The unbearable lightness of being… a French movie watcher.
My main reason for subscribing to TV5 (a French TV channel) is that it is totally devoid of commercials.
On TV5 you can watch news, documentaries or movies without being pelted every few minutes with a slew of ads.
That is good, that is very good.
What is not so good though is the quality of the movies shown there.
It seems that many French film directors have embraced the peculiar notion that movie endings should be left to the viewers’ imagination.
Absolute non-sense!
After leading you on for 90 minutes, the director don’t think it necessary to conclude, to tie up the loose ends, to let you know who killed the widow.
To me, it feels like Coitus Interruptus. Or like being suddenly dropped in the middle of the New Mexico wilderness.
Talking about New Mexico, one of the most satisfying endings I have seen lately is the final episode of “Breaking bad”. All the villains (including fallen angel Heisenberg) die in a hail of bullets.
No ambiguous wishy-washy ending here. Just a good old-fashion bloody American resolution!
I sometimes wonder if the French scriptwriters ran out of ideas or if the producers ran out of money. In France, with Socialism in full bloom, money and ideas are in very short supply.
Either way, it is extremely annoying.
The most irritating part of it all is that a TV viewer has no immediate way of expressing his disapproval. He just endures.
That’s why I prefer the theater.
A live performance provides immediate feedback.
Judging by the public’s reactions, the author, the director, the actors, everybody immediately knows if spectators are enjoying the show.
The future of television lies with Interactive TV. In time to come, with the click of a button, viewers will be able to give immediate feedback to producers.
Producers will instantly know what’s pleasing or annoying and this might discourage them from churning out more schlocky, pretentious, open-ended movies.
No more “we leave it to you” artsy endings.
When watching a movie, all I want is a neatly wrapped conclusion with a bow on it.
Est-ce trop demander? (Is that too much to ask?)
I think not.
Alain