Item: Je t'adore mais pourquoi
Rating: 7
Author: Archivist John

Look, if you aren't into 1930s French cinema where everyone shouts their lines like they're trying to wake up the neighbors, just skip this one. Seriously.

But if you have a soft spot for grainy film and people wearing hats that look way too heavy for their heads, stick around. Je t'adore mais pourquoi is a weird little relic.

Is it worth watching today? Only if you've already seen the 'big' classics and want to dig into the dusty corners of the shelf. 🎞️

History buffs will find it neat. People who need a plot that makes sense will probably want to throw their remote at the wall.

The whole thing feels like a stage play that someone decided to film on a whim. There’s this frantic energy that never really lets up, which is both exhausting and kind of impressive.

André Randall has this face that always looks like he just remembered he left the stove on. He spends most of the movie looking vaguely panicked while women talk circles around him.

I found myself staring at the background sets more than the actors. You can tell they were made of plywood and hope.

In one scene, Marcel Vallée enters a room and almost trips over a rug. They kept it in! I love little mistakes like that because it reminds you these were just people in a room trying to make a buck.

The sound quality is… well, it’s 1930. It sounds like everyone is speaking through a wet woolen sock.

There’s a lot of singing too. Not the good kind of singing you get in big Hollywood musicals, but the kind of singing people do at a loud dinner party after three bottles of wine.

It reminds me a bit of Un tour au large in how it just sort of wanders around its own premise. It doesn't have the weight of something like Luise Millerin, but it’s not trying to be deep.

Actually, there is one moment where Olga Valéry gives this look to the camera that is genuinely funny. It’s just a split second, but it felt real in a movie that is mostly very fake.

The dialogue is fast. Like, really fast. My French is okay, but I had to rewind a couple of times because René Pujol’s script just piles words on top of words.

Je t'adore mais pourquoi scene — Scene from Je t'adore mais pourquoi

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Je t'adore mais pourquoi (1930) through its definitive frames.

Why do they shout so much?

Early microphones were bad and hidden in flower pots.
Actors were used to reaching the back row of a theater.
French people are just passionate? Maybe?

I noticed a weird shadow on the wall during the big dinner scene. It clearly belongs to a boom mic, or maybe a very confused ghost. 👻

It’s a bit like watching Magda where you’re mostly there for the vibe rather than the actual story. The story here is basically 'I love you, but why are we like this?' which is the title, I guess.

There’s a sequence with a telephone that goes on for about four minutes too long. We get it, phones were new and exciting back then, but please move on.

I think the film gets better if you stop trying to follow the logic of the romance. It’s all very 'he said, she said' and then someone falls down.

It’s definitely not as polished as Mid-Channel, but it has more heart in its pinky finger than most modern corporate comedies. It feels handmade, even if the hands were a bit shaky.

Roger Tréville is charming enough, I suppose. He has that pencil-thin mustache that makes everyone in the 30s look like they’re about to steal a jewelry box.

If you enjoy seeing how cinema figured out how to talk, this is a fun experiment to witness. If you want to be moved to tears or see great art, maybe go watch something else. 🍷

I forgot to mention the music. It’s very tinny. It’s the kind of music that plays in your head when you’re stuck in an elevator in a nightmare.

But hey, it’s only 80 minutes or so. You’ve wasted more time scrolling through TikTok than it takes to watch this whole thing. Give it a shot if you're feeling adventurous.