Poupoupidou

This crime writer arrives in winter and the first thing he sees is a dead woman being taken care of. That interests him and he starts to explore her life. It has voluntarily and involuntarily been a copy of the Marilyn Monroe story. Complete with "DiMaggio", "Arthur Miller" and so on.

It all turns into a crime story of the type he writes himself. But is it interesting? Absolutely too much of the traditional American thrillers here, but with people who don't belong there.

You can't even feel enough sympathy for the dead tragic woman to keep your interest up. It would have been better with more talk and less action.

Nobody Else but You (2011)

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Part sexual fantasy, part hardboiled detective story, part Twin Peaks surrealism, part Norwegian humor, and part sweet hometown romance.

No way? Yes way. Here's roughly how the director and writer Gerald Hustache-Mathieu pulled it off. First is the seemingly main story: a scruffy detective writer of few words is in this snowy village on the Swiss border called Mouth (it really exists) to collect his part of an inheritance, which turns out to be a stuffed dog. You think you're in for a bizarre and dry comedy. But he learns as he leaves town that the young female star of the village was found dead in the fields, officially a suicide. He sticks around to learn more, doubts grow, and he begins to play real world detective.

However, the opening scene before even this is a bright, dreamy sequence of a sexualized blonde woman talking to us in voice-over. We have no idea what's going on yet, but the sensual aspects clash with the reality of the rest. Yet the two worlds are the same, of course--the woman is the dead woman, and we see what is going on through her eyes, both as a corpse and in flashbacks. The flashbacks themselves are triggered by entries in a series of diaries left behind. And the story sweeps in a whole assortment of the local townspeople, many of them quirky types themselves (this is the David Lynchian part).

Then on top of this is a gradual realization that not only did the woman look like Marilyn Monroe (at least when she goes bright blonde) but she has many parallels to the icon's actual life. The detective begins to think this is more than coincidence, and while falling in love with the memory of this woman he never met, he uncovers more and more of the startling story of her sad life.

So, besides the director we have to completely admire the performances of the two leads--the detective played by Jean-Paul Rouve and the young woman played by Sophie Quinton. They are opposites in many ways, but both are a little bit famous and a little bit outcast, too. In the flashbacks and in the current story the two meet the same range of people, so we come to see the context with full complexity. And for those familiar with Monroe's life and lovers (purported and otherwise) the parallels only grow in fascination.

It's filmed with terrific energy, from fluid gorgeous camera-work to hand-held kinetic stuff with fast edits, including perky cuts to show faces and highly magnified closeups. (The most memorable of these is the view of the red shiny lips of Quinton as she sings "Poupoupidou" which is the original French title to the movie.) This is all lovely and hilarious and oddly sad, too. An inventive, terrific movie that manages to speed through a few weak points and make little of a contrivance or two, piling on a wonderful soundtrack, and keeping you on your toes from start to finish.

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I found this movie on Netflix browsing the French foreign section. It is really mostly a dry comedy I suppose but is much more. It is also an extremely creative gay friendly detective story about a modern parallel life to Marilyn Monroe's in the form of Candice Le Coeur from the coldest part of France.

It is funny foremost with characters like the Hotel clerk who has the hots for the Rousseau (the main character). The lesbian psychiatrist taking close up pictures of tree moss...on and on. Rousseau is a novel writer who stumbles on Candice's murder and follows up and solves it for inspiration for a book.

It is just so non formula so unique so humorous. Just watch it. Not sure what the number 5 means?? showing fate is at work anyway.

This is the only movie on Netflix streaming I have watched twice.

RECOMMEND HIGHLY

A writer visits his home town in the French Jura, the coldest part of the country, and finds inspiration for his new book.

He comes across a sad event in the town: the young beauty of the county has been found dead. She was keeping a diary and he finds it. Model and actress, very attractive, she has found regional fame. Happiness is hard to pursue however, as she has a very low self esteem of herself as Marilyn may have had of Norma Jean Baker. The story unrolls among parallel fates and surprises, and offers a key to the death of Marilyn.

Among frozen sceneries, amazing things happen in this small town. You do not need to live in Los Angeles or Paris for meeting excitement, hope and disillusion.

Well acted, worth seeing, small unpretentious film with high interest.

This has to be one of the sexiest films made and only the French could do it so it is credible. Poor Hollywood! When it comes to sex scenes they fall flat every time. I wonder why that is? Anyhow, this film has lots of nudity - male and female - frontal and rear - but it is done in such a nonchalant way and even innocently that you are never offended but utterly intrigued. The story is quite original I think, at least, I have never come across a script quite like this one. It takes real life events and parallels them into a current story so that as you go through the story more and more connections with the real story and the fictional story add up to a very enticing affair altogether. The cast is absolutely gorgeous, especially the female lead and the male second lead who I actually got the film to see since I had seen him in another great French film where he goes to prison and becomes some brute's boy toy!!! Ah, heaven! How far away is it?