French Kiss
Encyclopedia
French Kiss is a 1995 American romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...

 set primarily in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, starring Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...

 and Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...

. It was directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...

. An Indian
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

 film Mon Mane Na
Mon Mane Na (2008 film)
Mon Mane Na is a Bengali romance Movie was released in 2008,directed by Sujit Guha, the movie featured Dev, Koyel Mullick. This movie is adopted from the 1995 American romantic comedy movie French Kiss.-Plot:...

 starring Dev
Dev (actor)
Dev is a Bengali film actor. His original name is Deepak Adhikari. He was born in 'Mahisha' a small village near Keshpur, West Midnapur, West Bengal. He spent his childhood in Chandrakona at his maternal uncle's place.After finishing his primary education, he returned to Mumbai to his parents...

 and Koyel Mullick
Koyel Mullick
Koyel Mallick is an Indian actress who appears in Bengali and Tollywood films. She is a daughter of Bengali actor Ranjit Mullick.-Early life:Mallick was born in Kolkata, West Bengal to Bengali actor Ranjit Mullick and his wife Deepa. Mallick has a B.Sc...

 was adopted from this film which was very popular in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

.

Plot

Kate (Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...

) is a fastidious, intelligent, and innocent young woman who thinks she knows exactly what her future will be, planning it according to logic. She plans to marry a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 doctor named Charlie (Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...

) and live "happily ever after" with him as soon as he comes back from a business trip to Paris. The trip was something that Charlie asked Kate to accompany him on, but she declined due to her fear of flying. Her plans get ruined when her fiancé becomes smitten with a beautiful, young French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 woman named Juliette (Susan Anbeh
Susan Anbeh
Susan Anbeh is a German actress best known to English-speaking audiences as the woman who stole Timothy Hutton away from Meg Ryan in the 1995 film French Kiss.Anbeh is in a relationship with actor Bernhard Shir...

) and, while drunk at a club, calls Kate and informs her that he's in love and not returning.

Determined to get him back, Kate overcomes her fear of flying and boards a flight for Paris. Onboard, she is seated next to a Frenchman named Luc Teyssier (Kline), a crude petty thief whom she is forced to tolerate for seven hours of the flight. They have choppy, sarcastic conversation on the flight from Canada to Paris. Luc hides a stolen diamond necklace and a small grapevine in her purse to get them past customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...

, causing him to track Kate and follow her.

Many mishaps occur between Kate and Luc. When she waits at the hotel Charlie is staying at, a petty thief makes flirtatious advances and, when Kate faints after watching Charlie and Juliette together, he steals her bag. Luc comes and wakes up Kate, and hunts down her bag for the necklace to no avail. Kate and Luc argue, and they go their separate ways but find each other again. Under the pretense for helping Kate win back Charlie, he stays close to her to be near the necklace, the whereabouts of which are not revealed. Meanwhile, until they return to where Charlie is, they stay at Luc's family's house, a vineyard. It turns out that Luc and his brother are bitter toward each other because Luc's brother got him drunk, tricked him, and took Luc's birthright to an area of the vineyard in one hand of poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

.

The two follow Charlie and Juliette to Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 in southern France, with Luc pretending to be Kate's lover to make Charlie jealous. While attending a dance, Charlie apologizes to Kate and attempts to seduce her; her facial expression hints that she is confused and indecisive as to whether or not she loves Charlie but goes up to the hotel room with him. Meanwhile, Juliette flirts with Luc, and the two also go into a hotel room together. Kate stops Charlie, demanding to know up-front whether he loves her. When he hesitates and gives a vague inclination, she realizes that she never loved Charlie. Luc, on the other hand, calls Juliette "Kate", causes her to become annoyed and leave. In the morning, the two are seemingly awkward with each other, asking each other how their night was.

Kate discovers that Luc has stolen the necklace and the police are after him. Not letting him find out that she knows the truth about the necklace, she offers to sell it for him at the Jewelry. She hands over the necklace to the inspector and withdraws her own money and gives it to Luc. Kate and Luc say goodbye to each other; Kate tells him she is leaving for the airport. The inspector indicates to Luc what Kate has done for him.

After realizing his true feelings, Luc runs to Kate and confesses that he's in love with her. The film ends with a shot of Luc and Kate standing in a growing vineyard, their arms wrapped around each other.

Cast

  • Meg Ryan
    Meg Ryan
    Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...

     as Kate
  • Kevin Kline
    Kevin Kline
    Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...

     as Luc Teyssier
  • Timothy Hutton
    Timothy Hutton
    Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...

     as Charlie
  • Jean Reno
    Jean Reno
    Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...

     as Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon
  • François Cluzet
    François Cluzet
    François Cluzet is a French film and theatre actor, best known in the English-speaking world for starring in the 2006 French film "Tell No One", based on the novel of the same name by the American author Harlan Coben...

     as Bob
  • Susan Anbeh
    Susan Anbeh
    Susan Anbeh is a German actress best known to English-speaking audiences as the woman who stole Timothy Hutton away from Meg Ryan in the 1995 film French Kiss.Anbeh is in a relationship with actor Bernhard Shir...

     as Juliette
  • Renée Humphrey
    Renee Humphrey
    Renee Humphrey is an American actress who has appeared in both film and television.-Career:Humphrey, born in San Mateo, California, but grew up in the Marinwood area of Marin County, worked extensively as an actress in film and television from 1991 through 2000...

     as Lilly
  • Michael Riley
    Michael Riley
    Michael Riley is a Canadian actor and graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal, Canada in 1984. Riley's first appearance was in the film No Man's Land...

     as M. Campbell
  • Laurent Spielvogel as Concierge
  • Victor Garrivier as Octave
  • Elisabeth Commelin as Claire


The film's screenwriter Adam Brooks has a cameo appearance as the 'perfect passenger' sitting next to Kevin Kline's character during the flight.

Production

The lead role of Luc was originally written with the expectation that it would be performed by Gerard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...

. Kevin Kline stepped into the role when Depardieu was not available for the film.

Music

Noted on the film's soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 are Paolo Conte's
Paolo Conte
Paolo Conte is an Italian singer, pianist, composer, and lawyer notable for his grainy, resonant voice, his colourful and dreamy compositions and his wistful, sometimes melancholic...

 "Via con me", Van Morrison's
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...

 "Someone Like You
Someone Like You (Van Morrison song)
"Someone Like You" is a popular, romantic ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and recorded on his 1987 album, Poetic Champions Compose...

", Charles Trenet's
Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...

 "La Mer
La Mer (song)
Trenet wrote the lyrics of "La Mer" on a train in 1943 while travelling along the French Mediterranean coast, returning from Paris to Narbonne. He supposedly wrote the song in ten minutes, on toilet paper supplied by SNCF. He was assisted with the tune by Leo Chauliac. It was originally published...

" performed by Kevin Kline, and "La Vie en Rose
La vie en rose
"La Vie en Rose" was the signature song of French singer Édith Piaf.-Signature song of Édith Piaf:Édith Piaf first popularized La Vie en Rose in 1946. The lyrics were written by Piaf and the melody of the song by "Louiguy" . Initially, Piaf's peers and her songwriting team did not think the song...

" performed by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

. The Beautiful South
The Beautiful South
The Beautiful South were an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The duo were initially joined by Sean Welch , Dave Stead and Dave Rotheray , all of whom stayed with the group throughout...

 also did a cover of Dream a Little Dream of Me; Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...

 was an extra in the video.

Filming locations

The film takes place in three locations in France: Paris, Valbonne
Valbonne
Valbonne Sophia Antipolis is a commune near Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in south-eastern France...

 in the Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes is a department in the extreme southeast corner of France.- History : was created by Octavian as a Roman military district in 14 BC, and became a full Roman province in the middle of the 1st century with its capital first at Cemenelum and subsequently at Embrun...

 département
Départements of France
The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...

in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...

 région
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

of southeastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

.

Charlie and Juliette stay at the famous Hotel George V, Paris
Hotel George V, Paris
Hôtel George-V is a famous luxury five-star hotel set just off the Champs-Élysées on Avenue George V, in Paris, France. It is named, like the street in which it is situated, after King George V.-History:...

. It is here Meg Ryan's character has her encounters with the supercilious concierge played by Laurent Spielvogel and it is in the lobby she is robbed by a Parisian pickpocket played by François Cluzet
François Cluzet
François Cluzet is a French film and theatre actor, best known in the English-speaking world for starring in the 2006 French film "Tell No One", based on the novel of the same name by the American author Harlan Coben...

.

Other scenes around Paris include numerous shots of the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...

, driving past the Louvre Pyramid
Louvre Pyramid
The Louvre Pyramid is a large glass and metal pyramid, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum...

, and Meg Ryan's character using a phonebooth near the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...

. There are a number of street scenes shot on the Rive Droite
Rive Droite
La Rive Droite is most associated with the river Seine in central Paris. Here the river flows roughly westwards, cutting the city into two: looking downstream, the northern bank is to the right, and the southern bank is to the left....

. There is a corner in Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

 where rue Paul Albert and rue Feutrier meet and Kline's character throws money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...

 on the sidewalk and later Ryan's character picks it up.

The last scene in Paris is at the Gare Saint-Lazare
Gare Saint-Lazare
Paris Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord, handling 274,000 passengers each day.-History:...

 train station where Kevin Kline's character is being chased by police inspector Jean-Paul Cardon (Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...

) while trying to board a train south to Cannes. One of the 'errors' in the film is that the train to Cannes does not leave from this station but rather from Gare de Lyon
Gare de Lyon
Paris Lyon is one of the six large railway termini in Paris, France. It is the northern terminus of the Paris–Marseille railway. It is named after the city of Lyon, a stop for many long-distance trains departing here, most en route to the south of France. In general the station's SNCF services run...

. (The trains from Gare Saint-Lazare go north towards Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

.)

In the small French village of Valbonne
Valbonne
Valbonne Sophia Antipolis is a commune near Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in south-eastern France...

 (about 15 minutes north of Cannes) Kevin Kline's character gets into a fight with his brother in the main village square in front of the Hotel les Armoiries (a 17th century building). There are also other scenes of the town in the film.

There are scenes of a train station and the vineyards of the small hamlet of La Ravelle which is part of the town of Paulhaguet
Paulhaguet
Paulhaguet is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-Geography:The Senouire flows northwestward through the southern part of the commune, crosses the town, then flows northward through the commune....

 in the Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

 département
Départements of France
The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...

in the Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...

 région
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

of south central France.

In Cannes there are outside shots of the Carlton Hotel where the four main characters are staying. There are interior scenes of the lobby and the brasserie used for morning breakfasts. Scenes include the beach in front of the hotel along with the adjacent waterfront - in particular the Cartier
Cartier SA
Cartier S.A., commonly known as Cartier , is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" , the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder...

 boutique on the next corner.

Remakes

The Indian film Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha
Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha
Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha is a 1998 Bollywood film starring Kajol and Ajay Devgan. The film is a remake of the 1995 Hollywood film French Kiss, starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline.- Synopsis :...

(1998) starring Kajol
Kajol
Kajol Devgn , better known as Kajol, is an Indian film actress appearing in Hindi films. She is regarded as one of India's most successful and talented female actors....

 and her husband Ajay Devgan
Ajay Devgan
Ajay Devgan , born Vishal Veeru Devgan on 2 April 1969, is an Indian film actor, director, and producer.He made his film debut with Phool Aur Kaante in 1991 and received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his performance in the film and for which he won a Filmfare Best Debut Award...

 is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...

 of French Kiss with a slightly different ending. The Malayalam film, Vettam
Vettam
Vettam is a 2004 Malayalam romantic comedy film directed by Priyadarshan and starring Dileep and Bhavna Pani.The film is an adaptation of the 1995 American film French Kiss.-Plot:...

(2004), by Priyadarsan and the Bengali film, Mon Mane Na
Mon Mane Na (2008 film)
Mon Mane Na is a Bengali romance Movie was released in 2008,directed by Sujit Guha, the movie featured Dev, Koyel Mullick. This movie is adopted from the 1995 American romantic comedy movie French Kiss.-Plot:...

, by Sujit Guha are also adaptations of French Kiss.
A Telugu movie by name Dongata starring Jagapathi babu and Soundarya directed by Kodi Rama Krishna was basically inspired from this film, but adapted to Telugu Nativity.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK