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Is suspension of disbelief harder for "realistic" movies?

posted 8 years ago by downloadeux
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For whatever reason, Une nouvelle amie was shot in France and in Canada, in the Montreal region to be more precise. But the story is supposed to all take place in France. Throughout the movie we're shown a suburb where the exteriors and interiors of the houses are so North American that it got to the point of completely destroying my suspension of disbelief.

From the first shot of a mid-century bungalow with a fire hydrant in front of it, to electrical switch plates in the houses, to road signage and car plates, gas station, funeral home and then suddenly, after a few kilometers, you're smack in the middle of the (real) French countryside, it was too much for me.

I'm from Montreal and I visited France, urban and country alike, and it's beyond me how they thought they could construct a coherent movie physical universe from so much different locations.

I guess I'm too picky...

[–] Bluedusk 8 years ago

I suspect what I call the Amélie complex (from Jeunet's eponymous film): French film-makers avoid to shoot on actual French suburban locations because it's not fully white Catholic bourgeois etc.
Hanneke does it though, he's completely honest with it. Caché is actually all about such a place and the people who live there with their history.
I think Ozan wants his films look stage-like and the North-American interiors provide greater ease of movement than similar houses and apartments around Paris, and/or he doesn't want to shoot in actual high middle-class suburbs for whatever reasons.
A la Maison too is shot both in Paris (the art gallery, the mental institution) and Quebec (family houses).

Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to watch Interstellar.