There are many reasons why I like this film very much. Firstly, the heroine (Kiberlain) is a very interesting character. She's not an ordinary heroine. She's not entirely virtuous nor evil. While she tries to protect herself from those greedy guys, she also does a very cruel thing to the pitiful Comtesse. However ruthless she is, I can't help cheering for her when she deals with those cunning guys with her quick wit.
Secondly, I think this movie is tremendously exciting. It moves with a relentlessly energetic pace. The excitement I get from this movie is as much as, if not more than, what I get from horror films. This movie makes me feel as if I am watching a horror film in which the heroine has to think fast, move fast, and act fast in order to survive. Instead of using murderous situations and physical fighting, False Servant uses love situations and verbal weapons. The heroine lives in a very risky situation, but her weapon here is her words, and sometimes her money. She must use her words or her lies to seduce, to convince, to persuade, or to cheat others, so that she can survive, or to be the last winner of this game.
I also like very much that the situations in this movie change very rapidly. Every time I think the heroine is safe and can control the game, the situation reverses. There are many times she nearly gets caught or unmasked by other characters, but she still outwits them time and again by creating new elaborate and convincing lies instantaneously. Moreover, the characters she deals with are not easy to cheat. They all have their own clever plans.
Another thing I like very much is the beauty of the dialogue. Most sentences said in this movie are very pretty and witty, and that quality is hard to find in other movies. I saw this movie 3 times, and I find that the more I see it, the more I adore its flowery dialogue and admire the person who translated it from French to English. I wonder how beautiful the original French dialogue is, because the dialogue in the English subtitle makes me feel overjoyed.
I also like that this movie doesn't try to be romantic. There are too many movies about a girl dressed as a boy and then falling in love with a boy. But in False Servant, the heroine doesn't disguise herself and fall in love. She does it in order to destroy the guy. Her disguise doesn't lead her to discover how nice the man is, but leads her to discover how crooked, untrustworthy, heartless, selfish, and greedy the man is. That's quite different from other movies, and that can relate very well to modern audience, I think.
Another thing that I like is that the movie relies solely on the power of its dialogue. The dialogue alone can make this movie much more entertaining than those movies with luxurious settings and costumes. I also like that this movie doesn't hide its fictitiousness. I think that quality goes very well with its insincere characters.
One technique used in this film is quite funny. It's when the characters turn their faces away from other characters and speak out what they think to the audience or the camera. One scene in this movie is also worth mentioning. It's the scene when Trivelin tells Lelio about what happens between the heroine and la Comtesse in the garden. I like that this movie doesn't have to show the garden scene to the audience directly. The audience can visualize that garden scene clearly just by listening to the words of Trivelin. This movie may be made with a very low budget, but it is really rich.
Secondly, I think this movie is tremendously exciting. It moves with a relentlessly energetic pace. The excitement I get from this movie is as much as, if not more than, what I get from horror films. This movie makes me feel as if I am watching a horror film in which the heroine has to think fast, move fast, and act fast in order to survive. Instead of using murderous situations and physical fighting, False Servant uses love situations and verbal weapons. The heroine lives in a very risky situation, but her weapon here is her words, and sometimes her money. She must use her words or her lies to seduce, to convince, to persuade, or to cheat others, so that she can survive, or to be the last winner of this game.
I also like very much that the situations in this movie change very rapidly. Every time I think the heroine is safe and can control the game, the situation reverses. There are many times she nearly gets caught or unmasked by other characters, but she still outwits them time and again by creating new elaborate and convincing lies instantaneously. Moreover, the characters she deals with are not easy to cheat. They all have their own clever plans.
Another thing I like very much is the beauty of the dialogue. Most sentences said in this movie are very pretty and witty, and that quality is hard to find in other movies. I saw this movie 3 times, and I find that the more I see it, the more I adore its flowery dialogue and admire the person who translated it from French to English. I wonder how beautiful the original French dialogue is, because the dialogue in the English subtitle makes me feel overjoyed.
I also like that this movie doesn't try to be romantic. There are too many movies about a girl dressed as a boy and then falling in love with a boy. But in False Servant, the heroine doesn't disguise herself and fall in love. She does it in order to destroy the guy. Her disguise doesn't lead her to discover how nice the man is, but leads her to discover how crooked, untrustworthy, heartless, selfish, and greedy the man is. That's quite different from other movies, and that can relate very well to modern audience, I think.
Another thing that I like is that the movie relies solely on the power of its dialogue. The dialogue alone can make this movie much more entertaining than those movies with luxurious settings and costumes. I also like that this movie doesn't hide its fictitiousness. I think that quality goes very well with its insincere characters.
One technique used in this film is quite funny. It's when the characters turn their faces away from other characters and speak out what they think to the audience or the camera. One scene in this movie is also worth mentioning. It's the scene when Trivelin tells Lelio about what happens between the heroine and la Comtesse in the garden. I like that this movie doesn't have to show the garden scene to the audience directly. The audience can visualize that garden scene clearly just by listening to the words of Trivelin. This movie may be made with a very low budget, but it is really rich.