French Cinema

[spanglechick]

Is it A bout de Souffle where he say "tu es vraiment degeulasse" and then she say: "Qu'est-ce que ce'st, 'degeulasse'?" tha's fuckign great too!

ooh - have one of these:

 

[satsuma]

check out renoir's partie de campagne

truffaut's jules et jim is wicked too + les quatre cents coups

just watched kieslowski's the double life of veronique, most of it is in french

and yeah Bergman is most definately swedish, but check out his stuff anyway- wild strawberries is great

"As far as Bergman is concerned, do you consider a film's 'nationality' to be the same as the director's?"

I don't see how you could interpret any of bergman's films as being french?

 

[satsuma]

Jean Luc Godard is a genius - he almost single-handedly invented Avant Garde cinema with his revolutionary cut-up, Cubist approach to film-making. You can see his influence all over Hollywood comedies and capers movies from later in the '60s. Yet it was all done on a shoestring budget that probably wouldn't pay for the hire of a director's chair today.

not really single handedly though... you can't really ignore the influence of the other cahiers directors like that..

 

[Ms T]

Whilst on thread, could someone recall the film where the group of men who meet regurlarly decide to eat until it kills them ?

La Grande Bouffe?

I love L'Appartement, and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.

 

[chilango]

Do you mean Germninal the one with Depardieu as the anarchist miner Souvarine who blows the mines up during a lock out/stiike from the Gianfranco Zola novel.

No (though thats a cool film) its from the 80s or early 90s (and got Imogen Stubbs in it) set around the railways I think.

 

[butchersapron]

Imogen stubbs! Sounds great!

 

[fishfingerer]

Do you mean Germninal the one with Depardieu as the anarchist miner Souvarine who blows the mines up during a lock out/stiike from the Gianfranco Zola novel.

I'm pretty sure the anarchist wasn't Depardieu. Gianfranco Zola is not to be confused with Chelsea's naturalist midfield legend pictured below.

 

[Griff]

Reading this thread has made me want to see Les Valseuses again.

 

[butchersapron]

I think you're right on the first - took someone long enough to even notice on the 2nd! Maybe i aimed too high?

 

[fishfingerer]

Good effort though, reminded me of the audio book joke in spinal tap. The anarchist was a skinnier bloke I think, Depardieu played a miner, he looks the part.

 

[trabuquera]

La Haine (again ... but it's what's happening, dude!)
less stylish but also interesting about the banlieues (even if it's a bit hackneyed at times) is a recent French gangster flick called La Mentale (The Code) starring French-Algerian wideboy Samy Naceri, who is a bit of a wrongun and thus great character actor, he's a bit like Joe Pesci but younger and sexier. He was also the hero in Taxi & Taxi II which are no-brainer entertainment but could give you a bit of a sense of Marseilles at least.

If you want to see Matthieu Kassowitz (director of La Haine) in the flesh he starred in an EXCELLENT satirical movie, full of snide digs about the French self-image as heroes of the Resistance, which in English was called " A Self Made Hero" but which in French was (I think) titled Un Heros Tres Discret or something similar.

Indochine shlocky semi-porny historical drama, almost worth the ludicrously chopped-down account of Indochina freeing itself from French colonial rule for the opportunities it offers for viewers to perve off Catherine Deneuve and/or Vincent Perez. (Vincent Perez, yum....). Also has very nice cinematography and production design

more schlock: the French just will keep turning out 18th-century historical dramas with or without the addition of extra porniness / philosophy / special-fx monsters. I think it's mostly just to see lots of ladies in corsets doing bad things, but some of the movies actually turned out OK. See Brotherhood of the Wolf for sheer balls-out silliness (is it a martial arts movie? a satire? a comedy? a horror movie? or what?) and Ridicule for more historically accurate comedy and some of the best gallic snottiness and putdowns captured on film ever.

I'm a bit embarassed now 'cause a lot of this is downmarket fare not Cinema Club Classics for people who wear hornrimmed spectacles, but at least it shows you that liking French films don't automatically make you a pretentious ponce. personally I can't stand the whole 'philosophical discussions/weeping/sex/weeping/philosophical discussions/social climbing' school of French films so I don't bother with them .....

 

[marty21]

Beau Travail is a really great film, it's about the foreign legion but it's much better than taht sounds. it has the best ending of any film, ever.

agreed, it's a brilliant film

 

[butchersapron]

If you like poofs.

 

[fishfingerer]

Ridicule. I missed the opening scene where, I've been told, an aristocrat gets pissed on. Is this correct?

 

[Leica]

By the way, the Battle of Algiers is not a french film.

 

[butchersapron]

That's an excellent point Leica.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Good God, is it not?

 

[butchersapron]

Don't be an arse Donna, it's a good enough point in that it reverses the lens that people in the west often think films *about* other places are by them (and this one esp) - a cinenmatic imperialism It's a fair enough point that doesn't need any sneering at.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Who's sneering? You'll note that I cited it further up the thread, so it was my mistake being corrected.

 

[butchersapron]

Who's sneering? You'll note that I cited it further up the thread, so it was my mistake being corrected.

In that case i take it back. We both live on our reputations.

 

[marty21]

If you like poofs.

who doesn't?

 

[butchersapron]

The Navy?

 

[marty21]

The Navy?

they need them more than most, this country would be left undefended without them

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Oh, Le Weekend - avoid. And never mind the great tracking shot.

 

[Idris2002]

In that case i take it back. We both live on our reputations.

I'm living on grandfather's capital myself.

 

[siarc]

vigo was wonderful, he was only 29 iirc though thankfully not forgotten

godard was not the beginning of avant garde cinema in any sense, bunuel, vertov, deren, whatever, it happened a long time before a bout de souffle

that's cavilling though, as 'weekend' (pas de le) is amazing as is a lot of his work at that time

some of it is very far from avant garde, eg 'band of outsiders' which is a very funny and endearing film that i'd recommend to just about anybody

 

[Idris2002]

Is that the one where they run through the Louvre in 60 seconds? If that's the one I'm thinking of, it is very good, you're right.

Don't know if anyone's mentioned it, but Les Quatre Cent Coups is also worth anybody's time.

 

[siarc]

Is that the one where they run through the Louvre in 60 seconds? If that's the one I'm thinking of, it is very good, you're right

the very same

 

[oneflewover]

Whilst on thread, could someone recall the film where the group of men who meet regurlarly decide to eat until it kills them? Beautiful mansion, sumptuous food

Any offers?

 

[Leica]

La Grande Bouffe? I think someone has already mentioned it.