Touches You

Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely brilliant

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This film is not for people who take life too seriously, as some reviewers seem to have. yes, there's awful, despicable and unearthly goings on, yes, there is no "American style" moral to this film, no one comes out of this film in a good light. But, entertaining it is, and for a french film of this vintage, that is saying something. If you have seen reservoir dogs, or the godfather films, then you have seen worse violence than here, but this violence is more real, because it doesn't have that american slant of surrealism, with special effects etc. To say the things that happen in this film never happen is fundamentally wrong, they do happen, and as we now approach 2019 they happen with increasing regularity. This film is not false in any way, the eating in the canal house, the drinking of wine, the sex, the scenes of France of that era, all real, and all very believable, and that is where people might find it hard to accept, maybe it was a little too close to their ideas or/and experiences and as such, some might not like this. We found this film very scenic rich, and having visited many of the places this was shot not many years after, we found it very easy on the eyes. There is a certain amount of acting that can be taken either way, but i found much humor on the acting, and laughed quite a few times, i also found some scenes quite awful and would cut them if i had a choice, definitely one scene of the lady from the prison anyway. If you watch this, just remember one thing. It's only a film, and a good one at that

I'd give it a ten for atmosphere and performances, but the misogyny of the characters (and, by implication, that of the author, who both wrote the story and filmed it) is too sickening, reaching truly horrifying proportions in the end chosen for Jeanne Moreau's character. Yep, we women should ALL commit suicide at forty, or whenever we stop being able to breed. Yep, there's nothing wrong with us, or the world at large, that a good shag won't cure. I thought growing up female in the eighties/nineties was tough; now I can only be thankful I wasn't around before then. Still, I'd recommend it to intelligent people; unfortunately, this is exactly the sort of movie that attracts most strongly the knuckle-dragging stupid. There's naked breasts (and more) in it, after all!

As with that film we follow the implausible if always engaging adventures of the 2 lead characters. But whilst C + J eschew sex for a girly trip back into childhood, this pair revel in their carnality even to the point of exploring homoeroticism. Most of the sex they acquire from grudging or unwilling partners and yet, despite their deeply un-PC behaviour, everyone emerges smiling. Like C + G, through it all they remain innocents at heart, rebels against the quotidien, the bourgeois, the restrictive. As someone else has commented, I wouldn't want to know these 2 and it's a minor miracle that their trip brings scenes of mostly comedy and very little tragedy (and what there is of that cannot be laid at their door) and thus for that reason, it left me beguiled but with a sweet taste in the mouth. Dare I say that only the French can get away with films like this. And that is part of their genius.

Not sure if this counts as a spoiler or not, so beware:Just a small but crucial thing to watch for, an intriguing possibility: the boys steal a green Citroen at one point, for a joy ride, and return it to the owner having done purposeful and vengeful hidden damage to the car, hoping that the owner will crash. Is it the very same car they steal much later from the picnicking family? We know the original owner sold it. They drive off at the end on a dangerous road, one which I understand has been closed to all but pedestrians for the last ten years. A whole new slant to the end of the film.On another matter, this film could have been called "Scent of a Woman". I don't recall another film, certainly not American, that treats the scent of a woman in such a frank and open manner, much like the "nose" of a fine Bordeaux.