French Weirdness

[François Laffont]

“Okay, this one was weird. I think it was weirder than the last movie we watched.” And that said something because it had been a pretty strange one. Other than the fact it was French, the woman growing a water lily in her lung that was slowly killing her and that she needed to be surrounded by flowers to reduce its size turned out to be the most normal part of the movie. If you had to add a dance that made your legs super long, her husband whose job was to undress and hug a pile of dirt to grow weapons and his best friend being addicted to a philosopher’s words, dipping them into his eyes to get high, you got a movie worthy of being called weird. “I heard it was based on a book. You ever read it? I haven’t.”

Franck shouldn’t complain though, he was the one who brought it to watch with Lux. Of all of his friends, she really was the only one he could watch something like this with. In fact, he wasn’t watching a lot of movies with other friends. At least, none of his. Frank would never have the attention span required to go through this and whatever he did with Erika never seemed to involve watching movies. As for Jasper, he would die if he had to watch something like this and the fact it was in French with English subtitles was really the thing he would complain the least about. Lux didn't seem to complain, even though Franck often watched her to make sure she got everything. He could help if she didn’t catch all the words they were saying but, truth be told, there was so many weird things going on that even Franck was not always so sure about it.

Not to add that, for a while, he doubted his choice of movie. The beginning, when it is full of color and looks like a world coming from Frankland was nice but as she grew sick, he didn’t want Lux to think about her own issues. And when it turns black and white at the end to show the man’s distress after his wife’s death and that he keeps getting hit by more bad news before his house implodes... yeah, maybe he should have went for Amelie instead if he wanted a French movie. But Franck was not sure if he had not shown it to Lux before so he picked this one instead.

“I mean, it was beautiful, but weird. Maybe I should go for something more comical next time.” Or let her choose. Though they both agreed he’d get something from his own movie collection this time. He stood up to take the DVD off but also because he felt the need to move a little after spending the whole movie sitting. “That was nice of you to invite me. How is Tim doing?”


This is a real movie based on a real book. Here's the trailer, to give you an idea. The Amelie movie is a real one too.
TAG: Luxanna Viera

[Luxanna Viera]

Lux had kept her head tilted through out most of the movie and a question that came to mind during most of it was "what the hell am I watching?". Of course, Lux would never, ever actually utter those words, but it was apparent that she had no idea what it was that she was watching, or really what was going on. The movie was weird, but entertaining enough, she supposed. "I haven't," she said as she finally looked over at Franck. "I mean..." She looked back at the TV and furrowed her brows. What did you even say about something like that?

No, the last thing on the brunette's mind was her own condition. She could see the similarities, sure, but the movie had been too much of a trippy experience for her to really connect any of the dots.

Looking back at Franck, she offered him a smile as he went to collect the DVD. "No, it's fine," she assured him. "I liked it, despite not understanding what was going on half of the time." She laughed a little at that, but offered him a shrug pretty much saying "what can you do?". Besides, the most important part was that it seemed as if Franck had enjoyed it - at least to some degree and that was more than enough reason for Lux to see it - and whatever other movie he wanted to pick next. Besides, she had a habit of picking zombie movies anyways.

"Tim's okay," she said, grinning. "And of course I invited you, Franck. I like spending time with you." She tossed a skeptical glance towards the TV. "Even if that means watching movies I don't fully understand." After all, she always enjoyed her time around the French boy, so it wasn't a lie. Besides, Lux was far from the most picky person around. They could have sat still and stared at each other for hours and she'd still be glad they spent time together. "How have you been?"

[François Laffont]

Of all his movies, it would appear that Franck picked the weirdest. He remembered it to be unlike what you normally see, pushing the limits of the French movie stereotype, but not to that point. Lux however was too nice to admit it was maybe best to stop it and watch something else. The story was beautiful, if you happened to focus on that and not all the strange things going on. It was easy to understand despite the many metaphors that the girl got cancer and her husband spent most of his money buying them all they needed and paying for his friend’s addiction that he had to work to afford her treatment and the second time it doesn’t work and she dies and it’s the end of the world for him. They simply decided to turn the cancer into a water lily, a drug addiction to a philosopher’s words addiction and made the best friend, cook, servant and lawyer the same person. Because... why not? Franck reminded himself it came from a book and that made him wonder what the book must be like. Next time, Franck will go for Taxi or some other comedy of the like. It was easy to understand and visually made sense so she could still rely on what was going on should the subtitles suck.

“I suppose the director was on something good. Or the writer. Or the one who turned the book into a script. Probably all three of them.” It was not his kind of joke but it sure looked like the kind of thing that would make more sense, again visually speaking, if you were on something. Preferably something strong. Still, Franck considered it a really beautiful piece of work. And, of all his friends, he didn’t know a lot who might appreciate it. So even if what Lux felt was more related to confusion than enjoyment, he was not going to hold it against her. At least she watched it entirely with him. He even laughed when she admitted it was a little hard to understand at times. “Yes, some of the things didn't make sense. And the subtitles tend to more translate the general meaning than the way they said it so some jokes fall flat. But it wasn’t so bad.” Franck was certain he would have made a worse job should he be the one translating a movie.

He wanted some news of Tim. They might not know each other very well but he was dating Luxie and seemed a really nice guy. “I’m glad to hear it,” he told her with a smile. He laughed at her joke. “Ah yes, I’ll try something less... theatrical?” Something in English would be good too. He returned to sit next to her. “I’ve been good. Forgive me if it offends you or something, but I feel like you’ve been happier lately. Stronger too. I like that.” It sure was beautiful to see.

[Luxanna Viera]

Luxanna laughed softly at Franck's words. "I don't know.." she began, her brows furrowing slightly. "I'd rather watch something like this over, let's say, The Human Centipede." She offered Franck a quick glance at that. She wasn't sure if he had actually seen the movie or not. It was quite nasty, and didn't strike Lux as something Franck would watch, but she could be wrong. "It might have been kind of odd, but the deeper meaning of it all was pretty good. "Besides, I like to think that the weird stuff made it a little more unique." She didn't think someone had to be actually high in order to write something like this - or understand it for that matter. It was one of those movies that you either liked, or hated. "I think it's like that with all translated languages," she replied with a smile.

"No, I quite like the theatrics. I mean, it's not something you see every day." Sure, it might not been her preferred choice of movies, but anything that wasn't a zombie movie generally wasn't. But she wasn't going to complain either. All in all, Lux had had quite the wonderful time. Of course, it went without saying that she was the easiest person to please in the entire school, but Franck didn't need to think about that. Narrowing her eyes slightly, Luxanna turned her head to look at Franck. For a moment, she remained quiet as she contemplated his words. Had she been happier? Did she seem happier? "It doesn't offend me," she replied with a shrug. "I don't know..."

There was a lot going on lately, but Lux had come to terms with her ability and the end results of it. Maybe that affected her more than she thought? "I guess you're right," she chuckled. Then again, Luxanna considered herself a generally very happy person - at least on the outside. Which often made it easy to forget that Franck could read what was on the inside. "I don't have much to complain about."

[François Laffont]

“I’ve never seen that one,” Franck confessed as she named what he assumed to be another movie. She was right though, despite the weirdness of it all, it was a beautiful and touching story. Franck thought it was a nice way to bring up what would otherwise be a very heavy topic. After all, the woman died of her lily, the guy died from his addiction and his girlfriend killed the philosopher responsible for it before dying too. As for the husband, he lost everything. And going from bright colors in the beginning, to faded ones until it was all black and white was a neat idea. “You’re right. But I still feel like mentioning not all French movies are that weird. Some, but not all,” he told her with a smile.

“I guess so. It’s not always easy to translate what has been said, especially when there are lots of puns or expressions common to a language,” he admitted. At least she liked it in the end. It sure was a different movie than what one normally sees. On occasions, it was nice to watch one like this. Though Franck knew this was more his kind of movies than hers. He loved drama and some comedy. Anything with horror, especially if there was a lot of blood involved, tended to disgust him and some even scared him pretty good. He preferred to avoid the zombie movies.

“I don’t know if it’s the fact you’re in love or whatever else that is going on in your life that caused this change but I’d say it was for the better.” He smiled again at her. Franck was changing a little too, or at least trying. He didn’t know if it was apparent though. “Come on Lux. That’s not quite right. It’s just that you chose to do something more positive than complain about it.” Franck knew a bit of her condition and of course, that was enough to have him worry for her. She was not letting it defeat her and that was great. “Are you going to prom with Tim? You think he would be jealous if I asked for a dance with you there?” he asked her. He had an amused smile at his question. Tim knew quite well he had nothing to worry about, not from him. It was his way of asking Lux if she would be up for a dance there. That is, if she went to the prom.

[Luxanna Viera]

Chuckling softly, Luxanna's hand came up to cover her mouth. "Don't watch it. It's kind of... gross," she admitted with an apologetic smile. If it wasn't for the fact that Lux was so used to slasher and gore movies, she didn't think she'd be able to stomach it herself. "I'll keep that in mind," she promised with a nod. After all, she was hardly one to judge. That wasn't in her character. She loved all her friends equally, no matter what they did or what their hobbies were - and likewise would she support them.

...even if that meant watching movies that wasn't exactly the kind she would have picked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I can totally see that. Expressions are so different from language to language." She wondered if that had been hard for Franck to get used to, with him being French and all. She wondered if it had been hard for him to adjust.

Luxanna fell quiet at his words, her gaze dropping to her hands as her cheeks flushed crimson red. A meek, but warm smile splayed over her lips. One hand came up to nervously scratch the side of her jaw as she shrugged. She didn't know what the change was, honestly. She just felt different; she'd never cared enough to really find out what it was. "We're going as a group," she said, her head lifting. Her smile widened slightly as she laughed. "No, I don't think he would," she replied honestly. There was so much comfort to find within the French boy: Luxanna was thankful they'd become friends.

There was few people Luxanna ever felt this comfortable with. He had that calming aura around him. "I would love a dance with you," she added, her smile growing further.

[François Laffont]

Franck nodded as Lux advised him not to watch the movie. She might like gore, something that he thought could be surprising when you first see her, but it really was not his kind of movie. Horror gave him nightmares, as for gore, well that was just too gross for him to stomach it. He could take a little. He was not going to faint at the mere sight of blood. But some movies really pushed it too far for him.

“It is. There are still some I don’t get in English. Or say wrong, I’m sure. Luckily, many are similar for me to be understood,” he said. Franck was lucky though. Everyone told him it was a lot easier to learn English than French. Less grammar rules. Still, he used to add a lot of ‘ed’ to past tense of verbs even though it was not supposed to be like that. He thought it had to be expected though, considering he had to learn a language he only had some notions in.

He didn’t mean to have her blush but he knew she was not angry at his words or anything. And it was a fact that she changed. For the better, he would add. He nodded as they talked their plans for the prom. He was actually excited to go, even though he had no intention of going with Jasper. It would be a fun night. And this time he would stay away from the punch. No one would spike any of his drink.

He didn’t think Tim would mind either. He was a nice guy and well aware the French boy was gay. He could not see him as a threat or a dance as him trying to steal his girlfriend. He grinned as she agreed to dance. He was not sure she would not be too nervous to dance. “Great. I’m going alone but I intend to dance with pretty much everyone,” he admitted with a laughter. “Even my friends who are dating someone. I mean, most of them are girls, their boyfriends cannot be jealous right? I wonder if I can get one of their boyfriend to dance with me...” Now that would be amusing.