Decided to go French this evening and watch a black and white movie. The one where the girl stands on a bridge ready to jump into the Seine, but is rescued by a cabaret knife thrower. A simple story, with expansive journeying across Europe, some scenes which pay respect to other movies and a stylishly lit black and white style.
Its a sort of comedy, where the power of two overcomes the bad luck of their individual lives. At one level the underlying story is one of two desparate people who become platonically successful when working the cabaret circuits and casinos of the Mediterranean.
The girl played by Vanessa Paradis (nowadays partner of Johnny Depp) agrees to become the Daniel Auteuil knife thrower's target. Much of the story is a two hander between them, with incidental encounters akin to a road movie. There's a fair amount of edgey blindfolded and bound knife throwing in the movie and the girl Adele has a fair few other encounters with passing men as the storyline progresses.
Its an interesting essay into screenplay too, with Patrice Leconte's direction making quite simple scenes and words tell a story which I find quite captivating, with its poetic underpinning of destiny and making one's own luck.
Follow the sound of the crickets.
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