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
- Writers
- Stars
Laurence Lignières
- Madame Levert
- (as Laurence Lignères)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
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 !!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
Did you know
- TriviaThe film's closing credits state: "Special thanks to the American students in Paris, 1978-1979".
- Alternate versionsDue 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.
- SoundtracksJ'Écoute de la Musique Saoule
Music by Gabriel Yared
Lyrics by Michel Jonasz
Performed by Françoise Hardy
- How long is French Postcards?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- 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
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content