The Corsican File

I heard from this funny movie when I spent my summer holidays 2005 on the isle of Corsica with my family. Fortunately I had the opportunity watching it on the ferry leaving the isle. I have to say that it's long time ago I didn't see such a great film. It shows many parodies about Corsicas political and cultural life mixed with very nice setting places of this beautiful isle. Christian Clavier and Jean Reno did a very solid job and were very cool. If you want to spend a relaxed evening then don't miss it. If you enjoyed it I highly recommend to see another great fun movie starring Jean Reno in "Tais-Toi". You won=t regret it. My vote with my wife is 6 out of 10.

The awesome duo, who brought the "Visitors" to the stratospheric level of cult classic of the French cinema, is teaming up again for a pleasant Corsican comedy. However, it does not reach the level of the medieval and temporal epic, nor that of "Welcome to the Sticks" in the same kind of genre.

I watched this movie last night and loved it.

From the opening scene where the caricatured bumbling mainland police are foiled by the caricatured independantist locals, I was laughing my head off.

Remi the private detective from Paris is hired on a commercial matter to go to Corsica to find Ange Leoni, the independantist who happens to be on the run from police.

Many farcical scenes ensue as Remi comes up against a closed culture while Ange plays cat and mouse with the police. Meanwhile rival gangs of independantists and rival judicial organisations all vie with each other for influence and control over events with mostly ridiculous results.

I've never been to Corsica, but if you've ever read "Asterix in Corsica", you will understand what all the jokes are about, although I doubt this movie would be anywhere near as much fun with subtitles.

The deliberately thick patois at the start is only there for colour - the rest of the movie is in lightly southern-accented French.

This film is about a Parisian detective hunting for a certain influential mob leader in Corsica.

after watching the film, my impression is that a lot of stuff is lost in translation. The film gives me a happy and uplifting impression, along with the sunny and beautiful scenery of Corsica. The budget is good and the sets are beautifully done. Caterina Murino is so beautiful, she steals many of the scenes. As for the plot, sometimes it does not make sense. In one scene, Christian Clavier walks up a church tower, but the next scene he gets out of a police car. What happened there? I have the feeling that certain scenes are meant to be funny, but I fail to grasp it completely. An example is that Christian Clavier endures the choirs at 2 in the morning. It is a fun film to watch, but I think it would have been better if I understood French or their culture.

Christian Clavier does well when he plays a normal guy and his character works. Jack Palmer (Remi François) is about as straight and narrow as they come. He's good at his job and he doesn't get too distracted. The opening sequence does well to establish his character. He gets pulled into the criminal world of Corsica as he searches for Ange Leoni to let him know about a 2 million euro inheritance.

Catherine Munro is Gorgeous. I couldn't take my eyes off of her for the whole film. She plays Lea, the sister of Agne Leoni (played by Jean Reno). Lea is a smart and beautiful woman who takes a liking to Remi and that doesn't bode well for Ange. As Remi and Lea become closer, Ange becomes more upset and pulls Remi further into the Corsica lifestyle. It's got some good humor and beautiful scenery.

But it falls apart. Some of the jokes and editing don't work for the story. The acting, as far as I can tell, is decent. It's just not as good as it could be. There's something about the flow of scenes that falls short and it doesn't pay off in most scenes. In the end, you would do well to enjoy the scenery (I'm talking Catherine Munro), but you wouldn't be missing much if you didn't watch the whole film.