Recently, I’ve been spending Tuesday mornings in a French conversation class styled as a discussion group for cinéphiles. That is a blending of two of my favorite worlds. I am my happiest talking about films for hours on end, but not having a contemporary French vocabulary geared to cinema has been frustrating.
Knowing the translations of elements of film, such as “director” or “actor” or “production” was not the issue. Being able to give a hot take using common parlance is what eluded me.
I could always easily state my opinion that a film was bad, simply by saying “mauvais.” How boring. It is so much more fun to say “C’est nul” or “Une ineptie absolu.” If the film is really bad I can now use my new favorite expression: “C’est un purge” (add vomit emoji).
Like that one, many of the terms are self-explanatory to an English speaker. You could say a film was made without any real effort, or “téléphoné.” Or, “banal” or “médiocre.” An example for “refreshingly original” could be in “The Zone of Interest est audacieux et innovant.”
Did you love a film? You adored it. Adoré! Better yet, you could use a hundreds-year old term stemming from the word “kif” or cannabis, meaning pleasure. Alors, you would say “j’ai bien kiffé Perfect Days.”
To speak colloquially, you can also drop the “très” when saying “very much,” as in “très bien.” It is perhaps an Anglicanism, but substituting “hyper” (EEE-Pear) usually works, as in “hyper deçu par Napoleon” (“very disappointed”).
Of course, the hot take is just the start. There’s a lot more to providing a critique and advancing an argument on film than a few choice words. And that is harder to do, while profoundly more satisfying. And I am getting better!
Happy Easter (Pâques) for those who celebrate. The bakeries and chocolate shops here are loaded with irresistible goodies and lovely decorations.
kmazz 