I’ve watched two French films recently thanks to Netflix, one on DVD and one via streaming.
I like the way many European filmmakers spend more time with their story then our often special effects besotted American directors. I cannot say that the films are better written — my language skills are too limited — but surely characters are better defined. Good European movies are often like fine wine to be savored, not beer to be gulped.
The first was the romantic comedy The Valet [La doublure] (2006), featuring Gad Elmaleh as the loser parking valet François. His lifelong love refuses his proposal, but right after he finds himself pretending to be in a relationship with a famous supermodel — played by the stunningly beautiful Alice Taglioni. It really doesn’t matter what happens — it’s a romantic comedy for pity sakes — but it’s amusing, and all the right things happen to all the right people. Elmaleh played a similar character opposite Audrey Tautou in Priceless [Hors de prix] (2006), also an amusing film I liked. He seems to have a lock on the lovable French loser role.
The second film was Séraphine (2008), based on the life of the French primitive artist Séraphine Louis also known as Séraphine de Senlis. Yolande Moreau plays the title role and she is simply magnificent. Séraphine Louis was a rough middle aged cleaning woman when her work was discovered by art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde just before World War I. The film takes time — truthfully a bit more time than absolutely necessary, but we are savoring — to show us Séraphine’s daily struggle with life, including gathering the natural materials she used in her art. It’s simply a lovely film that I intend to watch again. Ms. Moreau won the best actress award at Cannes in 2008 and the film won several 2009 César awards (the main national film awards in France), including best actress, writing, music, cinematography, costume, and best film. Indeed.
Image is painting by Séraphine de Senlis.
One of the very best European films I can remember watching is the Czech film “Zelary.” I cannot recommend this movie enough! It’s beautiful.
Have you seen any of French director Eric Rohmer’s films? Great character development. I enjoyed his 6 “moral tales.”
I found “Coco before Chanel” pretty interesting. Not an all-time favorite but worth watching if you’re into French films.
I’ve added Coco and Zelary to my Netflix DVD queue, but I’d appreciate it in the future if you would just recommend movies that Netflix streams. I’m a firm believer in instant gratification.
I added “Coco Before Chanel” to my queue.
I’m sure you’ll be instantly gratified when you watch these movies, after they arrive in your mail box.
I had to work very hard for a long, long time to be able to appreciate the benefits of instant gratification.
“Coco Before Chanel” was lovely to look at, but a complete fictionalization of Coco’s life. You watch it and think she was a plucky survivor, who used her tragic love story to motivate her to succeed on her own…not a high-class prostitute who used the money given to her by married men to start businesses, before later becoming a Nazi collaborator.
But fun costumes!