Friday, 2 March 2007
Paris Je'taime
- Just in case you need to know… I thought the movie sucked.
I stepped into the theatre thinking that I was in for a rerun of Love Actually, only in French. From the trailer, that was what was told anyway.
So I plonked myself on the cushiony chair and sat through 18 short stories. Love stories. Each time, awaiting for the movie to roll back and finish up the stories it started.
Actually, it’s really not too bad a deal. If you consider yourself paying for a ticket but watching like, 18 movies. Great save right? But the thing is, some of the stories are so so stupid! Ranking at number one, sadly, the one which starred Elijah Wood. The vampire one. I’m guessing he didn’t really master his script well so they couldn’t give him the part of Francois. And, oh! The clown one! We were slapping our foreheads! Apart from every single time a new storyline popped up. And the stupid Hairdresser in ChinaTown one. Ai ni, ai ni… Goodness.
I know, of course, that for every story told, a new meaning of love is explained (in French at least), but I really do need help finding it for the above few segments.
My favourite segments, or the ones that touched me were-
Quais de Seine - Francois and Zarka. Love above religion. Not that I strongly am for it or what, but being the love sick, hardcore romantic I am, I think it’s wonderful that Love conquers everything. But where would that put Love for God? Ok, that’s for another time.
Loin du 16ème - A young mother sends her little boy to a childcare centre, only so she can feed him and herself, by babysitting someone else’s baby. That one made me feel so sad for her. They showed her singing to her own baby at first, full of love and feeling and passion, then singing to her employer’s baby, totally listless, life-sucked-out form.
Quartier Latin - An old couple, separated, coming back together to talk. They scold each other for past wrong doings, but you can feel the love they have between each other.
Bastille - This one is quite sad. A man cheated on his wife and was planning to divorce her. But on the day he wanted to break the news to her, she told him she had Leukemia. From then, he ended his affair, took full care of her, loved her till the day she died.
Place des Fêtes - Another sad one. A guy got shot in his liver/kidney/intestine. And with his last mountains of breath, he asked the paramedic out, joked around, sang her a song, told her he was the guy who asked her out in the car park days ago. It was so sad when he collapsed. The girl stood there holding two cups of coffee, not knowing what to do (she bought coffee cos the guy was asking her out for coffee.)
14th arrondissement - Ok, I sorta liked this cos I could relate to whatever she’s saying. This American lady is visiting France for a month. And her segment just kept going on and on and on about how wonderful France is.
Faubourg Saint-Denis - The one with Natalie Portman. Only because if it were expanded into a REAL movie, I would watch it.
Besides these seven stories, and maybe a bit of a few parts here and there, the only thing I enjoyed throughout was listening to them speak. The French accent is so nice to listen to. It could be wind blowing into and out of my ears and I wouldn’t know the difference.
It was my love for France and all things French that made me watch this show. Au contraire, it is this very show which brought down my love for the great European nation. Truths revealed. What has been constantly promoted all this while failed to hide the uglies of the city.
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