The Corsican File

Some films are just totally delightful.

I love funny movies. I've seen a lot. This is the funniest film I have ever seen by far as measured by the decibels of my laughter. That's an objective fact, not an opinion.

Don't see it with anyone you don't want to see you laughing uncontrollably like a hyena.

The female lead is a heart attack. I mean she probably has to be followed around by a team of paramedics.

This morning I was an atheist. Now I believe in God. Really.

Jean Reno is king, but without her evident ability to portray hyper-realistic emotions we would never buy the romantic sub plot and the movie would fail. She gives the most convincing performance of a top tier cast. Unusually, she enters the film halfway. (Maybe that's to give the other actors a chance. ) It feels like a New Wave element. It smoothly becomes a different film in the middle without losing any cohesion.

The story is fun, unpredictable and engaging. It has the flavor of a more realistic Philippe de Broca, another maker of delightful films.

It has other new wave elements. One I adore is when the plot has been resolved and we expect the film to end, the film just keeps going. You enter much deeper into the world of the film. Another is incidents that just happen. They don't move the plot forward. They add to the simulation of reality because that's how life is. They ornament the film.

The locale is touristic, an unspoiled tropical paradise.

Reviewers mentioned the strange mystifying tower scene. Think about it after the film. When did you last see a film not connect the dots for viewers? Life doesn't always connect the dots for us. Not connecting the dots here is a gift to the viewer (unless I just missed it).

So why the low rating (now 5.8)?

Some have said it could be that the type of verbal humor doesn't survive in the subtitles. To some degree that is true here, but the French reviewers rate it even lower than the Americans or the Russians, so that can't be it. It also can't be that background knowledge of Corsica and France is needed to get it. Maybe it has a type of humor that appeals to a minority who don't find the film.

Or likely the movie is just perfectly tuned to my own minority taste.

So I can promise you that if you are me, you are really going to enjoy this film.