We all have that one movie.

[heinleinfan]

I will never, as long as I live, pay money to watch a French film ever again.  I might, maybe, by someone I loved and trusted, be persuaded to watch one for free.  It'd be a hard sell, though.

"À ma soeur" is a French film from 2001.  In the US it was called "Fat Girl".  Quite a few people I knew were raving about having to see this movie.  That it

Comments

OMG!!!!

[sweetmmeblue]

That's really a lot of WTF!!!

However, DrWex and I have seen some really good French films. Most notably Amelie. He also showed me the series Blue, White, Red. It's three films of the same events seem from the perspective of the different people in the movie. As for it's level of WTFness I'd have to rewatch them.

HUGS

Re: OMG!!!!

[heinleinfan]

*hugs*

I am 100% certain there is a "The Truman Show" level of conspiracy in my life surrounding Amelie. *Everyone* mentions it when I tell the story of Fat Girl, and I just know that somewhere amidst all the happy-feel-good imaginings and garden gnomes, there's someone with a machete cutting off limbs, and no one will admit it to me.

:p

Re: OMG!!!!

[kickthehobbit]

I have serious issues with violence in film, and I can tell you: there's nothing like that in Amelie. She does get a little sadistic when dealing with a cruel grocery-man, but it's "minor inconveniences/mild pain", not torture or dismemberment.

Last I checked, it was on Netflix, too, which means it's easily accessible if you decide to watch it. ;)

Re: OMG!!!!

[drwex]

Without defending that particular level of up-fucked-ness I will say that it's somewhat unfair to condemn an entire country's cinema based on one film. I could cite any number of horrid things that came (and continue to come) out of Hollywood.

Yes, Blue/White/Red are an excellent trilogy of French films... made by a Polish director.

And yes, Amelie is as good as people tell you. It was marketed as a "feel good" movie for a reason.

I will also note that the original La Femme Nikita was French, and a lot grittier than its sanitized American version. Better, too, as much as I loved the American version. The original "The Piano Teacher" is also French and I utterly loathed it.

The French are a lot more casual about infidelity than I'd like. I find their willingness to deal with sex/sexuality/gender/sexual orientation refreshing compared to the Puritanism that still grips Hollywood, but I'd like it if they didn't cheat so goddamn much.

[favoritebean]

By the time you got to the axe murderer, I didn't know whether to laugh or puke. This sounds like a hell of a movie I would avoid at all costs.

[heinleinfan]

Heh, I think both laughing and puking are appropriate.

[murielle]

Seriously, the end of that movie has me completely baffled. What kind of existential-bad shroom mind- bending-reason rending trip was that director, or producer's demented son, on?

Absolutely great review. Won't be watching that one--thank you!

[heinleinfan]

I feel a great sense of pride for everyone I convince NOT to watch this movie!

[hnybny]

I make my posts on Facebook unsearchable on Google, so I can't find my review of the film, but it was similar. I was more baffled than angry. Just like, WTF just happened? I even want on IMDB to see whether other people felt the same way. I did get what the end meant, but thought it was a terrible way to get to that conclusion. If someone asked me about the movie, I'd have said "It's a fucked up French, coming-of-age film."

[rayaso]

I share your aversion to French movies, but good god, what was going on with that one? Did they run out of money? Couldn't they figure out how to end it, so at a cafe somewhere, someone said "I know, send in an ax murderer!" "Great idea, Francoise! Let the pigs in the audience figure this one out!" After all, nothing adds symbolism like an ax murderer. I guess the meaning is, don't have teenage sex or you'l get chopped up.

[heinleinfan]

I'm baffled by it to this day, I really am.