- Je ne sais toujours pas comment il est possible d'écouter Love Reign O'er Me (la version de The Who) sans ressentir le besoin de boire une bouteille de whisky et de s'évanouir sur le sol en pleurant. J'aime pas le whisky mais je sais qu'en écoutant cette chanson je pourrais en boire une bouteille. Encore plus si avant cette chanson on me met So Real de Jeff Buckley.

- I finally saw Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I had a great time. I won't review it, I know there are plenty of reviews on the web. I saw it as part of Paris Cinéma, a film festival. I'll probably see The Children's Hour soon, so I'll review this one.

TBC..

- Pestilence (Ex. 9:1 - 9:7) דֶּבֶר
The fifth plague of Egypt was an epidemic disease which exterminated the Egyptian livestock; that is, horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. The Israelites' cattle were unharmed. Once again, Pharaoh made no concessions.

I think it's weird that the 5^th plague in the bible touches all animals we feed on, except pigs (yeah of course they didn't eat pigs back then)... When now our "epidemic disease of the year" comes from them.

- Why are people so ... surprised when you question the craziest things that exist in our society ? Is it really unlikely to think that stock exchange is the craziest invention of "Mankind" ? I do think and question these things. And I think it's important.

- Zombees are pretty cool. I'm surprised I haven't seen a movie about them. But some people HAVE thought about it, and it's great ! Look!

- They DID destroy Emma Frost in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Not the way I expected it but... They did!

- They're going to make a new movie about Carmilla. Another one. The cast is AWFUL, no doubt this one will be dreadful. Speaking of that... Lesbian Vampire Killers isn't even funny.

Comme les autres. A French film released one or two weeks ago.

Director: Vincent Garenq     Year of production: 2007
Country: France     Original language: French
Cast: Lambert Wilson (Emmanuel), Pilar Lopez de Ayala (Fina), Pascal Elbé (Philippe), Anne Brochet (Cathy)




Un film français donc j'écris en... français voilà logique toute chose à sa place. Oh puis tiens non justement, les français ils peuvent toujours lire Télérama.

The story for those who don't want to be spoiled (although you know what's going to happen in the first ten minutes of the film): it's about a guy who wants to have a baby. Problem, his boyfriend doesn't want to have one.

Now the story more in details with my comments.
Emmanuel and Philippe are living together. They've been a couple for awhile now, and Emmanuel wants to have a baby. Philippe thinks having a baby is to stop living and he still wants to be "young", so he refuses. In spite of their disagreement, Emmanuel chooses to have this baby and starts working for it without telling to Philippe. He asks him to leave the house for 2 days so that the social worker can come and see that Emmanuel is a nice straight guy who wants to adopt a child. Philippe doesn't appreciate it (who would?), they break up. Emmanuel is very sad and tries to stay in "contact" with Philippe who found other... contacts. "Whatever!" Emmanuel said, he still wants to have this child ! So just before the social worker arrives at his place, he takes off all the pictures of Philippe, hides his gay magazines, his discs of Dalida... He sees flowers on the table and doesn't know whether to throw them away... I liked this part because it makes fun of our common clichés. The guys doesn't live in a "gay world" according to "gay codes" so he tries to see how straight people picture gay people. So he finally throws away the flower thinking people could think it could be gay.
Finally the social worker manages to see a picture of Emmanuel & Philippe kissing. Emmanuel calls a woman he had an accident with while he was with Philippe. She's an illegal immigrant from Argentina. He invites her to dinner, she thinks it's a date, he asks her to be the mother of his child (and they'd get married in return), she refuses.
So Emmanuel decides to find a lesbian couple to have a child. He doesn't find anybody to trust. I found this passage quite entertaining. Different stereotypes of lesbian couples succeed each other in a funny way.
Finally Fina accepts, then we learn Emmanuel is sterile. Now do you know what he does? He asks Philippe to give sperm. Philippe refuses, and finally accepts too. Fina falls in love with Emmanuel, Emmanuel gets married with Fina, and Emmanuel and Philippe go back together. So Fina wants to abort, because the only reason she accepted to be the mother is that she was in love with Emmanuel and that he was single. In the end, she doesn't abort, she gives the baby to the couple, and goes away from their lives. But they don't want her too.


Ok, so like this, the story seems unlikely. Somehow it is, but in the end it pictures all the trouble gay couples have to go through to have a child. And this is a comedy so it's not surprising that the story is crazy.
BUT I want to say that although I've read somewhere that gay people wouldn't like this film, I enjoyed it. I was in the story and I laughed and almost cried (both could happen in 30 seconds) a lot. As a lesbian I didn't find all the succession of (stereo)typical lesbian couples offending. It's like a lesbian girl had said "write this passage". I mean if I wanted to joke a bit about "us" I'd do what he did.
And in the end we see the perfectly untypical lesbian couple (In one scene, you see Emmanuel & Philippe with this lesbian couple, and if you have a heteronormative mind you could easily make two PERFECT stereotypical heterosexual couples of them)
What I also found interesting is that the writer chose a conventional couple in the heterosexual way. They're absolutely not different from a classical (I'd say stereotypical too) heterosexual couple ! Actually Philippe thinks gay people shouldn't have children. I don't agree with him but I was happy to see in a movie a character like this. I assumed everybody thought gay people all had the same view about children, and now I know that some know it's not true. But the movie isn't about homosexuality, it's about homosexuals who try to have a baby.

Also, something personal: when I saw how Emmanuel was with kids, I knew I would become like him in fifteen years. It totally scared me. Actually it confronted me to the fact I'm single and don't imagine myself with anyone in the future (not because I don't want to, but because I don't find anyone I would want to be with) and even least with a kid, although I already dream of it. It might annoy some gay people that I want to follow our society's rule, but I can't help it, and it's not really about fitting in. I'm not into marriage and all that stuff, but I want to build a family one day, and this film is about it. I spent the night thinking about it. And whoever you are, I'm sure it would keep you thinking at least a few minutes.

As our hero would say, EXCELSIOR!

My first review: a film I just saw: Le Guerriere dal seno nudo, or War Goddess.

Director: Terence Young     Year of production: 1973
Country: Spain/Italy/France     Original language: Italian
Cast: Alena Johnston (Antiope), Sabine Sun (Oreitheia), Angelo Infanti (Theseus)

This film really excited me. I don't know if it comes from the fact that many*coughboobscough* things are shown for a film of this period or the feeling that whether we want it or not, Antiope. will. end. up. with. Theseus. It made me quite angry, but I'll tell you why later.

So this is a story of the famous group of warrior women called the Amazons. Well, a more developed version. They're a real society and they're not all warriors, they also have farmers, teachers, etc. The Amazons aren't virgins anymore, some people finally admitted that women living in a closed society might develop relationships together. But not only they are raised to be lesbians (I find it funny to call them that since at this period Lesbians were only the happy inhabitants of Lesbos, the greek island), just like we are raised to be straight, they are also men-haters. At school, young Amazons (baby boys are killed) are taught that men are disgusting, NOT needed, and to be avoided/killed. They also know that each year comes the dreadful task to copulate with men in order to have children. You can still join the Amazons, but most of them are born. Ain't that cool.
The story begins when they have to find a new queen (they change each 4 years). For that, they have some kind of Olympic Games. The winner of said games will become the queen. In the end, the gorgeous Antiope wins the final test, although Oreitheia won all the previous ones. First thing she says: she will make changes and go back to the good ol' days when the Amazons warriors had to work hard and kill more men. Of course most of the Amazons aren't really happy about that, they want to keep sleeping in comfortable beds (who doesn't?). They all agree to stop her, Oreitheia leading them. Oh no, evil Amazons!

Then, the awful copulation days arrive. Greeks are chosen this time, they are paid to frak with the Amazons during three nights. Needless to say that the Greeks are all happy about it, they're going to frak the famous Amazons, the women no man can touch! Meanwhile, the Amazons are meditating to prepare themselves for the difficult moments they will have to share with those disgusting men. This is the perfect moment for our favorite evil Amazons to start doing evil amazon things. They decide to put aphrodisiac in Antiope's water! Which means that Antiope will be AROUSED for her intimate moment with the Greek MAN she chose. She will LIKE it! NOooo! Two minutes later we discover that our unlucky Antiope ate very salty beef for dinner, she is surprisingly thirsty. NOooo!

Select the text to read what happens next
Then, it is copulation time and Antiope has chosen Theseus. When the Greek king saw the queen, he decided to become a simple commandant to be allowed to frak her. Theseus is like "come on you like it" and Antiope tries to hide her pleasure from Theseus. They also play other Olympic Games with the Greeks to show their strength. They seem to be equally strong, but when Theseus shows off, Antiope hurts herself trying to show she was stronger than Theseus. After a few events, we realize that Antiope is in love with Theseus. Amazon aphrodisiacs are strong, dude! The best solution Antiope found to fight against those feelings is to leave before the 3rd night of dreadful copulation.
 
Silly Antiope listened to Theseus and chose a different way to go back home. They are attacked by people wearing something like bearskins. From what we see, the women do pretty good and kick some butt when suddenly the Greeks arrive to save them. The characters feel that they did help, but I really saw only one Amazon killed. Amazons are angry at them for telling them to use this path and even more for helping them. Antiope feels betrayed by a man she's falling in love with.

Then it's a mess. The women go to hunt animals to make sacrifices to Artemis so that she tells them what to do. Oreitheia tries to kill Antiope, but a Greek arrow prevents her to do so. Finally the sacrifice is useless since Antiope stops the ceremony because Oreitheia is flirting with a woman. Antiope decides to attack the Greeks she tells them they want their last night of copulation but plans to kill them. We learn Antiope is pregnant.
Theseus comes back, they make love. After, Phaedra, Theseus' wife comes to spy for him. Antiope decides to set a trap for the Greeks (they say the want their 3rd night in order to kill them during the night). Then she gives birth to her son and is depressed because they have to kill the baby. It is sad. The others tell her to stop whining because she's the queen. The Amazons kill the guy dressed in bearskins and Antiope is sad because they hurt the children too.

Oreitheia is chosen to kill Antiope: Making her loving a man wasn't a good idea, they have to save the Amazon civilization. She arrives at night, during a storm. But Antiope isn't the queen for no reason, she her Oreitheia coming and waits for her, ready to strike back. When Oreitheia arrives, they agree to fight bare hands. At this moment, something incredible happens. They get undressed. When they say bare hands they're not jocking. So they wrestle. It is long. It is sexy. And what had to happen finally happens. They make out. The other evil Amazons are angry when they learn. Oreitheia becomes all sweet towards Antiope now. It seems that she only wanted to kill her because she was frustrated.
Then a medium speaks, says some women will die. Theseus tells Antiope he loves her and that he saved their son. Antiope goes away with Theseus. She is worried that the Amazons will follow them. They finally fight. They finally stop.
Oreitheia is dead, Antiope says she should have been the queen. Duh. Then we see Antiope with Theseus saying she is not going to be submissive, and that she's going to make women's condition better in Greece. Theseus says he wants to have sex with her.
On the way they meet Phaedra. And Antiope is happy that she is Theseus' wife and not his mistress.

My impressions: It could have been good if it didn't end that way. Seriously. "I am the mighty Antiope who hates men! Oh Theseus you're hot, let's make out. Oh Phaedra who are you? Ah ok let's make out."
I mean it's ok for men to have a film in which they can realize their fantasy about lesbians. It's ok to have a woman who likes women to like men too. But wtf? How did this happen, how do you go from "I hate men" to "oh Theseus I love you"? Only an aphrodisiac and two nights of sex?
I don't know what to feel about this film. Sometimes I see good points like women are indeed as strong as men. But other times I see a women who we assume to like exclusively women being won by the handsome king. I don't see a woman falling in love with a man, I see a woman won by a guy because he's good enough. It would have been good if she had ended up with Oreitheia.

It's fine, men can have their fantasies fullfilled in movies.

And I also wonder if the writers really thought that feminism was about rejecting motherhood ("because we don't have to be slaves of our children") and killing boys. There is no shade. Amazons kill men. But I see this as women who have to prove that they don't need men. It is not only a fact. Each time they meet men, they have to prove it. Somehow it is sad and it annoyed me to hear so often "we don't need men", they shouldn't have to. But if they didn't say that so often, they might not be taken seriously. Theseus doesn't care whether Antiope likes having sex or not, he wants to play.
Anyway their obsession is made ridiculous, which is good. I loved the women sneezing when men approached. I had a lot of fun during the copulation scenes, not only for the reactions of the Amazons but also for the servant who drank of the aphrodisiac.
And it is also sad to see that Amazons abandoned such things as arts to become like men. In the end their obsession keeps them from being their real equals.
Actually if the women are extremist feminists, men aren't perfect. Theseus is not faithful (and chose a wife who wouldn't mind) , a show-off (he provoked Antiope, she wouldn't have tried to be better than him if he hadn't started it) and he has some typical sayings like "I don't like women speaking loud, even when they are beautiful". Which reminds me of the feminist swedish song that says that women are not heard because they don't scream loud enough (as men do). Actually he annoys me each time he speaks, he always had like a flirtatuous condescending tone.
In the end, I don't know if there is judgement in all this, but I found this portrayal of male/female relations somehow realistic in this romanced peplum. :P We quite understand why ones act the way they act.

Also, the wrestling parts are quite well made, really. I liked the music, increasing funny moments or cute at times.

In the end, it's an action movie with naked women with big boobs. Watch it with some distance and you'll have fun.

Hey there. I don't know yet if I'll use French or English as a default language. So until I make up my mind, I'll use both. Or only one, depending on my mood, the subject or my ability to speak English. I don't plan on using LJ to display my private life, but intend to use it to talk about what I like, and share my discoveries. Basically, I am bothering my friends with stories of movies from the 70s they don't care about, but I need to talk about them. I thought some people somewhere the world might like the same things as I do... Who knows?

Don't mistake this for a "cultural blog", I'm just writing to talk about how I like things or not.

Salut. Je ne sais pas encore si je vais utiliser le français ou l'anglais comme langue de base. Donc jusqu'au jour où je me serai enfin décidée, j'utiliserai les deux. Ou une seule en fonction de l'humeur, du sujet ou de ma capacité à parler anglais. Je n'ai pas l'intention d'utiliser LJ pour raconter ma vie, mais pour parler de trucs que j'aime et partager mes découvertes. En gros, j'ennuie mes amis avec des histoires de film des années 70 dont ils n'ont rien à faire, mais j'ai besoin d'en parler. J'ai pensé que quelques individus situés quelque part sur la planète pourraient aimer les mêmes choses que moi... Qui sait?

Ce n'est pas un blog culturel, je suis tout sauf un livre. Aucune prétention.

Allez, que le voyage commence.