Fanfan der Husar

I lived in France, speak French fluently and have a great appreciation for French humour. This movie sucked big time and was a great disappointment for me. My sister and I watched 45 minutes of it and walked out because we were both extremely bored. We managed to stay that long because we kept waiting for each other to say something first. The script is very poorly written and Fanfan is really annoying. I could not take another minute of Le Marquis screaming "Oh la nuque!". This is the first time I have ever walked out of the theater in the middle of a movie. This is how bad this movie was. Cruz must have been going through financial trouble for accepting the role. If you though that Le fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain deserved an A+ (which I did), this one deserved an F-.

I went to this movie only because I am crazy about France, it's kings and queens. I adore baroque costumes and decorations. But this film was a great disappointment. Dialogues were not funny and lively. Costumes were miserable. Acting was awful. The plot was silly. The action was totally not convincing. Fanfan (the main character) was too arrogant and energetic. Solders and officers were too stupid. The king was too generous. I wanted to leave the cinema long before the end. I try very hard, but I can't remember anything good about this movie. Sorry...

Set during Seven years war , an European war between France : king Louis XV and Austria : Maria Teresa and intervention of various countries as England and Prussia . A peasant and swordsman called Fanfan: Vincent Perez escapes un unwanted marriage by joining the army of Louis XV,Regiment D'Aquitaine . Later on , he meets Adelina who is a fortune teller who speaks him about his important future . After being promised by Adelina Franchise , Penelope Cruz , she promised him a glorious career in the French army , an illustrious future and a royal marriage to king's daughter . And Fanfan attempts to make the promised faith of his true . As Fanfan refuses to forget his dream and decides to fullfill his destiny of the fake prediction.

This stirring flick packs thrills , emotion , fencing , swashbuckling with bounds , leaps and jumping through windows . An amusing and funny satire of swashbucklers and historical love story movies, including a light criticism of the aristocracy , war , the mighty and the military . The picture relies heavily on the continuous pursuists , chases , swordplay and excessive and non much-sense fast-movement . It contains an evocative and appropriate musical score by Alexandre Azaria as well as a colorful cinematograhy by Gerard Simon .Lavishly produced by the prestigious Luc Besson and his production company called Eurocorp .The motion picture was professional but regularly directed by Gerard Krawczyk .He is an artisan who has made a few and usually successful films such as Taxi 2, 3, 4 , Wasabi , The red inn, Heroines and I hate actors .

This one results to be a remake of the classic French 1955 film and made in its particular style, including fantastic adventures , adequate 18th setting with impressive castles and breathtaking battles , adding a cast of thousands of extras . Handsome and good-looking Vincent Perez delivers a likeable performance as the brave swordsman who becomes involved into twisted intrigues located both , military headquaters and royal court . Penelope Cruz gives a sympathetic interpretation as Adeline Franchise who tells Fanfan's fate , as she predicted he will get fame , fortune and glory ; as he will eventually marry one of the king's daughters .Support cast is pretty well such as : Didier Bourdon , Michael Muller and Helene Fougerolles as Madame Pompadour ,Louis XV's lover .

Other fims based on this story with writings from Rene Fallet and Rene Weeler are the followings : Silent vintage movie 1925 by Rene Lerance ; and the classic 1955 by Christian Jaque by Gerard Philipe, Genenieve Page and Gina Lollobrigida

If you don't go in expecting too much, this film is a pleasant way to pass some time. It is certainly no great work of art. Didn't see the original so can't comment on that score. Furthermore, don't really speak French (although enough to understand that Italian subtitled version missed large chunks of dialect), so Cruz's reportedly bad accent was lost on me. It is undoubtedly clichéd, lacking in any original ideas or concepts, and has gaping plot holes.

However, that said, it has no pretensions of being anything more sophisticated than what it sets out to be. My advice would be to enjoy it for what it's meant to be: fun, swashbuckling, mildly amusing entertainment with two luscious-looking stars. In fact, just watching Perez and Cruz alone make the whole thing worthwhile.

I would like to inform first that I didn't see the original movie so I cannot compare this one to it. The movie starts out very good. It's very funny. The characters, especially Fan Fan and Adeline, are well chosen. Lightings and Colors are above average. Scenery is at least par. There are something to make me laugh or at least smile in every few minutes. The points of all the jokes are easily taken, even though I have to read subtitles all the time.

The second half of the film, however begin to go down. Romance, though is expected to be as it is, lacks built-up. When the movie needs to get serious on adventures (or at least in director's opinion), it could not deliver thrills it needs to deliver. With the comedy element's gone and no satisfying actions/adventures/thrills/etc, the second half could be considered a failure.

In short, this movie is a little bit beyond average. I enjoyed watching it. It doesn't have solid story, or throughout-the-movie comedy. However, it is the one nobody would regret seeing (unless you are critics).