Olivier and Ludivine
Two movies I saw this past weekend presented two mythical French archetypes, one a fantasy and one a nightmare. Which is which depends on your sexual preferences, I suppose.
S.W.A.T. featured Olivier Martinez. I'm a guy, so Olivier is for me what he is for most American males, our greatest fear. Rugged European good looks, long hair, and a suave French accent. When your girlfriend takes that trip with her girlfriends to Europe and leave you behind, Olivier is the guy who awakens you in the middle of the night in a cold sweat as you try to clear your mind of the vision of your girlfriend giggling as Olivier nibbles her ear. That tragic possiblity was taken to the extreme in Unfaithful, in which he stole our own sexy-girl-next-door sweetheart Diane Lane. I could barely watch.
Fortunately, Olivier did little such plundering in S.W.A.T., though everytime I see him I still want to chop his hair. And the next day, my visual palate was refreshed by the mythological Venus of American male mythology, the shapely young Lolita, just blossoming into a sexual predator, the beguiling French coquette. Playing her was Ludivine Sagnier in the indie hit Swimming Pool.
Within mere moments of appearing on screen, Sagnier is brazenly flitting about all four corners of the movie screen nude with the confidence of a European seasoned on the clothing-strongly-frowned-upon beaches of the Cote D'Azur. It helps that she has a perfect figure. She seduced the camera so often and with such gusto that it became comical--the audience started to giggle everytime she popped up naked again. We laughed, but in delight--it's impossible to imagine any young American actress pulling off the performance with anywhere near Sagnier's audacity and fearlessness.
All this in a movie about the process of writing fiction, no less. At some point in the movie, it finally made sense to me, why her character was so over the top. No, it wasn't necessarily because all French girls behave this way, but because...well, to explain would be to ruin the movie. Swimming Pool is not a great movie, but it is a fun, sexy, humorous mystery worth catching if it's still playing in your neighborhood.
Someday I may have to travel to France with a wife, and it will be with a certain tinge of sadness and fear, what with all the Ludivine's and Olivier's lurking at the next corner cafe.
S.W.A.T. featured Olivier Martinez. I'm a guy, so Olivier is for me what he is for most American males, our greatest fear. Rugged European good looks, long hair, and a suave French accent. When your girlfriend takes that trip with her girlfriends to Europe and leave you behind, Olivier is the guy who awakens you in the middle of the night in a cold sweat as you try to clear your mind of the vision of your girlfriend giggling as Olivier nibbles her ear. That tragic possiblity was taken to the extreme in Unfaithful, in which he stole our own sexy-girl-next-door sweetheart Diane Lane. I could barely watch.
Fortunately, Olivier did little such plundering in S.W.A.T., though everytime I see him I still want to chop his hair. And the next day, my visual palate was refreshed by the mythological Venus of American male mythology, the shapely young Lolita, just blossoming into a sexual predator, the beguiling French coquette. Playing her was Ludivine Sagnier in the indie hit Swimming Pool.
Within mere moments of appearing on screen, Sagnier is brazenly flitting about all four corners of the movie screen nude with the confidence of a European seasoned on the clothing-strongly-frowned-upon beaches of the Cote D'Azur. It helps that she has a perfect figure. She seduced the camera so often and with such gusto that it became comical--the audience started to giggle everytime she popped up naked again. We laughed, but in delight--it's impossible to imagine any young American actress pulling off the performance with anywhere near Sagnier's audacity and fearlessness.
All this in a movie about the process of writing fiction, no less. At some point in the movie, it finally made sense to me, why her character was so over the top. No, it wasn't necessarily because all French girls behave this way, but because...well, to explain would be to ruin the movie. Swimming Pool is not a great movie, but it is a fun, sexy, humorous mystery worth catching if it's still playing in your neighborhood.
Someday I may have to travel to France with a wife, and it will be with a certain tinge of sadness and fear, what with all the Ludivine's and Olivier's lurking at the next corner cafe.