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French cinema

French movie

It is often said that French people make a fool of Americans
who don't have a history and a culture.
So, I thought they don't see American movies.

But it is not true. You can see
most of the high-profile American movies in France.

There is a information magazine called 'Pariscope'
(like 'Pia' in Japan, but doesn't have photos).
It shows the top 10 of numbers of visitors of the week.

The data is old, but I would like to show the one
which was shown when I stayed in Paris in 1998.

Top 10 of visitors in August 1998
1. Armageddon (U.S.A.)
2. Doctor Dolittle (U.S.A.)
3. Lethal Weapon 4 (U.S.A.)
4. Proposition (U.S.A.)
5. Big Hit (U.S.A.)
6. Dead Man's Curve (U.S.A.)
7. Night Watcher (U.S.A.)
8. Le Dinner de Con (France)
9. Taxi (France)
10. The Avenger (U.S.A.)

To my surprise, 8 out of 10 are American movies!
French people act like they hate American,
but actually they are interested in the American culture.

But before making final decision, please see another data.

Top 10 from July 1997 to August 1998
1. Titanic (U.S.A.)
2. Le Dinner de Con (France)
3. Taxi (France)

'Titanic' may be exceptional, but most of the top 10 were taken by the French movie.
It may be risky to conclude only with these data, but in my opinion,
a lot of French rapidly pour down to the American movie like a fashion,
but they also immediately disappear.
On the other hand, French movie continues for a long time.

By the way, most of the foreign movies are dubbed in French.

My favorit French movies
Purple Noon

American movies tend to be simple,
the world of only good versus evil.
I can easily imagine the conclusion.
It is fun to see them,
but they don't give me afterglow.

On the other hand, French movies are
sometimes hard to understand,
can be very heavy and
I cannot imagine the conclusion.
But they give me the afterglow.

Regarding the old movies,
the last scenes of
'Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)' or
'Plein Soleil (Purple Noon)' by Alain Delon
are so impressive.
They are still engraved in my mind's eye.

When you see 'Hotel du Nord (North Hotel)', '14 Juillet ('Basitille Day)' or,
'Zazie dans le Metro (Zazie in the Metro)',
you can feel the atomosphere of old town of Paris half-century ago.

'Grand Bleu' by Ruc Besson is also impressive with the vivid images.

The most interesting comedy in my life is the movie by Louis de Funes,
'Adventure between New York and Paris' (sorry, I don't know the real title.)

Regarding the contemporary movie,
I liked 'Amelie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain)'.
I never found the character like this in American movie.