Line #28 Film/GreenCard


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Greencardposter_2781.jpg]]
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3	''Green Card'' is a 1990 romantic comedy film directed by Creator/PeterWeir, starring Creator/AndieMacDowell and Creator/GerardDepardieu.
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5	Georges (Depardieu) is a Frenchman hoping to get a Permanent Resident Card--in common parlance, a "green card"--allowing him to live in the United States. Brontë ([=MacDowell=]), is a brash American woman hoping to get an apartment, but the co-op board of the apartment building is accepting only married couples, not singles. They band together for mutual convenience and make a show marriage. The two dislike each other immediately, but with the Immigration authorities closing in, they must pull together to make their marriage act seem believable. As is typical of [[RomanticComedy Romantic Comedies]], the two overcome their differences and begin to fall in love, leading to an atypical ending for the format...
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7	Creator/BebeNeuwirth plays Brontë's best friend Lauren, who is attracted to Georges.
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9	----
10	!!This film provides examples of the following tropes:
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12	* BittersweetEnding: Atypical for the format and is semi famous for it. Georges' green card application is rejected. With his deportation to France imminent, George says that he'll write her every day, with the same question:
13	-->'''Georges''': When are you coming, cherie?
14	* BookEnds: The film begins and ends in the same African-themed diner. Georges and Brontë rendezvous there at the beginning before getting married, and part there at the end.
15	* CitizenshipMarriage: The whole plot, and Georges' motivation for the scheme--marrying Brontë will allow him to get a green card and avoid deportation.
16	* GrayRainOfDepression: Brontë sits in her kitchen and watches the rain pour, as she thinks she and Georges have parted ways (she does not know he is being deported).
17	* HollywoodLaw:
18	** Immigration is not going to come to your house to scope you out, nor will they interview your neighbors, nor will they expect you to know minutiae like your partner's choice of face cream. In fact, for RuleOfDrama, the movie in general greatly overestimates the difficulty of obtaining a green card in this situation.[[note]]What actually happens? You make an application and get an appointment. You go to the immigration office for an interview where the official checks your ID papers and your wedding license. You provide a little proof that you're really married and living together, like bills, or pictures (Brontë and Georges fake the pictures), or testimonials from people who know you. Then you get your green card, unless there's a specific reason not to issue it, like a criminal conviction.[[/note]]
19	** At the same time, however, the movie omits an easy check that INS absolutely ''would'' do. Georges and Bronte come up with a cockamamie story, explaining away Georges' extended absence by him being on safari in Africa. The problem is that this cover story would be exploded by simply checking Georges' passport, which a RealLife INS officer absolutely would do at the interview. Georges' passport obviously would not have any entry or exit stamps to anywhere in Africa.
20	* LegFocus: As both Brontë and Georges are separately getting undressed for bed and the air is thick with sexual tension, she sticks out a long leg and peels off some hose.
21	** ToplessnessFromTheBack follows before Brontë gets into pajamas.
22	* MarriageBeforeRomance: Brontë and Georges join in a sham marriage to get a green card to the US and a good apartment. They can't stand each other, and are hunted by the INS, before they realise they love each other.
23	* MeaningfulEcho: When writing his absurd fake love letter from Africa to Brontë, Georges ends it by saying that he will ask her every day, "When are you coming, cherie?" At the end as they are tearfully parting, he says "I write every day. And the letters will will always say the same thing. 'When are you coming, cherie?'" He is, of course, inviting her to come live with him in France.
24	* MeetCute: An engineered one, as Brontë and Georges are introduced so they can get hitched in a marriage of convenience.
25	* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: Brontë has a neighbor, Mrs. Bird, who is maybe four feet tall. She's a cranky old lady who complains about the INS coming by to interview her about Georges and Brontë.
26	* OddCouple: The film's premise. Brontë is a rather uptight, persnickety woman, while Georges is a bluff, boisterious man.
27	* RomanticFakeRealTurn: Georges and Brontë. They pretend to be in love so he can get a green card, but naturally, they fall in love for real.
28	* RomComJob: Georges is a composer. Brontë is a gardener/landscape artist who specializes in making over barren, rubble-strewn bits of urban decay into green spaces.
29	* SayingTooMuch: How Georges blows the interview and winds up getting deported. Georges, supposedly proving that he knows Brontë, rattles all kinds of info like exactly how tall she is and what color her tooth brush is. Gorsky from INS asks what brand of face cream Brontë uses. Georges gets this wrong (or rather, he gets it right and doubts himself and then gets it wrong). Then he absent-mindedly mutters to himself "''That's the only answer I keep forgetting''." Gorsky picks up on this immediately, gives him a hard look, and says "You remember all the other answers?" And with that the jig is up and Georges confesses.
30	* SingleIssueLandlord: Why Brontë wants in on the scheme. She can only get the apartment she badly wants if she's married.
31	* StrawVegetarian: To make the audience root for Brontë and Georges, her boyfriend Phil has to be a RomanticFalseLead. So Phil's made out to be annoying and pretentious by making him a vegetarian who is extremely snooty about it. When Phil says he doesn't eat meat a surprised Georges says "Why?" Later, when Georges is throwing Phil out of Brontë's apartment he yells "I do not like vegetarians!"
32	* TitleDrop: A couple of times, like when Gorsky the INS guy mentions "illegal aliens marrying for residency status and a green card."
33	* VoiceoverLetter: Actually read out loud, as Brontë and Georges write out fake love letters that they supposedly sent each other while he was in Africa.
34	* WeddingRingRemoval: For much of the film Brontë is doing this routinely, putting on the ring for, say, meeting an INS official, while taking it off while she is going about her daily business. In fact it's her putting the ring back on at the end that shows she's committing to the marriage.

Context Film / GreenCard