good movies for linguaphiles

I think everyone here would enjoy the movie "Ridicule" quite a bit.

Well, won't you tell us why, Sweetie? Please? :-)

Synopsis:
In the age of Louix XVI, a modest country engineer traveled to Versailles with a plan to save the people of his village from an epidemic by asking the king to subsidize a swamp drainage system. He thought he would persuade the palace with logic, reason, and an appeal to human decency. He was wrong. To succeed in this court, he'll have to learn to dress, to dance, to scheme, to seduce--and above all, he'll learn that wit is the ultimate weapon. In this strange world of decadence, where fortunes and power change hands overnight, where men are made and ruined in an instant, the key to survival is avoiding the ultimate disgrace: ridicule. In a place where even the slightest misstep can be fatal, he'll have to focus every ounce of energy on extracting royal favor. The one thing he must not do... is fall in love.
synopsis extracted from http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/185953

Well that's a better synopsis than I could have ever written.

It's a great movie, and as the description above implies, wit and language are central to the film, although it isn't about using unusual words. But quick-witted wordplay is one of the major elements. The fact that the leading lady is breathtakingly gorgeous has nothing to do with my recommendation, honest.

Keep in mind that it is in French with subtitles. Some people hate subtitled movies the way I hate fried okra. I'd rather not share some of the more memorable lines from the film as it might spoil the whole experience for you.

Anyway, I was hoping people would suggest their favorite language oriented films for my own edification.

and don't forget to careful note of the buckles on everyones shoes!

i saw when it first came out... but, no surprize here, given how many food thread i have started/added toBabette's Feast is on of my favorites films.

i also love Tampopo (a japanese spaghetti western about a truck driver and noodle shop) and A Taxing Woman-- to understand it you need to know three things 1) how to hate a tax collector, 2) in Japan, bank accounts are identified by carved name seals (what i would call a chop, but we did have a discussion over a year ago, and the correct name was provided by someone)if you have the "chop" you are the legal owner of the bank account. 3)like US and UK, to some degree, a man's home is his castle and the police can not just barge in.. but in japan, they can if you open the door... (the fact that you don't know that police have assembled outside your door is your tough luck! once you open the door, the police can come in!)

it has some sexual scenes, (especially the opening scene!) but the japanese are pretty conservative so, its not anything but an R rating.

i saw a pbs presentation of Under the Glacier, and icelandic film, and i loved it.. it was interesting how words "jumped out" the icelandic language, one of the scandinavian, has many nouns that are almost identical to english ones.. (all these movies had sub titles.) If any one ever sees it on cable or PBS again, let me know, i would enjoy seeing it again..

Two clever movies I'd recommend are Intermezzo and The Advocate. And, for those who ain't seen it yet and are bard buffs, Shakespeare in Love.

So it's a YART...

Barcelona and Manhattan.

it was interesting how words "jumped out" the icelandic language

I have had similar experiences listening to recordings of Old English poetry being read and the Dutch film, Antonia (American version Antonia's Line) had similar moments, sometimes whole phrases jumping out at you. The movie, The 13th Warrior had a grand scene wherein our hero, the Arab poet sent out among the Vikings, was sitting around the campfire listening to the Old Norse (or Swedish, or whatever it was) slowly transmogrify into modern English. Worth the price of admission all in itself. In fact, some may wish to stop right there and go no further in that movie.

In reply to:
The movie, The 13th Warrior had a grand scene wherein our hero, the Arab poet sent out among the Vikings, was sitting around the campfire listening to the Old Norse (or Swedish, or whatever it was) slowly transmogrify into modern English. Worth the price of admission all in itself. In fact, some may wish to stop right there and go no further in that movie.

Faldage I couldn't agree with you more. That scene was so well done! And yet the rest of the movie was just formulaic action-adventure. It was like two different directors had been at work.

My Dinner with Andr� , the ultimate "narrator" movie.

seen it alex, and loved it. good call.

I had in mind a spoof of My Dinner With Andre, called My Dinner With Andre The Giant, but sadly Andre the Giant died before I could bring my cinematic vision to fruition. Now I am trying to get funding for My Dinner With Andre Agassi but it doesn't have quite the same zing.

and, sadly, there is this:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,432535,00.html

Hey they stole my idea! Well they won't steal my next script, Waiting On Godot, the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a restaurant, announces that he is in a hurry because he is supposed to meet two guys later in the evening, but then can't make up his mind as to what to order. Told the from the waiter's point of view, it is a poignant look at indecision, fear of committment, and lousy tips.

PRAISE FOR WAITING ON GODOT

A triumph! Kirkus Reviews

It's like 45 minutes of my life that are lost and can never be recovered! Eric Idle

Frankly, an embarassment. Alex's father

Well I liked it. Alex's mother

Completely rips off my play! Samuel Beckett

The kind of film that makes you glad to be alive! Edward Albee

Well I wouldn't go THAT far. Jean-Paul Sartre

Waiting On Godot, the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a restaurant, announces that he is in a hurry because he is supposed to meet two guys later in the evening, but then can't make up his mind as to what to order.

...and presumably he never quite makes up his mind, hence never leaves the restaurant, and never gets around to meeting Vladimir and Estragon?

Why, that's brilliant, Alex! Bravo!

(Tom Stoppard, eat your heart out)
Rosencrantz and who?!

Alex, that's hilarious!

Faldage always said he wanted the billing for the title role in Godot; can you audition him?

billing for the title role in Godot

Allus figgered if it was being put on by someone who had a rep for playing fast and loose with stage directions it might add a bit of the feeling that should have been present in the original performance, when the audience was waiting too.

In reply to:
...and presumably he never quite makes up his mind, hence never leaves the restaurant, and never gets around to meeting Vladimir and Estragon?

Exactly.

Faldage may have the role of Godot only if he promises to arrive for rehearsals at least 15 minutes late. I picture Godot as a large man with a big overcoat and a fedora, possibly a beard too. Preferably an Eastern European accent. I would like to have a cameo as either a busboy or a dishwasher.

Sadly, the only funding I could obtain was from Jerry Bruckheimer, so the ending will feature a breathtaking car chase through the Trinity College library that culminates in a pyrotechnically impressive explosion in the rare book room. Godot will be killed by flying debris from the Book of Kells.

If I am a silly person in general then I am even sillier when hopped up on Nyquil. Damn this summer cold!

Leaning back to "My Dinner With Andre", what do you all think was the point of the movie? Art does have a point, doesn't it?
Milo.

Faldage may have the role of Godot only if

But I don't *want the role in Waiting on Godot. I only want it in Waiting for Godot.

But Faldage, you fit the playwright's mental picture so well: large man, fedora, beard... and your Eastern European accent ain't bad, neither.

fit the playwright's mental picture so well

Well, perhaps. But only if we do the Beckett first.

Hey they stole my idea! Well they won't steal my next script

Umm. http://www.jeffgoode.com/scripts/shgod.htm

oh noooo!!!!!

You know those psychotics that are convinced that people are stealing their ideas out of their heads...? I think they might be right, or else I am becoming one. At least they didn't steal my one little nugget: in the background of "Waiting On Godot" we would see the two characters from "My Dinner With Andre The Giant" at their table.

In reply to:
But I don't *want the role in Waiting on Godot. I only want it in Waiting for Godot.

Then Faldage we shall have you play the role of Polonius, Jackie will play Godot, Father Steve will play Doctor Hardy, Whitman O'Neil will play Edmund, Sparteye will play Big Daddy, and Wordwind will play the role of Brick.

> Then Faldage we shall have you play the role of Polonius, Jackie will play Godot, Father Steve will play Doctor Hardy, Whitman O'Neil will play Edmund, Sparteye will play Big Daddy, and Wordwind will play the role of Brick.

When I was a kid my cousins Cecil and Arthur and I wanted to do a movie about Don Quixote. I decided, "I'll be Quixote, Arthur can be Sancho Panza, and Cec'll be de mill."

Sort of like what Stallone said when he was going to do a movie about baroque composers: "You be Vivaldi, and I'll be Bach."

Well, in the word of the bloopered radio actor:

I'm just flygabastard.

Then Faldage we shall have you play the role of Polonius, Jackie will play Godot, Father Steve will play Doctor Hardy, Whitman O'Neil will play Edmund, Sparteye will play Big Daddy, and Wordwind will play the role of Brick.

Let's see..."A Long Day's Waiting on a Hot Tin Godot"?

Think you'd have to get David Lynch to direct this one!

Or Tim Burton!

And if Father Steve is Doctor Hardy...who gets to be Doctor Laurel?

Fiberbabde will play the role of Ringo Starr and we'll call it A Hard Day's Night of the Iguana.

If I am a silly person in general then I am even sillier when hopped up on Nyquil.

Having now seen where all this lead - please tell me where I can get some Nyquil, Alex.

Ah, on the other hand...
http://www.iit.edu/~hockaly/ponyquil.html

Shona, that's hilarious! Do you know who wrote it?

Do you know who wrote it?

Nope Jackie - just stumblegoogled across it.

Ah, here's her (for the writer is a she) home page:
http://www.iit.edu/~hockaly/

Edit:
I like this other poems of Alyssa's -
http://www.iit.edu/~hockaly/pofragments.html

(full list of her poems is at:
http://www.iit.edu/~hockaly/poetry.html
- several good ones.)

Better copyright that quick, mein ephew.

Now here is why I was looking for this thread. This is a parody of Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, written at another board I frequent. http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26585

Art does have a point, doesn't it?

What makes you think that?