WHO?- A Soul You Will Want To Know
Christophe Barratier is the Writer/Producer/Director of a movie now on DVD that swept France about five years ago called "The Chorus" (in English) about a boys orphanage in france that tamed the adolescent beast through brilliant music. It is one of my very favorite all time movies in the world- of any language.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372824/
So imagine my delight at getting to say hello to the Director Christophe at the French Embassy last night.
I was privileged to get a sneak preview of his next movie- which was two years in the writing, and is alternatively equally poignant, funny, and insightful as a period piece about a part of pre-War (WWII) Paris. It is titled in English "PARIS 36".
www.Paris36movie.com
Christophe (if you don't mind me calling you by your first name) weaves a multi-stranded story line of the lives of five French main characters and their inter-relations as they thread through the focal point of a Music Hall. Filmed predominantly in Prague (because Paris has changed a lot since WWII and the scenes required authentic pre-war buildings and streets better preserved in old Prague) the film had an eternal take on love triangles, jealousy,
daily life survival struggles, deepest love of a Father for his son, and other angles of Love rarely seen in commercial films set against a charming backdrop of recreated Parisian ambiance.
The main female character (who is to France now what Keira Knightly is to Britain,http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=175903975 ) is sure to be the next female blockbusting star of Julia Roberts proportion in box office.
The acting was superb. The eye candy quality without comparison but tempered with the quiet dignity of virtue. Virtue wins in this film (she gets her man and gets to keep him) and, moreover, leads to that sort of Love one sometimes thinks is only possible in the movies.
Christophe Barratier delicately weaves the tale of the daily hardships of a culture in evolution finding itself through various movements of socialism, fascism, unionism and other isms of the day. The gentle soul (also a protagonist in The Chorus) who plays the cuckolded father of a young boy who takes up the accordion to play with a street act is the epitome of sacrificial suffering love that forges a soul whose holiness few attain.It is profound without the schmaltz and witty beyond quitch.
Christophe is developing a new genre of film in france that incorporates music thematically. France does not have a movie tradition of "musicals" such as America has developed where lines were sung, yet he manages to bring in brilliantly music thematically to express the Redemptive power of it. This comes, he explained in the Q&A after the film, from his days singing in the boys church choir as a youth.
The movie opens in April. Take your kids, your youth group, your girlfriend and your mother. This is a movie for absolutely everyone. It is a story of the triumph of Hope and the strong resiliance of the human spirit. It's at times hysterical.
As for Christophe's next movie- please come back and get me to audition for you. (Hey, a girl can dream.) I think I am in love-it's a school-girl coup de foudre.
This movie was presented as part of a larger French Cultural Festival termed Francophonie 2009 sponsored by the Embassy of France in Washington, DC (March 4-April 3) featuring La Cinematheque-a French Film Festival. See, http://www.la-maison-francais.org/ and http://www.theavalon.org/.
MERCI MILLE FOIS ROLAND!
To book an appearance of Christopher Barratier or his cast in America contact Roland Celette, Cultural Attache of the French Embassy in Washington, DC. roland.celette@diplomatie.gouv.fr,
1 comment:
I recently (July2010) rented Paris 36 and to use the kids phrase "I was blown away." The acting was superb-- every single actor! As one critic mentioned, it was definitely ensemble acting...great directing, great movie..I am a 77 year old woman and I've seen a great deal of cinema; this ranks as one memorable movie in my estimation. Yes it's sweet, perhaps subtly sentimental (hurrah!) and the music and lyrics definitely remind me of Edith Piaf's songs...all of this add to its beauty as a work of art...I will plan to see The Chorus..Thank you Monsieur Barratier, colleagues and cast....tres magnifique.
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