Olivier, Olivier

couldn't see any reference already listed to the tickle scene in this french movie from 1991. it's kind of a strange scene with an incestuous feel to it.

the movie's about a little boy (olivier) who mysteriously disappears one day in rural france and then years later is found as a teenager living on the streets of paris. there's the whole question of whether or not this kid is actually olivier. it's a really good movie, but also worth seeing for this scene:

olivier's older sister, now also a teenager, seems to have some intense feelings for their mother, as a result of the mother's obsession with olivier. there's a scene where the daughter is wearing a towel and talking with the mom in her room. they start goofing around, and the daughter starts tickling the mom, they fall on the bed, daughter on top, and her towel falls off. this is when olivier walks in and sees them, and they stop. it's a VERY odd scene... definitely has an erotic feel to it.

anyway, i'm sure some of you who haven't caught this one will want to check it out!! yes, it's got subtitles.

This would be a great one for some kind soul to make a clip of (hint hint PLEASE )) because international films are often hard to get ahold of.

you shouldn't have a hard time finding this one.. just look in the foreign film section at the video store. this is an award-winner by a famous director. (the same guy who did "europa europa" and "the secret garden")

of course, if someone can manage a clip, then you'll see the good part, but you'll be missing a good movie, too!

Our local library had a VHS copy of this film. I like French films in general anyway and hearing there's a tickling scene in this one only heightened my interest.

It's a very good film in and of itself but be forewarned that it has a few emotionally raw, graphic and disturbing scenes sprinkled throughout. So take a pass if you're squeamish about these things.

The mother/daughter tickling took me a little off-guard since I didn't know exactly when it would occur. The mother breezes into her daughter's room (it's a pigsty) and opens the windows to let some fresh air in. The daughter, clad only in a bedsheet, defiantly jumps up and objects, saying, "It's cold. I hate drafts, you understand?". The daughter then grabs her mother under the arms and maneuvers her away from the window, pushing her back onto the bed.

Clearly there's a power play going on here between child and adult but what starts as a tense physical confrontation abruptly becomes playful as the girl begins tickling her mother in the ribs. The mother laughingly says, "Stop...you've gone crazy!" but the girl continues. "Will you leave it closed?" she asks. The mother gives in. The girl tickles her some more and says, "You're too excited, huh?" and both begin laughing together.

I think the scene is meant to suggest (in an admirably economical way)the emotional intimacy that's developed between the two since Olivier disappeared and the husband/father long ago left them both to go work in a distant country.

It does have an air of incestuousness to it and it carries a whiff of eroticism as the girl (17 or so) ends up lying naked on top of her mother, sans bedsheet. But I'm wondering if this suggestion was intentional or does it just reflect the casual way in which the French seem to regard these things? Maybe our "uptight" American sensibilities project too much onto it?