You know I love a foreign film festival and make an effort to see at least one film from each festival during the year. If I had to pick a favourite film festival, the French Film Festival would be right up there!
In order to gently encourage my husband to come with me to see festival films, I thought I would start this year's French Film festival viewing with a film he should really like so we went to see the The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan. After all, the story should be at least somewhat familiar given how many adaptations there have been over the years.
Whilst I am not sure how faithful the adaptation was to the original book, it was certainly entertaining. There were sufficient levels of buckle and swash, derring do and fair maidens! There was also humour, adventure, glamour and dirt! In short, it was a lot of fun.
I am not going to recap the story, because I can't talk about the second film without spoiling the first one!
This film was one of the highest grossing films in France in 2023 and it was nominated for a number of prizes.
Here's the trailer for D'Artagnan
It is fair to say that we enjoyed the movie as the next week we were back at the same cinema to watch the second movie, The Three Musketeers: Madame. Interestingly these were both filmed back to back, and you can tell. There were some really lovely locations used across both films, and there were no problems with continuity.
The story was engaging and entertaining! The door has well and truly be left open for another film, and we will definitely be lining up to watch any sequel that comes out!
Around this time last year I saw the trailer for Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, and I knew that I wanted to see the movie. We ended up going to an opening night event where we had a glass of wine while we sat and watched.
This is a movie that made me smile from beginning to end, and it is impossible to think about the movie without using words like charming and delightful. I then chose to re watch it a couple of times on my long haul flights to Europe because it just makes me happy. I have also watched it again recently because it happened to be on TV. It's become one of those movies where if I come across it, I will watch it even if it is already half way through
The title basically tells you the story. Mrs Harris lives in a small flat in London. She lost her husband during WWII, although his death has never been confirmed. She makes ends meet by cleaning for a variety of clients. There is the wealthy woman who never pays her the bills, the charming playboy with his never ending parade of beautiful young women and the aspiring actress who is looking for her big break.
Whilst going about her duties, she finds the most beautiful dress in a wardrobe. She then decides that she needs to own a gorgeous Christian Dior dress of her own. Never mind that the dress would be hundreds and hundreds of pounds, which even today is a lot of money, let along in 1950s! Mrs Harris finds ways to scrimp and save and soon she has enough money. Her plan....get on a plane, got to the House of Dior, pick a dress and then come home the same day. Easy!
When she arrived at the House of Dior it is made clear that she is not the kind of woman who is welcome at haute couture fashion parades, and certainly not the kind of woman who should wear a Dior dress. However, once she gets over the shock of the fact that she will need to stay in Paris long enough for her dress to be made, she begins to win over the the people at the fashion house, due to her caring nature, energy and endless positivity, winning over even the most disapproving characters. Along the way she plays cupid, sees Paris, meets a wealthy widower, goes dancing and helps save a business! Oh, and has an absolutely gorgeous dress made for her.
The movie is basically based on the book of the same title by Paul Gallico, which was originally published in 1958. Having seen the movie a couple of times, I decided that it was time to read the book, or more precisely, listen to the audiobook. Paul Gallico was an American author, and was actually quite prolific, having written more than 40 books, 4 of which tell the story of Mrs Harris.
Obviously, the story has the same fundamental details, but it is clear that the movie is true to the spirit of the book as opposed to the details of the book. I do think that you can tell that this book was written a long time ago. There were moments that I would like to think wouldn't make it into a book being newly published now. For example, some of the attitudes to the French were quite pointed. Another example was the descriptions of Mrs Butterfield who is Mrs Harris' best friend. She is portrayed as a quite large lady. There was a passage where he talked about her Mrs Butterfield laughing until her third chin stopped wobbling. Maybe I noticed this because I am a large lady, but you would think this wouldn't make it through the editing process.
It is quite a short story. I have the print book out from the library at the moment and it includes both this story and the next story of Mrs Harris Goes to New York, which I might read in due course. Mrs Harris Goes to Paris is only 120 pages. New York is around 180 pages.
The book was narrated by British actress Juliet Stevenson who does a great job of bringing the story to life.
Maybe I can sneak in another watch of the movie before the end of Paris in July. Watching the trailer again certainly makes me feel like I need to!
My read on a theme bookclub theme this month is book to screen. I was tossing around a few ideas but I have ended up landing on Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne on audio. I watched the TV series with David Tennant last year. So far I can't help but think how different it is from the book and how the things that I thought I knew about the book aren't in it so far!
I am also back reading The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. I am reading this for Cook the Books, so I need to find something to cook from it so I can post about that when I share the post for Weekend Cooking over the next few weeks.
I'm watching
I went to the movies twice last week. I went to see The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser and then on Saturday night we went too see A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks. These are two very different movies. Both good but both different. The Whale was quite confronting and Otto was uplifting and feel good
We also finally finished watching Only Murders in the Building, so now we wait for the next series. We also started watching the final series of Picard and the second series of Jeremy Clarkson's series about running his farm, Clarkson's Farm. I don't always agree with Clarkson, but this show does make me laugh.
Life
Speaking of laughing, we went to see British comedian Sarah Millican live. It is the second time we have seen her and she was just as good the second time around.
Max
We started Advanced Manners training this week, although to be honest, I am pretty sure Max has forgotten all of his basic manners training.
Recently, my husband Robert and I (you can say both Robert and Margaret/Marguerite in a French accent if you like!) have watched a really great series on Netflix called Lupin. It has been a massive hit so you may have already watched it too!
There are a number of things I loved about this show. Firstly, I loved the importance that is placed upon the book. The main character is Assane Diop, played by Omar Sy, is given a copy of the French classic Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc when he is a teenager and the story helps shape his life in many ways. And now, he is passing on his love for that book to his own son.
In the book, Arsene Lupin is a gentleman thief, a master of disguise and trickery, able to disappear into a crowd at any time. Think a French version of James Bond with more cleverness and disguises, and less bodies. Maybe throw in a little Sherlock Holmes as well for good measure.
The show isn't a straight adaptation of the book, but it rather shaped and inspired by it. Whilst Assane's plans echo the plots in the various Lupin books, something one of the police recognises as a fellow fan, the series also celebrates the importance and popularity of the book in France, including an episode which is set at the Normandy beach town where fans of the book make a pilgrimage each year, dressed in the trademark cape and black hat.
When Assane's father is accused of stealing a priceless necklace once owned by Marie Antoinette, he is sent to prison where he dies, leaving behind 14 year old Assane to fend for himself. Over the years, Assane becomes a master conman and thief, able to disguise himself in plain sight. Now, he has just one endgame in mind. He wants to prove that his father was framed for the theft and to bring the real criminals to justice. Those people are dangerous and powerful, and Assane needs to bring his A game, but he also needs to ensure that he keeps his ex and his son, Raoul, safe at the same time. Assane is always one step ahead of his foes and the police, even when you think he isn't.
Assane does have a couple of trusted people in his life who are part of his escapades. We get to see the origins of these relationships as the story flashes back to 1995 and what happened to young Assane after his father died, and then how they play out as he enacts his revenge plan.
This show is very much a vehicle for Omar Sy, which is no bad thing. I have seen a few things with him now, including Two is a Family and Chocolat. I still really need to watch The Intouchables.
Paris is also a big part of this story as you can see from this clip. Many of the famous sights of the city make an appearance on screen, but the producers were also not afraid to show the other Paris, the Paris which doesn't appear on postcards.
This song is actually called Gentleman cambrioleur (Gentleman Thief) and was actually part of the soundtrack for the French TV series of the same name which was created in the early 1970s.
Here's the trailer
If you enjoy a well written, smart, intriguing, and fun thriller type show, then this might be a good choice. There are currently 10 episodes available on Netflix. I have heard that it is better to watch the French version with subtitles but we watched the version with English dubbing.
