Život v Cizine (was La Vie Expatriée)
I'm finally satisfying a long-held dream of living abroad.
Having started in France, I've now moved on to the Czech Republic.
- Život v Cizine
(was La Vie Expatriée)Previous Posts
- Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day
- The Czechoslovak Legion in Russia, 1914–20
- St. Martin's Day
- Libuse
- The Day of Establishment of the Independent Czecho...
- Good Deed for the Day
- Playing Tourist: Sunday at Konopiste
- Playing Tourist: Saturday in Mala Strana
- Wine Festival at Prague Castle
- Little Brother's Visit, Days 6, 7 and 8: The (Ing...
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Paris, Je T'aime
I went to see this the other day, with no particularly high expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. Of the 18 mini-films, 3 were laugh-out-loud funny, and 4 made me cry. Some of the other 12 were merely "heh", but none was actively bad. So not a bad mix.
I particularly like Carol in the last segment, 14e Arrondisement:
Her accent, and her French, are perfectly execrable. While I flatter myself that I'm not that bad, my professor in Oral French has observed, somewhat reluctantly, that I continue to speak with a strong American accent. Which can be charming, she hastened to assure me.
Labels: movies, Paris, Paris Je T'aime
posted at 12:20 PM permalink
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Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Movies en français
The movies I've seen most recently are both French biopics: Moličre and La Môme. I was mostly able to follow along, although some of the argot in La Môme eluded me. I miss subtitles, though: it's a pity movies aren't captioned for the hearing impaired in the theaters.
Moličre
This is more Moličre's (early) life as if it had been a Moličre play than biopic. Think "French remake of Shakespeare in Love" and you'll be on the right track. The premise is that 22 year old Moličre is rescued from debtor's prison by a man with more money than sense who wants Moličre's help in attracting the attention of a woman with whom he's enamored. Along the way, Moličre encounters the characters and situations that would later figure in his plays.
It's an entertaining romp, although there's something of a disconnect between the script and most of the cast, who seem to be under the impression that this is a farce, and Romain Duris as Moličre himself, who, though excellent, is far too intense and even tortured for the tone of the movie.
I suspect I'd have enjoyed this still more if I were more familiar with Moličre's work. While I recognized some of the characters and situations vaguely, I'm sure that I missed even more than I caught.
It's slated for a (limited) US release later this summer, and it's worth checking out, especially for the French theater buff.
La Môme
La Môme is about Edith Piaf, who was known early in her career as La Môme Piaf (the Kid Sparrow). It's also due for a US release this summer, as La Vie en Rose. I can see why they didn't keep it as La Môme (in French), since that would be a little too obscure for Anglophones, and translating the title to The Kid might just get people all confused with the Chaplin (1921) or Willis (1990) movies. But, not that anyone asked me, if they had to go with the name of one of her songs, why in mercy's name didn't they choose "Je ne regrette rien"? That would have made ever so much more sense.
At any rate, Marion Cotillard is superb as Piaf. The movie itself is very episodic and jumps around in a seriously distracting fashion. Her daughter, who died in childhood, appears only briefly in flashback towards the end in a scene that you would miss if you blinked, and the Second World War apparently never occurred. The only way I could keep track of the "when" of the movie was by assessing how ravaged Cotillard looked in any given scene. I'm not sure what the director was thinking: a more straight-forward approach would surely have served his purposes as well.
Labels: France, La Mome, Moliere, movies, Piaf
posted at 3:45 PM permalink
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
More movie outings
In the past week, I've seen Apocalypto and Hollywoodland. These were both listed as "VO" (i.e., subtitled rather than dubbed). Unfortunately, I forgot that, in the case of Apocalypto, the original was Mayan; fortunately, my French was up to the task of following along!
I was actually more impressed with Apocalypto than I expected to be. It was gory, but the gore didn't have the pornographic glee of Gibson's Passion of the Christ. It also dragged some, but I got caught up in the story and the fate of the characters.
I wasn't all that taken by Hollywoodland. Affleck made a valiant effort, and maybe the script was at least partly to blame, but he came across as wooden, and didn't convey Reeves's charm. Neither was I convinced by Brody. Diane Lane, on the other hand, was very good, and I liked Spano and DeMunn (who played Strickling and Weissman, respectively).
Labels: Apocalypto, Hollywoodland, movies, Paris
posted at 9:05 PM permalink
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Friday, January 05, 2007
Out to the movies
I went to the movies this evening for the first time in Paris (and my first time in several weeks!), and saw The Holiday. It was entirely predictable, but mostly charming, although I really wanted to slap Cameron Diaz' Amanda around a few times.
American movies are very popular in Paris, and most movies can count on a Parisian release. Unfortunately, the release dates are different. While usually this means that they're later, so I now have another chance to catch Hollywoodland, sometimes it means that they're earlier. In particular, it looks as though I've missed Children of Men: it opened in France in November, and right now, it doesn't appear to be playing anywhere closer than Marseilles.
The movie listings for American, or other foreign language films, include a notation "VO" (version originale) or "VF" (version Française) to indicate whether it's subtitled (VO) or dubbed (VF). Sometimes the same theater will offer both versions.
Labels: movies, Paris, The Holiday
posted at 10:03 PM permalink
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