While Rick was gone I indulged myself in a few old movies that I love to watch. One of them was French Kiss with Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan. I was spurred on to watch it by blogger friend Steve's recent visit to Paris. He showed photos of the La Tour Eiffel, or the Eiffel Tower, which made me think of the movie. 

Part of the movie takes place in Paris and Meg Ryan's character, Kate, wants so badly to see the Eiffel Tower. It's there in a lot of scenes but every time she turns to catch sight of it, either the lights are turned out on it for the night at the very moment she turns around or something blocks her view. She does finally see it on the train out of Paris headed to Nice but both Rick and I have taken the train out of Paris to the South and you don't get a view of the tower like she did. Nor is the tower able to seen from many of the places she was. Ah, the poetic license of the film industry! 

But that doesn't take away from the charm of this film. Not at all. The main premise is Kate is afraid to fly and doesn't accompany her fiancé to Paris as they had planned. While in Paris without her, he meets a gorgeous French woman and breaks off their engagement. Kate overcomes her fear of flying to get Charlie (Timothy Hutton) back and flies to Paris. She meets Kevin Kline on the plane and circumstances continue to throw them together. I won't tell you the whole plot but that's the gist of it.

I love Meg Ryan with her little girl innocence against Kevin Kline's worldliness. Kevin obviously speaks French very well and does so with a great French accent that is not over the top. He even has the French "phfff" down. The French have this habit of blowing air out through pursed lips which makes their cheeks puff out, making a sound like "phfff" only more drawn out than that. It's hard to describe but they do it all the time. It's the same kind of gesture like shrugging your shoulders and holding up your hands, or saying eh. Both he and Meg also say oui like a French person would, where it comes more from the back of the mouth with your mouth more closed than open, kind of like if you were trying to say the work quack. Again, hard to describe but they both nailed the pronunciation.

The whole soundtrack is wonderful with plenty of old French classics. If you sit through the closing credits you can even hear Kevin Kline sing "La Mer" en français. I love that song. 

Gorgeous scenery from both Paris and Nice and places in-between the two cities is worth watching this movie for alone, but the comedy is just as good with a little romance thrown in.

If you've never seen it I highly recommend it. If you have seen it, then watch it again!

Photo: Paris's little sister, Lyon, was not be outdone by their big sister so they erected their own small version of the Eiffel Tower which stands next to the Basilique Notre-Dame on top of Fourvière hill. Kind of funny! It used to have an elevator and a restaurant but now it's just used as a television tower. Photo taken on vacation in Lyon in 2010.