Some of my very favorite films are French: Cyrano de Bergerac, Les Choristes, Ponette, and of course Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulin, so when I had the chance to go see the romantic comedy L’Arnacouer I took it. Arnacouer is a pun on the French word arnaqeur, or con-artist. The movie starts with these words of wisdom (to the best of my recollection and translating ability): “There are three kinds of women: those who are happy, those who are unhappy, and those who are unhappy but don’t know it”. The main characters are a crack team of con artists who earn their living breaking up couples, a wealthy young wine critic about to be married to a dolt of Englishman, and her wealthy and rather shady father who doesn’t want the marriage to go through. I’ll give you a hint as to the plot: the wine critic is a hot girl (Johnny Depp’s wife Vanessa Paradis to be precise) and the main con artist is a hot French guy. You can take it from there.
There were a few funny things about this film. First was the leading lady: she had a massive gap between her front teeth that would be a death knell for a career in American cinema. The French seem to be more accepting of human appearances, whether five o’clock shadow, sweat, gap teeth, frizzy hair, you name it.
Another funny thing about the movie was the presence of American pop culture. “Dirty Dancing”, believe it or not, has an important role in the plot. The movie ends with Steve Miller Band’s (pronounced Steve Meeler Band) The Joker. One American thing was notably missing: English subtitles. My host mom was amazed that I braved such a feat; she even tells her family members when they come for dinner. They have a good laugh when I tell them I only understood 60ish % of it. But I got most jokes, and certainly enjoyed the whole experience.
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