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Nisha S - 08:09pm Apr 7, 1999 (#2 of 12)
Differences in storyline
I was surprised by the number of differences between the two
film versions. First of all, Jack was an actor in the American
film as opposed to a steward in the French version. Peter had
a girlfriend whereas Pierre was an unattached bachelor. And at
the end, the three men invited Sylvia and Mary to move in with
them in the American version, whereas they only offered to help
out in the French version. They were other differences, but these
were some big ones that involved the characters.
Another thing
I forgot to ask a question: do you think the differences between
the two mothers in the films reflects a difference in culture?
For instance, in the French version, Jack had to go see his mother,
while in the American version she came to see him. What is the
relationship between parents and their grown children in France?
relationship between parents and grown up children
Pour répondre à Nisha, je pense qu'on ne peut
pas définir "en général" les relations
des parents avec leurs enfants adultes. C'est très personnel,
et ça dépend complètement des familles je
crois. L'idée que j'en ai, pour ma famille, c'est que en
général, les parents restent en contact avec leurs
enfants. Je ne sais pas si ce sont les parents qui se déplacent
le plus souvent, où si ce sont leurs enfants... Ca dépend.
Chez nous, nous sommes une famille très nombreuse, et comme
nous n'habitons pas tous dans la même région de France,
pour que ce ne soient pas toujours les mêmes qui se déplacent,
nous nous retrouvons chaque fois dans une ville différente.
Par contre, une partie de ma famille habite dans la même
région, et nous nous voyons souvent (une fois par mois
environ). Ceci dit, je connais des jeunes adultes qui ne voient
plus du tout leur parents, (en fait j'en connais deux), et dans
les deux cas, c'est parce que la personne qu'ils ont épousée
et les parents ne peuvent pas se supporter, je trouve ça
dommage, mais je pense que c'est rare.
lationship between parents and their grown children in France
Les "enfants" mariés et ayant des enfants
en France invitent leurs parents à déjeuner le week
end ou leur rendent visite. Je ne pense pas que les enfants doivent
toujours faire le premier pas et aller vers les parents s'ils
ont un problème.
family relationships
This may be getting a bit of the point of the story line. anyway,
i agree with Sandrine that how ofen you see your family is largely
a function of distance and not necessarily a cultural issue. If
me and my brother lived on opposite sides of the country i would
rarely see him, but since he lives close by, i see him often.
what interests me more is how much time we would spend with our
respective families if possible (meaning that distance wasn't
a factor.) From the time i have spent with my two "surrogate"
families in Europe (one in Belgium and one in Germany) i have
found that the families seem to be more tightly knit together
than in America. By this i mean that they have family dinners
with everyone in the region more often and in general do more
things together as a family. If any of you have spent time in
America, have you noticed the same type of thing (or the opposite
thing) here?
Hello- just moving this over to the correct forum so that everyone
can see it- Over all, there were not very many differences between
the two movies. In the French version, the guys seemed a lot more
mad when Jack returned. They yelled a lot and blamed him for everything.
They were trying to preserve their manhood, which was much more
obviously threatened in the French version. In the French version,
the baby was shown as a hindrance in all scenes, especially when
the girl and the guests left. In the English version, when his
girlfriend saw him singing to the baby, it actually improved their
relationship, and in the 'happy ending' it helps them to pick
up girls at the park. Does this say anything about French culture,
or do you think that this English ending is unrealistic? The 80's
had a completely different atmosphere, but a woman would be stupid
to go home with a man just because he has a child. Also, I noticed
that in the English version, Jack's mother actually turned him
down so that he could learn to be a good father. In the French
version she was just too busy to have a relationship with him,
let alone her own granddaughter. Do the French make it a priority
to keep in touch with family after moving out of the house? Maybe
this can be explained by Americans catering to a specific audience.
She was seen as the perfect grandmother type; always doing the
right thing for her children. Certain scenes were changed to provoke
emotion and keep the public's interest. I don't think the American
version would have made it big if it weren't for the car chase
or the part where they catch the robbers single-handed. These
parts are unrealistic, but so are most American movies.
The Police and The Criminals
One minor difference that I noticed after watching the American
version was that the drug dealers were caught by the police whereas
in the French version they were not. I think the dealers were
caught in the American version because the three men thought they
should help the police. This is a theme that shows up over and
over again in American movies. The bad guy is always caught and
it is normally because of some civilian going out of their way
to help the police. I was just wondering why the French students
believe that the people who wrote the script for TROIS HOMMES
ET UN COUFFIN didn't have the drug dealers getting caught? Do
the French believe that it is easy to get away with crimes like
that? Or do you feel you have an obliation to help the police
catch the criminals? Do you feel like the three men in the French
version are criminals because they are accessories to the crime?
Drugs in the movies
I think, to add to what Owen said, that due to the war on drugs
in America, Hollywood was concerned with having the drug dealers
get caught. Our country has been obsessed for some time with the
idea that drugs are one of the greatest evils in society. I didn't
get a similar feeling watching the French version of the movie.
I know that similar drugs are illegal in France, but what is the
public preception of drugs? Are dealers evil, and what is France
doing to stop the spread of drugs?
Second Mom
Is this idea of a second mother, or a nanny, common in France?
This didn't show up in the American version, so I was wondering
how common such a person was in France. I have only seen live-in
nanny's in the richest homes, and it is not a job that I find
common.
What a home!
In the French version of the film, the three men live in an
amazing appartment. It is much larger than the appartment for
the Americans, or at least I got a feeling from the movie that
it was much larger. I know that housing is more expensive in France,
and I can tell that the American appartment was expensive to begin
with, so I was wondering how realistic it was that the French
men were living in such an amazing place. How much do you imagine
a place like that would cost to rent?
Differences in Socioeconomic Status
I thought it was quite interesting that the three main male
characters in Three Men and a Baby seemed much better off financially
than those in Trois Hommes et Un Couffin. Jack was an actor, Peter
was a famous architect, and Michael was a famous cartoonist. In
contrast, Jacques was a steward, while Pierre and Michel did not
seem that well-to-do. Also, after the baby Mary arrived, Trois
Hommes et Un Couffin really stressed the fact that the men were
missing a lot of work whereas missing work wasn't a problem in
Three Men and a Baby. In general, do popular French movies deal
with people of average socioeconomic status or those who are extremely
well-off? What possible reasons did the French director or storywriters
have to stress that money was tight for Jacques, Pierre, and Michel?