Forums Films:

les hommes et les femmes/men and women

  Clara Z- 06:20am Nov 9, 1998 (1.)

Dans le film américain les femmes adultes semblent inexistantes (les mères mis à part), leur role est limité à celui d'objet sexuel.Dans le film français la situation est similaire à une différence près, Sylvie,qui y est plus présente; mais c'est uniquement pour montrer que c'est une mère indigne. Cette vision de la femme est d'autant plus étonnante que ce film a été réalisé par femme! En fait c'est plus une vision de l'homme macho que de la femme objet qui est délivrée ici. Le message du film ne serait-il pas: rassurer les hommes sur leur capacité à materner -à aimer...-?

I think the film was in part made to show that even very chauvinstic men are capable of loving and raising a baby girl.

I disagree iwth the comment that the women in the American version are only sexual objects. If anything, that comment should be made about the French version. For instance, after the child leaves, the French men skip away fomr the door, singing about how much sex they are going to get now. The Americans, on the other hand, lament about how Mary is gone. Also, the Frech men share their women and leave their phone numbers for their roomates. The American version differs in that one of the men actually has a girlfriend and no one talks of sharing their women.

I think this is all very interesting. Throughout the last assignment, I kept feeling like the French had better values and morals, and were more concerned with society. But I think this movie contradicts that. It seems like the Americans have a better view of women and a larger sense of justice.

I agree that the American version seemed "cleaner" especially with respect to the men's interactions with women. I was guessing that maybe the American version was cleaned up to attract a broader audience, and to make it a movie a family could watch together. Or is the standard for French movies completely different than American movies? Would French people be more likely to watch a movie that was cleaned up like the way the American version was?

Non, je pense que les Français n'aiment pas trop les films qui sont trop "clean", c'est condidéré comme superficiel.

D'autre part, et pour répéter ce que j'ai dit dans un autre forum, Trois hommes et un couffin est une film qui en France peut être regardé par toute la famille !

Hello!

I find it quite interesting how the women in the French version appear to be on the most part sexually realted to the men. Whereas in the American version they are also related by friendship. Like in the case of Peter's girlfriend. He consults her in how to raise a child. Moreover, both movies show sexaulity as a very open issue. I never really saw anything related to marriage. Why wouldn't Marie's parents get married? That would solve lots of problems .

Well, I know that I'm supposed to be reacting to the french comments, but oh well. Winnie, do you think that even though Peter enjoys such a promiscuous lifestyle he should be married? In neither movie did I notice any love between Sylvia and Jack. I think that the guys just aren't interested in having serious, binding relationships (with the exception of maybe Peter); and if Jack just married Sylvia because they have a baby, the marriage would probably end in disaster.

I have to disagree with the original statement also. I mean, in the french version Jacque gave his roomates that one girls phone number. In the american movie, nothing like that even occured. In the french film, once Pierre and Michel didn't have to take care of the baby they started having sex again, while in the american film, Peter and Micheal still helped out Jack. The use of women as a sexual object was much more prevalent in the french film than in the american film.

Did anyone else notice that, in the American movie, when Peter returns to bed after singing to Mary to make her fall asleep, Peter and his girlfriend (I forgot her name) do a little flirting and then you see his girlfriends hand in the moonlight and she's wearing what appears to be an engagement ring? That sounds like a pretty big commitment for a sex object to be making...

And if I remember correctly, didn't the woman in the French movie walk out after the men sang to Marie, seemingly because she wasn't getting any "action"?

notice, that the french version was somewhat mysoginistic or demeaning to women. even though in the american version, the 3 men had many women, they did show some intelligent (rebecca, michel's girlfriend) and caring (jack's mother) women. even sylvia seemed a little more caring. i was wondering if anyone else felt the same way...maria

Hey! le film français a été réalisé par une femme! Ne me dites pas qu'il est mysogine! Il est peut-être juste là pour dénoncer une attitude, don't you think so? Et surtout, surtout, ne pensez pas que ce film soit représentatif de tous les mâles francais. Nous ne passons pas notre temps à nous échanger les femmes... En ce qui concerne les films "clean", je trouve ça "boring"... Les fims "clean" sont généralement résevés au public jeune. Les autres vont voir la version française...

Bonjour! Je comprends tout à fait votre réaction vis-à-vis de la façon dont les trois hommes considèrent les femmes dans la version française. Cependant, le côté superficiel des relations hommes-femmes, qui pourrait nous faire penser que les trois hommes ne sont que des chauds lapins, n'est-il pas là pour renforcer l'aspect surprenant et touchant de l'affection qu'ils ont pour Marie?

Salut!

C'est vrai que, bon, vous avez pas tort, les femmes sont un peu des objets sexuels (dans la version française, mais attention, c'est surtout un cliché!, et une comédie!) mais c'est tout simplement pour renforcer le coté macho des gars pour que leur amour pour Marie soit encore plus attendrissant (comme le dit JB).