Tuesday, November 11, 2008

FOUTAISES

Foutaises (Things I like, Things I Hate)
Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, 1989, 6:53min.
Source: YouTube

For those of you, who like me, can’t stand yet another rendition of “My Favorite Things” and are already dreading the holiday season because you know soon you’ll be unwillingly humming the song here is Jeunet’s first version of “Things I like, Things I Hate” which doesn’t have the same sugar coated, Splenda excess of the Sound of Music lyrics. I’ll just say that Maria would never sing about peeing in the shower.



The plot is simple, a list of likes and hates; but the opening credits are what set forth the list. They are presented by replacing the prices in a butcher’s window with the titles and names for the production crew. They fade to black and we hear a man (Dominique Pinon) say “I hate butcher’s shop windows!” from there he goes on to list things that to us are insignificancies.

Usually, I try not to pay much attention to how film titles and their dialogue has been translated into English. But, I find it necessary to get into semantics with Foutaises, just because I believe it adds to the film itself. The English title of the short “Things I like, Things I Hate” is just fine; it literally tells us what the film is. But Foutaises can also be translated as rubbish or if you feel like doing the whole French-to-Spanish-to-English you arrive at insignificancies. To me, knowing that the film is about insignificancies adds to the film’s subtext. How else would you classify the fact that Pinon enjoys the words like “trans-europ-express, trans-orient-express, trans-siberian-express,” or how he hates leaving one lonely pea on his plate. They are really insignificant to us, even to him, but pointing them out gives them significance. It helps us come to terms with our own capricious likes and dislikes.


What helps in liking Pinon’s list is the slightly sarcastic tone that Jeunet inscribed to the film that and the thousand ways Pinon can contort his face (you might also remember his face from some film about some Amélie girl). Pinon has a grumpy guy type face which makes him seem sarcastic at time. But it is Jeunet’s visual style that adds those layers of sarcasm that make you chuckle and agree to yourself with some of the things in the film. The best example is when he says he likes the innocence of kids, just to reveal a girl bouncing a ball in wall with the graffiti of a penis but is not until later when Pinon admits to liking street graffiti. The film is also very graphic in very literal way, Jeunet makes a great use of illustration but he also shows literal actions. The literal actions and the editing makes the audience react and almost feel the pain, especially, when he pluck his nose hair on camera.

Jeunet likes fantastic cinema and Foutaises is the first film where he started to play with it. He later used the same technique of close-ups and things your like to introduce the characters in Amélie. But Jeunet’s choice to mix film with animation, illustration, newsreel, and the piano soundtrack add up to an almost palpable experience. I would aregue that his list of the likes and hates feel far more real than “My favorite things”. This is partly because Pinon’s narration is filled with pauses and it feels more like things he thought of over time and were edited later. Jeunet made an excellent mix of the fantastic and the realistic, with just enough not so insignificant lines to leaving thinking about what you watched and makes this quirky little short actually significant.

“I hate to think we sleep a third of our life, but I like to think that after death can't be worse than before birth."

10 comments:

joi said...

i'm so glad that people take the time to look at the world and life and really see things--see simple, beautiful things! i'm going to go and compose a "things i like/things i hate" list myself. it will force me to take time and listen and see and appriciate life.

Anonymous said...

La magia de del corto esta ne que nos hace pensar en las cosas que a uno le gustas y claro, las que no nos gustan. Poco nos importa lo que a este hombre le guste mas sin embargo le prestamos atención y cada vez que hay una coincidencia es difícil evitar decir “hey a mi también me gusta eso”.

Editor, Isis said...

A mi me gusta oler cosas...

Yo siento que el cine francés, tiene pequeños detalles,imperceptibles aveces pero que nos hacen sentir que es diferente.
y este es una esencia de eso. Una persona hablando de ella misma, porque es así que se puede saber el ser de alguien, cuando t habla de sus gustos y disgustos. Determinado a raíz de algo que no le gusto al personaje, es el punto de partida, eso pasa en la vida...estamos callados inmutados mientras todo se muestre bien y nos guste, por el contrario cuando no; desencadena...
Es un corto para ver muchas veces, de esos que gustan mucho.
ehhh!! y estoy viendo la fecha, anterior a amelie, pienso que tal vez puede ser este su inspiración a la manera de hacer la película.

Anonymous said...

I love this film! Jeunet is brilliant as usual and Pinon gives a terrific performance. It is funny and smart at the same time. I even disagree with the title.
For me, it is far from being “des foutaises” or rubbish.

Drew Rosensweig said...

It's always a treat to see prominent directors early work, and this comes out even before "Delicatessen." I don't think it would be unfair to label this short as a calling card, as so many of the techniques- varied film speed, tongue in cheek humor, absurdist narrative- come through in his later works.

karlarossana said...

This is such a great short, especially for those of us who became fans of Amelie Poulain. I agree with Drew, this could definitely be the directors calling card. I love how the director reminds of us of the simple beautiful things in life, and makes us laugh with by telling us the pointless things in life that he hates. I thinks it is a beautiful way to live, remembering and telling other of the things you love, and well, the other things...

Pamela said...

This can definetly be seen as a calling card. It especially revealing of Jeunet's style. The creme-brulé sequence in Amelie is like a matured version of Foutaises.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful sound effect! Sorry...but I am a music major and music just the sound of a finger snap makes the difference in everythign. Look the short on mute and you will see the difference. It is so obvious that I LIKE MUSIC!

Anonymous said...

This short just made me think in what I hate or like...but I do not think in common stuff. Really when you think abou it what you really hate or like it is just a nonsense for the others.

Anonymous said...

very strong gestures interpretation that made this short so amazing. very simple title that makes you see the little things bigger and important in our everyday life.