Thursday, June 29, 2006

French


Quite unexpectedly and inexplicably, I am starting to have a bit of interest in French. Technically I had it in school, but it was the first subject where I did not do well. So I have a long way to go to get to any half-assed level of decency.

Who knows a good online French course (with sound obviously)?

Who can recommend good French films? Comedies are preferred, or other big canvas typie thingies, as mentioned I am not much for "human drama" stories. ("Subway" is one of my old favorites.)

18 comments:

Hannah said...

I've heard the Taxi series (3 movies) is really funny.

Anonymous said...

You must have already seen Amelie..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211915/

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I've seen Amelie. Like Delicatessen, I... *sort of* liked it, but... :)

I saw the first two Taxi. Lightweight, but good fun.

I've ordered Children of the Lost City for rent, thank you.

Anonymous said...

I am not much for "human drama" stories ...

Your options may be slim. The only non-human drama movies I know in any language are Pixar's Toy Story, Ants and Cars. :-)

As to great movies in French, I second the vote for La Cité des enfants perdus. Also, many people seem to like Les Amants du Pont Neuf.

My recommendation would be the Three Colours Trilogy by Kieslowski. Pretty much the best three movies made by man. Regardless of language.

Christopher said...

Online French course: Rosetta Stone.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

By the way, I much recommend "Ridicule".

Anonymous said...

Ridicule looks interesting. Too bad it seems to be available only as an NTSC version.

Well, I guess that's better than nothing. One of the nuisances about French films is that in so many cases you simply can't get them on DVD.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yes, that is still true of many good things. Like a German film of all things called The Venus Trap, with several stunning women in it, I could only find it on VHS on eBay.

Anonymous said...

It looks like the Germans aren't happy about the situation either. Perhaps on day we'll get Die Venusfalle on DVD.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Of all the unlikely German films... The Venus Trap is sort of romantic, and certainly very sexy.

Anonymous said...

NTSC/PAL your computer doesn't care, and unless you have already checked your DVD player perhaps doesn't either (especially, if I dare even wonder if it's a cheapo model when they often manufactured cross platform to make distribution cheaper). If you can be bothered, standards conversion is not that big a deal in software.

Anonymous said...

NTSC/PAL your computer doesn't care...

My computer doesn't but I do. I want to see those additional 96 scan lines that PAL offers but NTSC doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Bonjour,
Ce commentaire sera peut-être en lui-même un cours de français en ligne!
je vous proposes les films de francis Weber comme par exemple "Dîner de cons"...
Ou plus ancien mais excellent, voir "culte" : Les tontons flingueurs, (c'est en noir et blanc).

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Merci beaucoup, mon ami.

By the way, all, I have ordered the Rosetta Stone* complete French course. It seems very promising indeed.

*I think she is the sister of Sharon Stone.

(Just a little humor there to keep you at ease.)

Anonymous said...

"La Haine" is perhaps my favourite film of all time. "Irreversable", whilst bleak and a little disturbing, is probably worthy of your attention too.

Anonymous said...

Oh oui, Les Tontons Flingueurs!

The dialogues are by Audiard. Any movie by Audiard is guaranteed to be excellent, witty, funny... You can take my word for it, the man was awesome. The french Groucho Marx, in a way.

"Levez la main droite et dites : je le jure." ;-)

La Cité des Enfants Perdus may seem dramatic at first. But really, it's just a work of art, an oniric fantasy. I liked it without really understanding it! :-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

"Dîner de cons" was excellent, thank you. Very funny.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I can't find a DVD of Les Tontons Flingueurs with English subtitles... Anybody seen one?