Willow ,'Showtime'
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.
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.
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.
I love City of Lost Children so much. I have no French, though. And I still haven't seen Delicatessen, somehow.
Are the Red, Blue, White films considered to be French? Or Polish?
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).
(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...
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.
I love City of Lost Children so much. I have no French, though. And I still haven't seen Delicatessen, somehow.
That's the great thing about Jeunet, he's so visual that the language barrier is not as great as with the more "talky" French movies, or comedies.
and Truffaut is OK, but I CANNOT stand Godard and haven't watched any Melville.
It should be noted that Melville is more of a precursor to the French new wave than a participant. He shares a similar interest in American genre (particularly crime/noir) with the New Wave directors, but his style is more old school. Bob le Flambeur makes a better double-feature with Dassin's Riffifi than it does with Breathless. (And Riffifi might be the best picture in that bunch although Breathless is certainly more significant).
megan, I was also fond of Diane Kurys' movies like Peppermint Soda and Cocktail Molotov. From the late seventies, early eighties. Also Coup de Foudre (which was released stateside as Entre Nous) starring Isabelle Huppert and Miou Miou.
La Lectrice also with Miou Miou was interesting.
Just saw The Crow for the first time ever (thanks TNT, even with your "that's flipping bullspit!" replacements!)
It's the gothiest goth goth in gothonia, huh?