Boom times for French cinema and Belmondo is back

The economy is down, yet the French are flocking in near record numbers to entertainment, or culture as they prefer to call it.

Theatres, concerts, art shows, museums and festivals have been packed over the past year. The biggest success has been the movie industry. Cinema attendance jumped 6.2 percent in 2008 and, for only the second time in 22 years, French films took more than American ones (45.7 percent of the market compared with 44.5 for the Americans). None of the other big film markets in Europe saw such an overall box office rise last year.

I'll sketch the detail below, but news of the good year has coincided with an emotional moment for cinéphiles and France at large: the return to the screen of the much-loved Jean-Paul Belmondo, 75. Seven years after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage that initially paralysed him, "Bébel" is to appear this week,  with diminished capacities but all his old charm, in a tear-jerker called Un Homme et son Chien (A man and his dog). It is clearly a multi-Kleenex movie since people cried during the trailer when I saw it the other day. Television also showed customers emerging in tears from previews in Lille last week.

A tall, physical, larger-than-life character with a rumpled face, Belmondo broke onto the scene as a star of the Nouvelle Vague, the golden age of postwar French cinema. It's hard not to apply the over-used "icon" word to his role in Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle (Breathless)(1960), with Jean Seaberg (picture)

He gave up artier films and became a big comedy and action star in the 1970s and 80s, playing in classics, such as Borsalino -- with Alain Delon. He was above all an action-man, performing his own stunts in films such as Le Professionel, Flic ou Voyou, Peur sur la Ville and L'As des As. While Delon was known as a difficult and vain character, Belmondo was a chic type, a nice guy.

In his first TV interview since his illness yesterday, Belmondo was frail and his speech was slurred but he was perfectly lucid. Michel Drucker, France's favourite celebrity host, treated him like royalty and brought in big cinema names to pay tribute to his courage in going back onto a movie set. Philip Labro, a journalist-writer and film producer, summed up the effect of seeing Bebel again. "Belmondo is sunshine when he smiles. His face is a landscape whose every wrinkle is a life."

Francis Huster directed the new film, a remake of a Vittorio De Sica 1951 classic Umberto D about an old man who loses his home and only has his dog left. The reviews have been reverent. Figaro called it "troubling, moving, even shocking because we don't know where the broken star ends and where the great actor begins." But foreign reviewers have not been so kind. One Swiss critic trashed it as "indecent" and "disgusting" because it shows a star who is a shadow of his former self.

Belmondo's popularity will guarantee a good audience for A Man and his Dog in 2009. Last year, French-made films got a big push from "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", the Dany Boon feel-good comedy about northern bumpkins which became the most successful French film ever (Will Smith is to make an Americanised version) . Most of the top 10 were still American blockbusters, but the French industry is taking heart from the strong performance of 18 other domestic films which each sold more than one million tickets. They were mainly popular comedies or thrillers and included the hopeless Astérix and the Olympic Games, but their popularity testified to the strength of the French industry.

Just after I posted this, they announced the death of Claude Berri, one of the biggest producer-directors of recent decades. His last production was Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis. Here's Le Figaro's news item 

Top 10 French Box office Hits 2008

1  Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks)
2  Astérix et les Jeux Olympiques
3  Madagascar 2 (USA)
4  Indiana Jones and the kingdom...(USA)
5  Quantum of Solace (USA)
6  Kung Fu Panda (USA)
7  Wall-E (USA)
8  The World of Narnia 2 (USA)
9  Hancock (USA)
10 Batman, the Dark Knight (USA)

[Below: Enfin Veuve (A widow at last) , one of the big French hits of 2008. Dogs seem to be popular these days]

Comments

[rocket]

Great to hear that Belmondo is back. he was always one of my favorites especially in his early films.

We only got them on the artsy channels in Washington DC in the 60's.

I met him on Av George V about 20 years ago and asked him for his autograph. I spoke in English so he would think I was a tourist and give me special attention which he did. In spite of neither of us having a pen, he waited on the sidewalk until I went in a nearby store got a pen and he signed my Pariscope for my sister on top of the announcement of his film. "Itineraire d'un enfant gatée"
(How many world class actors would do that?)

A true gentleman indeed!

[rocket]

Just noticed Claude Berri is dead at 74. It's too young to go.

[dot king]

"Michel Drucker, France's favourite celebrity host, treated him like royalty"

CB

Michel Drucker treats EVERYONE like royalty - in fact more like they were God. The obsequiousness and dished-up potted reverence in that programme are cringe-making - I often think it does more harm than good to the star guest.
I am less likely to go to a film, show, buy a book, try a recipe etc if they have been promoted by Drucker-Yucker. Buerk!

[Helene]

Great to know that Bebel is back!
I met outside the 'Fnac des Ternes' a couple of years ago (2006, 2007?) and he was walking with a crutch.
I didn't go and harass him out of respect, but I was so happy to see him in the flesh! He really does look like a really nice old gentleman, not vain at all!
One thing I'll always regret is not to have managed to see him on stage.

[thomasine]

c'est pas vrai! Si ma mémoire est exacte. Il était un peu gêné de faire la promotion du François Ier de Gonzague Saint Bris. Gaga tout ça.

[azloon]

did (hopefully not 'does') belmondo smoke as much in real life as he did in films?

i'd rank him and steve mcqueen as the coolest smokers in modern film.

stroke and cancer definitely aren't cool.

[Lex Stevens]

""disgusting" because it shows a star who is a shadow of his former self."

I wonder would the critic have said the same thing about Bette Davis in the "Whales of August" or Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond."

After a certain point in an actor's career, I will watch whatever they choose to make; it is like spending time with an old friend.

I think that is important that actors continue to make films as they age. It presents a more realistic aspect to life. I admire their courage for getting up there after they have become old and infirm. I hope that I have the same courage, and if not, maybe I can draw some inspiration from them.

[Blendi Progri]

I see his picture and am reminded of my childhood when we watched JPB fighting, jumping and being naughty. A loveable rogue.

Long time ago I read that he and Al were called cat and dog in france.

Ans few eyars back in UK i saw a version of 'les miserables' where JPB played a character similar to Valjean (in fact he played few of the characters) a good guy, ex-boxer who helps a Jewish family during WWII.

1-st was sceptical, who can better Hugo I thought, will this adaptationg go the same way as most do (like trying to make Will Sh, dance on ice) but JPB carried the movie well.
A great performance, I always liked the guy!
True icon of french cinema, the ebst cinema in the world for me!

I think Yv Montagne is the best. if anyone ahs something good, unknow or interested about Yves, pls do share.

I take the opp to congratuate CB, and wish that sometimes he is a little more pro-active, not only reactive. In a good sense.

Some french nostalgia won't kill anyone, talking about the true icons of cinema/ arts etc without waiting for movies or events to make them come through, it will please me / few otehrs more, a great deal more than Dati's baby,Carla's drawers or Nick's ticks.
Great blog-article!

People like JCB really leave a void when they go, maybe then we value them more.

Damn it I love the guy!

[NatividadRamosVasconcelos]

I SAW HIM IN THE FILM CARTOUCHE 1966
GREAT PERFORMANCE

[susan durst]

Will Smith in an Americanised version of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis ? The mind boggles ... In my view, the best equivalent would be Welcome to Geordieland, and I'm amazed some smart UK producer hasn't already picked up the parallels between the two cultures. The Northern / mining / industrial background, the warm-hearted people with their dry humour, and the incomprehensible (to others) accent are all strikingly similar.

P.S. Having Geordie origins myself, I'm available for a modest fee as Special Consultant on any future production ...

[Christopher Muir]

I can't think of a Belmondo film that I didn't enjoy - probably mainly because of his energetic performances which, nevertheless, were nuanced. Good news that he's made a brave comeback.

This clip of the final scene in "Breathless" is worth viewing.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ONQLXV1Do

[Do-re-mi]

I love Belmondo films, less the " hard man ones" mid 80's with big guns on the posters.
He was so handsome, with a wonderful energy and way of speaking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIQZv8sfJ0s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cly4X01y3Yk&feature=related

Plus he could charm the habit of a nun and you could see that a good time was on the card. I never liked Delon and his beaute glaciale. I really don't see why can't old actors, even frail ones be on films, they can share some emotions with us that young ones haven't experienced. Some are vain and rather not be seen but for others sharing life is what is important.

One of my favourite movie is "The straight story", it is such moving yet simple story. Richard Farnsworth was amazing in it, like he was in The Grey Fox, I defy anyone to see it without bawling your eyes out, and having to use loo paper because you have run out of kleenex, even a hard man will cry like a little girl watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OnsVDKjhpc

Do they do Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis with subtitles for people from south-west France?

[NatividadRamosVasconcelos]

BEAUTIFUL REMEMBRANCES,I SAW HIM IN THE FILM: CARTOUCHE EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE

[John Gregory Flinn]

"Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks)"

Charles; is your english translation the title of the american version?
Because 'Ch'tis' may be a Nord/Pas-de-Calais rendering of 'Chez vous', or a play on the local greeting 'cha va ti'?
But 'sticks' is definitely a perjorative slur on a region well known for its urban delights....
'Ti' is used regularly here instead of 'tu' and 'vous', and may have spanish origins or be a french version of 'thee', ('ye' in Geordieland).
It could also be explained as 'mi casa es su casa'!

The plot of the Will Smith film intrigues me.
Is it going to be a visit to
Little Havana in Miami, or Queens in New York? His west coast accent might be lost there....

[Welcome to the Sticks is the international (and therefore US) English title of the French film. Inside Europe its English title is Wecome to the Land of Shtis. CB]

[dot king]

"Do they do Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis with subtitles for people from south-west France?"

DO-RE-MI

I didn't need subtitles when I saw it, so you wouldn't . . .
A few weeks ago I was in the company of one Englishman (been here 18 years, married to a Frenchwoman, 2 kids in school), one local person, and one Ch'ti escapee, who was explaining why he'd cut down some trees on the "sentier botanique". He told us he'd been speaking to one of the commune ouvriers who'd told him he could; except that the local man with us was the boss of the commune ouvriers and wasn't aware of any of this, but wasn't over-fussed (this is the south-west after all :)), and at one point I almost burst out laughing, because our Ch'ti man said: "Il m'a dit qu'il allait parler à son patron, et qu'il me dirait quoi".
Neither of the people I was with had seen the film . . .
Anyway, once he'd cut the trees down or back, they obviously became "les chiens" ;D

BTW, my cinema-going friend is called Bailleul - same name as Dany Boon in the film and she's from the 59 - I think she should have tried to get us in free.

I can hardly imagine what an Americanised version is going to be like, couldn't possibly be as funny in the same way. I agree with Susan Durst, some Brit producer should have taken it and set it in the North of England - Lancs or Yorks would do the job as well as Geordieland - think of "Brassed off" or "Shirley Valentine", "The Full Monty".

[Fernandez]

"Inside Europe its English title is Wecome to the Land of Shtis." CB

I hope taht wasn't a typo! ;-)

[David Powell]

'Will Smith in an Americanised version of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis ? The mind boggles ... In my view, the best equivalent would be Welcome to Geordieland, and I'm amazed some smart UK producer hasn't already picked up the parallels between the two cultures. The Northern / mining / industrial background, the warm-hearted people with their dry humour, and the incomprehensible (to others) accent are all strikingly similar.

P.S. Having Geordie origins myself, I'm available for a modest fee as Special Consultant on any future production ...'

from susan durst

Sorry Susan, it's already been done. It's called Gavin and Stacey, and instead of Northern/Southern contrast it's South Wales/Essex and it is brilliant.

Try it out.

Dave Powell

[susan durst]

DAVID POWELL : I'd love to see Gavin and Stacey, but how ? Is it a film, a TV series ...?