French Cinema - an appreciation

Tati ?

 

I wish Get Out Your Handkerchiefs was available, either on DVD, Blu-Ray or streaming. A hilarious response to Freud's question, 'What does a woman want?'

 

City of Lost Children was a big favorite of mine but haven’t seen it in 10-15 years.

Criterion introduced me to a bunch more like Le Samourai, Orpheus, pickpocket, elevator to the gallows, rules of the game, but Rififi is probably my favorite.

 

Yes, I grabbed that one last year. I remember it being a real "wow" moment when it came out. I love the whole look/art direction of that one.

 

Daniel Auteil is one of my favourite French actors. We watched this drama last week. Starts off a bit like "Damage" (Louis Malle) but gets more complex.

 

My award for Best French Film of All-Time:

“Vivre Sa Vie” aka “My Life to Live”. Jean-luc Godard

Vivre Sa Vie (1962) - IMDb

 

And for the Steve Hoffman forum...



Yeah, you wish, vous les chiens.

 

The 400 Blows ( 1959).

 

Tres Jolie, merci.

 

Glad to see this! Though I'm not going through a French period now - I suddenly realized how my film watching is unconsciously tied to a hankering for specific languages and countries - I'm happy to add French language film recommendations to my queue.

Off the top my favorites are
Grand Illusion, Renoir
Queen Margot, Chéreau
Man on the Train, Leconte
Shoot The Piano Player, Truffaut
Army of Shadows, Melville
Rififi, Dassin
The Triplets of Belleville, Chomet
Diary of a Country Priest, Bresson
Red, Kieslowski
Under The Sun of Satan, Pialat
Elevator to the Gallows, Malle
The Battle of Algiers, Pontevorvo

I wonder how typically American my list would appear to someone French. Some events can't be helped.

 

If you like Daniel Auteil, be sure to catch The Closet. Hilarious.

 

A couple of comedies:

La Cage aux Folles
Les Comperes

These were remade in English as The Birdcage and Fathers' Day, respectively.

Off on a tangent, here: sometimes when American movies are shown in France, the title can't be easily translated. When City Slickers played over there, it presented the problem that there wasn't a similar French idiom. They solved it by entitling it La vie...L'Amour...Les Vaches. (Life...Love...Cows.)

 

How about some Agnes Varda? I have finally had a chance to enjoy her works on the Criterion streaming channel; so far we have seen "Cleo from 5 to 7" and "Happiness", both wonderful. "Cleo" is New Wave without being too pretentious about it; "Happiness" is a a lovely (and disturbing) tale of one man and two women.

 

Right up there. But vivre sa sie is even more depressing. I think “My Life to live” is brilliant to the extent of “ there will be blood” genius - experimental and bold.

 

Okay, I'm probably going to catch some flack on this one:

Most over-rated film in history, and it happens to be French: Jules et Jim.

But, as they say, chacun a son gout.

 

"Le Placard". Thanks, I'm not sure if I've seen that one. Will check it out. I mean: Auteil, Dépardieu and Lermitte, you can't go wrong there, all three are excellent comic actors (as well as dramatic of course).

 

I do believe French films is superior to British films. But love both.

 

Bold statement

 

L’Enfance nue - a fantastic debut by Maurice Pialat. Available on Criterion and previously available on Masters of Cinema (OOP, region locked).

I do find that the packaging and extras from the likes of MoC and Arrow have at times been better than some of Criterion’s offerings.

 

I’ve generally found British films to be somewhat staid. France, Italy, Japan, America > British film.

 

Whiskey Galore -English film? Ah! better.

 

I am also a big friend of the French cinema. A lot of the classics have been mentioned but I like the contemporary films as well. I recommend two young actresses that I was impressed by in several of their movies:
Adèle Haenel and Sara Forestier

A small selections includes:
Naissance des pieuvres
Suzanne
Les Combattants
Les Ogres
La Fille inconnue

Le Nom des gens
Mes séances de lutte
La Tête haute

In Suzanne both played together as sisters.

 

I'm liking the 1949 version.

 

I finally watched "T.S. Spivet" and you're right: too cutesy-poo. I think the problem is that is too centered on the kid and his recounting of his story (which is booooring).
The art direction is amazing, beautiful even but it's overdone, over art directed, too "clever" and in the end it wears you out. To be honest, after the first 15 minutes, I hit the fast-forward continually to get the thing over with.

 

How about the magnificent, the outrageous "Les Valseuses"?



I just love Patrick Dawaere (et Dépardieu à la bonne époque).