Nutty - Sep 16, 2006 10:55:50 am PDT #4358 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I really really enjoyed Ridicule, which is about people being witty and cruel at Versailles just before the French Revolution. Which makes it sound not-nice, but it's most of the characters who are not-nice, and the movie itself is very nice. Also, you get to see puns in sign language, and bunnies go scuba-diving. (Really!)
Also second the rec for A Very Long Engagement, which is about World War I, and is a little magical-realist and a little punch-drunk and you get to see Jodie Foster narrate an entire portion of the movie (in very good French). The City of Lost Children is another one with an American speaking French in it, and flirting with too-silly-to-play-along for me. (The American is Ron Perlman, and his French is terrible -- presumably by design.)
I have seen me a fair amount of trashy-melodrama French film. I would put Indochine in that category, along with Queen Margot and The Brotherhood of the Wolf. I hated that last, and wouldn't have paid the price of a rental for either of the other two, but they both involved pretty people swanning about and having lots of sex and murder and angst. So, can't be all bad, right?
Just avoid Camille Claudel. It is bad and boring.
I just watched M, and I have to say I don't feel the love.
I didn't either. I think I'd read so much about it that I saw it and was like, "That's all?"
Beverly - Sep 16, 2006 11:01:36 am PDT #4359 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
I went to Netflix to check. We got both films in 2004, with little to no wait. They were Region 1, in French with subtitles. Evidently they're being reissued, because the versions we watched are no longer available and there's no "add" to your queue option, only the "save" option as you described. Odd.
Still, it does indicate they do plan to offer then eventually. Sorry for the bum steer.
megan walker - Sep 16, 2006 11:14:39 am PDT #4360 of 10001
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Just avoid Camille Claudel. It is bad and boring.
You'll notice I didn't put that or Queen Margot on the list, even though I own both of them! I will say however that if you like looking at Isabelle Adjani, she is stunning in both. Queen Margot often appeals to guy students because the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre is so violent. I think it is a bit cheesy, but I do so love Vincent Perez (who is also in Indochine) that I had to have it.
flea - Sep 16, 2006 11:40:36 am PDT #4361 of 10001
information libertarian
I saw Queen Margot with The Nice Catholic Boy I once dated. We both thought it was baaad, although Adjani must have been 40 and still looked about 16. Actually I sort of blame Queen Margot for our breakup, though I think it was just the timing (the breakup was inevitable, as I am neither Nice nor Catholic.
-t - Sep 16, 2006 12:08:04 pm PDT #4362 of 10001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I love City of Lost Children so much. I have no French, though. And I still haven't seen Delicatessen, somehow.
sumi - Sep 16, 2006 12:10:07 pm PDT #4363 of 10001
Art Crawl!!!
Are the Red, Blue, White films considered to be French? Or Polish?
megan walker - Sep 16, 2006 12:20:00 pm PDT #4364 of 10001
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Are the Red, Blue, White films considered to be French? Or Polish?OMG, how could I have forgotten them? They're right there on the shelf! Love them. Despite Kieslowski, they are considered French productions both for financing and language reasons (although most of White is in Polish).
amych - Sep 16, 2006 12:28:44 pm PDT #4365 of 10001
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
(although most of White is in Polish).
Thank you! This explains why I've been sitting here wondering why I can't remember which language they were in even though I very clearly remember seeing them -- in France, in French, and yet somehow also with subtitles...
Vonnie K - Sep 16, 2006 12:40:34 pm PDT #4366 of 10001
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.
I love Trois Couleurs trilogy. Rouge is one of my all time favourite flicks EVER. Definitely in my top ten.
Hmmm. I've seen about the 75% of films on Megan's students-approved list, but I have this weird resistance to the French new wave. I can take Louis Malle in small doses (I actually like his last two films the best -- his adaptation of Uncle Vanya and the brilliantly nasty Damage -- hmm, it happens that both of them are in English, so maybe that's irrelevant), and Truffaut is OK, but I CANNOT stand Godard and haven't watched any Melville. Oddly enough, I love Eric Rohmer, despite the the never-ending navel-gazing and the incessant talk that define his films. The end of Le Rayon Verte always makes me cry, for some reason.
One of the most affecting French films in my memory is Claude Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver, with Emmanuelle Beart and Daniel Auteuil, which is sparse and elegant and terribly wounding in a quiet way.