Quando Setembro Chegar

I saw this movie in the theater when it came out, and it really stuck with me. Then I caught it again years later on late night TV, and recorded it, and fell madly in love with it. Although it has some silly parts, it is mostly a very engaging romance between a young American woman and a dashing French man, whom she met by chance when dropping in unexpectedly on a friend in Paris. In the late 80's, I would frequently watch this movie on a Saturday night when I wanted to just relax with some coffee and watch a film that totally took me away from everything. I would desperately love it if they put this on DVD someday. This may be a "chick flick", but oh what a lovely one. Catch it if you can.

A Harlequin Romance type of movie about an American horticulturist marooned in Paris who encounters a married man when the group she is traveling with departs for other countries with her visa. Endlessly contrived situations that break up/make up the relationship between them - however, the charm and acting skill of both leads, Karen Allen and Thierry Lhermitte, together with countless nude scenes, succeeds in overcoming the deficiencies in the script. What the movie is missing most of all is a forceful subplot, which would have added a greater degree of complication and reasons for breaking up and making up. Both leads act well. Hard to understand why Karen Allen never became a bigger star. And interesting to see Thierry Lhermitte, sleek and groomed, in a romantic role instead of the comedic roles he usually plays. And of course there is Paris - which never looked lovelier, more sophisticated and charming. (What time does the next plane leave?) Not a great movie but enjoyable to watch on a rainy afternoon.

True, the setting in Paris is great. The actors are fine. The story is a twisted morality play. Is it supposed to say that if you want someone badly enough, it's OK to hurt everyone else along the way? In a real romance, you sort of want less cliché than the man who has become bored with his wife and is willing to dump his family, and the woman who is OK with encouraging him to do this. So what if they are decent looking and if Karen Allen shows off her body? The characters are still self-absorbed and reprehensible. Maybe the moral of the story is "you get what you deserve". I give it a 4, only for the fast scan potential through the "male interest" bits.

This movie isn't terrible, really. Somebody commented that Mo is the type of American Europeans snicker at. But there are those, and not necessarily Anglo-Saxon yahoos, who do not care for Frenchmen; and the Xavier character isn't going to sway them.

Let's consider his stereotypical Frenchman attributes:

1). Cynical - very cynical. Check.

2). Reedy, underfed appearance, check, despite:

3). A great appreciation of cuisine. Check.

4). Lukewarm work ethic. Check. (Forget the fact he is supposedly a rich stockbroker, from watching him in the film he seems to put in ten hour workweeks.)

5). Beautiful wife, check. Despite that:

6). Loose interpretation of the marriage vows. Check.

7). Big sexual ego, which says an American girl owes you sex if you buy her dinner. Check.

Whether Mo is a hick or not, there's no reason for her to fall for this smug European twit other than the script dictates so.

On the other hand, as other male reviewers have, I did enjoy seeing Karen Allen's cute, petite body. I'll give the movie four stars; two of them are for that.

(1984) Until September DRAMA

Professional gardener, Mo (Karen Allen) becomes stuck in a Paris airport missing her travel group, forcing her to stay in Paris until her travel documents have been straighten out. She then decides to return to one of her friend's apartment who is supposed to have gone away 'until September'- hence the title. It is during, then she finally meets and builds a rapport with the owner's son of the apartment complex, Xavier (Thierry Lhermitte) whose actual profession is a banker who can speak several languages including English who happens to be married man with two children.