Le Petit Prince (2015)

When I read the book years ago, the picture of an elephant swallowed by a snake was the most interesting thing and it was unforgettable. The description about how adults preferred numbers came true when a friend of mine told me about how good her French teacher was with statistics. My conclusion at that time was French people were very good with numbers and statistics, just like what it said in The Little Prince book.

My favourite picture from the book

It's different from Indonesian people, I think. Most of us probably cannot answer if you ask how many islands in Republik Indonesia, except elementary students. We also don't care about statistics, like % of people live in big cities, population growth, ....

The Little Prince movie is very interesting. The main character is a little girl - not sure how old she is, but her height is half of her mother, and is about to enter an academy. Her mother is a hard-working woman who leaves her alone in the house until she comes home from work. Her father is even busier, he travels around the world and gives her a snow-globe for a birthday present every year.

The admission interview in the Werth Academy

During a summer holiday, the little girl must study hard so she can enter the Werth Academy. The audience can see how she lost herself in the world of adults [She can't even answer a simple question like: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Most children know the answer, although the answer is usually the same: either a doctor, a soldier, a pilot, a police, an engineer; and they usually do not become that when they grow up.], until the mother and daughter moved house and the little girl meets their new neighbour: The Aviator.

The Aviator's house itself is different from others. The others's are minimalist, similar, pale and boring. His is like something comes out from a story book.

The Little Girl and the Aviator

The Aviator, now old, is lonely. He sees the little girl study very hard, scheduled by her mother to the minute, so he tries to make her enjoy her childhood by telling her the story of the Little Prince. When she gets interested, she is disappointed by the ending, i.e. The Little Prince died.

The Aviator's yard

However, when the Aviator is gravely ill, she tries to make him get his spirit back by looking for the Little Prince, whom she believes still alive. She does find him, but he now has grown and becomes an adult and seems to have forgotten his days with the Aviator in Sahara desert.

The story of the Little Prince from the book is depicted beautifully. I don't know what the characters were made of, sometimes they looked like they were made from recycled paper.

Taming the Fox

I have known the Little Prince book for years, so the fictional story has become familiar to me. The little girl part, with the relentless activities, also looked real. But when she flied an airplane and went to an asteroid, I thought it was too much and didn't make sense. But when I think about it again: if the Little Prince can travel from his asteroid to the Earth by the help of birds, why the little girl cannot drive a plane?

Antoine et Antoinette (1947)

From director Jacques Becker, this movie is short and simple. Antoine works in a printing house, cutting books' edges with a machine; while his wife Antoinette waits a photo booth in a supermarket. They are working class people, don't have much money, but they are happy. They rent a little apartment across a grocery whose owner flirts with Antoinette.

One day, the grocer sends Antoinette flowers and this make Antoine angry. Even angrier when he finds out that Antoinette has bought a lottery ticket. "Another wasted 30 francs," he said. However, when he checks the number out, he finds that the ticket wins 800.000 francs and they start to make a list of things they want to buy, and at the top of the list is a motorcycle with a sidecar.

That night Antoine wakes up in the middle of the night and store the ticket inside one of their books. The next morning, the grocer comes again to see Antoinette but she has left for work, and Antoine - who doesn't come to work because he has to go to the bank to pick up his money - meets him instead and while they are arguing, Juliette (a friend) comes to borrow the book where Antoine had put in his lottery ticket. In a hurry, he grabs a ticket from the book without looking, before giving the book to Juliette. Without his knowing, another Antoinette's friend had put another lottery ticket in the book, but this ticket doesn't have a winning number. In the printing house, the boss had given rejected books to Antoine and those books circulating among their friends who borrow them. Remember, this was 1947 and money were spent for food, not for books.

In the metro station, Antoine has lost his wallet, where he put in the lottery ticket. It's like, his dreams won't come true now. Antoinette had heard this sad news, too. Antoine then goes to a bar, where the owner is having a wedding party for his daughter. The bride-groom is the one who found Antoine's wallet earlier that morning and he returns the wallet, but Antoine goes angry when he looks at the ticket, how the number has changed. The bar owner defends his new son-in-law, saying that if he really wanted to swap the ticket he wouldn't have returned the wallet at all.

Antoine goes home to find the grocer is trying to seduce his wife. They are having a duel and Antoine's head hits a rack in the kitchen. He passes out and remembers the details when Juliette came that morning to borrow the book. He opens his eyes and voilà! there is Juliette, in the crowd who watching the duel, holding the book. He gets his lottery ticket back.

The movie ends with Antoine and Antoinette riding their new motorcycle with a sidecar.

Astérix et Obélix: Au service de Sa Majesté (2012)

Based on 'Astérix in Britain' and 'Astérix and the Normans', this movie shows how Astérix and Obélix helps the British people to defend themselves against the Romans and helps Goudurix, the village chief's nephew, to become a man.

Jolitorax from Britain comes to the Gauls to ask for a barrel of their magic potion so the British soldiers can be strong and drive the Romans away. Jolitorax here is a bit like a secret agent, if we look at the title: 'In Her Majesty's (Secret) Service'. Astérix and Obélix escort him to return to Britania safely, and they drag along Goudurix, who actually wants to be a bard, but in the eyes of the Gauls, a man should be able to fight - and chase wild boars.

What follows is more or less like in the books, with some new characters, notably Ophélia, Jolitorax's fiancée, and her governess.

Show me your ID

36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004)

The title is the address of police HQ in Paris. This film reminds me of the golden era of Alain Delon police movies in the 80's.

Daniel Auteuil stars as the good cop, Vrinks, and Gérard Depardieu as the bad cop, Klein.
Vrinks, the head of BRI (Research and Intervention Brigades a.k.a Anti-Gang Brigades), and Klein, the head of BRB (Banditry Repression Brigade) are in competition to arrest a gang of money-transport-vehicle robbers who have terrorize Paris. Whoever wins will be promoted to be Chief. Thanks to his informer, Vrinks knows where to find the robbers; but during the operation, drunken Klein [he is desperate because it looks like Vrinks will get the promotion] ignores orders, causes the death of Vrinks's best friend. Klein is investigated by Internal Affairs, but in the end is free to go, because the lead witness, Vrinks, has been thrown to jail after refusing to tell where his informer is. This informer has implicated Vrinks in a murder case. Vrinks rots in jail for 7 years (I find this hard to believe because Vrinks is a good cop. However I bear in mind that France is the land where a man could be jailed for 19 years for stealing some bread.) while Klein gets his promotion. In the end, happy ending is still for the good cop.



The movie is very enjoyable. It's fast paced and not hard to understand. The director, Olivier Marchal, is a former police officer; so the inside story depicted here must be close to reality.

La faute de l'abbé Mouret (1970)

Having watched Judex, which is also by director Georges Franju, I expected this movie to be a sort of dreamy-like. It turns out Judex is a better film, although there are those dreamy parts in La faute de l'abbé Mouret. Adapted from Émile Zola's novel, this is a sad movie - as expected.

Young Father Mouret is a handsome priest who believes that he can do good in the world, or at least in the little village where he lives. Almost no one comes to Mass, but when a villager is dying, Father Mouret thinks it's necessary that he gives the person the last sacrament - although when he arrives in that house, no one pay attention to him because they are busy searching the dead person's hidden gold coins. When his uncle, a doctor, comes to see an 'unfaithful man' who lives in a big house called Paradou (Paradise?), Father Mouret goes with him - hoping to be able to make the 'unfaithful man' a believer. He fails, but there he lays eyes on the non-believer's niece: a beautiful girl, wild and free, named Albine. She is as beautiful as the church's new statue of Virgin Mary.

Then Father Mouret falls ill and his uncle doctor takes him to Paradou, where Mouret is taken care by Albine. Because of his illness Mouret forgets everything - sort of amnesia - and as time passes, he and Albine are falling in love. These are the most beautiful parts of the movie. Mouret and Albine are like Adam and Eve in Eden. After they consummated their love, the wall that circles the garden of Paradou is broken by a thunder, and Father Mouret sees his friend, an older priest, and the village. He remembers everything, realizes what he has done, leaves Albine and Paradou, and seeks forgiveness.

Albine tries to make Mouret back to her, but as a priest, Mouret must not touch a woman, let alone marry her. Why such a love so beautiful as theirs, must be destroyed? Why loving her is such a big sin? Albine finally commits suicide and Father Mouret buries her in the church's cemetery, despite the older priest's protest because she was a non believer.

Un papillon sur l'épaule (1978)

Lino Ventura started out as a wrestler before becoming a movie star and he usually played as a gangster, so he was not exactly what we call a methodical actor; but he was surprisingly very good in this psychological thriller.

Lino Ventura played Roland Fériaud, a Frenchman who just arrived in Hotel Colon in Barcelona. He checks in, goes into the elevator, and when he is entering his hotel room, he hears a moan from the room next-door. He knocks, enters, sees a body on the bed, and somebody hits his head. When he wakes up, he is in a deserted hospital, with only a doctor, a nurse, and a lunatic patient whose face resembles the body he saw back in the hotel. This lunatic man talks to an imaginary butterfly on his shoulder and adores a scarecrow on a bed in his room.

The doctor lets Roland go after convincing him that he has too much imagination. He goes back to Hotel Colon and meets a lady who is looking for her husband whose description matches the lunatic man. Roland tells the lady to make a report to the police. Then Roland's wife comes to join him, but then kidnapped and the kidnappers demands to trade her for a suitcase which Roland has no idea about.

This is a story of a mistaken identity, a man in the wrong place and in the wrong time. Being in a foreign country, Roland has no one to help him. His holiday turns into a nightmare and nothing will ever be the same.

The movie is rather slow, like Jacques Deray's previous movie La Piscine(1968); but Un papillon sur l'épaule has more suspense. The sight of the second dead body was very horrifying for me.

The Artist (2011)

It was a surprise to know a b/w silent movie could win the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards. I myself often think how they don't make good pictures as before, so it is a good thing that this tribute to silent movies era has collected so many awards. Not many dialogues in The Artist, and I feel pity to the writers who always in want of inspirations to write flowered dialogues. Not that I care much about good dialogues because 1) my English is not that good. I only pick up the essential meaning. 2) I prefer good plots over good dialogues.

I find it hard to take Jean Dujardin seriously after watching Lucky Luke, OSS 117 and Brice de Nice. I was amazed to know that he won the Academy Awards for Best Actor. I know he is a wonderful actor, but everytime I see him on screen, he is always funny; that it sounds like a joke that he won the Best Actor award :-) since usually the awards go to serious drama actors.

Fantômas?

Jean Dujardin plays George Valentin (a tribute to Rudy Valentino?). The movie begins in 1927 in Hollywoodland, when silent movies era ends. The stubborn Valentin insists to stay in the silent movie business, and as a result, his fans and his wife leave him. When the stock market crash in 1929, he lost his fortune. Meanwhile, Peppy, a young actress who once an extra in his movies, begins to step a ladder of success in talking movies. Peppy tries to help Valentin, who is too proud to receive any help. Another character worth to be mentioned is the dog, which is almost as smart as Luke the dog in Buster Keaton's films.

I think it's rather unbelievable that George Valentin's fans desert him that soon. I get an impression that he is a warranty for box office in the beginning of the movie. People come to the theatre to see him. When talking movies era begins, his movie producer replaces him with new faces; and since then only a few people come to the theatre to watch a movie he stars, produced and directed. Charlie Chaplin still made a silent movie in 1931 (City Lights) and it was a success.

La bataille du rail (1946)

No matter what kind of job you have, you can always give contribution to your country; I think that's what this movie wants to say. I had wanted to watch this movie for along time because I love director René Clément's works, but the DVD price had never been on discount. Last week I found that this was shown on TV, but I found it too late and only watched it about 15 minutes. So last night I stayed up until 2 a.m. to watch while it's being re-shown. The Battle of the Rails tells about French railroad workers vs Nazi Germans during the occupation. They do anything to create problems for the Germans: send false reports, bomb railroad, ambush trains, prevent trains to leave France, sabotage, etc.

When I saw parts of it last week, I thought it was a war movie in a light tone. Like in a scene when a German officer shouted to a railroad worker to get a crane, the worker shouted back. Compare this to Amon Goeth in Schindler's List. Amon Goeth is so easy to shot people and for him, life of people - other than Germans - doesn't count. No one dare to shout at Amon Goeth. However, when I watched the Battle of the Rails last night in whole, I saw that the movie had at least 2 haunting moments: 1) when the Germans lined up the sabotageurs and shot them all one by one, and 2) when the Resistance tried to overcome the weapon train. The battle was so heavy. There was this French man who had been shot and tried to crawl over the creek to save himself, he could safely reach the woods, only to be flatten by a tank.

L'enfer (2009)

The movie was never finished in 1964, so this is 'only' a documentary. The movie could have been a breakthrough, but director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who got unlimited budget, kept making experiments. The lead actor, Serge Reggiani, finally walked away. Shortly after, Clouzot himself got a heart attack in the shooting location, while filming a scene of his two lead actresses, Romy Schneider and Dany Carrel, embracing each other. The project was never continued.

The story focuses on a husband's jealousy over his beautiful wife. It seemed Clouzot wanted to use distorted images, bizzare colour, and disturbing soundtrack. The movie is shot in black and white for normal scenes; and colour is used to portray the husband's wild imagination of his wife's betrayal. It's quite interesting, really. The couple lives near a railway and the train comes at a certain hour. The sound of the train triggers the husband to play with his jealous mind.

The documentary presents costume tests, interviews with the director, a selection of Clouzot's experiments, and scenes shot with the cast. The scenes with the cast are without sound/dialogues, but thankfully Jacques Gamblin and Bérénice Bejo read the most important dialogues for us.

L'amant de lady Chatterley (1955)

I watched this last night on TV5 and liked it very much. I have seen the 2006 version with Marina Hands, but that new version contains a big portion of nudity that I lost the meaning of the story.

This 1955 black-and-white version, directed by Marc Allégret, more focuses on the story--> of course in the 50's they couldn't portray nudity as free as nowadays. According to Wikipedia, even this version was banned from the United States. Danielle Darrieux plays Constance/Lady Chatterley. Her husband, a rich landowner named Clifford, returns from war as an invalid man. He wants a son who can inherit his land in the future and tells his wife to find a lover so she can be pregnant. At first, Constance disagree, but after she meets their gamekeeper, Mellors, she gradually falls in love with him. Mellors returns her feeling. When Constance's sister and husband know who her lover is, they are upset. It's okay to have a lover, but why with the gamekeeper? She should have picked someone from her own class. They believe Constance has lowered her down by doing so. Sir Clifford sacks the gamekeeper, but wants to keep Constance's baby. At this point, Constance has loved Mellors so much that she decides to leave Clifford, go with Mellors, and take the unborn baby.

The movie is filled with dialogues which run smoothly. Erno Crisa, who plays Mellors, is very handsome; makes it believable that Constance can love him even though he is only a gamekeeper.

Les Misérables (1982)

I had heard before that this version of Les Misérables was one of the best. I did try to find a copy, but wasn't successful; so I was happy when TV5 showed this in 2 parts: last week & this week. Lino Ventura was a wonderful choice to play Jean Valjean. Once a wrestler, we are led to believe that he is the strongest man in Toulon prison.

The story is faithful to the book and as I was watching this, I kept saying in my mind that Robert Hossein (the director) must have loved the book very much. It has parts that I love which are missing from the Schönberg & Boublil musical: Cosette names her doll Catherine, Valjean gets help from Fauchelevent whom once he helped when the man trapped under a cart, Marius's disputes with his grandfather, Éponine shows Marius that she can read and write, the Jondrettes, Gavroche delivers Marius's letter to Cossette.

I like the scene describing the ruin of Fantine, which is shown in a slide show, showing her bust in every step of her ruin. After fired from the factory, she is forced to sell her locket, her hair (gold on her head), her teeth (pearls in her mouth), and then her body. She is getting uglier and uglier. This slide show is used again to describe time passes after Cosette met Marius. They both stand still, but the seasons change around them. They don't see anything else, the world is nothing, only they both matter.

In this film Gavroche sings The Fault of Voltaire, which is from the Schönberg Boublil musical.

I am rather disappointed with the ending, though. After Valjean gives Cosette to Marius's hand, he leaves and lives miserably for about 5 years (if I am not mistaken. I forget the year). He dies with Javert's words in his ear: "Now you are free." Perhaps it's a good decision since Valjean has been trying to run away from his past and Javert throughout the movie. I only wished the part when Cosette and Marius see him on his dying bed was included, because I love the part when Marius asks for Valjean's forgiveness. With this scene omitted (also when the Thénardiers tell Marius who his father-in-law is), Marius never knows who has saved him from the barricade.

Nuits rouges (1974)

After watching Judex, which is also directed by Georges Franju, Nuits rouges seems uninteresting. The basic plot is very good, I think, for the topic is popular for the last few years: the search for Knight Templar's treasure. There are also some strange characters: the criminal who wear red mask, a lunatic doctor, sect members, and a man who wear one-black-and-one- transparent glasses.

Jacques Champreux, grandson of director Louis Feuillade, plays the main role (he also wrote the script): the man without a face. He is a master of disguise - like Fantômas and Dr Mabuse. He even can disguise as an old woman. Mostly he covers his face with a red mask. He is ruthless and without mercy.

The story starts with Maxime de Borrego's butler goes to see 'the man without a face' to tell him that his master know about The Knight Templar's treasure. The criminal visits Maxime de Borrego and kills him after failing to dig the secret. Maxime's nephew, Paul, helps the police to investigate the murder. The police is not very smart here. A witness is murdered inside their headquarters, and when they lay traps, they always fail. Luckily, the late Maxime de Borrego was a member of a sect (modern Knight Templar), that is eager to revenge their brother.


Gayle Hunnicutt plays the man without a face's right hand lady. Her scene on the roof is copied from the roof scene in Judex, but longer. Jacques Champreux mentioned in the DVD commentary that he deliberately wrote the scene to please Georges Franju, who thought the roof scene in Judex was excellent but too short. The mannequin scene in the museum reminds me of episode 1 in the new Doctor Who, but of course Nuits rouges made this first.

I would have liked this film more if the police were smarter and the roof scene was shorter.

Judex (1963)

I was afraid at first that this movie was an art film and perhaps the story was boring. I read reviews that described this movie as 'dreamy like', 'mesmerizing', 'poetic'... but now that I've seen it, I'm glad I've seen it. I didn't even have to worry about the plot because it is very good. I know this is a remake of Louis Feuillade's work. Surely the original must be enjoyable to watch - as I have seen Louis Feuillade's other work: Fantômas, which is highly entertaining. Only then I read that 1963 version of Judex was a bit different from the original, that was why the reviews described it that way.

The beginning of the story reminds me of The Count of Monte Cristo. The character Favraux reminds me of Villefort. Like Villefort has a kind-hearted daughter Valentine, Favraux also has Jacqueline. The movie starts with Favraux, a banker, receives a threatening note from a mysterious man who called himself "Judex" (a latin word for 'judge'), who demands him to pay back the people he has swindled. Favraux's refusal results in his death by midnight during a masked ball when they are celebrating his daughter's engagement. Actually, he is only drugged by Judex, and then his 'body' is kidnapped from the cemetery. His life is spared after Jacqueline refuses the inheritance. Meanwhile, his mistress, Diana, who after his 'death' is left with nothing, plans to steal valuable papers from his house, with the help of her boyfriend. They feel Jacqueline is an obstacle and plan to get rid of her.

I think I prefer Judex as an merciless avenger. There is no explanation in the movie why he wants to punish Favraux, but I think he wants to revenge his father. My feeling turns to be right when in the DVD bonus, fragments from the original film by Feuillade are shown. The banker was Judex's father's partner who drove him to bankruptcy and committed suicide. Favraux also made odious advances to Judex's mother, who made young Judex and his brother to swear revenge. Judex's costumes, a cape and a broad-brimmed hat, are hardly a disguise. They only make him more handsome :-)

Les yeux sans visage (1960)

"Although too much for many critics of the day to stomach, Franju's masterpiece is now considered to be one of the greatest, most influential and disturbing horror films ever made." ~ written on the back DVD cover, which made me put off to watch this until my stomach was ready. Last night I finally decided to watch this and I was relieved to know it wasn't as scary as I had imagined. Les diaboliques (1955) is more thrilling.

Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur), a brilliant surgeon, helped by his assistant Louise (Alida Valli), kidnap young women and take their faces for his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob) whose face is gone during a car accident, which her father drove the car.

Of course it is not just an easy task to remove one's face and put it on another. If the skin doesn't match, it will not stay healthily and will be spoiled. Today perhaps they would do a DNA test first or something before start butchering, but in 1960, they only choose the victims by looking at their beauty skin. When the police finds a body drown in the river, Dr. Génessier acknowledges that it was Christiane's, leaving another father whose daughter is missing heart broken. Christiane herself wants to be dead. One thing that she really longs for, is to be with her fiancé Jacques; but this is impossible since she doesn't want Jacques to see her in her present state and he himself only knows that she has been dead. She sometimes calls him on the phone just to hear his voice, until the time she cannot take it anymore and whispers his name. Jacques goes to the police, but they only say that he is imagining things. They later send a young girl, Paulette, to Dr. Génessier's clinic. After examining her, the doctor sends her home, but she never reaches her home because Louise has kidnapped her. When asked about this, Dr. Génessier says that after leaving the clinic, a patient is no longer his responsibility. Therefore, he is cleared by the police.

The nightmare, however, must ends. Christiane lets Paulette go, kills Louise, and free the dogs, who all this time have become objects for Dr. Génessier's experiments. The dogs kill the doctor and Christiane walks towards the street. What becomes of her, I wonder.

The Edna's surgery scene is quite scary, although it's nothing compared to today's standard. I watched Conan a couple of days ago and the level of violence in that movie was very high that I had to turn my face away from the screen several times. I am not sure how it is with horror movies as I tend to avoid this genre. The surgery scene is not very scary for me because I figured out how it could be done.

I also wonder about the car crash, why Christiane's face is totally ruined but the eyes, hair, and body are intact. For the sake of art, perhaps.

Insoupçonnable (2010)

This was on TV a couple of days ago and I really enjoyed watching it. Marc-André Grondin, who plays Sam, is very good looking. Sam and Lise (played by Laura Smet) grew up together and now they become lovers. They only have each other, don't have much money, yet they want to be rich (but who doesn't, anyway?). Lise works in some sort of club, where her job is to accompany lonely men. There she meets Henri, a rich business man, who is attracted to her. Sam is jealous, but Lise convinces him that Henri only comes to talk to her. When Lise brings Sam to meet Henri, saying to Henri that Sam is her brother, Henri asks her to marry him.



Lise accepts the proposal, telling Sam that it's a way for them to get out of poverty. Henri also gives Sam a good job, even though his associate and brother, Clément, is against this. Times passes and Sam cannot take it anymore, especially when he hears the news that Lise is pregnant, and he asks Lise to go on with their original plan: Lise is pretended to be kidnapped, and after Henri paid the ransom, Sam and Lise run away with the money.

However, surprises await Sam. Is Lise now in love with Henri - the man who loves and respects her, who has given her a baby? Or has she betrayed both Sam and Henri, and has chosen Clément?

The cast is very good. The story flows well, although I was sometimes annoyed with many flashbacks continuously put in one after another - to give the audience answers. It sorts of giving several twists to the ending, though.

Fantômas (1913-1914)

The DVD set contains 5 episodes about Fantômas by director Louis Feuillade. Based on popular novels at that time by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Fantômas is a mysterious criminal who terrorize Paris. He leads Parisian street thugs and wears various disguise. Among a few people who can recognize him are: his arch enemy Inspector Juve, a young journalist named Jerôme Fandor who works for newspaper La Capitale, and his accomplish Lady Beltham.

(L-R) Juve, Fantômas, and Fandor

This series, although they are silent, I found them captivating. I guess crime stories are always cruel and merciless, it's not important when they are done. If you think criminals in 1913-1914 were not as mean and as clever as they are now, you are wrong. The plots are very good. In every episode, Fantômas does a series of nasty crimes (and he doesn't hesitate to murder), then the police try to catch him, but he always be able to escape.

I really like the stories and hoped that they were made in later date so that they had sound and more dialogues. The other versions I have seen are the ones with Jean Marais and Louis de Funès, but they are more like comedy than thriller and has been influence by James Bond movies.

Last episode in the silent series, Le Faux Magistrat, tells how Fantômas is jailed in Belgium for a murder. Inspector Juve goes there and replaces his place in jail so that Fantômas returns to France and Juve will be able to catch him in the end. I know Inspector Juve has an obsession to catch Fantômas, but I think he goes to far and that he better lets Fantômas rot in Belgium's jail. As always, Fantômas can escape from the police who tails him and he returns to France safely and commits another big crimes.

Tango "Bad Dog" (2010)

Audrey Fleurot, whom I saw in Engrenages and Un village français, plays a police detective named Joana Larsen here. I believe men will find her hot, especially for her red hair :-) Joana Larsen is a very independent woman and Fleurot is perfect in this role. Her co-star, Frédéric Pierrot, is also very good in playing a police detective who has divorced and is taking care of his only son, who often blackmails him to get things he wants, like the newest game, for example. Thierry Sauvage (that's his name) has been having relationship with another woman and she is pregnant now. It's not official yet because he still lives with his son only. One time he irons his pants in the headquarters. In one occasion his son sees the dead body in the autopsy room.

Together Larsen and Sauvage try to solve murders of 3 women who live alone with their dog. The victims found the dogs in the street about 2 months before. It seems that the 'timid' dogs are the killer. The investigation leads the 2 detectives to an old case of 20 years ago, where one of the victims, still a high school student, accused her teacher of rape. 3 other girls were witnesses. The teacher committed suicide and it seems now that the murders are an act of revenge. Something has triggered the dogs so that they become ferocious and attack the women. The detectives must find the 4th woman before it is too late. Meanwhile, the killer sends a killer dog to Sauvage's son, who blackmails his mother so that he can keep the dog.

France Boutique (2003)

This entertaining movie is about France Boutique, a shopping channel created by Olivier and France, who are husband and wife, played by François Cluzet (who looks like Dustin Hoffman, imo) and Karin Viard. Olivier and France also star in their advertising films. In fact, the most interesting thing in this movie is behind the scene of the advertising film making. However, if I myself think that advertisements exaggerate products' quality and that they are mostly lies; here Olivier and France test a product before represent it.

Here comes Sofia (Nathalie Baye), the head of an internet shopping company, who offers a big contract for France Boutique to make an ad about a fear eliminator product. The product itself is bogus. Sofia wants France Boutique loose its credibility so she can take their airtime. She sends a spy to report back to her. Meanwhile, Olivier - France's relationship is having a hard time. France seems cannot concentrate and she ruins the shooting several times.

It looks like Sofia will win, but France gets her good mood back [after relaxing, i.e. spending a night with a g*g*lo] and markets the product as a cellulite tracer - and it works!

Crainquebille (2010)

This episode from Au siècle de Maupassant: Contes et nouvelles du XIXème siècle is one of the saddest movies I've ever seen. Crainquebille is an old man, happily lives with his loyal dog, Bébert. Daily he sells vegetables at his usual spot for 40 years in the local market, which is led by the major, Mangin, his son's future father-in-law. The marriage will take place in 2 months. Also coming is the future election. Crainquebille soon will move with his dog to the country, where he will use his savings to buy a new house, while his son Antoine, now Mangin's delivery boy, is happily married to Solange Mangin and inherits Mangin's butcher shop.

One day, after the market has closed, a maid arrives, asking Crainquebille to sell her some leek, if not her mistress will be angry. Some seller has already turned her down because the market has been closed. Crainquebille takes pity of her and sells leek to her, but this maid forgets to bring money. While waiting for her to come back with the payment, Crainquebille refuses to move his cart and this causes another seller angry (the one who has turned down the maid) because her cart cannot pass. Constable Matra comes (he is young and new) in the middle of the argument and he seems to hear that Crainquebille says "Down with the Pigs!" to him. The constable takes this as an insult and arrests Crainquebille.

Matra's superior reads the report and asks why Matra puts "I seemed to hear..." in the report and asks him if he really heard Crainquebille spoke the words or not. Matra cannot be sure. The superior tells him to change his report and write "clearly heard". The result: Crainquebille goes to jail for 1 month. His cart, which was left in the market when he was arrested, has been stolen - and Bébert who guarded the cart that night has been killed. None visits him at jail except Antoine.


After serving his sentence, Crainquebille returns to the market to work as usual. His usual spot has been given to someone else and his is now in a dirty corner. Customers hardly buys from him and later his cart is full of rotten vegetables. He goes back to his bad drinking habit. One night, his savings is stolen while he lays drunk.

With the coming election, Mangin cannot take any risk and forces Solange to put off the wedding. No way his daughter will marry an ex-convict's son. Antoine takes this badly and commits suicide. Crainquebille is now alone, leaves his home, and lives like a beggar.

In the end of the movie, one year later, he meets again the maid who has caused all his misfortunes. He says to her that she still owes him 40 cents for the leek, but she doesn't recognize him at all. Her boyfriend gives him some money, though, in the name of charity. Hungry, Crainquebille remembers that in jail he is warm and well fed. When he meets a police, he says to him, "Down with the Pigs!", but the police won't arrest him and just walks away.

Le mariage de Chiffon (2010)

Le mariage de Chiffon is one of the episodes from Au siècle de Maupassant: Contes et nouvelles du XIXème siècle series. It tells about a young girl, not yet 18 years old, called Chiffon (very well played by Christa Theret). The story begins with her mother wanting her to receive a rich military old man's proposal. Chiffon refuses the proposal, but realizes later that the military man is not as old as she thinks, but at the same age as her uncle, Marc, whom she loves and loves her; although both sides hide this mutual feeling (until the end of the film). Chiffon's mother herself think that Marc gives bad influence to the young girl.


Marc's wealthy aunt dies and Marc is the sole heir. Very soon Marc is pursued by Adèle de Liron, one of his customers. Marc is a photographer. Finding de Liron's photograph at Marc's is enough to make Chiffon jealous. Meanwhile, after Chiffon refusing the military man, the local priest has an idea to marry Chiffon with a student. Uncle Marc makes an agreement with Chiffon's mother, that if Chiffon refuses the student, Uncle Marc will go away so the mother should not worry about his bad influence anymore. If Chiffon agrees to marry to student, Marc will stay. Of course Chiffon receives the student's proposal, although it makes her heart break.

At Chiffon's first party, in which she is introduced to the public, she dances with many men that she breaks two men's hearts: the student - who try to forget it by drinking too much; and Uncle Marc, who decides to go away. Luckily, Chiffon leaves the party in time to find her uncle and tells him that she is in love with him.

Christa Theret is a perfect Chiffon. She is beautiful, free, wild, modern - it's easy to see why those men fall in love with him. Hippolyte Girardot who plays Marc is also very good. We can see why Chiffon loves him, even though he is much older and he is her father's brother (is it allowed??). This is one of the films which can lift up our spirit.