Young Matthew has no idea what lies ahead of him when he becomes involved romantically with his middle-aged French language teacher Cleo. What seems like an inconsequential affair becomes melodramatic when Cleo's daughter Sophie arrives on the scene. At that point, Matthew is relegated to the background as the two women engage in a protracted cat fight culminating in the shootout at Big Bear.
One of the conversations at the dinner table was a discussion of the French filmmakers Jean-Luc Goddard and Francois Truffaut. Stylistically, "The French Teacher" is a cross between the two styles. Many of the scenes are punctuated with lengthy lyrical interludes scored with the music of Mozart.
While film buffs who are partial to French New Wave (Nouvelle vague) cinema might enjoy this retrospective offering, the sluggish pace and overkill on atmosphere may be annoying to other filmgoers like this one. The love-hate relationship of Cleo and Sophie took over the film with the heavy subtext of the mother's past infidelities. It was as if Cleo and Sophie were the reincarnation of Clytemnestra and Electra in modern Los Angeles where they were rehashing their lives in the form of an opera worthy of Verdi!
By the end, one may be thinking of the French drama "No Exit" (Huis Clos) about three characters trapped in a room for eternity with nothing to do but torment one another. The tagline for Sartre's play is "hell is other people." At least for poor Matthew, he had to feel the Sartrian claustrophobia in the Big Bear cabin as he asks himself the question, "What have I got myself into?"
One of the conversations at the dinner table was a discussion of the French filmmakers Jean-Luc Goddard and Francois Truffaut. Stylistically, "The French Teacher" is a cross between the two styles. Many of the scenes are punctuated with lengthy lyrical interludes scored with the music of Mozart.
While film buffs who are partial to French New Wave (Nouvelle vague) cinema might enjoy this retrospective offering, the sluggish pace and overkill on atmosphere may be annoying to other filmgoers like this one. The love-hate relationship of Cleo and Sophie took over the film with the heavy subtext of the mother's past infidelities. It was as if Cleo and Sophie were the reincarnation of Clytemnestra and Electra in modern Los Angeles where they were rehashing their lives in the form of an opera worthy of Verdi!
By the end, one may be thinking of the French drama "No Exit" (Huis Clos) about three characters trapped in a room for eternity with nothing to do but torment one another. The tagline for Sartre's play is "hell is other people." At least for poor Matthew, he had to feel the Sartrian claustrophobia in the Big Bear cabin as he asks himself the question, "What have I got myself into?"
