Good reviews
The film got some very good reviews in Montreal and Venice. "Foreigners" seems to like the movie, but not the french. Why?
shareI saw htis film a few days ago in Montreal and loved it. The screening was sold out. Most of the audience was French
shareSo how was the audience response to the film? Because I too keep hearing that the French don't like it while everyone else does.
shareI saw 80% of the movie last night, will have to watch the end later because I fell asleep... not that the movie was boring or annoying, but I had a really long day and watching a 2 hour long movie after that wasn't a good idea I guess. :-)
I'm french speaking and I understand why french audience didn't get it, especially when Turturro (wich I like a lot !) is playing with words in french, just like after his first act when he explains on the phone that thing with "concierge" and didn't mean to say "con" (femal x word) or "cierge" (as a metaphore for male x word) but "concierge" as a guardian...
I understand this may be hilarious for english speaking audiences, in a Woody Allen darker and more explicit humor style, but in french this is just non-sense and ridiculous... it doesn't work at all !
And this occured almost every time Turturro speaks in french.
A rather disappointing adaptation from american humor, wich I love when said in english...
Is this helping you in understanding why french audiences are less receptive to the humor ?
For the rest, I love the camera work, great shots !
And the acting is excellent... really interesting dialogs over french vs american point of view as well.
Eric Pecher
Thanks for the reply ericpecher. I think I have a better understanding of why the film doesn't do so well with a French audience. Humor really is a difficult thing to transport across cultural lines. Something that is funny to one group of people may not be funny to another group.
As an American I know that sometimes when I watch a film from a different country I don't necessary get certain moments and I realize that perhaps that moment may have had a certain humor or meaning to it that I might have gotten if I were from that culture or at least spoke the language. Although I have to say that I am a big fan of British humor. I just find it very witty and dry, which appeals to me far more than low-brow, potty humor.
But yeah, I think I get what you are saying about the disconnect with the humor, and if that is the case then I can certainly understand why a French speaking audience would not care for the film as it probably comes across as very nonsensical instead of clever, which was probably the original intent.
Is the film on DVD? How did you see it?
shareGlad that my two cents help ! ;-)
And well, I saw it because I work in the DVD industry here in Europe... I saw it on a pre-testing DVD; so the movie isn't yet released on DVD, at least here in french speaking Europe (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg, etc...)
I saw the end last night and really appreaciated the (short) Nick Nolte performance. So bad he didn't play longer in this movie.
Cheers,
Eric Pecher
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I am American and I loved it.
So many movies, so little time...