On connaît la chanson
I think I have started blogging about this movie, and the difficulty of doing so threw me away so much that I have (yet again) accumulated a backlog – the backlog I am going to kill today, hoho!
Well, the problem with this movie probably is that it made me realize that a movie can be too french for my taste. Just like “Va Savoir”, I ended up liking this movie by the end of it but it took me quite awhile to like it. Now, the main difference between this movie and “Va Savoir” is that “On connaît la chanson” did not make me laugh. Even more so, it was probably completely impossible for me to grasp this movie’s merits because I didn’t know one single of the songs that appeared in it. At the same time, however, I can totally see its merits. While the characters of the movie are deliberately horrible and quite funny in their own way, the actors are playing them brilliantly. Even more than in “Tanguy”, Sabine Azéma is at her best.
I also kind of liked the happy end which had quite a few redeeming factors: The evil guy was thrown out of the party, the other form quite cute couples.
It’s also not like the movie was not smart – most french movies seem to be after all. There is this one scene which I have found very brilliant. In a restaurant, one woman is dining with her female friend, pointing to the table of our main characters and whines about how much it depresses her to see happy couples. Then, the camera turns to the main characters who are – you guessed it – arguing. At the climax of their argument, Sabine Azéma points to the table of the two women and says: “I wish I had a female friend like that, so I could cry my heart out.” Harr harr.
More than anything, watching this movie means that I have finished another one of the “list”. Even though I liked this much more than “Providence”, I have absolutely no idea why these movies actually are on the list, and it seems I have found one director I actually dislike. O.o (Even then, I am mildly interested in “Smoking/No Smoking” – I love ‘what if’ stories after all.)
Wow, you are amazing at working-off watch-lists! O_O
I thought the best thing about “Providence” was the ending bit in the garden? It was like waking up from a nightmare, after all the shifting between dream and reality, haha.
The one Resnais I’d unconditionally recommend is “Mélo”, which really displays him at the very top of his abilities – I’ve never actually seen a more inspired blend of theater and film, and it basically does miraculous things with the idea of melodrama.
I really admire “Last Year in Marienbad” and believe it is one of the great enigmatic films, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it (I think I really started to fully appreciate it after reading “The Invention of Morel”, on which the skript was loosely based).
I was stunned by “Hiroshima mon amour” – and many people seem to be – but I’d still place “Mélo” as the greatest, followed by this one and Marienbad.
And, uh, I haven’t seen “On connaît la chanson”!
Haha, not really. I have had this watch-list for 3 years after all, and I’m never going to finish it unless I get “A Wedding” somehow. It looks difficult and I’m definitely not going to pay 20 euro for the DVD.
Ah, I knew you would say something about Resnais! I believe you that it’s impossible to really judge him from the two movies I have seen, especially “On connaît la chanson” surely is quite different from his other movies (none of them look like a comedy to me). On the other hand, I rarely watch more than 2 movies by the same director and if I do, it’s because I really adore his work. We will see! Mélo is definitely on my watch list now. :)
The best about Providence was the ending indeed. Even though “waking up from a nightmare” is sooo deus ex machina, it made perfect sense in the movie.
Oh by the way, this video looks so great. If the movie looks like that as well, I might accept the latent pointlessness of the plot. XD (What irritates me, however, is the extreme britishness of the band, lol.)