French Postcards


French Postcards is a 1979 romantic-comedy film starring Miles Chapin, Blanche Baker, David Marshall Grant, Valérie Quennessen, Debra Winger, Mandy Patinkin, Marie-France Pisier and Jean Rochefort about a group of American exchange students who spend a year studying in Paris. Madame Catherine Tessier, who with her husband, Monsieur Tessier, directs and teaches at "The Institute", takes special interest in Alex, whose ambition is to experience Parisian life; Madame Tessier's interest extends beyond the classroom and into her bedroom. Debra Winger and Mandy Patinkin co-star in this comic, coming-of-age tale co-written by American Graffiti screenwriters Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, who also directs.

Plot

The story line primarily follows three American students as they feel their ways through a year of studies at The Institute in Paris: Laura, who ostensibly narrates the goings-on of the film with the postcards she sends to her boyfriend back home; Alex, whose interests aren't so much in studying but with love and life in Paris; and Joel, who can't quite seem to live with the courage of his convictions. Alex becomes ensnared in a tryst with his instructor, and Joel falls in love with Toni, a local bookstore employee. American students were used as extras in the movie.

Cast