Gazon maudit

French twist is a lighthearted comedy which centers around three characters in a love triangle not often seen in mainstream film. When it was made in 1995, this film was very controversial in America due to the nature and portrayal of sexuality in the film. However it was accepted more openly in Europe at the time. Now however the film and its subject matter, while still controversial to a point, are much more accepted in America. The characters in the film are good. Not incredibly deep but they are not two dimensional. You do feel for them and care for their feelings. And the film does a good job of having you care for each of the characters at some point or another during the film so that it is hard to pick sides and root for a single character. This film does a good job a showing the double standards between woman and men. Furthermore being a comedy it makes it easier to take in the once "edgy" and still somewhat controversial subject matter of the film. The theme throughout the film is that of love. The film tries to show that love does not depend on one's sex but rather on the people themselves. This is made clear many times through the movie. The topic of the film may seem rather heavy but the director and actors do an excellent job of keeping the movie light and comedic. There are plenty of points throughout the movie that were both surprising and rather amusing. Overall I think that the movie is definitely worth watching. It is a funny comedy and it does make you think. If you like lighthearted comedies which are outside the norm, you will enjoy this movie.

Loli, played by Victoria Abril, has given up a promising career as a dancer to become the wife of a womanising estate agent; and though she knows of one woman he has had an affair with and has forgiven him, she knows nothing about any of the others - not even her own baby-sitter! No. Her main complaint against him is not his promiscuity but that he takes her for granted and shows her little affection. So, when a butch lesbian, played by Josiane Balasko, appears on the scene, stopping at the house to ask for water for her van's radiator, she is a ripe fruit waiting to be picked. And this kind, mature, worldly-wise lesbian is an expert in the art of seduction.

On an evening out together, the husband, played by Alain Chabat, already annoyed at the lesbian's intrusion into his home with his wife's encouragement, is driven into a blind fury when he discovers the lesbian's hand half way up his wife's thigh and sees them dancing together in a way that is very intimate. From this follow many scenes of shouting and screaming, jealousy and rage. You feel for the husband's usurpation and his humiliation at being rejected for a lesbian - though you rejoice at his come-uppance - and you feel for the wife who deserves the affection she has been so long denied, and you feel for the lesbian with a loving heart who wants only to make the wife happy - though others may condemn her for destroying a relatively happy marriage. The husband hates her so much and is so desperate to get rid of her that he is willing to do anything to get her to leave.

But despite all the passion and jealousy this is a light comedy and not a heavy drama, and you have the feeling all along that everything will work out well in the end. And it does. The moral of the story, affirmed at the end, is that the only things that matter are love, tenderness and affection and if we get those the source's sexual gender is immaterial; we are all bisexual.

This is a bright, witty and observant comedy, well-acted, particularly by Victoria Abril,

As a comedy, the film stands out as it blends in the sexuality and gender issues in. It portraits these relatively controversial issues in an explicit approach. It won Best Screenplay at the 1995 French Academy of Cinema and got nominated for Best Picturefor 1995 French Academy of Cinema and Best Foreign Language Film for 1995 Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Personally, I think this movie is a successful one in terms of the story plot. The story line is easy to follow and the editing style is just the right pace. Things do not get messed up even the relationship between the three is rather complicated. The scenes are nicely set up and every single scene contributes their importance to the whole film. Some may argue that such issue should not be shown in such explicit style, for instance, when Loli and Marijo were naked in the bath tube, at least it should not be rated "Universal" in Europe. However, we may have to refer back to the cultural context since it is rated differently in America. For European countries, it may be accepted to present controversial issues such as sexuality and lesbian relationships in a direct way compared to other countries such as the ones in Asia, where these are considered as taboos.

Overall, I think this is an entertaining film and it is worth watching. This movie is recommended to anyone who wants to know more about gender and sexuality issues, or anyone above illegal age.

This film is typical of films made outside of mainstream Hollywood studios; it takes some old themes and treats them with an attention-grabbing freshness. Playing Loli, a young housewife living in the south of France, Victoria Abril is as delightful as a spring breeze in Provence. Her husband is an incorrigible infidel; we've seen many of those in films. However, when the masculine Marijo, played poignantly by Josiane Balasko, enters their lives, the story takes many unexpected and entertaining turns which render a fairly common theme completely unpredictable. Everyone to whom I recommend this film ends up watching it numerous times and recommending it to others. The soundtrack is now one of my most-played CD's.

This is one of those films where you can see each plot twist coming before the last is finished. The writers probably sat around saying "...and wouldn't it be funny if ..." and then just added another episode in this episodic picture. But it is fun, light, and doesn't try to press an ideology about human relationships on the viewer. What a relief! And the ending leaves a nice gap which the viewer can fill for himself. Perfect, to my mind. Fun fluff.