And don't even think of mentioning Blue Fucking Velvet.
― Pete, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― the pinefox, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Omar, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
French films were popular in the 80s because people were simple and thought that dead-classy French birds having emotional traumas = art. The the forerunners of ILE came along an said 'errgh - you idiots'. Is Scandinavian arthouse the new French arthouse?
― Nick, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― MarK Morris, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark Morris, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Dave M., Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― nathalie (nathalie), Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― youn, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Rogue agent, over and out.
― jel, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
In a total class of his own, geniuswise, pretention-wise, boringness-wise = Godard.
Grate Gilbert Adair story (which he tells against himself, I shd add). GA arrives at a screening late, asks bloke seated next to him what's happened. Bloke obliges with plot so far. Afterwards GA goes off on one as to why is to that, when asking what one has missed so far, you always get narrative, and no one ever obliges with the MISE EN SCENE? All critics and reviews present to hear this rant fall about, and NEVER STOP TEASING HIM about it.
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Mmm, Les Nuits Fauves: French nymphs running through the woods, etc? The reference to J.Hughes is a bit alarming though.
― Jason, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Anyway, it should also be mentioned that when Fr. cinema tries not to be Fr. cinema and go for that mainstream-appeal thing it gets much worse i.e. Les Visiteurs, Asterix movies, any 'French action movie' etc.
― Tom, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark Morris, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex thomson, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I actually have a soft spot for a lot of French films, despite lack of dinosaurs and robots, though i do think they can sometimes settle into the similar problem of a lot of American indie films. Too much pointless and possibly substandard dialogue. Of course my only knowledge of dialogue is from the subtitles which will not get across the nuances. Films like Les Dinner De Cons actually do the dinner party thing well, whilst other French stuff I have enjoyed thoroughly over the last few years include The Girl On The Bridge, A La Place Du Couer and Resources Humaine.
I really dislike Claire Denis though.
― Pete, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
"Stegosaurus? Je ne comprends pas. Il y a L'Éstegousauron.... Etc."
― mark s, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I feel that I have failed, as I cannot find any other ones.
― jel, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Enter a word or words to search for: dinosaur
Notes: Searches are case insensitive. You can use a * as a wildcard. Boolean searches are allowed.
Result of search for "dinosaur":
No matching entries found.
= proof by science that French films are rubbish
― youn, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Godard is champ, of course, the silly sexist old Maoist. Some of his recent work - esp. his video 'histories of cinema' - as brilliant and downright barmy as any of his 'classic' Nouvelle Vague stuff. Have sort've been taken aback by the anti-art flavour of some of the posts - we can have rockets and rayguns AND chin-scratching pseudery, we can have it ALL! Ok maybe we only get the 'cream' of French cinema - but what cream! And I haven't even mentioned Vigo, Renoir, Truffaut, Betrand Blier, etc etc.
― Andrew L, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Rivette also made OUT ONE (which is 12 hours long), which = a film I must see before I die (tho won't). The cut version, OUT ONE: SPECTRE is a mere four hours long. I keep meaning to go see some of the Godards at the Lux or the NFT, but can find no one to go with!!
Huh ? Dinosaures, brontosaures, tyrannosaures, etc. etc. What, do all other languages use the exact english words for dinosaurs? One translation thing that does get embarrassing is english movie titles turned into cutesy France slang, which never fails to sound incredibly dorky to Québec ears. Or worse, bad France translations of US TV shows where all the cultural references are turned into French ones - Family Ties in French is an all-time landmark of unspeakableness (unspeakability ?). However, translations of the Flintstones and The Simpsons = made in Québec, and they totally rox0r.
― Patrick, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
French film seen at young age and stuck with me permanently: "L'Atalante"
― Robin Carmody, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Simon Benson, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Aren't you making some awfully sweeping generalizations?
― Nicole, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― MarkH, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I am not an idiot, I am a dolt - as I explained somewhere else.
― Pete, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
This is like..
― N., Saturday, 26 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 10 January 2003 00:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
Is that like the French version of Porky's?
― o. nate (onate), Friday, 10 January 2003 00:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
you hate melies = you hate me
― mark s (mark s), Friday, 10 January 2003 10:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Friday, 10 January 2003 10:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Friday, 10 January 2003 10:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 10 January 2003 11:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
Day for Night I'd take out, but the other Truffaut films are great and at least several more (Shoot the Piano Player, The Wild Child, The Green Room, etc) would make strong candidates.
I'm actually not a fan of Haneke - I probably agree with his ideas in a broader sense, but I always felt like he put them across in a sneering, contemptuous way. If I really had to include one of his films, it would probably be Code Unknown.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 02:07 (six months ago) link
I like Amour more than most ILXers, thanks to Trintignant.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 02:12 (six months ago) link
Trintignant was wonderful, so was Riva. They both gave great performances and to be fair, Haneke deserves some credit for that (not unless they told him "f--- off, I do what I want," which I highly doubt). I just hate how he filmed that movie and their performances in particular. At best, you could say it was cold and clinical, but at worst it was callous and terrible, particularly the climactic scene which I found repulsive in the way it was composed.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 02:27 (six months ago) link
Let me reel it back in a bit - there are at least a couple of moments that were movingly depicted, such as this one. But the cruel ones weigh heavier in memory.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 02:34 (six months ago) link
Reminds me Je t’aime, je t’aime is on sale at Kino Now right now.
― Smike and Pmith (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 03:13 (six months ago) link
Unfortunately, the color is way, way off. It's a problem with a lot of color films being restored from that era - revisionist color timing, and in this case, it's a egregious, cold, blue-looking palette. (From what I can tell, everyone who's familiar with this film's history has been very critical of the new look.) But it's a great film, and that still comes through despite the tinkering to the color.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 03:47 (six months ago) link
I watched a dodgy rip from some dodgy Russian website, but I guess I'm no film purist!
― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 06:01 (six months ago) link
She was wonderful in Passages. I have a forgiving heart.
tbc it's not her performance that I think is the issue with that film!
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 09:04 (six months ago) link
it's a rubbish list, which is tautological i guess
― no gap tree for old men (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 09:09 (six months ago) link
hating this list
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 12:32 (six months ago) link
I dunno, there are things on here that are new to me, which is all I think you can really ask from a (stupid, pointless) list.
Surprised at how high Les Valseuses placed. I watched it this year, and it has dated very poorly, including the woeful rape-that-turns-into-pleasure trope.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 13:54 (six months ago) link
That and Blue/Warmest are examples of what the French call "le doubling down"
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 13:55 (six months ago) link
le merde
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 13:57 (six months ago) link
I've not seen 39 but tbh there are a few things I just don't give a fuck about. Is Rozier any good? MUBI is hosting a couple of films of his and can't say I cared.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 14:02 (six months ago) link
If I really had to include one of his films, it would probably be Code Unknown.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 bookmarkflaglink
I love Haneke a lot (none of his films were on the S&S poll, which rankled), but CU was the one I wanted to see here.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 14:04 (six months ago) link
Yes, Code Unknown above all else, though I liked Cache and Time of the Wolf too.
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 14:07 (six months ago) link
I think probably a lot of the stuff on the list that ILXors haven't seen is French postwar popular cinema, there's a lot of films that are huge within France but have next to no exposure outside of it. Stuff like Le Pere Noel Est Une Ordure, La Classe Americaine, L'Homme de Rio...and La Grande Vadrouille, which features two comedians that are viewed as Gods in France (De Funès and Bourvil) and was the highest grossing movie ever in the country until Titanic took its spot (I've seen it - it's one of those 60's caper comedies that are best watched in an alcoholic haze over the holidays. Terry-Thomas is in it!).
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 14:56 (six months ago) link
Yeah, there's some o_0 titles littered throughout this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_France
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:09 (six months ago) link
No desire whatsoever to see the films of the Asterix & Obelix series
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:10 (six months ago) link
Code UnknownThe Piano TeacherCachéAmour
^^ all the Haneke I need
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:10 (six months ago) link
I don't know if it's that o_0 really, every nation has its equivalents - not like Japanese box office is all Naruse or Italian box office all Antonioni.
One of those Asterix movies is good but I don't remember which one.
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:23 (six months ago) link
True, every national cinema has its own terrible, unfunny comedies
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:28 (six months ago) link
Carry on Films hello
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:28 (six months ago) link
Yep, which reminds me that someone voted Holiday on the Buses the best movie of all time in the Morbsies
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:32 (six months ago) link
From the o_0 list above, Le Diner de Cons still holds a special place in my heart
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:44 (six months ago) link
God I love to see people sharing my love of Code Unknown, one of my favourite movies and certainly my favourite Haneke
― Preach The Crapen (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:48 (six months ago) link
we need to decide who the french martin scorsese is and get him to express mild disdain for the asterix/obelix franchise
― mark s, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:52 (six months ago) link
mild exasperation in fact
I once was hanging out with a guy who’d just spent several days with Haneke for the purpose of writing a profile, and said it was very funny to hear Haneke speak at length against bourgeois conceit and aesthetic, while his extremely lovely wife produced an endless supply of homemade delectables from the kitchen. Him: “we must reject everything the bourgeois stands for”, her: “who wants some pie?”
― Preach The Crapen (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:53 (six months ago) link
Both are true. We must reject it all, and we must have pie
― Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:55 (six months ago) link
that's funny but we must not allow the bourgeoisie to appropriate pie
― no gap tree for old men (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:56 (six months ago) link
let's have our pie and eat it too
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:56 (six months ago) link
"who wants pie" is really not a bourgeois conceit
― mark s, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:57 (six months ago) link
― Preach The Crapen (flamboyant goon tie included),
Buñuel understood.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:01 (six months ago) link
Just to be clear, this house is both anti-bourgeois and pro-pie
― Preach The Crapen (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:04 (six months ago) link
the discreet charm of the bourpiesie.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:06 (six months ago) link
This genuinely made me laugh - and I really can't remember if that was my vote or not. After all, it is a Hammer film.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:09 (six months ago) link
The website for the above table lists La Grande Illusion (1937) with an estimated 12.5 million admissions but the actual admissions are unknown.[3]
really, Renoir outsold Star Wars?
― jmm, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:23 (six months ago) link
Haneke is like Cronenberg and Greenaway for me - all over the map in terms of quality. The more the films open up, the better he is, and I'd recommend 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance as one of his most interesting and least didactic.
Very nice to see Buffet Froid and Le Feu Follet represented, the former is like if the 70s Buñuel films were actually funny. I was also under the impression that Je t’aime, je t’aime was basically forgotten, it's a strange choice for a Resnais.
Sorry not to see any André Téchiné, is he too bourgeois even for the French? Or too many good movies with no major standout to collect votes?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:32 (six months ago) link
even here only Armond White, in his only moment of sanity, gets Téchiné.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:34 (six months ago) link
No Assayas either?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 16:54 (six months ago) link
So I saw the Eustache features this weekend. And right now I am so pissed off at male sexual entitlement I'm beginning to think Valerie Solanas had a point. But I'll listen to arguments otherwise.
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 17:28 (six months ago) link
Hmmm. I've only seen The Mother & The Whore, but felt v much like the Leaud character is supposed to be seen as an irredeemable prick? Not that that's a get out of jail free card or anything.
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 17:43 (six months ago) link
I agree with you that Leaud is supposed to be a chauvinist (who happens to have come through the events of 1968 with some very retrograde ideas about sexuality). But do viewers recognize that? Or that Veronika is less a whore or slut, but rather a target of men's sexual opportunism?
As for My Little Loves, it's overwhelmingly a coming-of-age piece--and coming of age defined very much in terms of accessing females, with no consideration of consent on their part. French society, either before or in the immediate wake of 1968, probably didn't think too much about recognizing a woman's right to say no, but sitting through these films was exhausting.,
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 19:38 (six months ago) link
The Mother and the Whore (1973)Holiday on the Buses (1973)Do you see?
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 19:45 (six months ago) link
"(who happens to have come through the events of 1968 with some very retrograde ideas about sexuality)"
The film is very much about the failures of '68.
But I say this as a man xp
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 20:00 (six months ago) link
Didn't just happen in France either.
― Chris L, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 20:05 (six months ago) link
But do viewers recognize that? Or that Veronika is less a whore or slut, but rather a target of men's sexual opportunism?
Is "some do, some don't" too flippant an answer? I try not to think much about what audiences might think, as the internet has shown me ppl can be super dense even about the clearest of messages. Which is not to say feeling the vibe of ppl reacting in certain ways doesn't sometimes affect me negatively in the cinema - grimmest example of this was some old chuckling appreciatively as the protagonist of "Thunder Road" berated the corpse of his drug addict ex-wife.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 13:38 (six months ago) link