Mary+Altamuro

**Cap Ou Pas Cap? (Are You Game or Not?)**
Comparing "The Taming of The Shrew" to "Jeux d'enfants (Love Me if You Dare)"

Countless times, "love at first sight" has been proven and disproved in film, writing and music. In "The Taming of The Shrew," Bianca and Lucentio's love is shown to have been love at first sight for Lucentio, while Petruchio and Katherine are shown to have hated each other at first, and then to have grown to love each other. In the 2003 movie "Jeux d'enfants" (or under the English title: Love Me if You Dare), neither Julien or Sophie believe in love at first sight, though they are portrayed to have fallen victim to it.

Petruchio and Katherine never believe that they will fall in love, they believe that they will be miserable together, but that there is nothing that they can do about it. They know nothing about each other but what they have heard from others and seem to have nothing in common at first besides everyone thinking they are both crazy. Julien and Sophie are best friends and their relationship grows stronger everyday. They love everything about each other and have since they met. Nobody understands their relationship, but they don't care, so long as they have each other.

Both pairs make for interesting entertainment as they both are the only people who truly understand each one another. People who see these relationship may even see the relationships as abusive, but do not do anything to stop them, because they know that they are meant for each other.

Love at first sight is an extremely controversial concept. People either believe in it wholeheartedly, or believe that it is the most ridiculous thing they have ever heard of.

I found the effect of love-in-idleness..."
(The Taming of The Shrew, Act 1, Scene1, Lines 150-154)

In this quote from "The Taming of The Shrew," Lucentio is describing to Tranio how he fell in love with Bianca just at the sight of her. He never thought "love at first sight" was possible until it happened to him, and now he knows he must have her for himself and for always, or he shall perish.



Before this scene, Julien and Sophie fight because Sophie sees him flirting with Aurélie Miller (who "gets around" a lot). Sophie says this doesn't upset her and that Julien can do whatever he wants with whomever he wants, but if he hooks up with Aurélie, she want him to bring back her earrings. After obtaining Aurélie's earrings, Julien asks Aurélie, "Do you believe in love at first sight?" She says "Yeah...," thinking that he will say that he is in love with her. His only response is "Naive!" He then walks away from her, obviously on his way to give Sophie Aurélie's earrings. Although Julien is being extremely insensitive towards Aurélie, it is hard to feel sorry for her, because you know that he loves Sophie, and that she loves him (even though they haven't realized it yet). This situation causes a wonderful sort of tension in the gut of the audience.

Now, if you love me, stay.
(The Taming of The Shrew, Act 3, Scene 2, Line 209)

In this quote from "The Taming of The Shrew," it seems that Katherine is truly trying to play by the rules of Petruchio's game. She tries to get Petruchio to stay fro the banquet after their wedding, but he will never do anything that she wants. He still has to tame her, and keep up his act.



Knowing that Sophie is game for anything, Julien dares Sophie to kick the man that they have been slapping all day where it will really hurt him. After that, the scene cuts to Julien and Sophie walking "together" but on opposite sides of the street while Sophie holds her wrist in pain and tells Julien to apologize to her. His refusal makes for a frustrating moment for both of them, which turns to sexual frustration. Sophie dares Julien to kiss her, and he complies. They then kiss on top of a car and then run away when the driver begins to yell. They then continue to kiss when they are safely away. Breaking the kiss, Sophie says to Julien, "Love me," to which he replies "Game!" This is a completely unsatisfactory response for Sophie and she criticizes Julien for thinking that everything is a game. She is obviously hurt and thinks that he does not love her as she loves him.

The audience knows that Julien and Sophie both feel the same way about each other, and every moment of doubting this from either Sophie or Julien makes them want to scream in frustration.

That's how movies about love attract such a broad audience. They show many struggles in what would be a perfect relationship and make you want everything to just work out, right now. Everyone wants to see that love, and love at first sight just a more powerful way to show this. It gives the audience that instant connection that they want to happen between the couple.