Girl From Paris [DVD] [2002] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

OK, OK... So The French title doesn't translate well but the rest of the movie sure enough does!!!

Computer programmer and teacher, Sandrine, played by Mathilde Seigner of "Venus Beauty Institute", a 30 year old Parisienne, decides to leave the city and make her odd, albeit lifelong dream come true-to become a farmer. Adrien, aptly played by a very familiar yet aged Michel Serrault from such films as Diabolique & La Cage Aux Folles I & II is an old and crusty goat farmer who half-heartedly agrees to sell his land before his quickly approaching retirement days. Since Adrien hasn't anywhere to live for the next 12 months, Sandrine agrees to let Adrien stay on in his homestead farmhouse for an extra year.

With her boundless energy, Sandrine takes over the farm and begins implementing her own innovations and city ways. Sandrine succeeds where Adrien was sure she would fail; she earns a good living in the spring and summer by opening up the farm, making a bed and breakfast called " Balconies Of The Sky" out of remodled barns to tourists, elementary school field trips & overnight guests and by selling her goat cheese over the internet.

However, the quickly approaching winter changes tide and time and brings with it very conflicting emotions between the characters of Adrien and Sandrine. Sandrine faces the harsh isolation of the Rhone-Alps, but an odd but growing attachment to the ailing Adrien are unexpected complications. Between curiosity and misunderstandings, Sandrine and Adrien live side by side when the only thing they can truly share without letting each other know their true and genuine feelings for one another, is their intense love for the mountains, God's creatures and the beautiful and harsh Mother Nature.

Nominated for 2 Cesar Awards in France, including Best First Feature Film, The Girl From Paris was a box office smash, grossing over $12 million US dollars. The directorial debut of Christian Carion, the film powerfully evokes the spectacular Rhone Alps, the beauty, simplicity and hardships of farm life, taking chances and dealing with necessary sacrifices, the ever present conflict between city and rural, past and present, and the neverending cycles of nature, death, birth and life.

Highly recommended!

In a review for "Shower," a wonderful Chinese movie, amazon.com reviewer J. Chin wrote, "We make our lives complicated in hopes that we can concoct contentment within ourselves and in our lives. Then we become dependent on the technology we created and wonder why we feel tired/stressed/rushed all the time. 'Shower' is a movie that made me wonder if seduction works in reverse - if the modern man can be seduced by a 'kinder, more simple' lifestyle."

The reason I reference "Shower" is because "The Girl from Paris" seduces you in much the same way. Sandrine is a young Parisienne making a pretty good living working in the computer field. Despite having, as her mother points out, a good job, a nice apartment, and a man, Sandrine feels stifled and unfulfilled with her job and her life. She decides to give up her technology job and signs up for a 2 year agricultural course. As part of the course, she lives and works on a farm. Little House on the Prairie it's not. One of her first tasks is to help drain the blood from a cow's head after it's been shot. She keeps going nonetheless and after the 2 years, she decides to buy a farm of her own.

Adrien is an old widower who lives alone on his isolated family farm. His only friend and visitor is his old friend Jean. Adrien decides to sell his farm to Sandrine so that he can go live with his nephew in another town, but he wants to stay on the farm for another year before he leaves his lifelong home forever.

If this were a cop show, Adrien would be the archetypal experienced, world-weary partner - as played to perfection by the likes of Dennis Franz and Jerry Orbach - to Sandrine's naive, wide-eyed rookie. (Jean is the comic relief.) In many ways, the relationship between Adrien and Sandrine follows that stereotypical mentor-rookie relationship, but as played by Michel Serrault and Mathilde Seigner it's more familiar and universal than prosaic and stale. Those words only have a subtle difference, and same goes with the movie. "The Girl from Paris" is about the subtleties of life - waking up to fresh air and open space, taking care of living goats instead of machines, and passing on these diminishing but important values to the next generation.

As much as you want to embrace the simpler life, it's not always a simple choice. Even earnest Sandrine begins to doubt her choices during the long, cold, lonely winter on the isolated hilltop. Whether she chooses to stay is for you to discover.

This is not a difficult movie to watch; in fact, it's quite beautiful. The farm they filmed on was perfect, set atop a magisterial hill with breathtaking views of the Rhone Valley. It really is Sandrine's "balcony of the sky." Any Francophile would love this movie, but it has a bucolic charm that appeals to the overworked, overstressed person in all of us, from college students to CEO's. Have a glass of wine and pop in this movie. It's utterly charming and calming. Let yourself be seduced by the French countryside and its offerings. The character of Jean will positively steal your heart and so will this movie.

Mathilde Seigner is charming to watch, She has a presence, a substantial yet sensual young woman who shows her mettle in her choice to move to a farm and try to accomplish her dream. I can't imagine this film being made in Hollywood. It has a simplicity, and gets is point across very eloquently.

The goats must be milked twice a day, and whatever else you may want to do, you must be there to take care of the goats. That is probably the metaphor for this film . . . that when you go after your dream, there are lots of demands on your time and on your emotions that you may not have realized when you started your quest. But at the end of the day, you get cheese!

A good, worthwhile movie.