Film: Match Point (2005)
Screens: 14 Ticket price: 9.40€
The road to Rouen. And it very nearly was, as we narrowly escaped being caught up in the notorious French riots of 2005 that took place in many cities across the country, including the capital of Upper Normandy. Rouen is a great city that's perhaps best known as the place where Milla Jovovich was burned at the stake way back in 1431. It's replete with nice Norman houses, souvenirs featuring cows, and apple products (no, not iPods -- think again).
One evening we were indulging in one of our not-so-favourite holiday pastimes of procrastinating over where to have dinner and wandering the streets between our hotel and the city centre (in the end we predictably went to the Quick burger joint about 5 minutes away from the hotel). During our walk we went along one particular street where groups of young men lined the pavement. None of them bothered us in the slightest, but they all cast their eyes over us as we walked past. Looking back it's now fairly clear that the area we were blithely drifting through was something of a war room for the mayhem that was to occur over the next few days. Had we realised that at the time, I doubt if we'd have been doing much walking through that area -- we'd have needed parachutes fitted to our backs to slow us down once we'd cleared it.
It's kind of sad really, as Rouen was such a nice place and we had a really good time there, but I guess we should just consider ourselves lucky -- after all, it'd all have been a lot sadder had our car been torched. Our hotel was run by a nice woman who owned a lovely Golden Labrador who we got to know a little bit, and this smiley character happily agreed to pose with us for some pictures in the car park (sorry, friend, we lied about there being all-you-can-eat dog biscuits out there). Hope he and his mum stayed safe once the riots began. Anyway, oblivious to the scenes that were soon to unfold, we spent some time in the Saint-Sever shopping centre, a decent place with some nice eateries as well as the expected shops -- my wife bought a couple of tops in a small La Redoute there, and the friendly assistant seemed genuinely amazed that a couple of étrangers were in the shop, let alone purchasing something while not wishing to sign up for the catalogue (which is something of an institution in France). We do like to mess with people.
The shopping centre also played home to the UGC, and during our stay they had a preview of Woody Allen's Match Point (original language and subbed). Allen, like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, is revered in France and it's generally the place to go if you want an early look at his new film. I remember the guy at the ticket counter asking if we wanted our parking validated and looking surprised when we told him we'd walked there (see, up to our usual tricks again there. Maybe he was the husband/brother of Ms. La Redoute?) As our micro-conversation continued he said he thought we were local to Rouen -- not sure whether to believe him or not, I thought I may as well take my victories where I find them and took the compliment with a smile. You, Sir, can sell me my ticket again, I thought (not for the same film, mind -- though it'd be easy enough to fork out twice when you've been puffed up like that. I'm talking about a future screening that, more than five years on, still hasn't happened).
Anyway, the film was very enjoyable, the crowd appreciative and the cinema clean and comfortable. The walk home in the dark passed without incident (insert joke about wife's temper here) and when we got back I ended up watching a midnight TV showing of Chabrol's The Cry of the Owl. Good stuff. Why didn't I buy it on DVD before it ended up rocketing in price? I did buy the Paddy Considine/Julia Stiles version for £2, but I'm really not sure it'll be quite the same.
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