- Listen to, read, and use French as much as possible in books, newspapers, magazines, films...
Per the wise words of my EAP advisor, I embarked on a bit of a French movie marathon frenzy. Overall: immensely helpful. I know now for certain that I am screwed when it comes to understanding slang. On the brightside, I do comprehend about 95% of the dialogue . Only remedy for my lack of French "street" talk is to live in France! (huzzah!) Anyway, since I have become a bit of a French movie connoisseur (c'est a dire: un peu snob), I thought a review post was in order. Here are two movies that should interest all those foreign film enthusiasts out there. Or anyone who just looooves Jews! (wow I'm beginning to sound like those annoying announcements on facebook)
La Petite Jerusalem
La Petite Jerusalem tells the story of a young, beautiful French-Tunisian Jewish woman Laura (Fanny Valette) who lives with her Orthodox family in a very orthodox-sephardic quarter of Paris (appropriately called "Little Jerusalem"). Her traditional mother, a widow, constantly hounds Laura to get married and live a respectable orthodox life (get married, have babies, etc..). Her sister Mathilde is having marital problems with her husband Ariel because she perpetually suppresses her sexual desire as a result of her misguided interpretation of the Torah. For her part, Laura is a studious intellectual who prefers studying philosophy to trolling for a Husband. She begins to fall in love with a young Algerian muslim colleague Djamel, whom she sees staring at her silently with latent desire. Sheltered Laura eventually gives in to her urges, and the two have a passionate romance. Now they both must chose between the love for eachother, and the duties they owe to their families. spoiler alert: lots of sex, oh my!
By and large an enjoyable movie, if a little depressing. The torrid love affair between Laura and Djamel gives this movie a very Romeo and Juliet-esque quality, and we see a glimpse of the everyday life for Ortho. Jews in Paris.
La Verite si Je Mens!
Love, love love love this movie!! Had heard that it is a favorite of French Jews, but was not prepared for the hilarity that ensues. La Verié si je Mens (or: Would I lie to you?) recounts the epic story of a young French guy Eddie Vuibert (Richard Anconina) who is unemployed, broke, and about to be evicted from his apartment when by chance he is found by Victor Benzakhem, a wealthy Jewish textile factory owner, lying on the road after a fight. Victor helps Eddie up, and gives him back a Jewish star necklace that is on the ground next to him, believing it to belong to Eddie (says Victor: La Magen David is precious!--or something to this effect). Because he is mistaken for a Jew, Eddie begins to work for Victor in his warehouse, and he is soon promoted to a salesman. He also is initiated into the tightknit community of Sephardic Jews in Paris, where he rolls with some hilarious characters such as Dov Mimran (Vincent Elbaz)-a very attractive womanizer whose player ways eventually get the better of him-, Rafi Styl'mode- the delightfully metrosexual ashkenazi who owns a high end boutique-, Serge Benhamou (Jose Garcia)--a true character who begins practically all his sentences with "tu veux ganger de l'argent?? [do you want to get rich], and Patrick Abitbol (Gilbert Melki) who comes back from Israel engaged to a Norwegian supermodel. Eddie must continue to feign being Jewish in order to keep his advancing career in the garment district, and because he falls in love with Victor's daughter, Sandra Benzakhem. This leads to some hilarious scenes such as when Dov invites Eddie to his home for Shabbat dinner--- When the kiddush cup arrives at a very uncomfortable Eddie, he naively begins to jug the rest of the wine, commenting to the aghast family: "Great wine!", when everyone finishes washing their hands, he keeps insisting on what a beautiful home the Mimran's have, not realizing that he is supposed to keep quiet---in essence, pretty much hilarious. Eventually, Eddie's lie (I am ehhh...Ashkenazi....you know Vuibert is like Weber...like Dr. Bensard used to be Bensaid. etc) causes him problems, but of course being a comedy, everything turns out OK in the end.
Really hilarious movie, a must see to everyone who wants to appreciate the finer aspects of French Jewish culture. Spoiler alert: there is a Moroccan wedding scene with some bellydancers, lililililililililililil!
(the dashing Gad Elmaleh also stars in the La Verite si Je Mens 2! I much await seeing him in it when netflix sends the dvd..)
