Film Review #10- Lourdes

This film I ended up watching completely by accident. My parents are members of Love Film, the DVD rental website, and my mum ordered this one because it had won several awards. After she read me the synopsis, I admit that I wasn't too enthusiastic about watching this one, but the other day I was in the lounge and my mum decided to put it on, so we watched it together. 

For those of you who don't know, Lourdes is a small town in the French Pyrenees, and is the largest pilgrimage site in France. This is because it is believed that in 1858, eighteen apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes (supposedly the Virgin Mary) appeared to a local girl, Bernadette Soubirous. 

The film is about Christine, a young woman who is paralysed and goes on a pilgrimage to Lourdes with a group of people hoping to be cured of their various illnesses. 

I'm going to be completely honest and say straight away that I didn't enjoy this film very much. I'm glad I watched it but I wouldn't again- not a lot happened and personally I prefer films with more of a story line. The ending was very ambiguous as well, which annoyed me. 

In my opinion, the main thing that the film lacked was a strong main character. For me, Christine was a bit too quiet and didn't seem to be particularly affected by anything that was happening. I think that this was what gave the film it's slow pace and made it (in my opinion anyway) a little boring. 

I didn't dislike everything about Lourdes, though. The thing I most enjoyed about it was that it was quite funny in places, in a very subtle way. I also found it interesting that, although some of the characters were quite amusing, the film itself dealt with quite a serious topic, and the overall feel of it remained fairly serious too. 

So overall, as you may have guessed, I'm giving this film

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Caitlin

P.S. I can't find a trailer in any language other than German and Italian!

Film Review #6- Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec

Goodness, it's been a while. I do apologise, but the start of year 13 has been rather hectic. Never mind, I'm back with a new film review, so never fear!

Yesterday was the first Monday of the course "French Cinema Now" which me and my mum are doing over the next 9 (I think?) weeks. It includes two film screenings, and the first was yesterday.

"Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec", directed by Luc Besson, is an adventure film, which tells the tale of Adèle Blanc-Sec, who is basically a female early twentieth century Indiana Jones. Before I begin, the first thing I need to say to you is: do not take this film seriously. There is no way on earth that this can be compared to French films such as "Amélie" or "Jean de Florette", but why would you? You wouldn't compare a modern, teenage film like "Twilight" to an old classic like "Casablanca" because they're so different, and they're meant to be different. This film is a "Twilight" kind of film- it's fun and exciting, but doesn't mean an awful lot.

(If you thought that I was kidding before, look to your left and you will see a picture of Adèle Blanc-Sec riding a pterodactyl.)

This film is set in 1911, mainly in Paris. Adèle, a beautiful young author, is on a mission to find Ancient Egypt's greatest doctor, in order to bring him back to life with the help of her scientist friend, Espérandieu. This is all in the hope of saving her sister, who is barely alive after a rather gruesome tennis accident involving a hatpin through her skull. However, things don't quite go to plan when Adèle returns to Paris with the mummified doctor and discovers that Espérandieu has been sentenced to death after bringing to life a real, 135 million- year-old pterodactyl.

I found the combination of a historical setting and fantasy and adventure genres rather interesting, but slightly odd. In a strange way, however, it worked... I'm not sure why though, because looking back on it, I have a feeling that it shouldn't have worked. Having said that, the mummies may have taken it a step too far (especially as the CGI wasn't the greatest).

The film reminded me of the book series "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket. I thought it was almost Gothic, especially the scene in which the tennis accident is shown, and just the idea of an old ornate hatpin embedded in someone's skull, and I've always thought that "A Series of Unfortunate Events" has elements of the Gothic style in it.

One thing I found interesting when I picked up the notes on the film afterwards was that it was adapted from a comic book by Jacques Tardi. It sounds like an excellent Christmas present idea, if you ask me!

As far as star ratings are concerned, I can't decide. I'd personally give this one:

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

But that's because of how much I enjoyed it. The actual quality of the film would be worth about

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Go and see it if you're a fan of adventure films and Indiana Jones, though. It was enjoyable. And perhaps there was a hint of a sequel at the end? If so, I will most definitely be going to watch that.

Caitlin