French Flix Fix from Netflix

Looks like much of the country is going to have a wet Labor Day - the perfect excuse to stay indoors and watch some good French films via Netflix streaming. By the way, why do the French not celebrate Labor Day? Perhaps because every day in France is a celebration of the laborer, what with the 35-hour work week, 6-week vacations, and retirement in your fifties.

Back to the films, Bicycling with Molière is clever and entertaining, one of these play-within-a-play things, except that in this case, the play in question, Molière's The Misanthrope, is playing out in real life while a celebrated TV actor tries to convince a real-life misanthrope to come out of retirement to play in the production of The Misanthrope that the TV actor is staging. Fabrice Lucini is terrific as the misanthrope.

Another film I saw recently is 2 Autumns, 3 Winters. More typically French, meaning there's not much of plot, and a little offbeat, I found myself drawn into this drama about a couple who meet by chance -- twice. A good rainy day movie. To stay abreast of other French films streaming on Netflix (or playing in a theatre near you), check out the website frenchflicks.com. But check these two films out soon - Netflix can easily yanketh what they giveth.