Le Festin / See you in Paris, Ratatouille!

Php8,000 Meralco bill unsettled less than 24 hours from now = isolated blackout. Sweldo = ubos. Kulang pa nga. Jaira’s Enfalac = half-empty.

It’s good that when I’m this close to snapping, I can go to Paris—thanks to that lovely, lovely song Le Festin (The Feast) from Pixar’s Ratatouille OST that transports me all the way there….

Jamais on ne me dira que la course aux étoiles, ça n’est pas pour moi
Laissez-moi vous émerveiller, prendre mon envol
Nous allons enfin nous réga . . . ler

La fête va enfin commencer
Et sortez les bouteilles, finis les ennuis
Je dresse la table, demain nouvelle vie
Je suis heureux à l'idée de ce nouveau destin
Une vie à me cacher, et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin
Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin. . .

…so goes the chorus and last verse. Oh, how the song just makes everything picturesque! It’s on endless loop mode on my PC right now and things are just dandy, at least in the meantime. I can touch pale yellow and rust fixtures on wooden counters, smell freshly-brewed espresso and feel my heels clicking down cobblestone streets lined with dandelions and Marguerite des près...

Funny all throughout with a generous serving of French entrees and cute moments of rats flipping spices and herbs into boiling pots (I know, whoever thought this picture could be cute!), the movie for me was a much-needed break from my then worsening-by-the-day work anxieties.

But my life these days is on hyper-hurdle mode; work issues have been replaced by, uh, broke-ness, and mom-unrest. If you’ve read my aforementioned analogies, we’ll experience isolated blackout by tomorrow if we don’t pay that Meralco bill (primer: Raffy and I are living with my family, including my mom, to help them out with the bills. Unfortunately, we’re ending up paying everything ourselves. And it’s not like we’re earning enough for seven people.)! This problem alone is enough to fill my panic quota for the day.

Gustaeu, the master chef in the movie, has this motto, “Anyone can cook!” which got me thinking for a good 20 seconds—not that I don’t cook because I do, I do, I do! It was just that, well, it struck me that if “anyone can cook,” then anyone can dance, anyone can sing, anyone can make loads of money….LOL. Really, it gave a bright side to everything about my life right now. No matter how impossibly telenovela-like it is at the moment.

But more than the movie, I am loving the song Le Festin. Aside from that instant Paris effect, the lyrics translate beautifully, too. More than hopeful, the song is brave.

Here’s the English version of the verses in French above:

Never will they tell me that I cannot shoot for the stars;
Let me fill you with wonder, let me take flight
We will finally fea . . . st.

The party will finally start
And bring out the bottles, the troubles are over
I'm setting the table; tomorrow is a new life
I am happy at the idea of this new destiny
A life spent in hiding, and now I'm finally free
The feast is on my path
A life spent in hiding, and now I'm finally free
The feast is on my path…

Give it a spin, and I’ll see you in Paris, mon cher!

Thanks to my dear Karla, who gave KC and myself free passes to Greenbelt theater the Thursday before last, I was able to watch the movie AND share a splendid night-out with two of the best 20-something girls I know .