French Film Search and Destroy

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Le Mepris showcases the worst (and a bit of the best) of early Godard methinks. My favorites of his early films: Breathless, Vivre sa vie, Pierrot le fou, Week End, La Chinoise.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 24 February 2003 22:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Weekend is a scream! You have no sense of humor!

What about the part where the workers eat the sandwich and talk about Marxism? It's gobs of fun!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 24 February 2003 22:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

Godard - Une femme est une femme does it for me.

I guess I could include the Three Colours trilogy even though they were directed by a Pole - Red and White are my favourites. La Double vie de Veronique too.

For more French Polish, Polanski's "The tenant" is an oft forgotten piece of insane genius.

― Tag (Tag), Monday, 24 February 2003 22:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

Weekend? Fun? It's just plain boring. It's like Buckaroo Baazai with politics instead of science fiction.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Monday, 24 February 2003 22:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Buckaroo Banzai is boring? I love that movie!

― hstencil, Monday, 24 February 2003 22:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

Then go see Weekend.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Monday, 24 February 2003 22:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think Le Mépris is terrific, if a bit hard to watch, especially with a significant other present.

― slutsky (slutsky), Monday, 24 February 2003 22:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

was man bites dog belgian? i'm thinking yes...

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

So what - Belgians speak French too! Search Chantal Akerman!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

That's the spirit! Search Rosetta and Le Fils.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Akerman's 'Jeanne Dielman' is my favorite film that I don't ever want to sit through again. I love it, but 3 cuts over 3 hours is brutal.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've seen it three times and I was never angry with it. It means a bit more once you know what's coming.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, I've seen it twice and I was just as riveted the second time.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw it twice in two days for a class. it was a bit much. However it's been about 6 years, and I just saw a VHS copy for rent at Cinefile...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search Jean Giraud's Les Maîtres du temps, my favourite non-Japanese (or rather non-Miyazaki) animation feature.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh well, hell, I would never want to watch it twice in two days! Yes, that would be tough.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

and just so you folks don't think I'm dissing on Jeanne Dielman, I actually emailed the head of Criterion asking whether they might ever release it on DVD! He said it was a good idea ("I'd love to do that one"), and that he'd look into it (nb - that was almost 2 years ago).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

You pretty much can't go wrong with what Criterion has released: Faves: Le Million, Le Trou, Band Of Outsiders, Vagabond, Children Of Paradise, Wages Of Fear

Also search: Subway and the incredibly silly but fun guilty-pleasure Brotherhood Of The Wolf

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: La Passion de Jeanne D'Arc, even though the director was Danish.

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 24 February 2003 23:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

La fille sur le Pont, Vivre sa vie...

There's this one called Peppermint Soda that looks very good but I haven't rented it yet.

― Genevieve, Monday, 24 February 2003 23:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, I wouldn't really want to see Dielman again. But it was great watching it once. I won't say any more.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 01:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

More search: Jules and Jim, Shoot the Piano Player, Small Change, La Lectrice

hstencil: We have never discussed The Hairdresser's Husband, but we can.

slutsky: Hi! I knew someone of that name once, on a faraway island . . .

― felicity (felicity), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 01:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

that wouldn't be the island of montreal you're talking about, would it?

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 02:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

haha no, but you do have a wonderful namesake.

― felicity (felicity), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 02:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Good to know.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 02:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pas l'ile de France?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 03:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

I know 0.001 about French cinema, and haven't seen other Rohmer, but I think Pauline at the Beach is worth seeing once.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 03:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

French films are hella overrated but Je t'aime Je t'aime (Resnais again) isn't bad. Let's watch Max, Mon Amour (Oshima). Time Out was a dud out of proportion to its good press.

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 09:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

fave godard: vivre sa vie, bande a part. hate: weekend (would rather have my eyes pecked out by pigeons than watch that again.)
second: le grand illusion, le jour se leve. also love: le souffle au couer, les valseuses, alice et martin, jeux interdits, le rayon vert. also, am i alone in finding amelie not just great, but also incredibly dark and depressing (tho the ending is happy i guess)? surely you can't hate something because of the arrangement of features on someone's face? i think her performance is wonderful.

― jeanne picot (jeanne picot), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 11:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/00/02/48/75/ph1.jpg

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 February 2003 11:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Fuck yes, "la lectrice", a wonderful thing. And Peppermint Soda is great, Genevieve.

Other gems I've remembered - I loved "les amants du pont neuf", (although Carax's "Polo X" is in my top ten worst films ever made). "la petite voleuse" (wonderful Charlotte G), "l'appartement"....

I remember "le grand chemin" being a kind of French "My life as a dog" but I was young and rose-tintedly Francophilic when I saw it so I could be wrong.

― Tag (Tag), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

although Carax's "Polo X" is in my top ten worst films ever made

Oh no! That film is extraordinary.

Ed needs to post more pictures of Jacques Tati.

Did anyone catch this exhibit in Paris or Rotterdam? See here for some nice photos.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...

Search : anything by Bertrand Tavernier.

yes. esp. que la fête commence

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 13 April 2003 11:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw Le Fils this week and is the best film of the year. so far.

― Erik, Sunday, 13 April 2003 11:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I see...you have a cabbage...."

"......oui."

― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 13 April 2003 13:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

I won't delve into the classics, that would take too much time, but here's some hits and misses from the nineties and the naughties. For a couple of them, I've also included links for my reviews in the Internet Movie Database.

SEARCH:

Political films
La Haine
Ressources humaines
Seul contre tous

Action
Dobermann
Léon

Drama
L'Humanité
http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0197569-12
Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train
Corto Maltese: La cour secrète des Arcanes http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0259134-1
La Pianiste
L'Appartement
La Classe de neige

Comedy
Drôle de Félix
Delicatessen
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Mortel transfert
Du poil sous les roses
Pourquoi pas moi?

Art Stuff
La Belle noiseuse
Clubbed to Death
Beau travail
http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0209933-9

DESTROY:

Art Shit
Sombre
Irréversible
Trouble Every Day

Bad Drama
Post coitum animal triste
Parfait amour!
Rien sur Robert

Stupid Action
Les Mille merveilles de l'univers
Les Rivières pourpres
Le Pacte des loups (the worst French film ever?)
http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0237534-48

Few brief recommendations: Ressources humaines, a leftist film about a factory worker father and a lawyer son, is one of the films of the nineties. Dobermann is probably the most nihilistic and brutal action film ever made this side of The Atlantic. La Pianiste, the story about a sexually frustrated piano teacher, is extremely difficult to watch, but definitely worth the view. Mortel transfert is a Kafkaesque black comedy about a psychoanalyst and his dead patient. La Belle noiseuse, a four-hour story about the making of one painting, is the slowest film ever, but also one of the most hypnotic.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 14 April 2003 08:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

rafifi

― cameron, Monday, 14 April 2003 10:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

Search: The Dream Life of Angels

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 14 April 2003 14:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...

I liked that film.

destroy: the UK cut of 'a ma souer', in order to be granted an 18 certificate, loses 1m 30s off the end of the film, somewhat obscuring the power of anais' final claim that he didn't rape her.

'la maman et la putain' is showing in the cinema here today.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 3 October 2004 08:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Odd that this thread appeared today - I watched Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie this morning. I liked it a lot, actually. I think I might watch Man Bites Dog next.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Sunday, 3 October 2004 08:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Les Enfants Du Paradis / Children of Paradise!

― Remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 3 October 2004 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Ok, not French but still, saw 'Les Invasions Barbares' the other night. Despite the weird - kinda cheesy cliches, it moved me quite a bit (might have sth to do with my own worries about my father...)

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Sunday, 3 October 2004 22:21 (nineteen years ago) link

Confidences trop intimes Ignore with extreme prejudice. The film, that is.

― EComplex (EComplex), Monday, 4 October 2004 00:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Tell me more about Ophuls.

― Tous Les Garcons S'Appellent Little Lord Travolta (nordicskilla), Monday, 4 October 2004 00:56 (nineteen years ago) link

he was viennese

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Rien sur Robert

oh haha! i loved this movie. it had a hilarious line about abal sex.

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:06 (nineteen years ago) link

anal.

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:07 (nineteen years ago) link

S: Chris Marker (especially everything he ever did), early Michel Gondry videos and The Transporter

D: I dunno, I hate to be the 838253rd person to diss Amelie. But I guess I just did.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link

I've seen Jeanne Dielman a third time since my earlier posts on this thread.

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:16 (nineteen years ago) link

and of course it was just as great, riveting, beautiful, etc.

― Roy Williams Highlight (diamond), Monday, 4 October 2004 01:17 (nineteen years ago) link

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