As a pioneer of the cinema industry, France has long been concerned and involved in the creation and distribution of film both at home and abroad. The birth of the film industry in the late 1800s coincided with a growing interest in national identity, which was, and still is, incorporated into French cinema today (Hayward 5). I chose these specific films because of the surprising success of each, regardless of some.
This is in line with the current transition of the French film industry as it attempts to revolutionize its image and production to better adapt to the advanced age of digital technology and increased globalization (Hatchondo 54). Laughter is a social good that allows individuals to come together to present comic representations of the world around them. I use these synopsis analyzes to outline the important plot points of each story for those who may not be familiar with these films while analyzing the social issues depicted in the synopsis.
To fully understand the importance and context of the social issues discussed, my first chapter is a general overview of French society and the social dilemmas facing France today. I've said before that these are some of the highest-grossing films in France to date, so it seems that French audiences have enjoyed these films quite a bit.
Social and Historical Context of Contemporary Social Issues in France In this chapter, I intend to provide a general overview of the current social
This approach stems mainly from views on nationality reminiscent of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment where ideas of universalism permeated the growing intellectual movements. The presence of millions of immigrants in France of various racial, ethnic, and religious statuses triggered an inherent fear in French society and politics, as the state of the public sphere experienced high levels of unemployment and socioeconomic insecurities. Black people from the Caribbean saw less discrimination than those from Africa because of the French territories in the Caribbean; therefore they are considered more of a French citizen than that of Africa.
8 The Berbers are the indigenous population of the North African region and are ethnically, linguistically and culturally different from the Arabs. Initially, the National Front disagreed with laïcité because of its predominantly Catholic right wing. In this respect, Muslims are seen as one of the main threats to society (Lamont and Duvoux 16-17).
Furthermore, in France there is a large divide between the working class and the middle class, as the working class has been more directly affected by the economic downturn of the past decade. Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis focuses on the fallacies of French regionalism and the resulting stereotypes that negatively reflect a particular region – in this case Northern France, which has been historically condemned for its uncivilized culture reminiscent of the working class of a hundred year ago.
Intouchables
The next scenes of the film go back to when Driss and Philippe first met. At first, Philippe thinks he's the winner, but he's shocked—and also intrigued—to find that Driss is fully aware of the situation. Throughout the film, Driss is instrumental in representing an increasingly present part of French society: those from the immigrant, lower classes.
This stereotypical depiction is immediately countered by the following scenes in Philippe's townhouse that identify the opposite side of the social divide. Philippe continues to be a wealthy aristocrat with a taste for fine art and classical music, and Driss remains a product of the lower class. Driss then proceeds to physically tackle a driver on the street who parked directly across the street from the house blocking their path.
The audience witnesses Philippe's open acceptance of the carefree lifestyle introduced by Driss, thus demonstrating a break in the tradition of the upper classes. Once again, Driss is completely unfazed by the high culture that surrounds him and even mocks the decadence of art. He recognizes familiar pieces and even uses this to his advantage at the end of the film during an interview for another job.
As a member of the lower class, Driss invariably makes these kinds of references in the context of Philippe's high society, such as when he equated the composer Berlioz with the name of a poor residential area in Paris. The audience sees that Philippe once enjoyed the aspects of life outside the stereotypical aspects of high society. This scene is a great example of the thematic purpose of the film, as it is both emotional and comedic.
Philippe's status in life is an extremely important aspect to remember, thereby showing another consequence of the social divide. 15 The use of American songs in the soundtrack reflects the film's Hollywood-style structure and feel. Mocking the fine arts is one of the ways in which Driss denigrates, in his opinion, frivolity in high society and its nuances.
Initially, both Driss and Philippe are portrayed as embodiments of two extreme opposite ends of the class spectrum. Philippe simply smiles and the film cuts to the police chase scene shown at the beginning of the film.
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis Summary Analysis
Unemployment rose on a massive scale, and Nord-Pas-de-Calais remains one of the poorest regions in France today (Raphael 106-107). Director Dany Boon paid close attention to the way the film was subtitled for international audiences to ensure that the authenticity of the Ch'tis dialect was intact and comprehensible in foreign languages (Harrod 77). This aristocratic idea resulted in the condemnation of those who failed to speak the standard (elite) dialect of the time.
This is actually initially the case; however, both the Ch'ti language and culture eventually become one of the unifying factors that help Philippe overcome his prejudices about the region. He shamefully chooses to encourage the stereotypes of Pas-de-Calais instead of telling his wife the truth. However, Philippe realizes that Ch'ti culture has been part of the larger French identity all along, but it has been marginalized to the point of contempt rather than appreciation.
Philippe reaches this realization through his friendship with Antoine, who is the embodiment of Ch'ti culture in the film. Philippe and Antoine are French first and foremost, despite the nuances of Ch'ti culture. It is in this context that Philippe admits to his colleagues that he has lied to them by encouraging stereotypes of the region.
Philippe succumbed to the charms of the polite townspeople who insisted on staying for a drink. The final scenes of the film show Antoine giving Philippe a transfer notice to the sought-after French Riviera. As the credits begin to roll, the final scene of the film shows aerial shots of Berg in the sunlight while a catchy tune plays.
Furthermore, the well-known economic disparity and immigrant population of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is not shown during the film, which is questionable due to the film's intention to show a more realistic version of the region. He believes that the culture of the south (and the rest of France, for that matter) is somehow superior to the Ch'ti culture, which he has simply only heard rumors about. However, pointing out the mixed origins of the film's main characters raises the question of why these characteristics are not addressed in the context of the film.
Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu?
They are provincial bourgeois who try to reflect the lifestyle of the historical French nobility. The final comparisons are not between the grooms' different backgrounds, but rather how their respective cultures compare to French culture and hers. One of the criticisms of the Chinese involves the passivity of their face in the context of French society.
And that's exactly what she tries to do and the rest of the family, for the most part. Catholicism was one of the original influences on the formation of French republicanism in its. Chao's religion is not even mentioned during the film outside of the fact that he is definitely not Catholic.
This plot development shapes the course of the rest of the film in that he unwittingly disrupts the tentative peace that has finally been achieved in the family. Charles's father, André, acts as a parallel to Claude in that he is equally prejudiced against the immigrants in his own country, but his hatred of the whites. Both are suspicious of the other, but their similarities are paralleled throughout the rest of the film and only revealed to each other towards the end.
35 It is interesting to note that Catholicism may be one of the only concrete similarities between Claude and André, but it has no effective influence on their views or actions towards each other. Claude gives his own speech, explaining that he is jealous of the upcoming honeymoon. Therefore, he invites Marie to go on another honeymoon, where they travel around the world to visit each of their four sons-in-law's families in Beijing, Algiers, Tel-Aviv and finally Abidjan.
However, the fact that none of the ethnically stereotyped characters are poor is important in the eventual acceptance between them. However, Le Figaro stated that the film's contemporary relevance, treated in a cheeky and comic manner, resonated within a society struggling with the question of national identity (Buisson). In the context of the given films, Darnton's "Frenchness" is directly applicable to the first impression the audience gets of each of the main characters, who show little or no regard for the impact of their actions on others.
Ultimately, each of the film's main characters overcomes social divides by recognizing each other's innate Frenchness. It is for these reasons that each film has been one of the ten most successful French-produced films in history.
