So because I really have to share with SOMEONE I have decided that I am going to keep you hostages and deliver a few try-ons pics at the end of this post only if you make it throught the first part.
To make things easier for you, my dear hostages, I won't annoy you with the review of the movie that I have just seen. It was a TERRIBLE movie, maybe the worst French movie that I have ever seen. However, it was shot in a striking black and white (that we don't get to see very often these days) and it featured a young actor who has probably become the new icon of French cinema (at least of the "cinema d'auteur", mr. Louis Garrel.
If you don't know who Louis Garrel is, let me introduce him to you, in his typical frowing expression and intense look:
You will agree that he is handsome like a Greek God but that frowning, the fact that he almost never smile and is always smoking a cigarette and the fact that is always more or less playing the same role (of the student/intellectual who easily falls in and out of love) make him the natural successor of Jean-Pierre Léaud, the fetish actor of French director Francois Truffaut (who wasn't that handsome but probably more mature as an actor). Like Antoine Doinel, Léaud character and alter ego in the Truffaut movies, he is not really likeable in the movies he plays in. He always appears a little bit gloomy, or melancholic or plain bored. But he has a magnetic glance that keeps your eyes glued to the screen.
In the USA, you probably know him for one of his first features, Bernardo Bertolucci's "The dreamers", a steamy drama about the student riots of May '68 in Paris where he was playing (almost all the time naked) against Michael Pitt and Eva Green. Interestingly enough, his father, French director Philippe Garrel, shot a beautiful higly contrasted black and white movie a few years later on the same events and with Louis as one of the main characters which is to me the best movie on May 68 ever done. The movie is "Regular lovers" and you can rent it on Netflix but it is a 3 hours black and white movie with very slow scenes (a lot of walking without talking) and if you are not used to French movies or not interested at all in May 68 it will simply put you to sleep (but if you make through it it is one of real cinematographic experience).
This is the poster of "Regular Lovers" and it really conveys the beauty of the movie:
BTW, this outfit is mr. Garrel perennial outfit. You will always see him in a white shirt and black pants/jacket. I am not complaining, he certainly knows how to wear a white shirt with carefree elegance:
Besides working with his father, Louis is himself the fetish actor of director Christophe Honore and appears in almost all his movies. I recentlty watched "The beautiful person" and I really liked it but it has probably something to do with the fact that it reminded me of my daily life in Paris. If I had to recommend a movie by Christophe Honore and with Louis Garrel I would pick "Love songs", which is a musical, a genre that we normally don't associate with French cinema. It is a very surprising and original movie (again, it helps if you are used to French movies), and I have sang the songs for weeks after watching it.
Anyway, I just wanted to see if there are any fans of Louis Garrel out there. If yes, please share your favorite movie.
I lied by the way, the reviews are for tomorrow, it is too late now, I need a few hours of sleep before my daughter wakes me up. Dorry for taking you hostage without a reward (besides this one):
First of all, you said Dorry instead of Sorry -- hahahaha Ema, I so know how you feel, when you are so tired your words are all screwy but you still haven't finished writing! Love it. As for this actor, he looks like a moody John Mayer, and that's saying a lot, because John Mayer is already so moody! And I get the feeling you really miss Paris?
ReplyDeleteI love that I read the entire thing hoping for the reviews at the end, and then, NO REVIEWS! Hahahahahaaa... thanks for the morning giggle..
I am also cracked up by this post and your Dorry at the end, we can definitely read that you are exhausted!
ReplyDeleteThis actor seems comically moody to me with his constant cigarette etc. It's like he is a play-acting a moody French actor!
I have not seen any of these movies but thanks for the recommendations.
dinster, I don't know if I really miss Paris but I miss being in love in Paris and movies with young French actors in love bring me back to that time of my life.
ReplyDeleteI was really planning to add the reviews at the end but it was almost 3 am when I got to the end of the post. You can imagine my condition when my daughter woke me up at 6.
Thank you for leaving a comment, at least I made you giggle and you read it through the end ;-).
DaniBP, I was hoping that you would take on my recommendation. You have to see him in a movie, he is very charismatic and handsome. Or maybe I am just projecting my past experiences on him. The movie that I watched yesterday night ("Frontiers of Dawn", by his father) was unbelievable at the beginning and laughable at the end but it was watcheable because of his intensity.
I love his nose, I love big noses and just don't understand why folk get nose jobs.
ReplyDeleteNose three times in a sentence sounds and looks odd.
Tabitha, I like big noses too (on the right face). My first love had a big nose and you never forget your first love right?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the funniest posts you've ever written. Thanks for a good laugh. I can't do French movies. I fall asleep, as you described.
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~ happy hostage
This was interesting...your time was not wasted and, being the simple person I am, was getting ready to google "Dorry", thinking maybe it meant something! :) You know, maybe he can't help looking like he's pissed all the time. I have that problem, if I don't smile, I look, as I have been told throughout my adolescent and adult life: unapproachable, mad, too serious, etc. :( but really :)
ReplyDeleteOoooh, J'adore Louis Garrell! I just watched The Beautiful Person the other night w/ my husband- who in addition to being a full-on Frenchie himself also teaches french cinema and thus has subjected me to *plusieurs* boring french dramas (though not the one you're talking about). Btwn LG and Michael Pitt The Dreamers is such a swoon-fest. But, sorry to say, Roman Duris will always be at the top of my Dark Haired French Actor list. De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrete is my #1 swooniest movie of all time!
ReplyDeleteLovely redux of french cinema history in this post btw! I will def be busting out some of your thoughts tomorrow in an attempt to impress my husband :-)
Gigi, I think it was unwillingly funny but it's all good ;-)
ReplyDeleteIRL, I didn't catch on the "Dorry" until I read it n the comments. Glad that you and other readers found this post interesting and it wasn't a waste of time.
Lizzy, you made my day. I was hoping to find another fan of LG and French cinema out there. If you like Romain Duris and LG, they played together in another movie by Christophe Honore "Dans Paris". However is my least favorite movie with LG and I find it terribly boring (I always fell asleep before the end) and non-sensical, even if it is meant to be lighthearted. A movie that you need to watch just for the looks of Duris is "The Heartbreakers", which is kind of a silly comedy but he is very charming. Curious to know what your husband thinks of "Regular Lovers", he must know the movie.
Omg I couldn't finish Dans Paris either! I break out into hives when actors talk to the camera. I'll ask my husband about Regular Lovers when I get back to town (traveling for the wknd) but my guess is that if it's slow and boring he prob liked it. He is a "Rohmer Defender." :-) Oh, and I liked Heartbreaker a lot, but (oddly enough) I didn't find RD to be all that hot in it. I think I prefer my frenchmen a bit more dangerous (says the woman who is married to a 130-lb academic!).
ReplyDeleteWhen/where did you live in Paris? Cette ville me manque tellement!
Lizzy, I lived in Paris from 1996 to 2003, my husbnd is Parisian and we lived in the Marais.
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