My host mom laughed at me when I told her I was going to watch “Tout Sauf Toi” with my friends at the cinema. She asked me to explain the plot, and I quickly defended my taste in movies, telling her that “Tout Sauf Toi” is popular in the States right now and that many of my peers were encouraging me to watch it.
My cinematic experience of the American hit included popcorn, bonbons (very American of us), and loud cackling that caused the French audience to stare us down.
Watching the movie in French was initially quite the task: the words didn’t match the lips, and occasionally the words seemed to blur together during arguments. We heard our first English word during Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s rendition of “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield, which of course, we had to sing and dance to, revealing that the popcorn and bonbons did indeed signify that we were American.
I have seen a few movies in the cinema since being here, such as “Napoleon” and “Anyone But You,” most of which have been made in America. Experiencing French cinemas is integral to navigating the country's culture.
The cinema acts as a juncture for shared experiences and benefits the viewers by fostering an environment of discovery: discovery of a new film, new friends, or new facts. French cinemas hold more value than simply just the entertainment that many American cinemas provide to their visitors.
Learning French through movies has been an aspect of my life that I have surprisingly fallen in love with. I was originally frustrated that I would have to watch “Tout Sauf Toi” instead of “Anyone But You,” but I not only fell in love with the French version of the movie, I also improved my French skills while watching the film.
What was even more surprising was the fact that I frequently noticed myself choosing to watch French films over American ones. “Intouchables” has made itself at home as one of my comfort films, and “Nos Jours Heureux” never fails to make me laugh.
As I have forced myself to learn French since moving to France, learning the culture and essence of a language is the best way to begin understanding a new language. So, take the language you're learning and apply it to a movie, or try watching “Everyone But You” in your foreign language, just as I did.