Into the Woods / Promenons-nous dans les bois

Into the Woods / Promenons-nous dans les bois

In France you can watch films in VO (version originale) ie in the original language or VF (version française) ie dubbed in French. I always choose to watch films in VO no matter what the original language is, so I watch French films in French, English films in English, German films in German, etc etc.

and when I watch them in English I like to read the subtitles in French as it helps me learn new vocabulary. These days I don't learn that many new words except slang or colloquial words (words that they don't teach you in class or in textbooks) or words that are technical eg related to a particular job (words that you don't often use in every day life).

So anyway I was watching this new Disney film "Into the woods", called "Promenons-nous dans les bois" in French (Let's walk in the woods) and while reading the subtitles I was like.. Gee... I only know half these words!!!   (I mean the lyrics sung during certain songs).

Then I remembered... that reading kids books can actually be harder than reading adult books (in a foreign language). The reason (IMHO) is that if you are reading an adult fiction or non-fiction book, a magazine, a newspaper or a website you are more than likely somewhat already familiar with the subject matter (and more than likely already read something similar in English or your own language). However, you (ie adults) are not familar with "fairytale language", the language used in this film.

Here you have all sorts of characters, creatures, and a heck of a lot of verbs that I have never learnt and will probably never use.... I was astounded by how few words I knew and yet if you ask a native speaker 8 or 10 year old they probably know all of them.

So if you want to dramatically increase your vocabulary go read some kids' story books! ;)

(sorry this wasn't a movie review but if you want a quick one... I think the first half is quite good but the second half isn't so great IMHO and many reviewers online seem to agree!). I was expecting something like "Oz the great and powerful" or "Maleficent" (also by Disney) but it wasn't up to that calibre, and unlike Frozen the songs aren't that memorable or catchy. My main complaint is that there are too many characters so not enough character development or depth and you can't feel any emotion or sympathy for any of them really).

Speaking of vocabulary, not sure if I've posted this before (I don't think so) but this Youtube video came up while I was searching for something and then I remembered I had seen it before, years ago (when I first started this blog).

I don't know how old this girl is... 2? 3? 4? but she has an incredible vocabulary and listen to all her perfect grammatical structures.. I don't even think I can use that many different tenses in one short story. Incredible.

French cute kid tells a story (Winnie the pooh)

The Hundred Foot Journey / Les Recettes du bonheur - film review

The Hundred Foot Journey / Les Recettes du bonheur - film review

"Love is the spice of life"

NB: There may be light spoilers in this review, so you don't like spoilers please don't read on.. Just go see it! Trust me, it's that good :)

imdb - The Hundred Foot Journey
premiere.fr - Les recettes du bonheur
wikipedia - Long plot description

This film has been out for some time now... I meant to watch it a while ago but kind of forgot. So last night I finally decided to see it since it's on its last days to be screened.

I don't like to know too much about films before I see them. I've even stopped watching trailers and reading any sort of review. I only read the blurb and see what it's rated on imdb. If it's rated 7 or higher it's more than likely to be good (and this was rated 7.5 at the time of me writing this post).

So the blurb said, "The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery." 

That description was enough to entice my eyes AND my tastebuds! hehe. I love Indian food, I love French food, heck I love almost any sort of food if it's well done and tasty, beautifully presented and made with love.

The film is directed by Lasse Hallström of Chocolat fame. I didn't know who he was till afterwards when I read more about him. When I think about it, there are quite a number of similarities between this film and Chocolat, namely strangers arriving in a small French town, outcasted, but eventually become integrated and welcomed by the locals. I guess that maybe Lasse has a soft spot for films featuring delicious cooking and food imagery and for quaint little French villages.

The film is interestingly produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey (something I didn't know until I read the credits during the end of the film) and Juliet Blake (who is a content producer for TED talks and approached the other two about making this film).

The story is based on a book by Richard C. Morais and was featured in Oprah's bookclub. in 2010


Helen Mirren stars as Madame Mallory, the owner of a 1 star Michelin restaurant, Le Saule Pleureur (The Weeping Willow) who is dying to get her second star. Although she is excellent in this film I can't help but wish they'd chosen a French actress as I can definitely hear her English accent when she speaks French (although I'm sure most English speaking viewers don't care and can't tell the difference). Like Chocolat, it is also odd that everyone in the town speaks fluent English but meh, it's a Hollywood film and I guess they didn't want to make it a foreign film and subject viewers to reading too many subtitles.

Due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances (which I won't go into as you'll see them all in the beginning of the film), the Kadam family ("Papa" (played by the acclaimed actor Om Puri) and his 5 children ranging in age from about 6 to late teens?) end up in this tiny idyllic town, Saint Antonin Noble Val (which is a real place and the film was actually filmed there). It is located about 100km north of Toulouse. It is a 900-1000 year old medieval town with a population of about 2000 (wikipedia).

 I don't know what is more beautiful. The scenes of the village, or the scenes of the food. Both are equally impressive and beautiful but the food and cooking scenes are just exquisite and mouthwatering. If you love food or films featuring food, this is one reason alone to watch this film!

I became fascinated by cooking in general as well as French cooking a few years ago when I started watching Masterchef (blogpost here). And this movie just made me want to go out and cook as well as eat!

So Papa, with his entrepreneurial vision, sets out to buy the restaurant that is now closed and for sale, since the owners moved to Paris. They could not compete with Madame Mallory. He intends to turn the former French restaurant into "Maison Mumbai", introducing French people to the wonders of Indian home-style cooking. Of course Madame Mallory doesn't like this one little bit and sets out to start a 'war'. What ensues is a hilarious battle of securing the best ingredients and showing off the best cooking skills in order to acquire new and more customers.

The plot is not just about the war before the two elders though, there is also another major plotline. Here, we are introduced to relative newcomer and a shining star, Indian American Manish Dayal, who plays the second eldest son Hassan. He discovered old French cookbooks in the former restaurant and sets out not only to improve his Indian cooking skills, but to learn the fine art of traditional French cooking. As well as that, he meets a beautiful young chef named Marguerite (played by Canadian Charlotte Le Bon), who happens to work in Le Saule Pleureur and whom he happened to meet during that first (un)fortunate car accident when the family first arrived in town.

So you can guess what happens as it is a Hollywood film and therefore quite predictable in parts and I predicated many things in the film. However, there were also many unpredictable parts and twists which was nice. I don't want to say too much more without giving it all away.

The other 4 kids don't feature widely in the film and basically have no storyline but I imagine that they will also be up and coming stars.

I spelt the first half laughing my head off or having a big cheesy grin on my face. It was just so funny and feelgood. I related to many themes in the film such as being a stranger in a strange land, culture shock and differences, missing family/home... In some of those scenes where those themes are brought up (particularly towards the end) I almost felt a tear come to my eye. I could relate to the lead character Hassan a lot. Everything seems to have a trade off in life and you have to make the best choice for YOU, and do what makes you happy. If I could take away anything from this film that as the message I got. That, and family and food are the most important things. And food is memories. Family memories. And indeed, even before seeing this film, family and food are always the top two things I miss most while I'm living in Europe. I got goosebumps many times during several scenes of the film.

So I haven't talked a lot about the plot but I hope I've given you enough information and incentive to see this film. As it's probably not out in the cinemas anymore where you live, please go check it out once it's released on DVD.

It's just such a beautiful and heartwarming film. I will watch it again and again! :)

I enjoyed the film a LOT. SO much that I would rate it 10/10. I know that's a big score but that's how I felt. I can't wait to read the book too now!

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On another note about the music, the soundtrack (played during the credits) is composed by A. R. Rahman, of Slumdog Millionaire fame. My favourite is 'My mind is a stranger without you'  (at 45:57) - a beautiful bilingual song in both French and Hindi (I think?)



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On a linguistic note, most English film titles are always kind of cryptic and allow you to use your imagination where as in other languages the title is far more literal.

The English title is The Hundred-Foot Journey (Foot as in distance). I didn't really think about the title and how it fitted to the film till I arrived home but the more I thought about it the more it made sense and the more I liked the title!
The French title is Les Recettes du bonheur (The recipes of happiness) - which describes the film more aptly, I guess
The German title is Madame Mallory und der Duft von Curry (Madame Mallory and the smell of curry) - kind of funny when you think about it! There's no way they'd name it that in English.
The Spanish title is Un viaje de diez metros (A journey of ten metres)
The Italian title is Amore, cucina e curry (Love, cooking and curry)
The Portuguese title is A viagem dos cem passos (The journey of a hundred steps)
The French Canadian title is Le voyage de cent pas (The journey of a hundred steps)
The Swedish title is 100 steg från Bombay till Paris (A hundred steps from Mumbai to Paris)
The Chinese Mandarin (China) title is 米其林情缘 (Michelin destiny)
The Chinese Mandarin (Taiwan) title is 美味不設限 (There are no limits to delicious flavours)

The Chinese Cantonese (Hong Kong) title is 米芝蓮摘星奇緣 (Michelin stardom destiny)

The Japanese title is マダム・マロリーと魔法のスパイス (Madame Mallory and the magical spices)
The Korean title is 로맨틱 레시피 (Romantic recipe)
The Russian title is Пряности и страсти (Spices and passion)
The Hebrew title is מסע של מאה צעדים (A journey of a hundred paces)
The Arabic title is رحلة المائة قدم (A journey of a hundred feet)
(list of some more foreign titles here)

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Pre-order the DVD (due out December 2 in the US)



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English film trailer

 French film trailer - Les recettes du bonheur Bande Annonce Version Française

Dany Boon as the French voice of Olaf in Frozen La Reine des neiges

Dany Boon la voix française d'Olaf !

I came across this video by accident some time ago but forgot to write about it. I love the comic actor, Dany Boon. He is great in every film I've seen him in. The first one I saw was Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis and I've written about him and his films many times before in this blog here.

When I found out he did the voice of Olaf in the French version of the film Frozen (La Reine des neiges) I immediately had a big smile on my face. He is just PERFECT for the role of sweet, funny, bumbling Olaf. I couldn't think of another better French actor than him for that role.

While I'm on the topic of Disney films and famous French actors, I also found out that Romain Duris was the voice of Flynn Ryder in the French version of Tangled/Rapunzel (Raiponce). Again, he is one of my favourite French actors and when you think about it, he even looks like the character and again, it was a perfect choice.

Frozen tops $1 billion worldwide and the singers of the 25 multilingual version of Let it go

What is the... No. 1 animated film of all time, grossing
$1 billion, with
41 languages,
25 languages (in the "Let it go" song),
22 female singers...

Disney's Frozen of course!

Despite my other Frozen posts such as this one, I never posted a link to the video of the song sung in 25 different languages. I have, however, already learnt not only "Let it go" but most of the other major songs in the film off by heart in both English and French and I am almost there learning "Let it go" (off by heart) in Spanish as well. What can I say? It's such a great film and such an addictive song. My favourite is "Do you want to build a snowman?" or "Je voudrais un bonhomme de neige" in French. I always wondered why they didn't translate it as "Tu veux faire un bonhomme de neige?" which has the same number of syllables.

Well I just came across this great article on Yahoo about the film's main song into 25 different languages. You could never imagine how different this was. It's not simply a matter of translating the song lyrics into other languages, you need to get the same meaning across (but not necessarily use the same words) but this part I didn't know.. they also had to choose words that mimicked the mouth movements of Elsa in the film.

Translating "Frozen" into so many different languages is exceptionally challenging, says Rick Dempsey, a senior exec at Disney's Character Voices International unit. "It's a difficult juggling act to get the right intent of the lyrics and also have it match rhythmically to the music," he told Yahoo in a recent email exchange. "And then you have to go back and adjust for lip sync! [It]… requires a lot of patience and precision."

It's such a joy for me to see the talented faces behind this multilingual version of this song. I almost think it's not fair. How can they all be so talented AND beautiful? ;)

and what is the conclusion of all this? By translating the film and songs into multiple languages they could target a much wider audience.. therefore foreign languages benefit everyone! ;)

and if you still haven't seen the film or watched this song yet, what are you waiting for?

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Edited (21 April):

In case you came here looking for the song here it is:



and with lyrics! (from UniLang here)

 The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen
 Un royaume de solitude, ma place est là pour toujours
 Der Wind, er heult so wie der Sturm ganz tief in mir
 Het werd mij te veel, hoe ik mijn best ook deed
 别让他们进来看见，做好女孩，就像妳的从前
Bié ràng tāmen jìnlái kànjiàn, zuohǎo nǚhái jiù xiàng nǐ de cóngqián
 Visa ingenting, vad du än gör, allt är förstört!
 ありのままの姿見せるのよ
Arinomama no sugata miseru no yo
 Libre soy, libre soy, ¡libertad sin vuelta atrás!
 Wszystkim wbrew na ten gest mnie stać
 Jöjjön száz orkán, és közben a szívemen ül a jég
 Desde la distancia, ¡qué pequeño todo es!
 I les pors que em dominaven per sempre han fugit
 Non è un difetto, è una virtù e non la fermerò mai più
 내맘대로 자유롭게 살래!
naemamdaelo jayulobge sallae
 Сад је крај, сад је крај На крилима ветра сам
Sad je kraj, sad je kraj Na krilima vetra sam
 誰亦要隨心講, 忘掉昨天悲歌
(pinyin for Mandarin) Shuí yì yào suíxīn jiǎng, wàngdiào zuótiān bēigē
 Estou aqui, e vou ficar! Venha a tempestade!
 Kuasaku buat hidup bercelaru
 Подвластны мне мороз и лёд, ну что за дивный дар
Podvlastny mne moroz i lod, nu chto za divnyy dar
 Og som krystaller står en tanke ganske klar
 Ще спра да бъда аз на миналото плен
Shte spra da bŭda az na minaloto plen
 La den gå, la den gå, jeg skal stige lik solen nå
 ปล่อยออกมา เลิกซ่อนเร้น เด็กดี ไม่เห็นมีค่า
Pl̀xy xxk mā leik s̀xn rên dĕk dī mị̀ h̄ĕn mī kh̀ā
 Je suis là, comme je l'ai rêvé
 En de storm raast door... De vrieskou, daar zat ik toch al niet mee

Frozen parody trailer

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Honest trailers - Frozen
by Screenjunkies

If you love Frozen as much as I did, check out my previous post on it (now more popular than my Michelle Phan post!) or check out this hilarious spoof/parody trailer! It is just too hilarious! :D

Welcome to Arendale, a magical-ish, Scandanavian-ish country that has been cursed with an eternal winter. Even though their main export is ice.

Meet Elsa, a manic-depressive princess with a confusing set of powers, like snowblasting, dress-making, castle-building, and… creating life?

Fall in love with her adorkable sister Anna who spends 3 years of her adult life shut inside a castle, even though she can leave at any time...

and who could forget the completely unnecessary, unexplained magical troll rocks.

When disaster strikes, watch Anna save the day by teaming up with her sister, a merchant, a hot guy and a snowman to defeat villains like her sister, a merchant, a hot guy and a snowman.

Experience a clever twist on past Disney films that teaches girls everywhere they don't need a prince to rescue them because all men are disgusting loners, greedy murderers, or lying, manipulative power-hungry sociopaths.

So gather the family and sing along on a musical journey that's all about the soundtrack featuring unforgettable songs such as the Exposition song, the song that sounds like it's from Wicked, the romantic duet, the other romantic duet, the anthropomorphic sidekicks comic relief song, the one you skipped, the one you don't know the words to and the Yolo song. "Get the song out of my head!"

Starring forgotten Sarah Marshall, Kristoff Waltz, Ugly Smurfs, Hans Gruber, Merchandising, and the wickedly talented Adele Dazeem.

Frozen "Let it go" French version - La Reine des Neiges "Libérée, délivrée"

One of the things I did when I first started learning French was listen to Disney songs in French on Youtube, and go and learn and memorize the songs and then translate the lyrics.

I came across this beautiful song "Let it go" from the Disney film Frozen. I haven't seen it yet but here is the song in French with English translation for your learning pleasure :) 



Paroles (lyrics)  
"Libérée, délivrée" de La Reine des Neiges - Anaïs Delva

L'hiver s'installe doucement dans la nuit
La neige est reine à son tour
Un royaume de solitude
Ma place est là pour toujours

Le vent qui hurle en moi ne pense plus à demain
Il est bien trop fort
J'ai lutté, en vain

Cache tes pouvoirs, n'en parle pas
Fais attention, le secret survivra
Pas d'états d'âme, pas de tourments
De sentiments

Libérée, Délivrée
Je ne mentirai plus jamais
Libérée, Délivrée
C'est décidé, je m'en vais
J'ai laissé mon enfance en été
Perdue dans l'hiver
Le froid est pour moi,
Le prix de la liberté.

Quand on prend de la hauteur
Tout semble insignifiant
La tristesse, l'angoisse et la peur
M'ont quittées depuis longtemps

Je veux voir ce que je peux faire
De cette magie pleine de mystères
Le bien, le mal je dis tant pis
Tant pis.

Libérée, Délivrée
Les étoiles me tendent les bras
Libérée, Délivrée
Non, je ne pleure pas
Me voilà !
Oui, je suis là !
Perdue dans l'hiver

Mon pouvoir vient du ciel et envahit l'espace
Mon âme s'exprime en dessinant et sculptant dans la glace
Et mes pensées sont des fleurs de cristal gelées.

Je ne reviendrai pas
Le passé est passé !

Libérée, Délivrée
Désormais plus rien ne m'arrête
Libérée, Délivrée
Plus de princesse parfaite
Je suis là !
Comme je l'ai rêvé !
Perdue dans l'hiver

Le froid est pour moi le prix de la liberté.


English Translation of French lyrics:

Winter is slowly settles into the night 
It's the snow's turn to be queen 
A kingdom of solitude 
My place is here forever 

The wind which howls in me no longer thinks about tomorrow 
It is far too strong 
I struggled in vain 

Hide your powers, don't speak of them
Be careful, the secret will survive 
No hesitation, no torments 
Just feelings

Freed, released 
I will never lie 

Freed, released
It's decided, I'm going 
I left my childhood behind in summer 
Lost in winter
The cold for me,
Is the price of freedom.

When we take to the heights 
Everything seems insignificant 
Sadness, anxiety and fear
Left me a long time ago

I want to see what I can do 
with this magic full of mysteries 
Good, evil, I say too bad 
Too bad.

Freed, released 
The Stars hold out arms to me 

Freed, released
No, I don't cry
Here I am! 
Yes, I'm here!
Lost in winter 

My power comes from heaven and invades space 
My soul is expressed by drawing and sculpting in ice 
And my thoughts flowers of frozen. 
I will not come back! 
The past is the past!

Freed, released
From now on nothing can stop me 

Freed, released
No longer the perfect princess
I'm here!
Exactly as I dreamed it!
Lost in winter 
The cold for me is the price of freedom.


Original English version:
Disney's Frozen "Let It Go" Sequence Performed by Idina Menzel 

Lyrics

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I’m the Queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know
Well, now they know

Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door

I don’t care
What they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway

It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry

Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I’m never going back,
The past is in the past

Let it go, let it go
When I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone

Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway 

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ETA:
After I wrote this post I was searching all difference languages versions of this beautiful song and I found a really funny video of this girl singing song lyrics from Google Translate. Watch it. It's hilarious!



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  (image from here)

Casse-tete Chinois (Chinese Puzzle) Klapisch film review

First of all, read my previous blogpost on the film here.

Second of all, there are slight spoilers in my review. I don't give away anything major about the plot, and the things I talk about are mentioned in the first few minutes of the film but I thought I should warn you anyway. Also, I went and saw this film without first having seen the trailer. I recommend you not watch the trailer before you see this film if you don't want to know anything beforehand. 


Casse-tête Chinois (Chinese Puzzle) Cédric Klapisch film review

First of all, I think the title of the film is genius. Literally, casse-tête chinois means Chinese "broken head" which is translated into "Chinese Puzzle", ie it's a puzzle that drives you so crazy it breaks your head. It is obvious they wanted to keep the theme of having an adjective related to a country/culture - L'auberge espagnol (Spanish youth hostel), Les poupées russes (Russian dolls), Chinese puzzle... The only difference is this time no part of the film is set in China. If you google "casse-tête chinois" it's one of those wooden puzzles where all the pieces have to fit together in the right way and in the right order.

Xavier (Romain Duris), now 40, says his life is a mess and he wonders how he got to this point, where the pieces are obviously NOT in the right order nor in the right place. He recounts his touching, funny and personal story over the past few years through Skype interviews with his book publisher (he is writing a book based on his life).

I have seen the first two films but it has been so long ago that I cannot remember the story lines. It is not necessary IMHO to have seen them but it would help you have a deeper understanding of the main characters and their development. Fans of either the first two films will be delighted to see the actresses Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly and Cécile De France reprise their roles as Martine, Wendy and Isabelle. I felt that maybe the director (Cédric Klapisch) wanted to capitalize on the success and popularity of Audrey Tautou with foreigners by putting her in the film as much as possible.

In the first few minutes of the film the protagonist mentions going from point A to point B in life. What I feel is that life is so easy in your 20s (their ages in the first film) where everybody starts at the same point, at point A. In your 30s people's lives tend to go down different paths, marriages, singledom, divorces, kids or no kids, gay/lesbianism, there is no one set path and nobody can predict what will happen in your life from your late 20s onwards. I guess the film is trying to show that it's OK not to have a 'perfect' life and that there are happy relationships of all different kinds.

Apart from the main topic of romantic relationships, the film also briefly touches on parent-child relationships and features Xavier's children but also his parents in 2 short separate scenes. I don't feel that these scenes would have been missed if taken out but I am glad they were in there because when you get to the age where you have kids or 'should be' having kids you think about your own parents a lot, their relationship with each other and to you. The scene with his father was really sweet but I won't give it away what it was.

And so, Xavier is now married to Wendy (and has been for the past 10 years) and has 2 children with her. Their relationship is on the rocks and one day Wendy announces she has met a new man in New York and wants to move there, immediately, with the children. Xavier, therefore, has no choice but to give up his life in Paris and to join them in New York to stay in regular contact with his young children.

This brings up a whole new set of problems for him such as finding housing, slight language issues, finding a job, how to stay in the country legally for a long period of time... as someone who has moved overseas (several times) I found this aspect highly interesting and it shows the young people these days, are more than ever, globally mobile and willing to overcome hardships and obstacles in an effort to start a new life elsewhere.

There are many new (multi-cultural) characters and actors introduced into this third film of the trilogy and together they create an interesting patchwork for the New York setting and for the plot. There are many Chinese (Chinese American) characters in this film and Chinatown is featured often too, strengthening the multiple meanings behind the title. There is also a hilarious scene where Martine speaks Chinese

I won't go on much further other than to say that it's a much see! 10/10 for me. If you enjoyed the previous two in the series, or enjoy films that you can really relate to, full of funny, sweet and poignant moments, this is definitely one not to miss. I only have a small complaint and that is some parts of the plot were are bit too Hollywoodish. Nevertheless, the film was overall not that predictable for me and there were many surprising twists and turns.

and I watched the film in French with NO subtitles and understood 99% of it. Woohoo!

A ne pas manquer !!

Casse tete Chinois (Chinese Puzzle) - New Cedric Klapisch film

Casse-tête chinois (Chinese Puzzle) (2013)

I briefly wrote about the film L'auberge espagnole (2002) and Les poupées russes (Russian Dolls) (2005) here . Well I don't think I wrote a follow up post but I did end up watching both films and loving them both to bits. I really like Romain Duris or Audrey Tautou in any film!

I love films that are set in 'real time' meaning that as the characters age, they use the same actors again who've also aged the same number of years.

A few months ago, I saw the third film in the trilogy Before Midnight (2013), which came after Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004) and it was excellent so I have high hopes for the third in this series by acclaimed director Cédric Klapisch.

Coincidentally, just the other day I watched American Reunion (2012) which came after American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).

These movies really make you think as you grow up alongside these characters (because I'm relatively close in age to the characters in all of these movies). In your teens or 20s life is so easygoing, in your 30s everything becomes more serious as marriage and babies usually happen, and then 40s it seems to get more stressful... Well I don't know yet, I'm not in my 40s, but it does seem to get more demanding and stressful as people in this age group now have very elderly parents as well as kids to look after.

Anyway I've added the trailer and the link to imdb up above. I haven't seen it yet but can't wait to!! I'll be back with a review once I've seen it.

Here are the release dates for a few countries:

• UK - 12 October 2013 (London Film Festival)
• Belgium/France/French-speaking Switzerland - 4 December 2013
• Singapore - 12 December 2013
• Germany - 2 January 2014
• Poland - 3 January 2014

---

Read my review here!


 (poster image from here)

Un Plan Parfaît avec Diane Kruger et Dany Boon

Continued from this post. So I finally went to see the film Un Plan Parfaît (A Perfect Plan).

It was a pleasant film, full of laughs and filmed in many interesting places. There was, however, too much CGI (computer graphics), it was too "Hollywoodesque" and unrealistic and the ending was totally predictable. It was definitely more like a Hollywood film than a French film. However for a bit of fluffy fun, it was well worth it to watch.

The two main stars Diane Kruger and Dany Boon are wonderful in this film and you can see in their interview (below) just how well they get along. They seem to be lovely people as well as actors.



I'm quite impressed with myself as I hadn't seen a French film in the cinema since last year (!!) and as all French films are UNsubtitled... I used to have difficulty with this but for the first time ever I understand nearly everything in the film. There were only 2 things I missed when they spoke too quickly (I knew I had missed something when the audience laughed and I missed what they were laughing about).. so I'm very happy that before I could understand maybe only 70% of a French film without subtitles and now I can understand around 95% of it. The problem is not so much vocabulary anymore it's just with the speed with which they speak. :D

Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen

Oops, left this one out in my post about Cannes 2011 here.



Midnight in Paris - Directed by Woody Allen

Paris never fails to look gorgeous and it looks stunning in this film! Gosh, how I miss Paris. It never fails to impress me with its beauty. Film looks interesting too!

Festival de Cannes 2011

Festival de Cannes 2011: 11-22 May 2011

Oh Cannes how I miss you and how I wish I were with you again..

• BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA (ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA) directed by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN
• imdb
• premiere 
• DRIVE directed by Nicolas WINDING REFN 
• imdb
• premiere 
• HABEMUS PAPAM (We have a pope) directed by Nanni MORETTI
• imdb
• premiere 
• HANEZU NO TSUKI (HANEZU) directed by Naomi KAWASE
• imdb
• premiere  
• HEARAT SHULAYIM (Footnote) directed by Joseph CEDAR
• imdb
• premiere  
• ICHIMEI (HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI) directed by Takashi MIIKE
• imdb
• premiere  
• L'APOLLONIDE - SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE (HOUSE OF TOLERANCE) directed by Bertrand BONELLO
• imdb
• premiere  
• LA PIEL QUE HABITO (THE SKIN I LIVE IN) directed by Pedro ALMODÓVAR
• imdb
• premiere  
• LA SOURCE DES FEMMES (THE SOURCE) directed by Radu MIHAILEANU
• imdb
• premiere  
• LE GAMIN AU VÉLO (THE KID WITH A BIKE) directed by Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE
• imdb
• premiere  
• LE HAVRE directed by Aki KAURISMÄKI
• imdb
• premiere  
• MELANCHOLIA directed by Lars VON TRIER
• imdb
• premiere  
• MICHAEL directed by Markus SCHLEINZER
• imdb
• premiere
• PATER directed by Alain CAVALIER
• imdb
• premiere  
• POLISSE (POLISS) directed by MAÏWENN
• imdb
• premiere  
• SLEEPING BEAUTY directed by Julia LEIGH
• imdb
• premiere  
• THE ARTIST directed by Michel HAZANAVICIUS
• imdb
• premiere
• THE TREE OF LIFE directed by Terrence MALICK
• imdb
• premiere  
• THIS MUST BE THE PLACE directed by Paolo SORRENTINO
• imdb
• premiere  
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN directed by Lynne RAMSAY
• imdb
• premiere  

How to add Subtitles to Films French films

How to add Subtitles to Films / Comment incruster des Sous-titres dans un film

OK it seems like recently a lot of people are coming to my blog looking for info or subtitles to Le Nom de Gens (The Names of Love) and Rien à déclarer (Nothing to declare).

Something one of my very geeky exes taught me (see, boyfriends are useful for something ;) ) is how to put subtitles onto foreign films. I was so happy when he told me about that as it basically opened up a whole new world of possibilities...


How to add subtitles to films

Steps:

• Download VLC media player if you don't already have it. It plays almost any sort of media file you can imagine and it's free!
• Go to allsubs.org or Open Subtitles and search for the subtitle for your movie in the language of your choice. Note that not all languages exist and the file is of type .srt
• Note where you've placed the movie on your computer (I'm not going to tell you where to get the movies from, I'm sure you can figure that out yourself) and copy the filename of this file to the srt file. So now the two files have exactly the same file name with only the 3 character extension that is different. Make sure they are placed in the same folder/directory.
• Open up VLC media player and load the film.
• Voilà ! It should work automatically. If not, something has gone wrong... (sometimes though, if the subtitles are not done well they are not quite in sync with the movie, maybe a few seconds ahead/behind what they are saying).

The main problem I find is that I want to watch both English and French films with French subtitles but generally it's difficult to find subtitles that's in the same language as the film is (ie French subtitles for a French film). Still, give it a try though! It's pretty easy to find English subtitles for French films.

Hope that helped!

Titeuf le film 3D

One of my internet chat buddies worked on this film. I've known about it for months! And when I went to visit him he showed me some of his work and I have to admit he has a super cool job working on various projects and with different clients in the media. He was invited to attend the grand opening of the film in Paris on 6 April (but he didn't go). I'm actually kind of jealous of his job and his life!

He also told me he's a good friend of Zep's which is how he got the gig working on the film. For those that don't know, Zep is very well known (Swiss) illustrator/cartoonist in France and in French-speaking countries, and his comic books are sold everywhere, even in railway station shops.

The film, Titeuf, is based on the main character in one of his series of comic books.

Ever since he told me about the film, I started seeing it everywhere. When I was in Nice, Cannes, Paris, and now my own town I saw/see the movie posters EVERYWHERE. I just can't avoid it!!

Anyway, I don't claim to know anything about the film so this is not a review of it, sorry! But if you like his comic books I'm sure you're bound to like the film.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Green Films

Earth from Above - Yann Arthus-Bertrand

I was reading this interview with Yann Arthus-Bertrand by the Guardian... Now I have to say that he is my hero! I love his work. I love his beautiful aerial landscape photos taken all around the world (turned into a book "Earth from Above" ), his film "Home"  and all the messages he tries to convey about the world, ecology, sustainability, etc. It's timely that I come across this interview with him, given the situation in Japan now and all those recent worldwide disasters... :(

You should have a read of the article.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand isn't just an aerial photographer: he's on a mission to save mankind by teaching us to love our beautiful planet. To many, he is France's answer to Al Gore, but why do some think he's an "enormous idiot"? ...

Anyway, as I was reading it, it occurred to me that did the interview in English and his English isn't quite perfect and they left his mistakes in which I thought was rather 'cute' and authentic. (not so 'cute' about leaving his wife though ;) ) Examples:

"Together we have made a safari park (which lasted?) for 10 years"

"I quit left my first wife, and went to live with my second wife and her two children in Kenya"...

I love this quote. The reporter asks, "How, I wonder, does he now measure his success, beyond sales figures?" and he says:

"I don't think it is necessary to measure it exactly," he says. "You want to spread the message. To have success in your professional life is not so hard. To succeed as a man is more difficult. What I am doing now helps me to succeed as a man."

Watch Home on YouTube

Buy the French version of Earth from Above (La Terre Vue du Ciel)


And on the same topic, recently I wanted to go to the Festival du Film Vert (Green Film Festival) in Geneva (and all over Switzerland), but couldn't make it. It was a Film Festival screening films with an environmental/sustainability message. I wish I could've seen them all as this topic interests me a great deal.


Films with a Green Message
You could also use them for French listening practice ;)


A la découverte de l'énergie (Discovery of energy)



Blue gold - world water war



Chomsky et compagnie (Chomsky and company)



Déchets, le cauchemar du nucléaire (The nightmare of nuclear waste)



Dive! (Dumpster Diving)


Dive! Trailer from Compeller on Vimeo.

Du poison dans nos vêtements (From the Poison in our clothes)


Du poison dans nos vêtements 1/3 by Wakeup-

Etre éco-citoyen (Be an eco-citizen)

(can't find video for this)

Food Inc.



Fresh



Hold up sur l'écologie (Hold up on ecology)



Home

(as above)

I bought a rainforest



Il était une fois... notre Terre (Once upon a time... our land)



Jura, instants volés (Jura, stolen moments)



La fin de la pauvreté ? (The end of poverty?)



La vie sauvage en Suisse (Life in the wild in Switzerland)


Trailer WILDNIS SCHWEIZ I LA VIE SAUVAGE EN SUISSE from Roger Maeder on Vimeo.

Le pouvoir de la communauté (The Power of Community)



Main basse sur le riz (Take over of rice)



Mister Carbone



Notre poison quotidien (Our daily poison)



Pig Business



RAS nucléaire: rien à signaler (RAS Nuclear: Nothing to Signal)



Solutions locales pour un désordre global (Local solutions for a global disaster)



Sous les pavés, la terre (Under the pavers, the earth)



Taking root, the vision of Wangari Maathai



Tchernobyl, une histoire naturelle? (Tchernobyl, a natural story?)



Un avenir? A quel prix... (A future? At what price...)



Water makes money

I also remember this book Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker, from my childhood. The book is composed of 3D collages where all the images are made from objects found in the natural environment. It won numerous awards. Even back then in the 1980s-early 1990s the "saving the environment" message was out there.

It really angers me when people don't think about these issues which affect all of us and just go about their daily lives ignoring the harsh realities of our future, consuming and consuming, making 'progress' and polluting... ugh. It's just too depressing really.