Populaire (2012)

Whenever I review a French film I always have to mention how much I love the French way of filmmaking. No matter what the story is be it a crime thriller or a romantic comedy or a drama they are always filmed with incredible quality. I have yet to see a French film that was poorly made. The streak of wonderfully made French movies I have seen continued with the 2012 movie Populaire.

            Rose Pamphyle lives in a small town near Normandy in the early 1950s. Her father runs a general store. The store has received a brand new typewriter. Rose becomes fascinated with it and begins to type away furiously one night. She decides then and there that she wants to go to Paris to become a secretary. At this time every young woman dreams of becoming a secretary. They get to wear nice clothes, make their own money, and possibly even work for a handsome young boss. Rose answers an ad placed by a young businessman named Louis Échard. Her interview does not go well but instead of leaving she begins to type out a memo. Rose is fast for only using her pointer fingers. Rose’s fast typing intrigues Échard and he hires her.

            Échard places Rose in a speed typing competition. He bets his American friend Bob that Rose can win. Unfortunately Rose does not make it too far in the competition because she only uses her pointer fingers to type. Échard bets Bob that he can train Rose and take her all the way to a world championship. He has Rose move into his home so he can train her every day. He starts out by having her practice typing with all her fingers not just the two. He paints the keys certain colors and her fingernails to correspond the colors on the keys so she knows where to place her hands. Éhcard then has Rose type up long passages from books and eventually begins to time her. He even goes so far as to have Bob’s wife Marie (Berenice Bejo) teach Rose to play the piano since it is very much like typing and she can learn to control and use all her fingers.

            All of Échard’s work eventually begins to pay off. Rose goes on to become champion of France with her face plastered all over magazines. Since she is the French champion Rose gets to go to the world championship in America.

            Of course there is a love story in here between Échard and Rose. He loves her and she loves him but he is still caught up on Marie from before the War and he learns to let his left over feelings for Marie goes and really love Rose and to be there for her at the championship.

            Populaire is a cute film. The story I thought was creative because in our modern age we forget that typewriters existed and things like a world typewriting championship happened (if something like this really did exist or not I have no idea but I do not doubt it). Even though the story took place in the 1950s it felt modern in a weird way. I will admit I only wanted to see this movie because I have an undying massive girl crush on Berenice Bejo. She is barely in the movie unfortunately but the rest of the story and the characters are very good that I did not mind that she had a few scenes here and there. At the same time I thought she was wasted any other actress could have played her part. Normally romantic comedies annoy me because their plots and the characters are boring as hell. With Populaire neither the story nor the character ever felt boring or annoying. Everything about Populaire was so well done there was no way I couldn’t not enjoy it. No matter the genre the French just know how to make great films. 

OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies (2006)

OSS 117 is one of the funniest movies ever made. The moment Jean Dujardin comes on screen at the beginning you are just laughing. The entire movie is just fun to sit through, it is light and silly and outrageously entertaining.

            Dujardin is Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath a French intelligence officer known as OSS 117. He has just learned that his former partner Jack Jefferson has been killed on assignment in Cairo. Before Jack was killed he was looking into the disappearance of a ship carrying arms. Now Hubert has to find the ship while at the same time try to bring peace to the Middle East.

            His contact in Cairo is a beautiful woman named Larmina (Berenice Bejo). He falls for her pretty quickly but just like in any spy story she starts off cold, seems to be the bad guy, then turns out to be good and the spy loves her even more.

            This is where I stop telling you about the plot because it is way too funny to spoil. The whole movie is a spoof of the James Bond movies or any spy movie of the 1950s. Every aspect of those films is completely exaggerated here like the phony fighting, the gorgeous lady who has several different motives, the bad guys, how the good guy can escape from every situation, and how fast the good guy learns about his surroundings.

            I cracked up with how ignorant Hubert was made to be! Oh my god he was so bad! Larmina told him she could not have a drink because she is Muslim and it is against her religion to have alcohol, he tells her he will tire of the religion one day. The Muslims have their call to prayer early in the morning and they are said by someone from a minaret. Hubert had no idea what the guy was doing, he got out of bed, went to the minaret and beat the guy up to stop! These are just some of the ignorant things Hubert does that I was laughing so hard with. Hubert’s ignorance is one of the hundreds of things that make this movie hysterical.

            Jean Dujardin is a panic. He was perfect as this stereotypical 1950s French spy. Pretty much any time he did something or said something you are left laughing. Berenice Bejo as Larmina was so damn adorable. In one scene she gets stuck in a Nazis hideout in the pyramids and they think they will never be able to get out and they will rot so she starts freaking out getting all over dramatic. In the middle of her freak out Hubert finds the switch. Dujardin and Bejo have such amazing chemistry together. They could make movies together forever and I would see every single one of them without ever getting tired of seeing them together.

            OSS 117 is one of the funniest comedies movies I have ever seen and one of the best French movies I have seen. This was a spoof movie in the style of Mel Brooks where the comedy was subtle and not over the top and just exaggerated everything. Michel Hazanavicious made an incredible comedy. OSS117 is a comedy I can easily watch over and over again and show everyone I know. 

A Knight's Tale (2001)

“My pride is the only thing that they can't take from me.”

            The first and last time I watched A Knight’s Tale I was in my Honors English class sophomore year of high school… which for me was eight years ago. I remember I liked it because at the time we were reading King Arthur and the Canterbury Tales. I loved reading about King Arthur the stories are so fascinating (well that and I was and still am a HUGE Anglophile haha). The one thing I remembered the most about the movie was the first time the audience is introduced to Chaucer he is naked! And that the movie was about jousting.

            William (Heath Ledger) was not born a nobleman but he pretends to be so he can joust. His pretending all started when his lord died from his wounds from jousting. He and his friends Roland and Wat needed money desperately and the only way they got money was through their lord when he won a tournament. William wins the tournament and they get their money.

            The three men decide to pass William off as a nobleman named Ulrich von Lichtenstein. On their way to the next tournament they meet a man walking naked down a road. He is the author Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany). Among his other talents he can create seals of nobility.

            At the next tournament William sees the beautiful Lady Jocelyn. He thinks she is the greatest creature he has ever laid eyes on and she is very taken with how he fights. Throughout the different tournaments they get to know each other and of course fall in love.

            And what would a love story be without another man getting in the way? A count named Adhemar is also in love with Jocelyn and he does not like seeing her so in love with William. Of course he finds out William is not Ulrich von Lichtenstein but a poor thatcher’s son from England.

            I enjoyed watching A Knight’s Tale just as much I remember enjoying it the first time eight years ago (god that seems like yesterday. Now I am applying to graduate school! Where did the time go?). Heath Ledger was fabulous he was such a good actor. I have to admit I put this movie on again after so many years because at the moment I have a gigantic girl crush on Berenice Bejo. Once I read she was in this movie I had to watch it so I could hear her speak English in one of her roles. She was not in the film very much she played Jocelyn’s maid Christiana but the scenes she was in I just gushed over how adorable she is. Rest of the cast is perfect they were all fantastic characters excellently performed.

            A Knight’s Tale is one of those movies I have good memories attached to. I did have a bit of a rough time in Honors English that year but the stories/novels I read were all very good and memorable (some I never want to hear the titles of again and others I still love to read. Damn Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby!!!!). A Knight’s Tale is a very entertaining movie to watch the story is fun and the characters are all well written and played. 

The Artist (2011)

Ever since I read about The Artist, saw pictures of it, and saw the trailer on TV I had to see the movie. After waiting for months for the movie to come out somewhere around me I finally got to see it.

            If you are a classic film buff like me you will have read about the silent era and how with the coming of sound many of the most famous stars were out of a job. Gloria Swanson thought sound was a fad but she made her silent film masterpiece Sadie Thompson in 1929. Several actors and actresses were never the same again after their careers disappeared and turned to alcohol as they faded into oblivion.

            The Artist tells such a story (without the tragic ending) about a silent actor named George Valentin. He is the idol of millions and the most handsome man on the screen. Everyone at the studio loves him. He makes all kinds of films that also star his dog. Like most actors of the time (and since) he is married but he has a wandering eye.

            At the premier of one of his newest pictures he bumps into a young girl. The papers snap pictures of the girl and the star together and wonder who the beautiful girl could be. The next day the girl- named Peppy Miller- walks into the studio where George is the star and gets a small part in one of his films. There is a bit of a spark between the two of them.

            By 1929 the sound era has begun. George’s boss wants him to do a talkie but he tells the boss that he is an artist he does not want to make sound movies they are a fad. Meanwhile Peppy goes from a chorus girl to top billed star. George sinks money into a silent film he has written, acted, and directed in. No one goes to see it everyone is on line to see Peppy’s first starring film.

            George loses everything. All his possessions have to be auctioned off to pay the bills. He pawns whatever he can so he can get alcohol. One night in despair he unravels his films and sets fire to them. He saves his one film though, which Peppy’s sees was her first film. Peppy has always had a soft spot for George. She loves him and feels bad for what has happened to him. In the end she helps him find his way back into films.

            There is so much more to The Artist but why give a good thing away.

            I could seriously just gush over how perfect this movie was. There really was no flaw in it everything was just perfection. The direction and cinematography are incredible. The director Michael Hazanavicius said that he filmed the movie in the traditional 1:33:1 ratio because “it was perfect for actors” it gave them power, strength and presence since “they occupy all the space of the screen.” I think that is highly missing in films today the actors do not convey presence or strength or power because there is too much going on around them we are not meant to focus on the actor. The story is about actors and we are focused for the entire run of the movie on these actors they occupy the screen and do so magnificently. Why do you think Garbo was so adored? Imagine seeing her beautiful face on a thirty foot high screen, 1920s and 30s audiences couldn’t get enough. Hazanavicius also wrote the screenplay. You can tell he really liked what he wrote about and really has a passion for it because he added much homage to era and many of its stars (Peppy’s house was actually Mary Pickford’s home, for one).

            Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo were flawless. They had the look they seem to have come right out of the silent era. They looked great together. The characters were written beautifully and Dujardin and Bejo brought their character’s beauty out fantastically.

            Sitting through The Artist is one of the most amazing movie experiences I have ever sat through. I had high expectations about it from all I had read and seen and every one of those expectations was met with ten times more than I expected. I did not want it to end I wanted to see more of these characters and their lives. I felt like I was watching two classic actors and usually when I like a classic actor/actress (or even modern ones) I want to see whatever film I can find of them and that is what I felt as I watched George Valentin and Peppy Miller. I knew I loved this movie when I walked out wondering when it was coming out on DVD. The only other films I have ever done that with have been The Adjustment Bureau and Midnight in Paris this year. The Artist gives me hope that more filmmakers and screenwriters in the future will make high quality, unique movies like this.

            The Artist is hands down my pick for best movie of 2011