French Twist

French Twist, also known as "Gazon Maudit" in France, is a French Sexual-Comedy film which playfully explores some aspects of homosexuality, gender roles, infidelity, and homophobia. The subjects explored in the movie may sound heavy on paper, but in the actual context of the film were used more as a means to carry the comedy itself. That is to say, the themes in the film, while not commonly explored, were not overly-subversive in a sense which would the film a "heavy" feeling.

The comedic situations take place between the three main characters; Laurent, his wife Loli, and a lesbian DJ/drifter Marijo. The film establishes quite early that since Laurent is an infidel and emotionally neglectful to his wife Loli, Loli engaging in homosexually promiscuous behavior with Marijo is not necessarily a betrayal to their marriage. The psychology of this sort of 'revenge' against the neglectful husband is what prevents the audience from seeing Loli as a wretched being.

Most of the comedy is based around awkward situations created by Marijo's attraction to Loli. Some gender stereotypes and sexist perspectives are explored mainly through Laurent's behavior, and conversations between him and his perverted friend. Laurent states that he could understand his wife being promiscuous with a female, "But with that?", implying that he would support lesbianism only in the case of both females being attractive. Laurent also states that it is acceptable for males to be sexual infidels to their spouse, but not for females to do so. Also considering that Loli gave up her ambitions as a dancer to be a "housewife" with Laurent implies that upon marrying Laurent, she had to conform to a certain gender role. Homophobia is also explored in the sense that it seems as if his wife's homosexual explorations must be accepted by Laurent for him to progress as a character, and solve the issue between him and Loli. The film playfully toys with these concepts by placing Marijo as the factor who upsets the status-quo, and quickly becomes the forefront of the chaos that ensues. Even with such aspects in the film, it consistently maintains a light-tone throughout the narrative.

The film itself manages to incorporate what may be considered taboo subject matter by some, into a narrative which could be enjoyed by anyone (particularly in large groups/class screenings, etc.) If there was ever an outrage which occurred regarding the film's content, the cause of the outrage is probably more regional/cultural rather than being incited by the film's content itself. The film does portray homosexuality, infidelity, nudity, sex, verbal cursing, and drug-use; which justifies it's R-rating; though considering the film is rated "Everyone" in France, it becomes evident that any sort of backlash regarding the film is justified or not depending on the moral standings of the particular region in which the film is being viewed. Even with that said, I would not show this film to children because of the nudity, sex scenes, heavy language, and drug-use.

The film is a comedy as being its base-genre, so in that sense the film was hilarious in the many awkward and uncommon situations that were portrayed. I would recommend this film to fans of foreign-comedies/relationship comedies who do not hold strong moral prejudices against subversive topics.

French twist is a lighthearted comedy which centers around three characters in a love triangle not often seen in mainstream film. When it was made in 1995, this film was very controversial in America due to the nature and portrayal of sexuality in the film. However it was accepted more openly in Europe at the time. Now however the film and its subject matter, while still controversial to a point, are much more accepted in America. The characters in the film are good. Not incredibly deep but they are not two dimensional. You do feel for them and care for their feelings. And the film does a good job of having you care for each of the characters at some point or another during the film so that it is hard to pick sides and root for a single character. This film does a good job a showing the double standards between woman and men. Furthermore being a comedy it makes it easier to take in the once "edgy" and still somewhat controversial subject matter of the film. The theme throughout the film is that of love. The film tries to show that love does not depend on one's sex but rather on the people themselves. This is made clear many times through the movie. The topic of the film may seem rather heavy but the director and actors do an excellent job of keeping the movie light and comedic. There are plenty of points throughout the movie that were both surprising and rather amusing. Overall I think that the movie is definitely worth watching. It is a funny comedy and it does make you think. If you like lighthearted comedies which are outside the norm, you will enjoy this movie.

I read the user comment for this film, my point of view is quite different :

1. I am surprised to see that Gazon Maudit was rated R and 18 in most countries. I saw this movie at 20:30 PM, on Sunday evening, on the main TV french channel, and I don't remember any scandal for this (and we have our share of intolerant bigots in France too...). OK, this picture is about sex, lesbians, homosexuality and triolism, we can see a few times Victoria Abril half or totally naked and Josiane Balasko smokes a lot of pot, but it is basically a comedy with no real provocation. I find much more vulgarity in, mmmh, let's say, the "American Pie" pictures - even if they don't show nudity - than in Gazon Maudit.

2. This movie is funny. No big laughs, but a good story and brilliant acting. We know that the situations are implausible (a nice married woman falls in love at first glance with a butch-lesbian-truck-driver, who will have a baby with her husband) but the characters are funny enough to forget minor errors in the script and you will enjoy the way of cross that the unfaithful husband (Alain Chabat) will have to go through.

3. I gave a rating of 6 because it's not a masterpiece. But if you find the plot outline attracting, if you ever wonder "What would I do if my wife leaves me for another woman ?", or if you want to see an uncommon film about relationships, you will not be disappointed !

This film is typical of films made outside of mainstream Hollywood studios; it takes some old themes and treats them with an attention-grabbing freshness. Playing Loli, a young housewife living in the south of France, Victoria Abril is as delightful as a spring breeze in Provence. Her husband is an incorrigible infidel; we've seen many of those in films. However, when the masculine Marijo, played poignantly by Josiane Balasko, enters their lives, the story takes many unexpected and entertaining turns which render a fairly common theme completely unpredictable. Everyone to whom I recommend this film ends up watching it numerous times and recommending it to others. The soundtrack is now one of my most-played CD's.

This movie starts of with a seemingly normal 'man cheats on woman-woman gets back at man' story. But as I kept watching it, this movie kept getting crazier and crazier. I am not sure if it is supposed to be a comedy, a tragedy, or just a drama. But I decided if I take it as a dark-ish comedy it will be better received. All and all Miss Abril did very well, as well as Mr. Chabat. The only loss in skill was from Miss Balasko, who was not very believable. But it was crazy and funny in a weird way. It was nice that it was only just over an hour and a half, cause the madness probably could not have gone on too much more. It is a decent way to spend an hour and a half, but once is enough.