La petite sirène

It was in 1993 when I watched this movie on a German channel at late night. My girl-friend wanted to go to bed after 10 as we had to go to work next morning but I was n't tired yet. Thus I just let this film start with no idea of what will happen then but as the story developed I became so fascinated that I held my-body on the top of the sofa-chair standing with it's back-side to the TV I was laughing and at a certain moment I even screamed: Crazy! Because of the strange action between him and her. My girlfriend came into the living-room and asked" why I am making such noise in night-time? I just requested her to watch it with me but she was too tired: You should better come to bed now. No I can't. I must watch this movie till the end. The end was a little rough but also understandable in that impossible story.

The next day after work I told my girlfriend about it and she could relate to my fascination: Maybe you just like to experience the same? No!!! The film taught already that this is just a false dream that leads ultimately to a nightmare in that socially engineered society that we live in. These are two different worlds: of a teenager (dreams of fantasy) and an adult (adolt/adulled) that can not work out.

I wanted to get this video on VHS and a work-mate told me to make a request to the German movie data-base where the channels can borrow the videos from. But they couldn't give me a copy but sent me the producer details in Paris. Thus I went there at my France trip. At first I tried a videoteque in Nice but they had only the Disney cartoon. On Champs-Elysee I found the place of that company and asked for this movie but surprisingly they also couldn't help me with it. My French and their English wer'n't good enough either. Thus I gave up and until today I couldn't watch this film again as the streaming-sites seem to be fake.

There really ought to be a word for the description of seeing a film twice - once when you are an adolescent, and then when you are an adult. Seriously.

Sexuality was especially difficult to deal with. Yes, I felt it, but I could never EVER admit it. And so movies (thank you CABLE) were my outlet for letting me know I was maybe normal.

I remember seeing "La Petite Sirene" in the early '80's and immediately identifying with the American heroine Laura, the ugly-duckling who actually goes after the mechanic who shows some interest in her.

FYI The sex scenes are very PG. And the ending is somewhat downbeat.

Still, this put me on the road to film as a major in college. so hey!