Quote-Unquote Foreign Films

Ah, “foreign” films. Foreign to what?, one may ask. I deal in words, they’re the toys in my sandbox, and I’ve gotta say that I don’t really dig the “foreign films” moniker. You mean films from countries other than America? Riiight. (Uh, America didn’t invent the movies, France did.) I feel the same way about the word “slaves.” Slaves? You mean enslaved Africans? Sorta strips their dignity and makes talking about them as non-human a little easier. But anyway. This weekend me and the missus saw 37°2 Le Matin (99 Degrees in the Morning, a/k/a Betty Blue in the U.S.), the first movie with French sexpot actress Béatrice Dalle (above). Circa 1986, this movie was the crazy sexy cool teenage flick to see here in Paris, sorta like Nine ½ Weeks or Angel Heart I imagine (I knew a girl who named her kid Epiphany behind that).

In 37°2 Le Matin, Béatrice Dalle plays Betty, a hot and bothered college-age girl who shacks up with Zorg, a handyman her age living beachside. Betty’s a little 7:30, as evidenced when she decides to burn down the place Zorg rents from his boss over an argument. Zorg’s a writer in the closet; when Betty reads his unpublished manuscript written out in over a dozen journals, she types it all up for him and submits it to publishers. After one particularly scathing rejection letter, they track down the editor and cut his face with a knife.

So it’s that kind of thing, a Bonnie and Clyde trip with lots and lots of sex. The amount of male frontal nudity from actor Jean-Hughes Anglade would never, ever be allowed in the U.S. or tolerated by any American actor outside the XXX market. 37°2 Le Matin was rereleased in 1991 with a director’s cut over an hour longer than the original. As far as Béatrice Dalle, she went on to do a few English-language movies like Night on Earth and Clean. She’s known for her gap, her wide mouth and strange behavior. (She married a guy in prison; and after playing a nut in 37°2 Le Matin, she’s also been a cannibal and a homicidal maniac.)

What was my first film with subtitles? Maybe Black Orpheus? (Young ladies of a certain boho-chic persuasion in the early 90s had to be up on this movie as a matter of cool points. At least three girls forced me to sit through it back then.) Maybe I rented the original Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard? Well, I like seeing movies from all over the world, but I know too that most people in the States don’t have the tolerance for subtitles. Which is a shame and says a lot about Americans, but enough judgmental soapboxing. Having been in Paris since 2004, I’ve still only seen a handful of French movies. Here’s a list that will probably update as I continue to remember more. If you got a jones for international films, put me up on some.

1. 37°2 Le Matin (obviously)
2. Breathless
3. The Woman Next Door
4. Belle de Jour
5. The Beat That My Heart Skipped
6. Fahrenheit 451
7. Jules and Jim
8. The Last Metro
9. Who Killed Bambi?
10. Stolen Kisses
11. La Vie en Rose
12. 2 Days in Paris
13. White Wedding
14. Harry Is Here to Help
15. Amélie
16. Frantic
17. The Girl Cut in Two
18. Sagan