Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

federovsky Crabby old geezer Michel Serrault befriends girl in the French countryside... hang on... isn't that "Le Papillon (2002)"? One does detect a similar demographic here (though Carion's film came first). This is mainly a woman's film so I'm not likely to judge it properly, but I think I know what it was trying to do. It didn't make it. There was a directorial flatness about it, even during the moments that should have been lush. Too many scenes were lank and ineffectual and left us thinking: "well...?". It didn't help that the central challenge - the farm in the mountains which the woman has gone to manage - seemed to only contain a few goats which she led out into the meadows from time to time - hmmm, no herculean task. The humour was too slight and was swamped by a relentless overearnestness; the director couldn't manage to give it any edge and as a result none of it meant much. I'm not at all sure what was the point of the relationship with the old man except to give the film some kind of social arc. More interestingly, the story might be symptomatic of a society that has lost its identity through too much choice, when a single woman who teaches computer skills is not only inspired (a common enough dream) but is fully empowered to buy and manage a huge idyllic farm in the mountains. Some dream.

gradyharp 'Une hirondelle a fait le printemps' ('The Girl from Paris') weaves its French spell in the manner of the great French filmmakers, and yet this 2001 film was the debut of the man - Christian Carion - who later gave us the tremendously well-done 'Joyeux Noël' in 2005. This story (written by both Carion and Eric Assous) is unique, a study of human desires, needs, and compromises that is more human in feeling than most any other film this reviewer has seen.Sandrine Dumez (Mathilde Seigner) lives in Paris where she slaves away at teaching computer science to students in tune with the age. She is attractive, successful, popular...and unhappy. She longs to fulfill the dreams of her childhood and become a farmer. Much against her doting mother's advice she enrolls in a school for agriculture and eventually graduates as one of the top students, winning the ability to buy a farm in the Rhone Alps. The snag: the elderly crusty owner Adrien (Michel Serrault), who wants to sell his farm yet maintain his idyllic country existence without the wear and tear of farming, refuses to move off his own property once the contract is signed for Sandrine to take over the land. Sandrine allows Adrien to stay, makes the farm not only succeed despite her novice status, but also adds a hotel ('The Balcony of the Sky') to enhance her income from her goat farm whose chief product is cheese. Encouraging the transition is the jovial neighbor Jean (Jean-Paul Roussillon) whose recent selling of his own farm allows him to travel around in his new Volvo with his trusty (and hilarious) dog Pharaoh. Jean warns Sandrine that when winter come Adrien will become a recluse (remembering the loss of his wife, the Nazi decimation of the French farms, his losses from mad cow disease in the past, etc), yet Sandrine persists - until the winter comes and all but defeats her optimism. Events bond Adrien and Sandrine more closely, so much so that when Sandrine returns to Paris for a much-needed breather - and liaison with her ex-boyfriend Gérard (Frédéric Pierrot) - Adrien discovers how important to him Sandrine has become. The ending is tied into a surprise that touchingly resolves many doubts and questions and allows the viewer to finish the story on his own! The cast is superb, with special kudos to Michel Serrault, a consummate actor. The cinematography of the glorious farm location is by Antoine Héberlé and the very French musical score is by Philippe Rombi. The film is a delight in every aspect and one that deserves repeated viewings. Grady Harp

David Ferguson Greetings again from the darkness. Wonderful, subtle French film that displays the nuances of quiet desperation of the young and fear of loneliness and death of the elderly. Make no mistake, the venerable Michel Serrault MAKES this movie! He is downright remarkable as Adrien, the long time farmer, who sells is farm to the young city girl played well by Mathilde Seigner. Many excellent scenes including awkward moments for all. The ridiculous comments about cruelty to animals during the filming is not worthy of mention. This is a fact of life on a farm and obviously the cow scenes were real life - not created for the film. The pig scene, may be painful to watch, but effectively makes the point of life and death on a farm - just like the goat birth scene. As far as the rabbit, give me a break, we see a live bunny and then one being prepared for dinner. This can happen in any restaurant on a daily basis. Yes the hang glider was a bit too much, too often, but I loved the Volvo, the Weimeramer and the "dumb" goat. Very personal film with much insight into human nature at all ages.

kadar I just saw this 2-year-old film at the Seattle International Film Festival, as a substitute for a scheduled Czech film (Brats) which arrived with missing reels, and was glad to have seen it, since a movie like this is very unlikely to go into US distribution. I won't repeat points that have already been made here several times, other than to say that this is very much in the European humanist tradition, with actors whose faces are beleivable and have character rather than formuaic good looks, and a plot centered on real life. The very scenic setting is also one of the film's great strengths. This film indirectly helped me to understand the motivation of periodically striking French farmers, and the hold that this way of life can have on Europeans, where farming is not as easy, as industrialized, or as large-scale as it is in much of America.Unfortunately, the script doesn't probe quite as deeply as it might, and POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS: there is a silly recurring bit of gratuitous and vague symbolism in the form of a para-sailer that leads nowhere, and acts mainly as eye-candy. The same can be said about the unnecessarily virtuosic (and at times vertiginous) long opening shot. I'm undecided about the scenes of violence to animals. Yes, living things were harmed -- killed, really -- in the making of this movie, and it could have been made without those acts, but such things are a common and unavoidable part of farm life, and lend reality to a sometimes romanticized portrayal of agricultural existence. On balance, I think this depiction is legitimate, and the scene with the cows may have been pre-existing footage. (It was definitely stock-footage, in a manner of speaking.)END OF SPOILERSNot a great or major piece of cinema, but a worthy minor human document, with especially fine acting by the heroine and the two old farmers.