986 The Baker's Wife

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: 986 The Baker's Wife

#26 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:38 pm

Perhaps because as a playwright the critical focus has been on meticulous detail to script and performance rather than the other cinematic elements of space and energy stemming from mise en scene in hangout films (not to say those don't exist in plays, that just may not be where the focus is in evaluating these). I love this film and fondly remember hanging out with the characters, as well as those in his Marseille Trilogy, but didn't detect any of that in Angèle, so with little familiarity with the rest of his work it's hard to say what's the rule and whats the exception.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 986 The Baker's Wife

#27 Post by knives » Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:59 pm

Admittedly the only non-Crit film I’ve seen is another hangout film in the form of Le Schpountz which to me is France׳s greatest comedy so I also am working from a limited space of knowledge.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 986 The Baker's Wife

#28 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:16 pm

Well, thanks for the rec!

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 986 The Baker's Wife

#29 Post by knives » Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:31 pm

I mean it for everyone. TCM lays it occasionally and it was my introduction to even the idea of Pagnol, as well as Fernandel who gives my favorite of his performances there, and it’s left such an indelible mark. It also has my favorite nymph performance with Demazis. It’s a film full of such surprise and delight that it really should be seen in a virginal state.

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swo17
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Re: 986 The Baker's Wife

#30 Post by swo17 » Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:12 pm

Yeah, Le Schpountz is great

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: 986 The Baker's Wife

#31 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun May 02, 2021 3:14 am

knives wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:31 pm
I mean it for everyone. TCM lays it occasionally and it was my introduction to even the idea of Pagnol, as well as Fernandel who gives my favorite of his performances there, and it’s left such an indelible mark. It also has my favorite nymph performance with Demazis. It’s a film full of such surprise and delight that it really should be seen in a virginal state.
Well I expected to love Le schpountz for Pagnol’s comedy, but, uh, this is totally the century-old antecedent for Hot Rod, right? The self-delusional narcissist ignoring everyone who doubts his talent, the motivation to ‘make it’ just to shove it in his makeshift father figure’s face by doing good deeds for him out of spite, the detailed exchanges with his sibling showcasing carbon-copied power dynamics of naivete, and the overconfident approach with women that recontextualizes all information coming in as flattery…while some of these elements are recycled across comedies, not this specific or mirrored from front to back, minus the irreverent and surrealist tailored brand of Lonely Island. Not that I’m complaining- Hot Rod is probably my favorite comedy of the aughts, and I’ve long been fighting a futile battle to sober others to its vast intelligence in joke construction and characterization disguised as programmatic dumb SNL gags. Still, I need to know if Pam Brady or the Lonely Island crew saw this film as inspiration, or if it’s just an uncanny coincidence on all fronts. After the halfway mark, Pagnol’s film flaunts its heart wide open and it deviates from that cloned path, but man, watch these two as a double feature and tell me that first hour of Le schpountz isn’t the blueprint for both narrative skeleton and idiosyncratic interplay of the recent daredevil comedy to a T

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