Over the years French cinema has developed a reputation.
Somehow it's become a byword for what People Who Aren’t Very Fun At Dinner Parties talk about at dinner parties. It’s deep, and worthy and meaningful in a way that five-minute sequences of a short-trousered man cycling through the Normandie countryside must be meaningful. It regards you, the British viewer, with same nasal, Gallic disdain you get if you ask a Parisian waiter if there’s any ketchup.
And this is, of course, mostly rubbish.
Yes, there is a reasonable chance you’ll see two cousins getting romantic, and yes, when Godard and Truffault reinvented modern cinema in the 60’s they didn’t lean heavily on fart jokes - but modern French cinema is as broad and as fun and as inclusive as it comes. Just look at some of the biggest crossover hits of the last five years.
There’s documentaries about how the national football team shaped a more diverse Frenchness, a dog that should have won an Oscar, an indie that invites you in to the very Parisian house parties that gave birth to Daft Punk, and Intouchables, the best big-hearted odd couple comedy to feature both a paraplegic lead and Earth, Wind and Fire.
These films retain much of the innate coolness you would expect from an industry raised with a Gitane hanging out the side of its mouth, but there are now stories of inner-city Paris mixed in with all the depictions of stern and impeccably-tailored villagers living under the Nazis.
Now is without doubt the time to get over your fear of subtitles and get in to French cinema. And this month Courtyard in Hereford is one of 11 venues in England showcasing films from across the channel as part of the 26th annual La fete du CINEMA.
There are five screenings between November 9 and November 27. There’s female Jekyll and Hyde, a comedy about cows and nudity, a refugee story from a Cannes winner and a pair of wartime dramas, one of which features Charlotte Gainsbourg. You can find out more about them - and book tickets - here.
But if this is your first toe-dip in French cinema, here’s a Bluffer's Guide to help you get through the pre-film drinks in the Courtyard bar.
- No, you won’t spend your whole time reading the subtitles. Try not to think about it and five minutes in you won’t even notice you’re doing it.
- Yes, that is Gerard Depardieu's real nose.
- Some of the worst Hollywood films in recent memory were remakes from French cinema – but don’t hold that against the originals. The Tourist, Queen Latifa’s Taxi and seemingly Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd’s only unfunny pairing – Dinner for Shmucks – all started out in French. But so did Twelve Monkeys, True Lies and Three Men and A Baby, proving it doesn’t always get lost in translation.
- The Nouvelle Vague – or the French New Wave – changed the game in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Simply put, it was a group of young writers and directors that were bored of safe, family-friendly adaptions of the same old stories who decided to go out and shoot grittier, almost documentary-style films. If someone mentions it, just tell them 400 Blows is your favourite film (make sure you pronounce it Cat-Sont Coo) but that you feel Rivette never got enough credit.
- That French Guy you know from Oceans 12 and Black Swan and Jason Bourne and any scene from the last ten years where the casting director needed a French person? His name is Vincent Cassel, and he got his big break in a brilliant, brutal film called La Haine. Talking of which…
- Your Netflix Guide:
- If you liked Forest Gump, check out Amelie
- If you like house music, check out Eden
- If you like Boys N the Hood, or Kidulthood, or even Taxi Driver, check out La Haine
- If you like Woody Allen, check Le Mepris and Celine and Julie Go Boating
- If you like heartwearming docos about schoolchildren, check out Etre et Avoir.
- If you like American Pie, check out L’Auberge Espagnol
- If you liked that Amy Winehouse documentary, check out La Vie en Rose
- If you like Trading Places, check out Le Diner de Cons
- If you like Rush Hour (or Rush Hour 2), check out Taxi
