Our weekly french movie
Each week we watch a french movie, in french with english subtitles. This week I was so excited to get "Charlotte Gray" because it was filmed in our favorite french village St. Antonin Noble Val. Charlotte (Cate Blanchett) is a Scottish woman searching for her missing pilot boyfriend during World War II. Going undercover as a housekeeper in a French town (St. Antonin Noble Val), she meets a local farmer (Michael Gambon) and his son, Julien (Billy Crudup), a leader in the resistance who's harboring two Jewish children. When the children's lives are threatened, Charlotte must choose between finding her lost love and taking a stand. Sounds great.
But when we put it in I was disappointed to find out that it was in English. What? It's filmed in france! It's not good for our french practice to have a film in english with french subtitles. It's so much better to have the movie in french with english subtitles. We tried to watch it anyway and it brought back great memories when we saw our favorite village on the screen. Make us realize that we need to send some emails out to our friends that we met when we were there in September. Jacques, who is a wonderful man, loves bikes, loves to cycle and took us out on some great rides. He also had us over for dinner one night with some other friends. What an honor - to be invited to someones home in France! We also have to send an email to Anka and Fabrice. They are also cyclists and we met them through Jacques. They are a wonderful couple with 2 adorable girls, we did a beautiful 50 mile bike ride with them - going through St. Antonin Noble Val. We hope to see them soon.
Last week I ordered "Chocolat"...but little did I know when I ordered "Chocolat" that there were 2 french movies with the same title. Who knew. So when we got this in the mail (gotta love Netflix) I was confused when I read the description on the sleeve. This wasn't the Chocolat that I expected. You know, the one I'm talking about - a single mother (Oscar-nominee Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter move to a village in France and open a chocolate shop -- that's open Sundays (unheard of in France) -- across the street from a church. At first, Binoche's rich, sensuous desserts scandalize the town, but soon the villagers welcome the newcomers with open arms.
This "Chocolat" that I got, is based on director Claire Denis's childhood memories, it examines the devastating effect of French colonialism through the eyes of a young girl coming of age in 1950s West Africa. When a plane makes an emergency landing in the isolated colonial post where 8-year-old France (Cécile Ducasse) lives, a diverse group of whites and Africans is stranded and must stay with France's family, forcing sexual, social and class tensions to arise. All I can say is this is a wonderful wonderful film. We watched it twice. The scenery is beautiful and the storyline amazing. I highly recommend this film.
Next in our queue is the other "Chocolat", which we'll be thrilled to see again, but this time we'll be more prepared to understand it. Last time we watched it we didn't know any french, but now we have taken 3 years of private lessons, so hopefully we will understand some of it without having to rely on the subtitles. Damn, learning a new language when you are in your mid 40's is hard!!!
Have you seen "La Vie en Rose" yet? That's a great movie and the actress is up for an Oscar. She was wonderful. I'd like to see "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" too which has also received some Oscar noms.
Posted by:Emily | January 25, 2008 at 01:11 AM
It's in my queue from Netflix, so after we receive the 2nd Cholocat we'll get "la vie en Rose".
Posted by:Alisa | January 25, 2008 at 07:45 AM
Hi alisa and thanks for all your comments.
Do you know I actually don't live that far from St. Antonin? A little over an hour away...I think I've only been there once, though.
BTW, did you buy the cookbook by clicking on the ad on my site? I am making a lame attempt to earn a few cents from my blog -- I think I've got a long ways to go! I'm only putting ads on Cuisine Quotidienne, though. I'm not that for ads on blogs but I thought it would be interesting to try it out.
You can always contact me for help understanding the recipes too! I know a lot of them like the back of my hand.
On another subject, I didn't really like "La Môme" ("La Vie en Rose") I guess I'm in a minority, though.
Posted by:Betty C. | January 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Don't know if you've seen Chocolat since you posted this but it's another film set in France with Frenh actors but in English!
Posted by:Lesley | February 13, 2008 at 11:31 AM