Les Intouchables: The Underachievers

The recent success of the French film Les Intouchables is perplexing to say the least. The French media is promulgating this simple  story as one of France's most important cinematic event in all of history, and everyone seems to be okay with that. The newspapers have been publishing the number of cinema goers; they predict that sales might even exceed that of the charming film Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain. An incredible feat if this is accomplished by newbie actors. I recently read an article that briefly lists how much money the film's director, Olivier Nakache, is expected to earn not only from the French version, but from any English-language remake. French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited the cast to dine at the Elysée. When I finally caved in and went to the UGC cinema to see for myself what all the hype was about, I was surprised to see just how many people were in line to see the same film. Were the movie critics right?

The story follows Driss (Omar Sy), a young, unemployed black man who lives in a poor Parisian banlieue, who eventually builds a strong relationship with his eventual employer, Philippe (François Cluzet). Philippe is white, extremely wealthy and paralyzed from the neck down. In search of a new employee to take care of his fragile self, Philippe chooses Driss out of all the other more qualified applicants. Driss, he says, might not be an intelligent, caring or conscientious worker, but he has a brain and treats Philippe as he would anyone else. And he does.

It's obvious that this film was intended to "examine" the racial relationship between the two of persons. Sometimes the director is successful in depicting the struggles of life inside the poor banlieues, but the majority of the film really only accomplishes to make racial stereotypes, especially of Driss. Driss plays an Eddie Murphie-type: an unintelligent, babbling, uncultured minority who somehow manages to be charming even while he is violently teaching a lesson to a man who has parked in a no-parking zone. In contrast, Philippe represents the cultured, sophisticated and intelligent man, who is physically limited and who therefore needs someone to do his manual work.

Driss and Philippe both profit from the relationship. In the end, Philippe wins the girl of his dreams and lives a beautiful life with her... and Driss is able to impress a potential employer with his new-found ability to identify works of art. Figuratively speaking, Philippe gains a spine and Driss, a brain.

Despite the fact that the film is a bit racist, the story a bit cliche, it's technical aspects are moderately good. There are some positive things to say, for example, on the film's portrayal of French suburban life, which is different from American suburban life and in the way it really does manage to demonstrate how two different personalities can indeed be compatible.

It is believable, and it should be: it is based on a true story. And racial tensions still do exist.  Whether or not it is believable, Les Intouchables does not strike a unique chord, nor does it deserve to go down in history as towering over classics such as Jules et Jim. 


See my Review of Parlez-moi de vous here.

Printemps Christmas Window Displays

It's December in Paris. Here is the Printemps idea of an 'all around the world with Chanel' theme.

Turning Point

So, I chose to quit Lycée Michelet. Now, I'm studying full time at my university here.

My classes are the university are incredibly challenging. It's not easy to translate into French...

A Difficult Choice

This week, I must choose between working at Lycée Michelet and studying at Paris Diderot. It will be a difficult choice, because it forces me to choose between an immediate, temporary job and a future potential job.

The schedule coordinator at Lycée Michelet has refused to meet any of my schedule requests, making it impossible for me to go to my classes. Paris Diderot makes exceptions for those students who need to work to do so, but there is nothing they can do if I'm only able to attend 15% of my classes. Michelet will look into what they can do for me, but the attitude of the coordinator makes me certain that he is unlikely to change my schedule, despite the fact that there are 9 people teaching English at this high school and consequently enough flexibility to give me more agreeable hours. I'm discovering the beautify of French education right now!

It's a difficult choice to make. If I drop out of school, I risk not being accepted again (it will look back to the selection jury that I dropped out the last time they accepted my application); if I keep going to school, I will have no salary.

Difficult First Week of School

My first week at the University of Paris Diderot was quite disheartening. All week, I was coming home stressed and critical of the college's complete lack of organization. I didn't want to socialize with other students, I didn't have time to lunch and my biggest accomplishment during the week was to have been able to find all of my classes on time. I'm serious.

The Universities of Pairs Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Nanterre and Saint-Denis all have architectural flaws. Paris 8, for example, is constructed with huge glass walls and ceiling, almost like a Greenhouse, which let in so much light into a building that has no circulating air to begin with that we were forced to open the windows in February to get a little air. But I never could have imagined that simple design flaws could be the root of so much stress.

Paris 7 is literally a labyrinth of stairs that lead nowhere but to concrete walls, where floor numbers change depending on where you are in the building (sometimes it's 1, 2, 3, 3, 4; sometimes it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 6. Both in the same building! ...and I was trying to find floor 5!), where it seemed fine to the architect that one should divide a single building that serves one purpose into three incommunicable sections with randomly assigned room numbers. The cafeteria meant to serve 25 thousand students is large enough for maybe 200 max, while one can clearly see that the gardens serve only an aesthetic purpose and do not even provide outside seating.

Other than that, I think I will seriously enjoy my classes. My instructors all seemed serious and the course contents seemed exactly what I wanted... with perhaps a bit more translation work than I was hoping for, but at least my technical writing class is taught be an actual professional technical writer!

...I just hope that Lycée Michelet will not be inflexible with the hours that they're proposed.

Orientation Details

Today, orientation details have been released, so check your emails! The information is not more informative than what we were given in our acceptance packets earlier this year, but it is a nice reminder that we must indeed go to our schools on the 03 October to begin working.

In any case, we should have contacted our coordinators by now so that he or she could plan our schedules. I have met the English faculty and the English coordinator at my Lycée should have my schedule completed by tonight. I can only hope he is flexible with my university class schedule. If he is not, I will be very disappointed, considering we work for very little pay that we won't even begin seeing this money until December.

Réunion d'information pour le Master 1

Halle aux Farines at Paris 7

Yesterday was the meeting for all of the Master students in my degree program. It took place in the Halle aux Farines and was almost a waste of time.

It was nice to see who some of my professors will be, who the secretary is and who my fellow classmates are, but almost all of the information that we listened to was information that we could have easily found on the website. In fact, all of the information that they gave us was the information I used to select this particular Master's degree program in the first place; it's what sets this degree apart from the numerous other universities in Paris that offer an applied languages degree. (At Paris 7, they focus on technical writing and translation as opposed to marketing and translation like the majority of other schools in France.)

Regardless, the school year is beginning. I am newly nervous that my teaching schedule will conflict with my school schedule, but, as Anthénaume has assured me, we can only wait to find out. My teaching schedule should be set by the end of today!