Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo
Quasimodo d’El Paris is a hard movie to sell. It’s a comedic modern re-telling of a tragic romantic-period book. The styles and tones are in opposition to each other. That is not to say there isn’t some silly scenes in the book but at the end of the day The Hunchback of Notre Dame is not a happy silly story. So what is the plot of this movie?
Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Richard Berry as Frollo
Basically Quasimodo d’El Paris takes on a fairly simple story with some aspects of the book plot woven in. Very quickly, in a place, I’m guessing a Town, called El Paris there have been a slew of murders on women. People blame the Cubans a.k.a the outsiders but then they suspect the hunchback in the bell-town, Quasimodo. Quasimodo is really just an accessory to the murders as he just assists unknowingly. The real murder is Frollo, his care-taker. Frollo is doing these murders for the people’s savalation or something and hiding the bodies in gargoyle statues. Frollo is really just bat-shit crazy in this movie.
Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda
This is a hard plot to really analyze because it’s secondary. The whole of the movie is a gimmick, a novelty. I don’t even mean that in a bad way. It’s a silly modern Hunchback version, that’s its concept. The murder plot really just facilitates the Hunchback points and to be honest it gets confused towards at point like at the end. Like Quasimodo has Esmeralda in the Cathedral protecting her against her will, Frollo wants her, plus the the police outside want Esmeralda and Quasimodo but Frollo is protecting Quasimodo but wants him to give up Esmeralda. It’s just a little weird as the movie has present it, which could be the fault of editing.
Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo & Melanie Thierry as Esmeralda
I don’t hate movie, I’m more confused by it, in terms of the style, humor and its take on the characters which was always the heart of the story. So let’s just leave the plot behind since there was too much too it outside the hunchback bullet points and get to characters.
Next Time Quasimodo
Patrick Timsit as Quasimodo
*I more than likely will discuss the Hunchback modernization later, as in what things worked and what didn’t. Though in all honestly I think a lot of the things the tweaked to bring it in to a modern setting did work.
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Nice post, can’t wait to see the characters posts, mostly Frollo, because he looks funny in this movie. Wish I could watch it, but only found it in french…
Hey, I am not sure if this is the best place to post this comment, but…
I know you are a fan of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and you have an AMAZING blog.
But I though you might be interested in some “gypsy music a dancing” because of Esmeralda. I am from Brazil, and once we had a Soap Opera called “Explode Coração” which was about gypsies… anyway, the music and dance were very beautiful, brazilian romani dance different from the other because of many influences from many cultures, including afro, spanish and portuguese.
The dances were instructed by a real romani woman. You can watch some dancing on the link I am sending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhtKfA-OLr0
I am sorry for this not being exclusively about HOND, but I’d like to share it anyway, since I am a romani girl. I hope you like the video, and you don’t need to post the comment, since I belive it isn’t in the right section anyway. But if you want to, go ahead! ;)
You have a really nice website, and I am happy to see someone who is fan of Hugo’s work doing a great job, unfortunately he isn’t very popular in Brazil… Have a nice weekend ;)
p.s I believe the dance from the begining would be very cool for Esmeralda
Sarah, it’s really nice to know a brazilian romani! I have to say I watched the video you suggested and really liked it, the woman dancing is quite charming, I loved her dance (wish I could dance like her… or dance at all). The music is wonderful, wish I knew the name… it is passionate! Kisses to Brazil!