Vignettes #21

I have a friend of mine who now is professor for Catholic theology. He has worked on the topic of movies depicting the life of Jesus and therefore is an expert on that topic, but otherwise a very regular moviegoer as well. He was at my cinema quite often.

This friend has the peculiarity that you could never pin him down to express his own opinion on a given subject openly. This might be reasonable in some cases working as a teacher, but in private conversation it can get a bit unnerving.

One evening he joined my friends and myself at the pub. We were discussing the best movies of the previous year. A film magazine had published a top 10 list, and we were talking about what we would have considered our favourite 10.

So we asked this friend which movies he would put in his own personal list. The expression on his face instantly signalized that he felt like we were pressuring him into something he did not want to reveal. He hesitated quite long, so I asked him he surely goes to the movies so often, there must certainly be some titles he particularly liked.

His ultimate reply was, and more he would not disclose: "Well, yes, I saw a lot of little French films that were very good, but I can't remember the titles."

Ever since my friends and I use the term "little French film" to describe an artsy fartsy European movie whose title is not worth to remember.