“French Lessons” Pits the Film Industry Against the Creatives
Anyone pursuing a creative, non-linear career will eventually find themselves at a crossroads of artistic expression. In the world of film, this usually means something along the lines of leaving the soul-fulfilling work of independent films for the soulless big-budget films that actually pay the bills. Does a middle ground exist? A space where artistry is given free range and provides a roof over the head of the filmmaker? The latest work from co-writers/directors Anna Maguire and Kyle Greenberg, French Lessons, humorously tackles this daunting question.
As the title implies, French Lessons is a short film about a French lesson. Two guys (Kyle Greenberg and Arran Shearing) who are beginners in the language meet up to drink wine and stumble through French. At first, their stilted conversation is about wine, clothing choices, and pets. Things take a turn when they realize they’re both in the film industry, but on different sides of the table. One is a filmmaker and the other is a distributor. Both are attending the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, but the means available to them to experience the festival are vastly different.
Greenberg and Maguire have explained that French Lessons picks up where their other recent short film, Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded, ended. French Lessons carries over some of the surveillance-state feeling of their other work, but is more focused on the disparity that exists in the industry. Why is it that the people who are making the films cannot afford to go to the festivals that are showcasing their work? What does that say about the industry these people are building their careers in?
Courtesy of Stupid Co
French Lessons, for all its grounded critiques of the industry, also tickles an oddball funny bone. There’s inherent humor in two people trying to stumble their way through a conversation about simple things they don’t really care about, relying on passing a “French Essentials for Dummies” book back and forth. As they realize how intertwined their professions are, the pretense of practicing French begins to fall away and we’re left with the broken “Frenchlish” of two increasingly frustrated people. There’s the sense that in making this film, Greenberg and Maguire are lovingly poking fun at the vérité style the French are so known for, while also playing up the melodramatic angle. French Lessons isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself with a joke at the expense of short filmmakers, or afraid to laugh at how disconnected industry execs are. These two people must be bound together in order for this industry to function, yet often they do not understand one another.
Greenberg and Maguire have a few more tricks up their sleeve when it comes to exploring the ideas present in both French Lessons and Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded. They’re teasing a larger project, shot in secret, that’s a continuation of both shorts. Despite being centered on very different themes, what unites their two works is the idea of a never-ending cycle. In Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded, it’s constant surveillance. In French Lessons, it’s the endless fight to “make it” in this industry. The two work as an excellent double feature, and that only makes what lies ahead all the more intriguing.
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