“they say that when good americans die they go to paris.”
~oscar wilde
“some of us have always tried to get there early and beat the crowds.”
~ adam gopnik, paris to the moon

in anticipation of my trip to paris in march (thank you metropolitan arts council!), i’ve been re-watching and re-reading movies and books set in paris. (and borrowing a lot of them i haven’t seen before from my local library, too!) while i could do a play-by-play analysis of each story for you, i imagine movie blogs and reviews already exist for that. so i’ll do my BEST to keep each thought brief here.

french kiss (1995)

starring: meg ryan (with the prequel to her you’ve got mail haircut), & kevin kline

synopsis: kate (an historian who’s afraid to fly but does want to see the eiffel tower) goes to paris to beg her fiancé to take her back; kate’s story becomes entangled with a thief with a golden-hearted dream that makes him attractive. antics ensue.

what’s french about it: kevin kline’s accent. the innuendos.

what’s not french about it: the (delightfully predictable) happy ending.

favorite quote: “you’re afraid to live. to really live.”

“do i look like the kind of person who doesn’t know how to have a good time?”

the film funny: she’s too distratcted/oblivious to see the monuments zooming past.

emily in paris (streaming on netflix; 3 seaons so far)

watch it for: the B roll footage of paris

also watch it for: the fashion (that’s there no way she can afford)

and to ponder: how ridiculous i’d look wearing that much makeup. and how we’re all still looking for a dark-haired, long-necked, dark-eyed beauty to be the next audrey hepburn in paris. (but please give the girl some sandwiches!!!!)

content: language and “kissing” situations.

see reasons above to power through the awkward.

(her co-workers are also pretty funny. even though she is an obnoxious, clueless american. particularly in season one.)

french take-away: i need to learn how to walk in high heels on cobblestones.

amélie of montmartre (2001)

starring: audrey tautou

synopsis: raised devoid of parental affection, a quirky introvert learns to make human connection.

i could say a LOT about this film: it’s complementary colors (everything is red & green!), it’s depiction of (& life “lessons” for) introverts; the narrative structure and how amélie breaks the fourth wall. instead all i say is that nathan and i were SUPPoSEd to stay in montmartre (where amélie takes place) until our airbnb we booked three months ago was cancelled this week…. so while i’m trying not to be too optimistic about the latest neighborhood we booked, at least this film (unlike most american ones, anyway) was probably actually mostly filmed on location/at least in france.

french take-away: the french are not afraid of nudity. or, um, “honeymoons.”

how to steal a million (1966)

starring: audrey hepburn, peter o’toole (man, he’s got a great voice!)

synopsis: daughter of an eccentric art forger needs the help of a thief to steal a family statue on loan to a museum before it’s revealed as a fake.

french meter: not very high. aside from one of the museum guards hiding his wine in a fire bucket and making his mustache move up or down to exaggerate his expressions.

as much as i adore old movies: i’d somehow never seen this one before.

overall: clever, sweet, silly, and charming with plenty of twists. (and i really love peter o’toole’s car! and that voice; certainly i’ve heard him do shakespeare before?)

charade (1963)

starring: audrey hepburn, cary grant

produced & directed by: stanley donen

music: henry mancini

in it: even before the opening credits roll, a man is pushed from a moving train. so you’re immediately hooked and invested. (i had forgotten this wasn’t a hitchcock film; has the same chase ‘em/who-can-you-trust mystery vibe with lots o’ twists!)

what’s french (or not) about it: the punch and judy puppet show in the park; super-bad street driving screens; matte background paintings for buildings; looks like it was shot on a sound-stage; even the fake scrolling backgrounds for the river seine dinner cruise were rough (but they did add a nice vocal echo when audrey & cary passed under bridges.)

i do love the film even if no one actually went to paris to make it; and even if i do remember the ending, it’s still a classic. (also, once you finish it, rewatch the first eight minutes or so for some storytelling tips!) ;)

the image book, jean-luc godard (2015)

honestly: i’m not sure if something was wrong with the library dvd i borrowed, or if this was just this stilted/weird/awkward.

the images blink in & out. (again, french not afraid of nudity, violence, sadness, death.)

the captions were oddly timed; black screens were frequent; overexposed shots; burning colors… perhaps this is french cinema?

french takeway: there’s a reason ENNUI is a french word. and that EXISTENTIALISM started over there. (looking at you, camus & sartre!)

and while yes, i have an art school degree and could write (er, make up) a paper about how all the spliced images “become” art, i’ll spare you.

telling quotes:

“what would become of me if i don’t die?”

“we are never sad enough for the world to be better.”

“when i talk to myself

i speak the words of another that i speak

to myself.”

“and even if nothing would be

as we had hoped

it would change nothing if our hopes

they would remain a necessary utopia

and the field of expectations

would be larger than that of our time…”

all i could think while watching this “collage” film fluctuated between:

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S HAPPENING (?!?!)

and the ever-poignant disney film to the rescue:

***coming soon in my next french media pre*paris blog:***

hugo (illustrated brian selznick book & martin scorsese film!); forget paris (1995); the red balloon (1956); sabrina (1954); funny face (1957); midnight in paris (2011) !

french media pre*paris blog i