French Kiss (1995 film)

French Kiss is a 1995 romantic comedy film directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. Written by Adam Brooks, the film is about a woman who flies to France to confront her straying fiancé and gets into trouble when the charming crook seated next to her uses her to smuggle a stolen diamond necklace. French Kiss was filmed on location in Paris, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région of southeastern France, and Cannes. The film was released in the United States on May 5, 1995, and received mixed reviews. The film was a success and went on to earn a total worldwide gross of $101,982,854.

A Hindi remake of the film named Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha was released on July 24, 1998. The 2004 Malayalam comedy film Vettam was also based on French Kiss.

It was the last movie to be shot by cinematographer Owen Roizman before his death in 2023.

Plot
American history teacher Kate lives in Canada with her fiancé Charlie, a doctor. When Charlie urges her to accompany him to Paris for an upcoming conference, she declines, partly due to her fear of flying, her intolerance for cheese and the stereotypical idea she has about the French.

Days later, Charlie calls Kate, saying he has fallen in love with French woman Juliette and will not be returning. Determined to win him back, Kate boards a flight to Paris and is seated next to Frenchman Luc Teyssier, whom she instantly dislikes.

Unknown to Kate, Luc is smuggling a vine cutting and a stolen diamond necklace into France, hoping to use both to start his own vineyard. To tolerate Luc long enough to arrive in Paris, Kate gets drunk. Before deboarding, Luc sneaks the vine and necklace into Kate's bag, knowing she will not be searched at customs.

At the terminal, Luc is spotted by Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon, who searches his bag. Jean-Paul knows of Luc's vocation, but feels "protective" of him as Luc once saved his life. Meanwhile, Kate arrives at Charlie's hotel.

While waiting in the lobby with thief Bob, Kate sees Charlie and Juliette kissing and faints. Bob steals her bag and leaves as Luc arrives. After reviving Kate, Luc realizes who has the necklace, goes with Kate to Bob's apartment, and recovers the bag, absent her money and passport.

Upset, Kate heads off on her own, and learns that Charlie is traveling to Cannes to meet Juliette's parents. Luc, meanwhile, realizes the necklace must still be in Kate's bag. He tracks her down to the train station, offers to help her "win back Charlie", and together they board a train to Cannes. That evening, Luc sees Charlie's picture from Kate's locket. After Kate falls asleep, he tries to check the bag during which she, thinking it is Charlie, kisses him.

The next morning during breakfast, she describes it as a 'delicious dream' with which she woke up 'transformed,' only to sample some of the 452 official government cheeses of France, despite being lactose intolerant. She eventually gets an upset stomach and is ill. They get off the train at Luc's hometown of La Ravelle in Paulhaguet and stay at his family home and vineyard. Kate learns about Luc's past and how he gambled away his vineyard birthright to his brother in a hand of poker; she also learns that while he may be a schemer, he knows about wine, and dreams of someday buying land for his own winery. As they board the train to Cannes, Kate shows him that she, in fact, has the necklace.

At Cannes, they check into a hotel room using a stolen credit card. Following Luc's advice, Kate confronts Charlie in front of Juliette on the beach, pretending to be indifferent to him. To make him jealous, Luc pretends to be Kate's lover, and it works. Later that afternoon, Jean-Paul approaches Kate, urging her to convince Luc to return the necklace anonymously to avoid jail. Luc was planning to sell the necklace at Cartier, but agrees to Kate's "new plan" to have her sell the necklace, as that would be safer.

At dinner, Charlie apologizes to Kate and accompanies her to her room, where he tries to seduce her. Rejecting his advances, Kate realizes she no longer wants him, as she has fallen in love with Luc. Meanwhile, in an effort to "ensure victory" for her, Luc takes an all-too-willing Juliette to bed, seducing her, but his plan fails when he calls her "Kate".

The following morning, Kate tells Luc that Charlie wants her back, but quickly leaves the room, saying, "Cartier is waiting". She returns the necklace to Jean-Paul and purchases a Cartier cheque for $45,782 with her own savings to create the illusion that she sold it. After giving the cheque to Luc, she leaves for the airport pretending to meet Charlie. Jean-Paul then approaches Luc and reveals the charade and all that Kate has done for him. Luc rushes to the airport, boards the plane, and confesses his love for her, wanting her to stay with him. Kate and he later kiss and embrace in their new vineyard.

Cast

 * Meg Ryan as Kate
 * Kevin Kline as Luc Teyssier
 * Timothy Hutton as Charlie Lytton
 * Jean Reno as Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon
 * François Cluzet as Bob
 * Susan Anbeh as Juliette
 * Marie-Christine Adam as Juliette's mother
 * Jean-Paul Jaupart as Juliette's father
 * Renee Humphrey as Lilly
 * Michael Riley as M. Campbell
 * Laurent Spielvogel as Concierge
 * Victor Garrivier as Octave
 * Élisabeth Commelin as Claire
 * Julie Leibowitch as Olivia
 * Miquel Brown as Sgt. Patton
 * Claudio Todeschini as Antoine Teyssier
 * Jerry Harte as Herb
 * Thomasine Heiner as mom
 * Barbara Schulz as a pouting girl
 * Clément Sibony as a pouting boy
 * Adam Brooks as Perfect Passenger
 * Patrice Juiff as French Customs Official
 * Jean Corso as Hotel George V Desk's clerk
 * François-Xavier Tilmant as hotel waiter
 * Williams Diols as beach waiter
 * Mike Johns as Lucien
 * Ghislaine Juillot as Jean-Paul Cardon's wife
 * Alain Frérot as Old Man

Pre-production
The lead role of Luc was originally written for Gérard Depardieu, but Kevin Kline accepted the role when Depardieu was not available for the film.

Filming
Principal photography took place from September 17 to December 22, 1994. French Kiss was filmed primarily in Paris, the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France, and Cannes.

In Paris, scenes were shot at the Hotel George V, where Kate has her encounters with the supercilious concierge. The hotel lobby was used for the scene where the petty thief Bob steals Kate's bag after she faints. Several scenes show the Eiffel Tower in the background—the one site Kate longs to see most but keeps on missing. A phonebooth on Champs-Élysées near the Arc de Triomphe was used for the scene where Kate calls Charlie's mother. Scenes were also filmed at the American Embassy at 2 Avenue Gabriel, and the Canadian Embassy at 35 Avenue Montaigne. The scene where Luc throws money on the sidewalk was filmed at the corner of rue Paul-Albert and rue Feutrier in Montmartre.

Driving scenes in Paris were filmed in front of the Louvre near the Louvre Pyramid, along the Rive Droite, and on Rue des Rosiers, where Luc drives down a narrow, winding cobblestoned street. Additional Paris scenes were filmed at the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, the Grande Pharmacie de la Place Blanche at 5 Place Blanche, the Palais de Chaillot, and Place des Abbesses, where Kate and Luc discuss his "little problem". The final scene filmed in Paris was at the Gare Saint-Lazare train station, where Luc is chased by Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon while trying to board a train south to Cannes.

In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, the small village of Valbonne, about fifteen minutes north of Cannes, was used for several scenes, including the scene where Luc fights with his brother in the main village square in front of the Hotel les Armoiries, an old seventeenth century building. Other scenes were filmed at the train station and nearby vineyards around La Ravelle, 84240 La Tour-d'Aigues, The train station near Meyrargues, Bouches-du-Rhône, was also used in one scene.

In Cannes, several exterior shots of the Carlton Hotel were used to represent where the four main characters stay. There are interior scenes of the lobby and the brasserie used for morning breakfasts. Other scenes filmed here include the beach in front of the hotel along with the adjacent waterfront—in particular the Cartier boutique on the next corner. The grape harvest scenes were filmed at Château Val Joanis in Pertuis, Vaucluse. Studio scenes were shot at Paris Studios Cinéma.

Title
The film was originally titled Paris Match, a play on the name of the famous French newsmagazine. However, the title had to be changed after Billy Crystal challenged it with the MPAA as being too close to that of his own Paris-set romantic comedy Forget Paris, released just two weeks later.

Soundtrack
The French Kiss Original Soundtrack album was released by Mercury Records on CD on May 9, 1995. It peaked at 170 on the Billboard 200.

Critical response
French Kiss was released in United States on May 5, 1995, and received mixed reviews. In his review in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle wrote that director Lawrence Kasdan "takes what could have been a fluffy comedy with lots of plot complications and picturesque scenery and instead puts his focus on the important things: on the characters played by Ryan and Kline and how they happen to be feeling." LaSalle also applauded Kasdan's sense of subtle comedy:

"With his attention in the right place, Kasdan comes up with ways of using the setting to make emotional points. For example, though the film doesn't go out of its way to make you notice, Ryan keeps missing out on getting to see the Eiffel Tower. It's behind her as she's riding in a car, or she's turning toward it a second after they've turned out the lights. She doesn't know what she's missing—until eventually she does." LaSalle found Kline's performance "extraordinary" and that he not only perfected the accent but the "speech rhythms and the manner as well." LaSalle also praised Ryan's comic timing, which "continues to delight."

In her review in The Washington Post, Rita Kempley, giving it a mixed review, wrote that the film "isn't as passionate as the title suggests—in fact, it's facile—but Ryan and Kevin Kline, as her attractive opposite, are irresistible together." Kempley applauded the acting performances:

"Kline's hilariously hammy l'accent puts Inspector Clouseau's to shame; his performance is the zaniest since A Fish Called Wanda. Ryan's Kate is even pickier than the heroine in When Harry Met Sally... and melts just as endearingly. She and Kline spar convincingly; Doris Day and Rock Hudson had sexier scenes, but none this romantic."

In his review in the Chicago Sun-Times, a disappointed Roger Ebert wrote, "The characters in this movie may look like adults, but they think like teenagers." Although he acknowledged that the film was not without its charms—Paris and Cannes being "two of the most photogenic cities on earth"—Ebert concluded, "Kline's Frenchman is somehow not worldly enough, and Ryan's heroine never convinces us she ever loved her fiancé in the first place."

In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film a "romantic comedy with barely a laugh or a spark, and with a pace that makes it feel longer than Mr. Kasdan's previous work, Wyatt Earp."

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 48% based on reviews from 27 critics with a weighted average of 5.6/10. The consensus summarizes: "French Kiss is effervescent like good champagne but its spirit fizzles in a film that isn't as intoxicating as its stars." On Metacritic, another aggregator, the film holds a weighted average score of 50 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
The film earned $38,896,854 in the United States and an additional $63,086,000 in international markets for a total worldwide gross of $101,982,854.

Home media
French Kiss was released in United States on video on February 6, 1996. It was released in DVD format by 20th Century Fox on January 18, 2000, and in Blu-ray format by 20th Century Fox on January 8, 2013.