Recently I have two French films about Love. Not love, but Love with a capital L. Now, it may seem like saying there's a French film about amour is like saying there's beef in hamburger but I can't remember a French film on the topic before. I've caught two films with similarities and differences but both are involving and effective.
The first is An Affair Of Love (1999) about a man and woman who meet anonymously through a newspaper ad. They don't trade personal information or even names, they meet on a weekly basis to have sex without any strings attached. The arrangement works for a while but the two begin to fall in love with each other. Sadly, the insecurities that led to their original meeting begins to take its toll on their relationship. The movie is cynical yet human and filled with regret.
The second film is Jet Lag (2003) starring Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche. The two meet in an airport during a plane strike and bad weather, a simple contrivance to bottle these two characters up together. Reno plays against type as an uptight frozen food entrepreneur (he usually plays griping, rugged spies). Binoche also plays against type as a superficial beautician (she usually plays passionate, caring women on the cusp of danger). The first half of the movie crawls along slowly with only the power of these two excellent actors to carry the film. But, once the two stop avoiding each other and begin to interact the emotional investment in these actors pay off. This is the first romantic comedy I've seen in a long time where I actually cared about whether or not they were together. Just goes to show what can happen when good actors are allowed to cut loose.
These movies go through similar motions but come to different conclusions. Both show a glossy, slighly upscale world where emotionally guarded people can come together. While neither film is particularly earth shaking, I recommend both of them.
2 comments:
Now, it may seem like saying there's a French film about amour is like saying there's beef in hamburger but I can't remember a French film on the topic before.
What few French films I have seen usually veered more on the topic of Love as in "Eros". ;)
Still, the French do make interesting films. I remember seeing one years ago about the French aristocracy and how they basically spent their days sniping each other with witty comments.
What a stupid existence.
When I wrote about French films, the only ones I could remember were Last Tango In Paris (middle aged Brando gets clingy and creepy) and the 400 Blows (little kids can't shape up). I finally remembered a French film about Love, it's the fun and flakey Amelie. It's a little precious, but very enjoyable. It made me look at creme brulee in a whole different light. Mmmmm...creme brulee.
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