A Paper Wedding (1989)

Paper Wedding presents us with an interesting premise. What if you fell for the chap that you were supposed to be married to just for pure convenience's sake? And then bogs it down with a pure chat-a-thon between the two leads, even though you probably know what will happen at the end, that by the end you're about ready to fall asleep. Geneviève Bujold and Manuel Aranguiz play the two central characters thrust into each other's lives when a visa marriage is under scrutiny. Because of this the immigrant has to live with the Canadian woman she marries so they can study each other before a magistrate rules on their fate. I suppose all the acting is fine, but there's hardly any action going on, which deadens the pace quite a lot. Even though this was a thankful 90 minutes, it does tend to bog down quite a lot. Finally, what's with the transfer of the film to DVD? The whole thing looks impossibly grainy.

Bujold plays Claire, a loveless, near 40 woman who agrees to marry Pablo, a poet who will be deported and imprisoned(or worse) unless he becomes a Canadian citizen. They marry but the immigration officials are after the truth and take them to court. The outcome is predictable but the French script is clever and the acting, especially by Bujold, is charming. A worthwhile film from Quebec television.

A moody, magnificently shot, and quite pure vision of the plight of a political immigrant and the similar plight of a forty year old professeur (GB) whom love has evaded. This is so unpretentious, thoughtfully shot, beautifully acted, touching, and so simple, in a way, you wonder why it was not a great success. It had the problem, in legitimate release in the US, to be up against a piece of navel fluff, Green Card, with the ubiquitous Depardieu and some forgettable actress. Now on video from a small company in Sherman Oaks (!) I think.Bujold has been in a lot of stinkers (not necessarily her fault) but she always is fine, despsite the material. This is, along with Choose Me, just top flight.

"A Paper Wedding" appears to have been the inspiration for the American movie "Green Card", but it's a subtler, more serious and more satisfying film. A lonely Canadian college professor enters into a marriage of convenience with a Latin American refugee so that he can remain in the country. Pursued by a suspicious immigration official, they're forced to live together and learn about each other. Romantic in a delightfully low-key way.