Comedy
Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain) 2001
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When I first saw the poster for this movie at my local art house cinema, I knew I was going to love this film. Here’s the synopsis from Amazon.com:
Perhaps the most charming movie of all time, Amélie is certainly one of the top 10. The title character (the bashful and impish Audrey Tautou) is a single waitress who decides to help other lonely people fix their lives. Her widowed father yearns to travel but won’t, so to inspire the old man she sends his garden gnome on a tour of the world; with whispered gossip, she brings together two cranky regulars at her café; she reverses the doorknobs and reprograms the speed dial of a grocer who’s mean to his assistant. Gradually she realizes her own life needs fixing, and a chance meeting leads to her most elaborate stratagem of all. This is a deeply wonderful movie, an illuminating mix of magic and pragmatism. Fans of the director’s previous films (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children) will not be disappointed; newcomers will be delighted. –Bret Fetzer
There are so many delightful, quirky moments in this film that you’ll want to watch it over and over. Click here to buy your copy.
Apres Vous (2003)
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Daniel Auteuil is one of the finest comedic actors of all time. He possesses a willingness to completely inhabit the character; those chameleon-like qualities help make the difference between a good film, and a great one. Here’s the synopsis from Amazon.com:
The Closet (Le Placard)(2001)
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The synopsis, from Amazon.com:
The Dinner Game (Le Diner De Cons) (1999)
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Here’s the synopsis from The New Yorker:
Francis Veber’s movie sounds disappointingly courteous; the original French title, “Le Dîner de Cons,” is much ruder and certainly closer to the misanthropic spirit of this farce. The premise is as entertaining as you could hope for: every Wednesday, a bunch of smart young Parisians hold a dinner, to which each of them must invite a complete idiot. In this case, Pierre (Thierry Lhermitte) is delighted with his latest catch, Pignon (Jacques Villeret), a spherical buffoon whose principal talent is for making models out of matchsticks. Needless to say, Pierre’s plan stumbles when Pignon offers to help him sort out his life. No one could claim that the film is a distinguished contribution to cinema, but it would be churlish to resist its geniality and speed. In French. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
Funny is universal. One of the top ten French comedies of all time, this movie proves that even the hippest Parisian has a wicked sense of humor. Click here to buy the DVD.
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002)
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I can’t say too much about this movie without giving away more than I’d like, so here is the synopsis from Amazon.com:
When we first meet rising young artist Angelique (Tautou), she is in the glorious throes of true love, and the whole world has seemingly fallen under her spell. Her handsome lover Loic is madly in love with her, her paintings are winning wide acclaim, and a glorious future seems all but assured. But Angelique’s blissful world may not be as enchanting as it first seems, and in a quick startling moment, her life – and our understanding of it -seems to unravel in front of our eyes. Starring Audrey Tautou (Amelie), Samuel Le Bihan (Three Colors: Red).
This was the movie that convinced me that Amelie was no fluke. Click here to buy the DVD.
Priceless (Hors De Prix) (2006)
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The synopsis from Amazon.com:
Priceless provides a sweet and sour look at the world of the super-rich. Jean (The Valet‘s Gad Elmaleh) works at a luxury hotel on the French Riviera. His opposite number, Irène (Amélie‘s Audrey Tautou), lives off wealthy men, like elderly benefactor Jacques (Vernon Dobtcheff). While staying at Jean’s Biarritz hotel, Irène meets the bartender, mistakes him for a guest, and plies her considerable charms. Flattered, Jean neglects to tell her the truth, and they spend a drunken evening together. The next day, she’s gone. The only trace of her presence: a discarded paper umbrella. A year passes, and Irène returns with Jacques, who dumps her when he find out about the cheating, so she bilks Jean out of everything he owns before disappearing again. Wealthy widow Madeleine (Marie-Christine Adam) offers to takes care of Jean’s debts–for a price. And just like that, he’s sunk to Irène’s level. The next time she sees him, she quips, “Now we’re equals.” So, instead of teaching her the value of legitimate work, Irène teaches Jean how to play Madeleine like a violin. Following in the footsteps of Pierre Salvadori’s Après Vous, which centered around a suicidal sommelier, Priceless is unexpectedly melancholy for a comedy. Like the couple in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Jean and Irène are essentially two lost souls. Irène may be an icier creature than Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly, but Salvadori finds a satisfying way to tie a pretty bow on this somewhat prickly package and, naturally, the scenery is ravishing. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
This movie was a joy to watch. Scenic, hilarious and well-paced, it’s everything I want in a French comedy. Click here to buy the DVD.
Tatie Danielle (1990)
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If you’ve ever wondered what goes through the minds of certain sweet old ladies, this is your movie! Not your typical grandmotherly type, the audacity of the title character will amaze. Here’s the synopsis:
Tatie Danielle is a black comedy about a widow who is intent on ruining the lives of her great-nephew and his wife. Tsilla Chelton plays the title character, who mourns the death of her husband by tormenting everyone she meets. Eventually, she moves in with her nephew and his vain wife. Soon, her family is at war with Tatie, and takes off for Greece, leaving her in the care of Sandrine (Isabelle Nanty), an au pair who is as equally bitter as Tatie herself. At first the two don’t get along, yet the two eventually become friends.
The DVD is not in the US format, so if you’d like to watch this film I recommend that you purchase an inexpensive DVD player that will show this movie. It’s worth the investment!
Click here for the DVD, and click here for the DVD player.
2 Days in Paris (2 Jours) (2007)
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From the official site:
2 Days follows two days in the relationship of a New York based couple; a French photographer Marion (Julie Delpy) and American interior designer Jack (Adam Goldberg) as they attempt to re-infuse their relationship with romance by taking a vacation in Europe. Their trip to Venice didn’t really work out,–they both came down with gastroenteritis. They have higher hopes for Paris. But the combination of Marion’s overbearing non-English speaking parents’, flirtatious ex-boyfriends’, and Jack’s obsession with photographing every famous Parisian tombstone and conviction that French condoms are too small, only adds fuel to the fire. Will they be able to salvage their relationship? Will they ever have sex again? Or will they merely manage to perfect the art of arguing?
Written and directed by Julie Delpy, this was an unexpected pleasure, especially the scenes involving her real life parents, who also played her parents in the film. What could have easily been a myopic treatment of Delpy’s version of life in her home town is instead a smart, funny, slice of life visit with the two main characters, with the City of Love as the backdrop. Click here to buy the DVD.
The Valet (La Doublure) (2006)
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The always reliable Daniel Auteuil has one of the best lines in the movie: “It takes real guts to kiss a guy like that!” Here’s the synopsis from Amazon.com:
A light, zippy farce from Francis Veber (writer/director of The Closet and The Dinner Game), The Valet is another masterful comic escalation of lies and pretenses. When a billionaire (Daniel Auteuil, Cache, The Eighth Day) gets photographed next to his supermodel mistress (Alice Taglioni), he tries to persuade his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas, The English Patient) that the supermodel must be with the other man in the picture–a parking valet (Gad Elmaleh) who just happens to be walking by. Naturally, the billionaire has to follow through by setting the valet and the supermodel up as a couple, lest his wife’s detective uncover the truth. The valet agrees, but not because he wants to cozy up to the beautiful girl; he hopes that the money he’ll be paid will win the heart of the bookstore owner he’s in love with (Virginie Ledoyen, The Beach, 8 Femmes). The sneaky machinations of the characters multiply and cascade with delicious results, particularly the hapless envy of the valet’s best friend (Dany Boon, My Best Friend). The Valet isn’t quite as brilliantly orchestrated as The Closet (some of the plot threads feel underbaked), but it’s still sly and wonderfully engaging. Don’t judge Veber by the hamfisted Hollywood remakes of his films Les Comperes and Le Jouet; Veber’s films have a deft sweetness that American filmmakers just can’t recreate. –Bret Fetzer. Click here to get your copy of the DVD.
The Visitors (Les Visiteurs) 1996
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From Amazon.com:
Actors Jean Reno and Christian Clavier, along with director Jean-Marie Poiré, were the creative team behind The Visitors, a French comedy from the early 1990s that was a massive hit in its native land and a cult favorite in America. Enthusiastically compared by some to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Visitors concerns a time-traveling, medieval knight and his lowly servant, both lost in the 20th century and both shocked by the discovery of their descendants’ reversal of fortunes. The film works not only as a nutty bit of slapstick, but as a cheeky satire about class conflict.
This film was also remade as “Just Visiting”, also starring Jean Reno and Christian Clavier, but was set in the U.S. instead of France. The remake wasn’t nearly as good, or popular.