Well, dear readers, parlez-vous Francais? Oui? Non? Je parle un peu francais, mais seulement des mots que j’ai appris grace aux titres de films et a quelques dialogues. Well, pardon my French. And actually, if we want the opening to be in all French then “Well, dear readers” should be “Eh bien, chers lecteurs.” So, why are we in France, where the women wear no pants – I learned that as a young child – why are we suddenly Americans in Paris? I suppose it’s because yesterday I watched three count them three French motion pictures from France. When did I first become enamored of the French language? My first French film experiences happened in the 1950s, first with a reissue of Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, then with The Red Balloon, then with Diabolique, then with Mon Oncle, all of which I saw in French with subtitles, save for The Red Balloon, which had no dialogue. But it wasn’t until Sundays and Cybele that I really fell in love with the way the language sounded. I saw that movie countless times during its original run at the Beverly Canon, and then all the move-overs from there. Still, I didn’t really try to speak any of what I heard until I began to hunt for the book the film was based on – the book’s title being Les Dimanches de Ville d’Avrey, which translates to Sundays in ville d’avray. Then came L’homme de Rio (That Man from Rio) but I didn’t really retain any French despite seeing it over twenty times. But it wasn’t until Les Parapluis de Cherbourg until I really began learning how to pronounce things and what a few things meant. First, the title was easy to pronounce, and we all knew it meant The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. From there, I figured out that the pluis meant rain. I bought the soundtrack album, two LPs, and that gatefold affair had the complete lyrics in French AND English, and I picked up a lot of stuff from that. Then there was no stopping me, as I saw as many French films as I could – every Godard film as it came out, The Young Girls of Rochefort, and then all through the 1970s I saw just about any French movie that played in Los Angeles. Enough about moi, what about the three damn movies I watched last night? Here we go, with a little precis on each.
Tu es mon filles (You Are My Son) was a sort of mystery film, made for TV, with good actors and a story that held my interest as things keep shifting here and there. The second French film from France was Shadows of the Past – that one was really quite good, also a TV movie, very well directed, only devolving into being a bit silly a couple of times just to keep us off balance, and while I was onto the ending about thirty minutes prior, it was so well done and with such good actors that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The third film was entitled The Innocents and was another TV movie by the same director and crew of Shadows of the Past, along with the same composer, Jean Musy, a wonderful composer. The Innocents was episode one of a six-episode series called The Georges Simenon Mysteries. The Innocents isn’t really a mystery, just a compelling and moody character driven story that was told wonderfully by a terrific group of actors. I’m looking forward to the other five episodes. If you’re interested in these films they’re all on the MHz streaming channel and you can get a free 7-day subscription and watch not only those, but the entire Bruno Cramer Maigret series or the British Maigret starring Rupert Davies. Well worth the free trial and it also includes that really good movie I mentioned the other day, Back in Crime.
Otherwise, it was a day. Nothing horrifying happened, thankfully, and we did have a little modern major miracle, so that was great. I got seven hours of sleep, answered a lot of e-mails, made a batch of Wacky Noodles and ate those, got an Amazon Fresh order that will provide at least four days of low-carb and healthy meals, I ended up writing three pages of the new book, basically getting down all the research stuff – those three pages go somewhere in chapter two, so they’re there, banked and ready. The research part was really fun. I had the last sweet I’m having this year, as I must lose weight and get out of a couple of danger zones, health-wise. I had a couple of telephonic conversations about the MRI I have to do and got a referral in the works for a place that does an open MRI in Beverly Hills. No way I can do the closed thing unless they put me completely out, which I don’t really want to do. If the referral doesn’t work, then it’s a cat scan and that will have to do. Then I watched the three movies and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll do a little bit more research just to get that out of the way, I’ll have a salad with some protein for lunch and another for dinner and if I need anything beyond that, I have various cheeses I can nibble on and some fruit for dessert. At some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have a lunch at noon o’clock, otherwise it’s just more of the same. And then I’m on vacation, stuck in the home environment, until the motor car is ready and then I begin writing the new book in earnest come New Year’s Day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, research, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite French movies from France, and which was your very first French film that you saw in French with subtitles? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a little notes en francais.