The Times' Paris correspondent Charles Bremner owns up. He thinks too many French films are plain boring:
"Very pretty, but what was that all about," is the common reaction even among my more intéllo friends when we trudge out of the latest dialogue-heavy oeuvre.... Compared with the struggle that film-makers face to launch their projects in the rest of Europe, French auteurs have a relatively easy ride. The state subsidy system, which hands out advance financing tied to returns over the life of the film, helps keep the Gallic cinema healthy, but it often leads to a mediocre product from the usual little circle of luvvies. Sophie Marceau once described the typical French movie pitch as something like this: "Anne sleeps with Daniel and Jerome sleeps with Claude, then Daniel sleeps with Claude and then they discuss it all in a restaurant."
He has a point, doesn't he? No ménages à trois, however, in Les Choristes, which we watched on DVD on Saturday night. Sentimental? Yes. Rose-tinted? Yes. But still an enjoyable movie in a Goodbye, Mr Chips sort of way. Beautiful music too.
Comments