le cinema francais and les fugitive lovers

an interesting trend in ze french cinema, and one that culminates in the now the rather cliche ending of the fugitive lover being dramatically shot. from the top we have A Tout De Suite from 2004, Belle De Jour from 1967, and, the film i watched today, A Bout De Souffle from 1960. in all three, we're dealing with a good girl-ish female who experiences the kind of breathtaking, hot-sexy-real-love that is only possible when that love is forbidden. interdit. verboten! of course the message in all of this is that the world sucks, that that kind of love can never last, etc etc etc.

i like all three of these for different reasons, though the fact that they're all made by men suggests they reveal more about male fantasy than they do about hidden female desire. all three, i think, are rather two dimensional portrayals of women, but on the other hand maybe all of the characters in all three are a bit two-dimensional. i think the one i like best in terms of all that is A Bout De Souffle, as it acknowledges the two-dimensionality of patricia in the best scene of the film: patricia trying to be a "journalist" at a press conference where her questions to the subject are cloyingly naive, and the man she's questioning responds with condescending but witty come-ons...which she smiles at and appears to find quite flattering.

the other thing about A Bout De Souffle worthy of note: patricia's accent is the worst -- the WORST -- american french accent ever heard. there must've been more patience with stupid americans back in the day...or at least with pretty, charming ones in cute striped dresses.