French Postcards (1979)

Do not bother watching the version of French Postcards that you can buy today on DVD because they totally ruined it by replacing the original soundtrack which was perfect. This includes the opening scene on the bus ride when it used to be a french version of Do You Believe in Magic"! There was also a sweet scene near the end with Nicolette Larson's "Lotta Love" which is destroyed by its replacement. Many more scenes are ruined by the replacement music. I hate when this happens. Ridley Scott usually does this. I have same complaint of his LEGEND which is much better with the original soundtrack. I have the original version which I copied from A&E from the 1980s that I converted to DVD. Poor quality but it's the best version!The cast was tremendous including young future stars Mandy Pantinkin and Debra Winger in small but funny roles. Valérie Quennessen is a revelation..she went on to star in Summer Lovers 3 years later but died young in a tragic car accident. Miles Chapman does an awesome Woody Allen type performance and David Marshall Grant is fantastic. The writers Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck also penned the classic American Graffitti and the first draft of Star Wars (uncredited). I admit to loving this movie for personal reasons as I traveled abroad after high school and lived in Italy for a while and experienced life changing things like the characters in this movie. I highly recommend traveling whether you are young or old. It broadens your heart and mind.

I'm just watching the new DVD release of French Postcards and I'm sorry to say they have substituted all the music with elevator muzak. This is really a shame in that the original music soundtrack was one of the best things about this film. It was French language versions of pop hits such as "Do You Believe In Magic?" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" that was most memorable. This is still a fine film and I recommend it but I wish they would bring back the original soundtrack. I remember seeing this film on HBO back in the eighties when they ran the same film ten times a day and I would watch it just for the soundtrack. I advise you try to find an old VHS version with the original music. Also Debra Winger's role is so small it's ridiculous they try to promote it as "starring Debra Winger".

i have just ordered "french postcards" from amazon.com. (a VHS version is the only thing i could find.) i am looking forward to seeing it for the first time. the reason i am curious about the film is that Valérie Quennessen. the reason i got curious is that i recently saw (for the first time in 25 years) "summer lovers." that movie was ALMOST a very good character study--it couldn't seem to decide whether it want to be as such, or a soft-porn erotic movie. anyway, i did a quick internet search on valerie and was kind of stunned to learn that she died in a car crash at age 31 in 1989. very sad. i also was enticed by the fact that after "summer lovers," she all but bagged Hollywood in favor of a family life. (i would like to know if she ever married and/or had children.) i respect the fact that she had just starred in a hit movie and then tossed it all away for a better purpose. anyone with some details on her life, please post them.

This film is a must see for anyone who has ever been an American exchange student abroad. It perfectly captures the mixture of foreignness and familiar that is part and parcel of the exchange experience. The different types of approaches that one might have to an exchange year abroad are well illustrated.It is, by no means, a great film, but it continues to endure in my memory as a good representation of what my year in Brazil, broadly speaking, was like. Lots of attractive actors, beautiful scenes and a surprising amount of humorous and witty dialog.I have this on videotape, but the soundtrack has been changed from the original release and the subsequent showings on HBO. The most noticeable change is the opening scene on the bus. Madame Tessier is welcoming the new exchange students to France and tells them they need to immerse themselves in French culture and leave America behind. The bus driver, irritated with her prattling, pops in a tape of a band doing a French version of Do You Believe In Magic (The Lovin' Spoonful). It totally captures how American culture has infiltrated the world's cultures. In the videotape release they replace this song with some generic pop music. They must not have been willing to pay for the musical rights to the song. It's not quite as effective, but it is still a great start to a fun, romantic movie about coming of age in a foreign land.This truly is a delightful, lite film that will give you a 95 minute taste of living abroad. Rent it if you can and hope that it shows up on DVD sometime soon.