A great way to avail yourself to French movies (and learning more French, particularly if you listen to the original French while reading the English subtitles) is through Netflix. Many of Netflix’s foreign films are French, and they get many of these films typically within a year after they are released in their native country. My husband and I recently watched Blind Date (French title: Un Peu, Beaucoup, Aeuglément), starring French star Clovis Cornillac, a quirky romantic comedy. Cornillac wrote the screenplay for this film with his wife, Lilou Fogli, and directed it.

While Americans might not know who Clovis Cornillac is, he is a veritable film star in France. In this movie, Cornillac takes the lead role as a cranky and introverted inventor who lives in a building with VERY thin walls. A shy musician, played by Mélanie Bernier, moves next door, and they strike up an antagonistic relationship first before becoming more friendly. Of course, they will become the subjects of this romantic comedy, as they fall in love with one another without ever laying eyes on each other (or ever wanting to, for that matter). The title of the film in French, Un Peu, beaucoup, aveuglément literally means “a little, a lot, blindly.” While they eventually do meet (which might lead to a happy ending…), Cornillac and Bernier refer to each other, cutely, as Machin (Who’s it) and Machine (What’s it). Of course, many of these comedic nuances do not come across in the translation.

Un Peu, beaucoup, aveuglément won the Prix du public (Spectator’s Prize) at the Colcoa Festival in 2015.

Here’s the brief synopsis provided by the production company:

Lui est inventeur de casse-têtes. Investi corps et âme dans son travail, il ne peut se concentrer que dans le silence. Elle est une pianiste accomplie et ne peut vivre sans musique. Elle doit préparer un concours qui pourrait changer sa vie. Ils vont devoir cohabiter sans se voir…

(He is an inventor of puzzles. Invested body and soul in his work, he can’t concentrate except in complete silence. She is an accomplished pianist and can’t live without music. She has to prepare for an important competition that could change her life. They will need to live together without seeing one another…)

And here’s the official trailer for this movie:

Make sure to check out this heartwarming movie on Netflix, and let us know what you think in the comments below!