Tag: Foreign Language

Episode 65 – La Belle et la Bete

, with special guest:

La belle et la beteThis episode, we watch the classic French film “La belle et la bete” (Beauty and the Beast). Jean Cocteau’s artistic rending of the classic French fairy tale is a clear influence of the adaptations that followed up to and including the well known Disney version. We talk a lot about the artistry of the film as well as the clear influences on other works.  We also spend some time looking at the production filmed in post WWII France.

For our next episode, we will be watching Stagecoach!

Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Beauty and the Beast poster Rating: 7.9/10 (27,888 votes)
Director: Jean Cocteau, René Clément
Writer: Jean Cocteau, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Stars: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély
Runtime: 93 min
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Released: 23 Dec 1947
Plot: A beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.

Episode 44 – Persepolis

, with special guest:

PersepolisThis episode, we managed to find another animated film Jena hasn’t seen, which is quite the challenge!  In addition to being only our second animated film, it is also our second foreign language film.  We watched “Persepolis,” which is a phenomenal film about growing up in post revolutionary Iran.  If you are feeling particularly ambitious, we would suggest that this film pairs quite nicely with Argo.

Our next episode will be about the winner of the 2015 Academy Award for Best Picture: Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)!

Persepolis (2007)
Persepolis poster Rating: 8.0/10 (99,815 votes)
Director: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Writer: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands
Runtime: 96 min
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Animation, Biography, Drama
Released: 22 Feb 2008
Plot: A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.