I used to watch more foreign films. In my idealistic twenties I guess. But lately I’ve gotten lazy, and when I sit down for a movie the last thing I want to do is read subtitles. I do make some exceptions however. This is fortunate, for there are some truly exceptional films out there not made in English. And really, after five or ten minutes I completely forget I’m reading anyway.

A few years ago, I caught two incredible French films on Netflix Canada that I still highly recommend. The first is 2010’s Les Emotifs Anonymes (Romantics Anonymous), a genuinely delightful romantic comedy that follows the formula to some extent, but also transcends it with the originality of its script and the utterly captivating performances of its leads.

The formula I’m referring to is this: two attractive people meet, there is instant chemistry, and then numerous obstacles appear to twist and turn the plot and thwart their progress in realizing their love. The difference here is that the male and female protagonists look like real people, and the principle obstacles at play are their near crippling anxiety disorders.

How refreshing it is to watch a female lead (the luminous Isabelle Carre) who is truly “pretty as a picture,” but with imperfect hair and very-little-to-no makeup, make sparks and then run away from a co-star (Benoit Poelvoorde), who looks like the quintessential everyman, and, simultaneously, like a quirky and charming French gentleman.

This is a laugh out loud comedy that may have you, by the end, falling in love with one or both of these marvelous, messed up characters and doing some deep, warm smiling in the process, something I value most highly.

The second film, Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel), goes back to 2009 and stars French beauty Audrey Tautou (Amelie, Dirty Pretty Things) as the now iconic Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

In this outstanding bio-pic we watch Chanel transform from a smart but bitter young woman in late 19th century France who must overcome obstacles of her own—in this case gender and poverty, two major impediments to success and independence at that time—to realize her dream of something greater. We watch that dream, vague at first, take greater definition and clarity until Chanel is revealed as the creative and business genius whose name would become a household word and whose designs would literally revolutionize women’s fashion in the west.

Gone are the restrictive corsets http://www.marquise.de/en/themes/korsett/korsett.shtml and meringue-y feathers and frills; Chanel was inspired to make clothes for women that were simple, elegant, modern and, perhaps most revolutionary of all, comfortable to wear. Tautou herself, as Chanel, becomes more compelling and beautiful as her character gradually realizes her destiny. And I would be remiss not to mention another dynamite performance by Benoit Poelvoorde, whose demeanor is so different in this film that I didn’t even recognize him as the same actor. Of course he has a mustache here as well—devious disguise.

This story solidifies Chanel’s stature as the woman who changed the direction of western fashion and created couture. How many artists have such a profound effect on their culture, let alone in their own lifetimes? Chanel continued to work until her death in 1971. Both films can be found by searching their English names on Netflix or, if you’re lucky, at your local video store. For the Silo, Alan Gibson.

Supplemental: If you enjoy foreign, kooky, and subtitled films, spend a few minutes at Backyard Asia. There’s some solid trailer action and a bunch of info stuff CP  http://backyard-asia.blogspot.ca/2011_01_01_archive.html