It seems somewhat ridiculous to level this criticism at Audrey Tautou. She is a wonderful actress and for once Dr K, your opinion is way off.



If indeed, as you claim, you have returned to some of her earlier work, how could you have failed to miss such moving performances in the films, 'A Very Long Engagement', 'The Beating of the Butterfly's Wings' and 'Pot Luck'? Shame on you. You have really dropped the ball on this one.

Ouch.



You didn't like Amelie? Even I thought that was okay, and I'm highly skeptical of quirksome films.

A Very Long Engagement was pants!



I'll give her pass on her acting ability mainly because she's very pretty.

i actually enjoyed Amelie, but the blog made me laugh out loud, so thanks for that!

I watched The DC the other day, (Im a total rubber-necker when it comes to films, I have to watch the bad ones) and I have to agree with the Doc on this one, there was not one saving grace about this film and that includes Tautou's weak and lacklustre performance. What I don't understand though, is why they didn't get Keanu Reeves to play the male lead role because he acts with exactly the same amount of depth that Dan Brown writes with. Hanks comes across as a loveable average American businessman who believes in love at first sight and trusts the goodness of man, and thats far too much character for the film, send Hanks back to the middle of the road RomCom and let Keanu Reeves do what he does best (i.e. standing still looking like a cardboard cut out and delivering his lines as if hes reading them off cue cards.)

mark, i am (and remain, despite my comments below) a fan and

I have really enjoyed the follow-ups and further depth you have added to your other appearances via kermode uncut.



That said, I think you have let a mediocre one-liner "it's not that you're french, it's that you're rubbish" run away with you, and in the end I found the tone of the video less funny and throwaway (than it would have been as a simple one-liner, say, in the radio show) and more mean and self-congratulatory. The last thirty seconds in particlar, even accepting the "non-apology apology" conceit, just seemed mannerless.



It is not a tone that suits you, thankfully, shame to prove it this way.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!



I've had a cold all week and that just about made my day.

I would argue that her Frenchness helps to alleviate her rubbishness. It gives her poorer performances a certain je ne sais quoi.

Thanks Dr K,



that was important to be clarified!



Though that that she's french and she's rubbish is of some importance!

I see no way in which you can call Tautou's acting in Amelie, A very long engament, Dirty Pretty Things etc awful. Quite frankly I'd expect more from you, at the very least an explanation of why you think she is awful, instead you arrogantly steal someone elses joke! Very disapointing Mr Kermode. Not to suggest I think she was good in The Da Vinchi Code, I haven't seen it and don't ever intend to or to suggest that I think she is a great actor, but she is by no means awful. Zack Efron seems to be one of your favorite new actors, how you think he is in anyway a good actor and Audrey Tautou an awful one, I have no idea.

Well I'm Welsh and I couldn't stop laughing to that blog.



So to be clear Dr K



Your Sir Anthony Hopkins impression is rubbish,but at the same time brilliant.

I agree with sammm123, that was funny but I actually quite liked Amelie, it was okay, overhyped but okay. I also think calling Tatou rubbish is a bit harsh. I've only seen Amelie and Da Vinci by her so I thought maybe it was one of those cases where an actor struggles to act as well in a foreign language as they do in their own, a bit like Penelope Cruz sometimes. In Sahara anyway. She was unwatchable in that.



By the way, an Italian friend of mine brought my attention to an Italian Facebook group called 'The Academy of The Overrated', fancy setting up one of those? Off the top of my head I'm nominating Ewan McGregor post Trainspotting. He clearly doesn't know what he's doing anymore...

How did my comment end up in the middle of the thread, that's weird...

Hmmm. I've only ever seen Ms. Tatou in "Amelie", and I don't remember thinking "rubbish". I think I'll watch it again tonight, now that my eyes have been opened by the Good Doctor. Maybe I'll be able to spot the rubbishness this time.

Theres nothing wrong with trashing Audrey Tautou. She indeed isnt much of an actress. The problem with this video is, that it plays to the same poor levels the good Dr. usually rants against. On top of that it is remarkably unfunny and exudes a certain lack of dignity.



Mark; lets call it a one-off, shall we?

Hahaha!



As comically as you put it, and as much as your blunt attitude to the said dreadfulness was, it barely takes a PHD to aid in such a realization.

That aside, thank you for the jovial tears.

Don't listen to anyone whom may comment against such 'trashing' by the way, i think your execution of such compulsions is immaculate and surely you praise certain films and performances as much as you bash them.

All i know is your adaptation of Keanu Reeves epic performance in... well every film he has ever done, was absolutely magnificent, if not up to par with his acting.

The day you don't pick at cringe-worthy acting and god-awful films is the day there is no cringe-worthy acting and god-awful films to rant about. Who's to blame the good Dr.

Keep it up!

Re: Jonas Brothers.



(as there's no proper thread for this yet)



Dear Mark,



Hearing you talk about the Jonas Brothers 'sexualised' stage show today reminded me of the South Park episode 'The Ring'in which Kenny and his new girlfriend are encouraged by the Jonas Brothers to wear purity rings, which is secretly a marketing tactic by Disney to sell sex to young girls. Its portrayal of Mickey Mouse as a foul-mouthed, greedy, and physically violent company president is hilarious and its send up of the Jonas Brothers as 'clean cut' pop stars is razor sharp.

Just listened to the podcast and if you want to see South Park's take on the Jonas Brothers try and watch episode 1 of the 13th Season called "The Ring". You can find it on the web if you look hard enough but I'm not going to risk embarrassing you, me or the BBC by posting any links here. It's a perfect piece of satire.



By the way, I hope you enjoyed your holiday in Japan courtesy of the producers of Star Trek :)

Dear Mr Kermode,



In listening to this comment, as to others, not to mention weekly lapping up your very special brand of criqwism, I have carefully, intently, minutely, indefatiguably attempted to extricate a kind of criterion for your views and believe I have now discovered a devasting paradox of Trekian proportions. When you inexplicably gave a teary rave to High School Musical 3 you dismissed other nay-sayers as being a bunch of out of shape middle agers who only dared nix the marvels of singing and dancing of its cast members because they could not attain such, shall we say, athletic highjinx themselves. Aren't your poisonous remarks about Ms. Tatou really just jealousy because you're not a remarkably adorable French girl leading men wish to coil themselves about? By your own critical rule, since you're not a hot chick, you can't criticize her. Or have your wily wayz slipped betwixt my fingers again? Seriously though, did you know that your rants and raves are sometimes difficult separate, though I know if you make reference to Annette Kuhn's concept of "The Final Girl" it's probably a movie that will get at least a pass.

Hey Mark, I'm sorry, I got it wrong. It was not Annette Kuhn, but Vera Dika who came up with the all important concept of "The Final Girl", or my favorite, "The Warning".

3 words - Dirty Pretty Things

Very happy, very smug bunny right now. Me loves the internets. And me loves the good doctor.



For the record, I do like Tautou in Amelie a lot. Half the film's charm is the direction, but there's no way around it - the other half is all her. And I haven't really seen her in anything else, so I'll have to defer to the posters above on the merits of her other performances, or lack thereof. But now that you've declared her on your 'Ikea Catalogue', after clearing up the quasi-xenophobia stuff, you've now got to justify exactly to an increasingly angry mob exactly why she's a bad actress. You're an iconoclast at heart, so it's nothing you can't handle.



Robert Webb however is another matter entirely. I'm not sure even you can survive that one given just how much we adore Peep Show. (What a delicious piece of radio that was. Wittertainment at its most, erm... uncomfortable and silent?)

On a side note, having listened to the latest podcast, I can see what Mark is going on about regarding the Jonas Bros. foam incident. I wouldn't go near it with a barge pole on national radio, either.

I worry that this apology is the result of unlettered liberalism. Just because something may "sound" as if it is racist, sexist, ageist etc. doesn't mean it is. While I don't purport to be inside the good doctor's head, I'd assumed that his comment was about a banal US film's need to thrust a character's "frenchness" on its audience, hence his comment "I am so French."

Well no, I mean, as the person who brought it up in the first place, I love this post. Right from the outset, he's clearly doing a politician's non-apology apology. He's not sorry for his previous statement, he's sorry that I 'misunderstood' him! I DIDN'T but I cannot deny the good Doctor's cohones with such a great rebuttal.



And I do agree with him that in the end Tautou is crap in the film. He just goes one step further and extends that assessment to the woman's entire career. A shame because I rather liked Tautou up until Da Vinci Code. It's the George Lucas factor - no one can portray themselves as anything other than heaving lumps of dead wood with a script that bad. Putting her blatantly miserable experience aside, unlike the good Doctor, I hope Tautou hasn't given up completely on American cinema, and I wouldn't mind seeing her in a much better blockbuster.



T'will be interesting to see if the next Frenchwoman running the Hollywood gauntlet, Marion Cotillard, will fare better alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

oh yes, whoever mentioned Dirty Pretty Things, that is yet another reason why Audrey Tautou is a simply fantastic actress.

Her attractiveness clouds this argument for many of those commenting it's often the way.



Like the adoration given to mediocre films because they're in a foreign language, it's shallow thinking.



Dr K thinks she's rubbish, but I expect she'll survive.

Personally I think she happens to be French and appears in American films because they need someone French.

She's mediocre, but easy on the eye.





I'm going to drag up a previous discussion and insist (as if we had power), insist Dr K gives us a frank post on Ewan McGregors career though... someone he's more likely to bump into.

Ok I will admit that I did laugh when I watched that video but Jeez! That was a bit harsh wasn't it? Haven't seen much of her work personally but I liked her in Amelie though.

This gave me a good chuckle. I've only seen her in Dirty Pretty Things, apart from The Da Vinci Code and she's quite a dull actress to watch, I think.

I agree with Hrolfkraki - I too would really like to know what Dr Kermode thinks of Ewan McGregor's recent career decisions. Another theory of mine is that those long distance motor bike journeys have somehow addled his brain. Just a though anyway.

Well...my first comment in this blog.I'm glad i found doctor K,i agree with him 90% of the time.Keep up the good work and keep trashing worthless movies!We're with you!

Has any one heard about this Alien prequel/reboot, 20thCentury Fox are trying to do.



https://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=26771



Does the good doctor think we need another Alien prequel/reboot?



Also could the good doctor re-release the Blade Runner documentary he did?

Its one of my fav films of all time and I must have missed it on telly.

I looked on YouTube etc and couldnt find it. I was hoping it would be on the DVD but it wasnt.

Do you know where I can find it Dr Kermode?

I will say this. THe good thing about this aintitcool style backlash is that it sorts out the sheep from the wolves.

Many sheep were at the last live show. The tide is turning.

You don't like Amelie, Mr. Kermode?

Now how about Audrey Tautou's role in "He Loves Me.. He Loves Me Not"?



Her performance as the crazy, obsessed psychotic lover was good fun, and somehow strong enough to drag me into the story and make me almost forget it was actually her playing the part.



It was ultimately her character that I enjoyed, but importantly her performance enabled the character to truly come to life.

Hi Mark,



Re. The Jonas Brothers, white foam sprays and purity rings, I highly recommend you check out South Park series 13, episode one. It makes the pretty obvious point rather well that the Jonas Brothers' purity rings are at best highly convenient and at worst cynically devised in order to allow Disney to sell sex to very young children. According to Canwest News Service reporting, the band's publicist specifically forbids reporters from asking the band members about the South Park episode. Awesome.

Can you imagine Ebert doing that?



Neither can I.

*sigh* I miss him already.

What are you on about Dr. Kermode? Have you not seen Amelie? I usually hate films like that but I couldn't help but be won over by Audrey Tautou's performance in that amazing film.



I still need to see Dirty Pretty Things though. It's got Chiwetel Ejiofor in it so it must be good. In fact you should do a blog on him, it's about time someone spoke up for this hugely underated actor who doesn't get nearly enough press.

Although I have not seen Amelie (I know, it's a crime), I am sympathetic to your view Dr. Kermode. She has a habit using of vacant expressions when she should be deep in thought and her vice is more than just irritating. However, I will keep back any further judgment until I see Amelie (which shall be soon). I will put my verdict on barnabythefilmviewer.blogspot.com when I have seen this alleged masterpiece.

Apologies, I meant voice, instead of vice. That could have been awkward.

Why are we paying so much attention to somebody in a film that is three years old and by all accounts may never make another English language film again?



She is reported as saying "I am, at the end of the day, a French actress. I am not saying I will never shoot an English-language movie again, but my home, my community, my career is rooted in France. I would never move to Los Angeles"



Is that why you referred to her as Audrey "I am so French" Tautou?



She's not so French because she's rubbish, she's so French because she's French

Special K, that was weak. I normally enjoy your rants but racial slurs are not big and not clever. A genuine apology would've been great however I knew it would be too much for you. Keep the reviews pithy, just please avoid the "Simpsons Guide to Racial Stereotypes". What next? A Jackie Chan review doing the "slanty eyes thing?" ...



I suppose the dvd release will smell of Garlic eh?



R.

Dr. K, along with your beliefs that God made penguins and that Elvis is still alive, you are once again completely, utterly and stupefyingly wrong.

Soulpainter I think Dr K made himself quite clear. He couldn't care less about her Frenchness, he just doesn't think she can act and has been chosen for these American films because they needed someone French and easy on the eye hence the 'Oo I'm French' comment because that's all he thinks she offers.

Ignoring the fact it would be xenophobic not racial, if this rant was a racial slur then I'm a Dutchman... and wear clogs.

If Kermode's racist then I'm a former Nazi chef.

A Nazi CHEF??? Yes, they were real swines they were. What with all that Aryan food and everything. (Sorry rbevanx, couldn't resist! ) : ) xx

Wow - that's just REALLY unpleasant. How would you like it?

Having only seen the Jeunet films that featured ms Tautou i'd have to say sorry Mark you're wrong. Having watched a fair few of your reviews now on you tube with Simon Mayon i'd usually be nodding my head in agreement, and any man that rates the Exorcist as highly as you do is alright in my book, but to dismiss Tautou's acting as simply 'rubbish' is lazy schoolboy criticism - and fundamentally very wrong :oP

Don't get me wrong i'm not an Amelie worshipping Tautou junky but her performance in this (and the not so hot VLE) was spot on for the characters she played... rubbish? No, but perhaps your opinion is based on some truly execrable movies she's done recently (which i'm glad I haven't seen) poor choices on her part, but probably not for her bank balance.

Anyway Mark this is a minor blip in your otherwise sterling reviewing career, lets move on, we're bigger than this... And who on this forum is with me in signing some kind of petition to get you to present a new series of Moviedrome?

*Mayo - doh typo!

This Bloke doesn't know a thing about acting anyway. I would't bother to take him seriously. Isn't he the guy who said Kevin Cosner was good?! Because 'He's always aware where the camera is.'! If you can see the actor being aware of the camera then he isn't suspending your disbelief - something Cosner can't do anyway, he has zero acting ability, reads lines in the most basic of ways and is clearly faking all the time.



I wonder what this schoolboy-like critic's other criteria are for judging acting... being able to wear a costume? Why do they employ these people? If you (think) you don't know if an actors any good (ie truthful) or not look in their eyes - it's obvious when they're faking.

I agree her part in the Da Vinci Code was ridiculous, but I didn't really think she was too bad in Amelie. Actually she really made the film work for me.

C'mon Mark, with all the bad actresses out there, have some mercy on the poor Tautou