L'Arnacoeur

Here's a piece of vocabulary we learned the hard way: un arnaqueur is a swindler, a con man, a scam artist. L'Arnacoeur, the title of a recent French film, plays on this meaning to coin a term for a professional heartbreaker, someone who is paid to cause relationships to fall apart.

Maggie and I only made it to the movies four times in nine months, and this was our first fully-in-French foray (Inglourious Basterds doesn't count, even though the significant French-language portions of the film weren't subtitled.) Apparently our French comprehension was up to snuff because we thoroughly enjoyed it, and can't wait to get the few jokes we missed when it comes out on Netflix in the states. As l'arnacoeur, Romain Duris more than compensates for the film's predictable rom-com plot line with his dead-pan delivery and unbearably cute scruffiness. And the antics of François Damiens were knee-slappingly hilarious.

Here's the teaser plot, courtesy of allocine.fr, a great resource for finding what's playing in a French movie theater near you: "Is your daughter going out with a creep? Is your sister stuck in a dramatic and destructive relationship? Today's there's a radical solution to these problems, and his name is Alex. His role: professional break-up artist. His method: seduction. His mission: transform any boy- or girlfriend into an ex. Alex has one rule: he only breaks up couples in which the woman is unhappy. So why would he agree to break up an ecstatic couple of thirty-somethings who are set to marry in a week?"

Why, indeed. If you're in Paris, go see it, and if not, look for it out on DVD after August 24. L'Arnacoeur is seriously funny.

In Bruges Part . . . What are we up to now?

French national news programs are, on average, twenty minutes longer than their American counterparts. Still, proportionally, there seem to be major differences in how each group allocates its time. American national news programs devote more coverage and time to the following: 1) Political issues; 2) The rich and powerful; 3) Pundits/reporters. French national news programs devote more coverage and time to the following: 1) The lives, issues, and opinions of "ordinary" people; 2) Segments about food production and consumption ; 3) Segments about artisanal/cultural production, in France and à l'étranger (abroad).

One recent segment focused on an old maison de dentelle (lace-making establishment) in Bruges. We saw lots of lace in Bruges, but figured its production was a touristy thing, an artificially-preserved relic of a pre-industrial past. But it turns out some of the best hand-made lace in the world still comes from Bruges. Which we probably should have guessed when Tom (our host/tour guide) showed us this awesome lace map of the city:

And now for something completely different. In (what we hope will be the) conclusion to our Bruges coverage, we'd like to remind everyone that a great way to see the city without actually going is to watch the 2008 film noir, In Bruges, which inspired the oh-so-creative name of this series of posts.

There's a lot of cursing and a fair amount of gore, but we still recommend it.

Indigènes

One of the perqs of Maggie's babysitting gigs across the courtyard is that she's allowed to borrow DVDs from her employers. Saturday night, we watched one of those DVDs: Indigènes (2006), an Algerian film directed by Rachid Bouchareb, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film and won at Cannes for Best Male Performance. You might recognize one of the stars, Jamel Debbouze, from his role in Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001).

The film takes place during World War II and follows the Free French African colonial forces as they battle the dual scourges of Nazism and the racism of their white commanders. In certain ways it's the French/Algerian version of Glory, since it draws attention to the sacrifices made by oppressed peoples in the name of the ideals of liberty, fraternity, and equality. But it goes farther than Glory by bringing the moral into the present, revealing that France continued to discriminate publicly against inhabitants of its former colonies. Two months after it came out, the French government changed its position on awarding pensions to colonial veterans of World War II, completing the film's trifecta of success (critical, commercial, and political/social).

You'll have to ask Maggie what she thought, but I give it 3.5 stars.

Week in Review

It's been tough to post the last few days because we're just so gosh-darn busy. Here's a sampling of this week's fun:

- Louis went to the library every day like the good little grad student dissertation researcher he is;

- Monday night, Louis and Robert got falafel in the Marais (but not at L'As du Falafel, like everyone recommends, because there was an equally good place a few doors down for a few euros less);

- Maggie babysat every day but Thursday, worked on grad school applications, and studied for the GRE;

- Louis, Maggie, and Robert went to see Inglourious Basterds Thursday night at MK2 Quai de Seine, which (as you see below) is on the Canal d'Ourcq and which looks glorious at night (IB: the parts in French had no subtitles; the parts in German and English had French subtitles; Robert was not amused);

- The neighbors called twice to let us know that Panda was crying (Monday night and Thursday night). Looks like we need to up her medication again . . .

- Friday, Maggie came down with a cold, and is still feeling under the weather. Get well soon, Maggie-face!

- Tomorrow: pre-Yom Kippur dinner, featuring chicken soup with matzoh balls (made with real matzoh, since we can't find Manischewitz Matzoh Meal here), brisket-style basse côte (lower rib marinated and slow-cooked in a secret sauce), salad, wine, and chocolate cake. Yum!!

Weekend Update

My bank account is fully open and fully functional!

I opened an account with EDF (Électricité de France), which means we won't get our electricity shut off!

I re-visited the Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet, in part to re-see a bunch of Monet's Nymphéas (Waterlillies) with Robert, but more to see two exhibitions: one of incredible aerial shots/footage of Paris by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the other a 50-year sample of the photography of Lucien Clergue (thanks to Just Another American in Paris for shamelessly plugging these exhibitions).

Yann Arthus-Bertrand did a whole video/book of shots like this one.

Lucien Clergue's photography focuses on the most elemental aspects of nature - textures, forms, color contrasts. He's also known for his focus on the human figure in its most elemental state.

This evening, Robert and I just barely managed to make it to services on time, because when you get off the Métro at Porte Maillot and enter the Palais des Congrés, you first enter a really swank mall, and there were no signs pointing to services. We finally asked some police officers, who pointed us to the Grand Amphitheatre. All we had to do was go through metal detectors and not get lost in the huge, 3,723-seat hall. The service was nice, albeit in French (Robert tuned out everything that wasn't in Hebrew).

Back at home tonight, on our late-evening walk to the Parc de Belleville, Panda and I stumbled on a cinéma en plein air (open-air film). Apparently there's a whole series in September - exciting!

Finally, L'Shana Tovah, Happy New Year!

Netflix in France

Today I researched a French version of Netflix, and it turns out there is one, called glowria. While perhaps not the most important element of our year in Paris, I think it will be a nice way to get our fill of American movies and tv shows while we're there. Glowria works just like Netflix and appears to be comparably priced.

1. I choose my DVDs at glowria.fr

2. The DVDs arrive in my mailbox within 24 to 48 hours 

3. I watch them whenever

4. I return my DVDs and I receive the next ones

Easy as pie!