Guilty Pleasure

French Postcards (Screen capture)

This morning, I was reminded of an old (1979) film French Postcards. Many years ago, I happened to see it on Cinemax and it has turned out to be one of my guilty pleasures. So I pulled out the VHS (!) and watched it again.

The film is about a group of American exchange students who travel to France for a year to study the language and French culture. It's a fairly innocuous, predictable film, really, but it has many humourous moments and a few poignant ones. It also has – as one of its recurring musical motifs – a song that one of the students (Alex, played by David Marshall Grant) writes and sings for his teacher (on whom he had a crush) early on in the film. I suppose it's more of a ditty really, but I've always liked its naïve sweetness and the lilting melody. It's probably a song that only a songwriter could love... Download mp3 (Save it to your computer – please don't stream it.)

THE THING OF IT IS
by John Kander / Fred Ebb

I hear a sigh from a bench in the square
And the sound of the sigh says a lover is there
Then I suddenly see
That the lover is me
And the thing of it is...

Paris

Paris... is a lady with a light in her eyes
A surprise kinda glow about her
Paris... is a teacher who has lessons to give
how to love, how to live
That there's so much to learn
That you toss and you turn about her

I hear a song down a cobblestone street
And I've never heard singing that sounded so sweet
Then a jolt in my spine
Says the music is mine
And the thing of it is...

Paris

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Also notable about the film is that it's one of the earliest film appearances by Debra Winger (above right), who plays a bit role as the party-loving roommate of one of the main characters (Blanche Baker, above left), and Mandy Patinkin, who plays a sexist Iranian who Lora finds to take her to what she calls "The Festival". His favorite English phrase is "No problem!"