About Chocolate Parfaits

Jules and Jim

Okay, I am being silly, because you can’t compare these two at all – one is a generic eroge adaptation and the other a true masterpiece. In result, this film makes me want to go to the Cimetière de Montmartre and leave some flowers on Truffaut’s grave.

A propos Truffaut’s grave, I read some articles about the film and noticed a trivia saying that the video for “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer actually is full of references to the film – it has all those charming little details from the film that make the film so unique and so perfectly french.
I have to admit that I kind of used to like that song (I was 14 and never kissed) because of its stupid lyrics, so it was kind of an interesting surprise for me.

In the end, I am very glad that the nationality of Jules and Jim actually was not all that important – the First World War and the epoch are just a small element in the whole thing, the focus is actually on the characters themselves and their relationship. Just thinking about it makes me feel bad and fascinated at the same time. (Maybe the triangle is also why I started watching School Days?)

Apart from the fact that I think that this film is a masterpiece (especially its directing! <3), I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody. The main reason lies in the quite complicated character of Catherine. To sum it up, she’s quite an awful woman with an awful voice doing awful things. Jules (or was it Jim) said it too: “She’s not beautiful, she is not intelligent, but she is the woman we love.” In some ways, this is the definition of a classical femme fatale: Women who have this something that is not easily to grasp. Personally I can understand their attraction towards this woman, but maybe this is because I am a woman myself. If I were a guy, I might feel different about her.
I could go on with a long passage on why I find these ‘femme fatales’ so interesting and rant about Alma Mahler, but I think I should call it a day. This film is going to be on my list of films to re-watch anyways. (But before that, I have to check out if Truffaut’s other films are as interesting as this.)

Death at a Funeral

Instead of doing something serious, I have watched a film again – but this is much better than watching anime, because we are always watching films in a group so far *harr*

However, it is rather difficult to blog about a comedy, even though one might have lots of things to say about the britishness of this one. (That reminds me of the fact that I discovered that Freud has written a book about humour and its relation to, well, psychology. It’s “only” a bit more than 250 pages long, maybe I’ll just take it for my read-a-book-and-write-about-it assignment in my psycho-analysis class?)
Even though british humour has always appeared a bit ‘weird’ to me (there is this “Three Men in a Boat” book that I found utterly un-funny), I have to admit that I love it. I am a fan of the Monty Python films, Douglas Adams, Gosford Park (even though it’s a Hollywood movie, it is very british)… but obviously I only like it when british society is parodized, maybe because it’s just really that laughable?
I also liked how I didn’t know one single actor – I suppose they are all british and conclude that some of the funniness and the authenticity of the film comes from that… Generally british films just have to be played by british actors to be good (maybe one little flaw in Gosford Park).

One little comment about the title: Maybe it’s because I dislike my family (where everybody is so fake except for the few family members that are really close to me) that I love these big family gathering comedies so much… Ah, mankind is just like this! And that’s just so great! Hahaha.

I wonder if I can wholeheartedly recommend the film (I loved “The Meaning of Life” but Pochi didn’t), but I would definitely wholeheartedly recommend it to a lover of british humour *g*

Gespenster

After seeing so many nice german productions (“Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei”, “Der Untergang”, “Gegen die Wand” and especially “Das Leben der Anderen” were so gorgeous!), I have to realize that most german films I have seen before were all utter crap. And this film unfortunately is no exception – oh God, the characters are stupid and awful, the atmosphere isn’t all that interesting and the storyline just absolutely pointless. Ah, not to forget that everything was very cliché, especially Nina’s talk about her dreams of Toni getting raped, oh God.

The only slightly exciting part of the film was the very beginning when you saw Nina and Toni slowly getting yuriyuri. Unfortunately it was very predictable and poorly executed, but somehow I still found it kind of cute to see *g*

Note to self: Never watch a film without recommendation anymore. Ugh.

Gegen die Wand

I’m being shameless, I know. Actually I watched the film with two people from the dormitory and the title actually is a reference to a tasteless joke while watching it. We were talking about what “french”, “spanish”, “greek” and the likes are in sex language (especially greek is kinda ugh, ahem), and then we saw a scene where the protagonist cut herself in the wrist with lots of blood running. And then somebody said: “Yeah, and this is turkish.” It’s nice to see somebody so sarcastic as I am, hehe, but I guess I talked too much during the film.
Seriously, this film had a tad bit too much blood – but somehow, it didn’t bother me at all. I am kind of used to slightly extreme reactions to seemingly everday problems, so I found the characters actually very understandable. I am all in for the “I want to live my life”-message.

Which brings me to the topic: Sure, in some ways, the film truly is very emotional, but somehow I didn’t feel like watching it the whole time. I talked a lot, about the film itself and lots of OT stuff… so that finally, we didn’t even realize what exactly happened at the end. It was a tragic ending of course, and somehow I didn’t like it. What the point in getting together and then leaving him again? Also, I kind of blame her for having gotten a child even though she told him she would wait. (My God, what a bitch.) Of course I am aware that her love for him was too self-destructive, but she didn’t need to make a child to sort out her life, right?

Maybe I should also leave a few words on the sexuality that was portrayed. In most of the cases, I rolled my eyes and made fun of it. It’s difficult to explain, but this way of moving, or the camera angle, or whatever, something made me feel very alienated. In fact, I am quite sure I would not have moved and behaved like this myself and that must have caused this weird feeling of ridiculousness when I see other people doing this. It’s a similar effect to the awkward kiss of Jude Law and Julia Roberts during their first scene in Closer.

I actually like Sibel Kekilli even though I really dislike her voice (or the way she speaks), it kinds of make her feel like an amateur. But throughout the film, her complex role gave her the possibility to actually act quite well! Also, her appearance has the ‘something’ *g*

Oh right! Aside from the message, I mainly liked the love story between Cahit and Sibel… the beginning was slightly confusing but as soon as they actually really married, I was only waiting for them to get closer – and I was not disappointed. The love story itself began very subtly and I really liked the dramaturgy until the ‘accident’ – to me, it was the highlight of the film, and that alone was enough to make it worth watching it.

Paris je t’aime

I am being inconsequent, I know. After all, I have watched “Gegen die Wand” and “Gespenster”, but I really feel like I have lots of impression about this film and I have can’t help but comment on them immediately.

First of all, this film made me realize how there are so many more places in Paris that I still have to see. I am in love with Paris as well, but I mainly only know the more famous places, while the ‘real’ Paris is probably unknown to me. (However, I am really not convinced that this film shows Paris as it is, it can obviously only show a small, idealistic aspect of it.) Somehow I now want to see all those places that appear in the movie… and I also feel like buying all those books about Paris’ “secrets” that were recommended to us in that Paris seminar of two hours we had and explore the whole city.
What this film definitely has shown is that Paris is one of the most fascinating cities in the world, if not the most fascinating – I cannot imagine it’s possible to make a movie like this with London, or Berlin, or New York.

However, we are dealing with a rather bad movie, if you ask me. The movie had its brilliant stories, but most of them were just crap in my eyes. Pointless or not funny at all and way too short. Therefore, I will only comment on the ones I liked (actually 10 out of 18, so considering the badness of the ones I didn’t like, it’s not a high quota).

From the one I liked the less to the one I liked the most:

Porte de Choisy
Okay, I still have to comment on this, because this is the biggest so-called artistical crap I have ever seen in my life. Oh God, this is the epitome of stupidity, arrrgh.

Montmartre
I also have to comment on this one, since I disliked this story so much. Oh God, I can’t believe how they could have wasted Montmartre (my beautiful Montmartre!) on this kind of pointless story, ugh.

Quartier de la Madeleine
This one was kind of funny after all XD It does not fit into the whole film at all, but it had this little *something*, maybe because it kind of made fun of the whole concept? *haha*

Père-Lachaise
I kind of like Emily Mortimer, don’t ask me why. However, she seems to always play the same role and always make the same facial expressions. But whatever, in this case, I was kind of annoyed that they had to speak english all the time (which I didn’t fully understand due to the low volume of the film), but somehow the story is interesting – and the fact that it’s playing at my beloved Père-Lachaise is making up for it. *g*

Place des Fêtes
A simple story, surely, but I found it very well done – and somehow it actually touched me, so it’s difficult to say whether I liked it more.

Loin the 16e
The story itself is not all that great, but it has a good message and I really liked the actress (oh, and I knew that she played in “Maria Full of Grace” even though I didn’t watch that movie!), she was cute and also played quite well. It was great to see the difference in her expression when she was with her own child and other one.

Parc Monceau
It was annoying how they spoke english with their stupid french accent, however the story itself is great. It’s creative and I was really looking forward to it, but in the end, I was not really satisfied with how the dialogue was presented. It’s still a nice piece though.

Tour Eiffel
Somehow I found this part very ‘french’. Its charming creativity reminded me a lot of Amélie Poulain.

Bastille
This story was, in some ways, emotionally touching. The only problem was actually that I seriously disliked the woman and I also felt sorry for the mistress who was then left apart. Aside from that, I could totally understand the feelings of the man and the way it was presented was also well done: The love for his mistress was well portrayed as well as how lovingly he was with his wife afterwards.

Le Marais
Here we come to my favourite story from the first part of the film… It is the only story in the whole movie that had a really punchline, if you ask me. It made the story slightly funny, meaningful and had quite a big emotional impact on me. If all the stories were so good as this one, “Tuileries” and “Faubourg St-Denis”, the film might have become a favourite.

Tuileries
Basically it’s just gorgeous and funny… There’s not much to say about it though, it’s just so true. Ah, the Parisians!

Faubourg St-Denis
For some reason, I feel like falling in love with Nathalie Portman after this – even though I usually didn’t think of her as a really attractive woman (in Leon she was too small, in Star Wars too ridiculous, in Garten State too annoying, in Closer she was not loved… etc. etc.), but in fact she definitely is underappreciated. This story was just so wow, it contained all the elements of a good short story – funny elements (we had to laugh when he said “sometimes she screamed with a reason” and the flashback showed them having sex XD), a believable romance where you could feel the connection between the characters, good flashbacks and a lovely start of the relationship… and of course, a great punchline. It doesn’t surprise me that this short film was the very first one – and that it drew lots of famous people contributing to the whole project.

Now I feel like I have forgotten quite a lot of what I wanted to say… but whatever, if I remember, I’d add it – and if I’ve forgotten, then it probably wasn’t all that interesting anyways.

4 luni, 3 s?pt?mâni ?i 2 zile

Today, I went with three people from our dormitory corridor to the Cinéma du Panthéon to see this film, and I was surprised how everybody actually liked it! If you have seen it, you would immediately understand: The pace is extremely slow – in a lot of cases, we just have a close-up of Otilia breathing; and actually there is no *real* end. In a lot of senses, the film has reminded me of Kie?lowski’s work: His film are also very slow-paced, play in communist eastern european countries and are very, very emotional. Throughout the whole film, you can feel the character’s pain and angst, it’s incredible. What made the film so great is three-fold: First, the way the characters behaved towards each other (which reminded me a lot of 25th Hour); second, the cruelty of the environment and the constant fear of getting caught; and finally, the most probably rather accurate portrait of Romania.

I disliked Gabriela really. (Actually I started disliking her from the first point when she said that she dislikes Palmolive O.o How can she expect so much from her friend?) I don’t really blame her for having gotten pregnant, because everything can happen. (And because I am in no position to say anything really, but that’s another issue.) However, she lied to everybody and he seriously hurt them. Also asking Otilia to bury her child is understandable, but she has no right to put her into danger like that after Otilia had to, well, I can’t say it. Obviously Otilia also had to lie to Gabriela, but in some ways, I really could feel with her – basically she really is a good protagonist to sympathize and suffer with. Her characterization (especially in her dispute with her boyfriend, that reminded me so much of myself, oh God!) was perfectly done, I am amazed.

The thing I could say brings me to the second point: the environment. The doctor was the biggest asshole possible (and obviously he lied the whole time too). I can only hope that the girls won’t give him the rest of the money, but actually I also expect it. I mean, what can he do afterwards anyways? When you are desperate, obviously you cannot expect any help, but this was just too cruel to watch.
By the way, I didn’t realize what they talked about until Otilia started to take off her socks, and that actually shocked me quite a bit. Also, the scene afterwards when she washed herself was very believably done – however, I wonder what the guy really did, I mean.. she might have become pregnant now as well? *faint*

All the other people (especially those in the hotels) were not less cruel… It made me realize that the film also is supposed to be a portrait of the society of the Romania of that time. I can’t say much about it because I basically know nothing about the country and I am always sceptical about whether films can give a satisfying overall portrait on a country I don’t know yet; but somehow, the film looked very believable and well done.

The last point I should mention is the theme of abortion itself: I myself am horribly scared of having an abortion, even when it is legal and done with lots of precaution. So this fear alone has already made me much more susceptible for the feelings of the girls – it was the clearest to me in the discussion with Otilia’s boyfriend when she confronted him with the possibility that she might become pregnant as well. You are never 100% sure, which makes it even scarier.
Oh, I also liked how nobody, not even the boyfriend, talked much about morals – the amorality of the film was refreshing and the focus on the characters (and not ethnical discussions) helped a lot to us to sympathize with the girls so that the film in the end was slow, suspenseful and emotional at the same time.

PS. I know why I came to Paris: BN cakes, Orangina and Crème brûlée.
PPS. It is really interesting to see the Panthéon at night. I have been at the place during daytime and after sunset, the whole environment is even more charming and romantic in some ways…

Amores Perros

Uh huh, González Iñárritu’s films somehow are all the same, maybe that’s the reason why I found it rather difficult to write about “Amores Perros” – I couldn’t help but think of Babel all the time. When we watched Babel, I found the intertwining of the story lines quite interesting and original only to see that actually Iñárritu doesn’t do anything else. However, Amores Perros is much better than Babel, and that’s not only because (or even though?) it’s his first film.

Of course, I have to insert a little paragraph about Gael García Bernal. Even though he isn’t all dominant in this film, I have the impression that his presence distracts me from everything. I’m not even sure whether I would consider him a ‘good actor’, because I end up judging him whether the particular scene he plays arises sexual desire in me. In this case, I actually mainly paid attention to these looks he gave that girl that made me think “How can you not fall for these eyes, stupid!” In Y tu mamá también, he was a little clumsy kid until the crucial scene in which they all suddenly matured so that the scene itself turned out very sexy. And in Babel, the lack of these kinds of scenes with him turned his presence utterly uninteresting.
Weirdly, it’s not like I find him good-looking in the sense of Josh-Hartnett-good-looking XD He’s just got those looks which I have seen in real life, but rarely in an actor, by the way.
(And oh my god, he used to date la Loliportman? How dramatic XD)

In the end, I guess I simply should watch Amores Perros a second time to get my thoughts about it right. At least I can say enough that if Momo has liked Babel at least a little bit, he should take a look at Amores Perros too *g*

Waking Life

I’m trying to do a “survive without listening to music until France” competition against myself. And there surely is no better measure against the urge of listening to music than watching a film.

I wonder if Linklater is a person who talks all day – or never talks. Somehow I can’t imagine the middle thing, because it seems all his films seem to involve lots of talking; even more than that: dialogues are the essence of his films and no interesting animation or pictures can ever change that.

The main merits of the film are not the dialogues in my opinion, but the artistical merit of the animation. But, the animation leaves me with nothing to say besides that I like it; the dialogues however are much more interesting for me personally.

I guess one of my problems is that I don’t know much about existentialism – and if I knew something about it, I would probably find the conversations about it not deep and well-thought enough. Take the conversation about free will: I understood everything and could easily follow because I’ve been there with those thoughts; existentialism however is completely new to me, and this film definitely is not a good introduction to the topic.

Aside from that, I found the way those people spoke with each other quite memorable: No thought is really developed, the story jumps from one conversation to another, and inmidst of a conversation, the people jump from one topic to another. Well, it’s a dream after all, but I tend to expect a certain structure when it comes to complicated thoughts which is more or less missing in this film.

There are quite a lot of citations that are so true, such as “I think that what we don’t take into account when we’re young is our endless curiosity.” However, it’s just two women talking about it, without elaborating or explaining what it means, why it is like that or why it might be critical, and which (huge!) consequences this fact results in. Most of the philosophical talking seems descriptive rather than doubtful to me, what an easy way out. *g* Since I tend to prefer “why” questions over “how” questions, it might be a reason why I never have conversations like in the film myself?
By the way, the endless amount of conversation makes me feel like I have been watching the film for two hours already even though only 40 minutes have passed. Who knows, maybe a 5-hours-marathon of “Waking Life” will cure me from my sickness of always wanting somebody to talk to *hrr hrr*

“Which is the most universal human characteristic: fear or laziness?” I’d say it’s stupidity, really XD

In sum, I totally approve with the film and it was good that I fully knew what I had to expect from it. I also fully enjoyed the soundtrack. The only sad thing is that I actually had hoped for a little bit more of ‘screen tme’ for Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.

PS. We watched 25th Hour today. I think I never watched a film again so fast, and this time, it made me want to live in New York – interesting, eh? When we visited New York when I was 9, I hated the city. I found it ugly and dirty, and I felt like I can’t see the sky because of those huge buildings. But now, I’m kind of interested…
What I didn’t realize so clearly when I watched the film the first time was what made me so fascinated about the film: the way people lied to each other. If trust determines a friendship (or a love relationship which is, to me, just a part of a friendship and not the other way around), then how should one handle the question about when one ‘should’ lie to your true friends? More than everything else, that’s probably what makes 25th Hour so special to me because I have yet to see a film that raises this particular, so simple question.