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Daily Nebraskan
ALL THE COMFORTS Of KqWE WITHOUT THE RELATIVES
V 'TV
(02AU11L
Monday, December 15, 1986
and a critic
Highly acclaimed French comedy is not so funny translated
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322 SOUTH 9 STREET, LINCOLN, NE 6H50b- 476-8551
By Stew Magnuson
Staff Reviewer
"3 Men and a Cradle"
Before I start this review of "3 Men
and A Cradle," the French film showing
this weekend at Sheldon, I would like
to share a discovery I made about
France and its films during my year
long stay there.
Movie Review-
Contrary to what some film fans here
may think, the French make just as
many sexploitation, idiotic action-adventure
Hicks and trashy films as Holly
wood. It's just the cream of their crop
that gets imported over here and plays
in our art houses. I wish I could say the
same for the American films imported
over there.
I'm not suggesting that "',) Men and
A Cradle" is trash, but it certainly isn't
a very good film either. Millions of
French people would disagree with me.
The film has taken in more francs in
France than "E.T.," "Rambo" or any
other French film in the past 20 years.
It won Ceasars (the French Oscar) for
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the best screenplay, best supporting
actor and the best film. Millions of
French and the French Academy of
Film can't be wrong, can they? No,
they're not. But "3 Men and A Cradle"
is a classic example of humor not
translating into another language.
The story is about three wild and
swinging Parsian bachelors who find
an abandoned baby girl on their door
step. One bachelor, Jacques (Andre
Dussloier), tells his two roommates,
Pierre and Michel, that he's expecting
a package to be dropped of the day
after he's flying off for three weeks in
Thailand, and that someone will come
by to pick it up the following Thursday.
Well, imagine their surprise when
the package turns out to be a baby girl
attached to a note that reads "Jacques,
here is the fruit of our passion. I'm
going to the states for six months."
In their confusion over how to care
for an infant, Michel forgets another
package that arrived via their con
cierge. That was the real package
Jacques had referred to, and it hap
pends to contain a small shipment of
heroin.
After four mildly amusing days of
Michel and Pierre trying to fit over
sized diapers on the baby, the couriers
come to pick up the package. Ooops,
Pierre and Michel assume they're there
to pick up the kid. The two thugs take
off with the baby before they figure out
their mistake. While tracking down the
child, a cop discovers something strange
is going on. The cops think Pierre and
Michel are dope smugglers, and the
real dealers want their drugs back.
While the cops and dealers are brea
thing down the two bachelors' necks,
the baby still needs to be cared for. Not
a bad situation for a comedy. But this
conflict gets resolved fairly quickly,
and we still have another hour to sit
through.
"3 Men and A Cradle" has what some
film critics like to call "a problem with
pacing." This means, quite simply, it's
very boring in spots. After this initial
conflict, the audience still has to sit
through six months of caring for the
child, the return of the baby's mother,
and the emptiness the three bachelors
feel after the baby is gone. Director
Coline Serreau takes too long to make
her points. She makes the six months
really seem like six mouths.
In all fairness to France's taste in
films, most of the humor is just lost on
American audiences. Two French in
structors here told me the way Andre
Dussolier says his lines is quite hilar
ious. Of course, this is lost on an Amer
ican audience reading subtitles. The
scenes in which the three bachelors
sing French lullabies also are quite
funny, according to the two instructors.
But for people not familiar with the
lyrics or traditional French lullabies,
these scenes are going to go nowhere.
"3 Men and A Cradle" is show
ing this Thursday through Sun
day at 7 and 9:15 p.m., with two
matinees on Saturday and Sun
day at 3 p.m. Sunday night's
screenings are at 5:15, 7:30, and
9:45 p.m.
For Flowers
Danielson Floral Company
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476-7602
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