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French Postcards

  • 1979
  • PG
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
5.8/10
878
YOUR RATING
French Postcards (1979)
ComedyDramaRomance

The believable, fresh-faced characters are naive American college students; armed with their French-English dictionaries they compulsively seek out hundreds of monuments, romanticize the nom... Read allThe believable, fresh-faced characters are naive American college students; armed with their French-English dictionaries they compulsively seek out hundreds of monuments, romanticize the nomadic artist's life, and look for grown-up love.The believable, fresh-faced characters are naive American college students; armed with their French-English dictionaries they compulsively seek out hundreds of monuments, romanticize the nomadic artist's life, and look for grown-up love.

  • Director
    • Willard Huyck
  • Writers
    • Willard Huyck
    • Gloria Katz
  • Stars
    • Miles Chapin
    • Blanche Baker
    • David Marshall Grant
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.8/10
    878
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Willard Huyck
    • Writers
      • Willard Huyck
      • Gloria Katz
    • Stars
      • Miles Chapin
      • Blanche Baker
      • David Marshall Grant
    • 21User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
    • 77Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos19

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    Top cast39

    Edit
    Miles Chapin
    Miles Chapin
    • Joel
    Blanche Baker
    Blanche Baker
    • Laura
    David Marshall Grant
    David Marshall Grant
    • Alex
    Valérie Quennessen
    Valérie Quennessen
    • Toni
    Debra Winger
    Debra Winger
    • Melanie
    Mandy Patinkin
    Mandy Patinkin
    • Sayyid
    Marie-France Pisier
    Marie-France Pisier
    • Madame Catherine Tessier
    Jean Rochefort
    Jean Rochefort
    • Monsieur Tessier
    Lynn Carlin
    Lynn Carlin
    • Mrs. Weber
    George Coe
    George Coe
    • Mr. Weber
    Christophe Bourseiller
    Christophe Bourseiller
    • Pascal
    François Lalande
    • Monsieur Levert
    Anémone
    Anémone
    • Christine
    Véronique Jannot
    Véronique Jannot
    • Malsy
    Marie-Anne Chazel
    Marie-Anne Chazel
    • Cécile
    Laurence Lignières
    • Madame Levert
    • (as Laurence Lignères)
    André Penvern
    André Penvern
    • Jean-Louis
    Jacques Rispal
    Jacques Rispal
    • Director
      • Willard Huyck
    • Writers
      • Willard Huyck
      • Gloria Katz
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews21

    5.8878
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    Featured reviews

    atlantic965

    MY FAVORITE COMING OF AGE MOVIE

    I first saw this film in 1979 when it appeared on HBO. And it is MY coming of age movie. I found the tape recently in a video store and it brought back many happy memories. I was sad to learn Valérie Quennessen was killed in an auto accident in 1989. She was a beautiful and talented actress. Marie-France Pisier is still one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, the one actor, who in my opinion, steals the movie is the great French actor Jean Rochefort who plays Monsieur Tessier. I sometimes cannot believe 22 years have passed since I first saw this movie. A must See !!
    7cmt-2

    One of those rainy day movies

    FRENCH POSTCARDS is one of those movies you watch when there's nothing else on (at least that was the case for me). It's a harmless little movie with some nice shots of Paris and a story you've probably seen in dozens of other movies. It also has a couple of lovely French actresses (France-Piser and Quennessen)and a pretty American (Baker). And stay on the lookout for Debra Winger, before she was a star. It's a likeable movie overall.
    7Weirdling_Wolf

    The garishly goofy 'French Postcards' gets my stamp of approval!

    This fitfully flavoursome fromage about a naïve group of over-excitable American students experiencing a modestly hedonistic year of wine, women, and deliciously bad French rock music at a school in picturesque Paris, perhaps, offers the more forgiving, farce-minded viewers some fairly stale Poisson out of water shtick. These disparate, moderately endearing student protagonists 'studying' at the somewhat less-than august-looking 'Institute of French Studies' predictably fall into distinctly pre-digested food groups, the lonely, uptight wasp busybody (Blanche Baker), the nebbish nerd that somewhat miraculously gets the lava-hot mademoiselle (Miles Chapin), the self-appointed, would-be artisan Lothario (David Marshall Grant) who frustratingly gets the bums rush, and a youthful, barely used, quick-quipping Debra Winger form the savoury base of this salty bouillabaisse! There are noisome, sardonic skits about eating snails, clunky ruminations about the myriad, meaningless miasmas of human existence, a smattering of not so amiable couplings, some bemusingly bad, frisson-less bedroom farcing about, and a scintillatingly sexy sprinkle of groovy Gallic disco, plus an abjectly awful cameo by Mandy Patinkin as a skeezoid Iranian on the make, and legendary French Thespian Jean Rochefort's justifiably acerbic disdain for his students seems wholly genuine, and Huyck's sickly saccharine conclusion is nauseatingly glib, but, for reasons that momentarily elude me, there is something weirdly edifying about the ingenuous Miles Chapin heroically hooking up with a sublimely frisky French hottie (Valérie Quennessen), so, maybe, I somewhat reluctantly enjoyed the benign, wholesomely fluffy-headed frolics in 'French Postcards' a little more than I would be prepared to admit in public! The garishly goofy 'French Postcards gets my stamp of approval! All winsome word-japery aside, I genuinely dug on Lee Holdrige's magnifique score, and the gracefully beautiful Marie-France Pisier is truly mesmerizing to behold as wet dream supreme, the triumphantly titillating teacher Madame Catherine Tessier!
    7Hermit C-2

    A pleasant diversion.

    This is the kind of movie the term "lighthearted" was made for. A group of American students is attending school in Paris and spending their time running around seeing the sights and finding new loves. The script may not be perfect but it's a fun and enjoyable time.

    The best thing this movie has going for it is the fine French actress (and stunning beauty) Marie France-Pisier, who plays the school's headmistress and the object of one of the young men's attention and affection. Also good in this film is Blanche Baker, an underappreciated actress.
    7critic2-2

    This is a fun movie.

    This is a fun movie. It doesn't try to get any message across so it is easy on the eyes and brain. Everyone in the movie does a credible job. If you want to see a real beauty check out Valérie Quennessen (Toni). Also see "Summer Lovers" to see more of her. It is a shame that she has passed away. Check out "French Postcards" for a little French fun!

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    Related interests

    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film's closing credits state: "Special thanks to the American students in Paris, 1978-1979".
    • Quotes

      Toni: You know, I don't understand anything you are saying.

      Joel: Don't you speak French?

      Toni: Not your French.

    • Alternate versions
      Due to music licensing disputes, the 1986 Paramount home video edition of this film contains almost completely different French-language pop songs as compared to the theatrical and cable television editions. Similarly, in 1984 NBC-TV ran a version that featured previously discarded footage of Debra Winger, who by then had become a major star.
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: French Postcards/The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh/The Marriage of Maria Braun/The Rose/Best Boy (1979)
    • Soundtracks
      J'Écoute de la Musique Saoule
      Music by Gabriel Yared

      Lyrics by Michel Jonasz

      Performed by Françoise Hardy

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    FAQ13

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 26, 1979 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • West Germany
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Wer geht denn noch zur Uni?
    • Filming locations
      • Pere Lachaise cemetery, 20e arrondissement, France(Laura leaving flowers on the graves of Collette & Édith Piaf.)
    • Production company
      • NF Geria II Filmgesellschaft m.b.H.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 35m(95 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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