French Critics Are Underwhelmed by ‘The Woman King,’ Positive Reviews For ‘Blonde’

It’s the weekend which means my blabbering mouth will be talking about “The Woman King.” The film is projected to make around $7 million this weekend — it has decent legs, not going down without a fight etc.

Okay, calm down, I’m half-joking here. For all you folks tired of the ‘King’ bashing, I’ll try to refrain after this final post.

Now, it gives me great pleasure to share the news that French critics did not take the “representation” bait like US critics did and that “The Woman King,” a film I found utterly conventional and bland, is underwhelming critically in France with a 2.6 rating on AlloCine (the French equivalent of Rotten Tomatoes).

One review I pulled is a 1-star pan from Les Inrock:

A historical action epic that, for all the exoticism of its setting, revels in a very Westernized, almost fetishized, interpretation of African culture.

I’m sorry, I can’t help it, here’s another from Telerama:

Ultimately, The Woman King offers nothing more than to change the gender and color of the main character of a predictable story, and to substitute white heroes for black heroines.

I’m looking forward to the Cahiers du Cinema review, which should be in newsstands very soon. It’s probably also a pan. Maybe it’s because my fluent tongue is French, born and raised, but there is most definitely a cultural divide in the reactions.

Meanwhile, in another surprising turn, French critics are much warmer to Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” than American are, giving it a 3.6 average rating on AlloCine. Another sharp contrast between Anglo and Franco tastes since US critics have been panning Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe biopic.

Some of this year’s best-reviewed films on AlloCine include Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” (4.5), Dominic Moll’s “La Nuit Du 12” (4.5), Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” (4.4), Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir: Part II” (4.3), Rodrigo Sogoyen’s “As Bestas” (4.2) and Jordan Peele’s “Nope” (4.1).