Reviews

I wasn't sure where this movie was going at first, but as it picks up the pace there is little doubt as to whom the nous in the title refers.

When Huppert says "Je tu manque" (pardon my French it is I hope close) "I miss you" she might as well be declaring the love that is boiling out of her. But there is the problem of the spouses to be resolved, and the children. Needless to say all is reconciled and true love triumphs.

I have seen this movie at least three times now and love it more each time. There is a tenderness between most of the characters (one is a lout pure and simple) but the others all strive to reconcile who they are to to events that enfold them. Their struggles hit all of the right notes (with the possible exception of a very steamy sex scene on a train which just doesn't work for me)

It is a tear jerker at times, but a beautiful tear jerker. and so I always did like those forties movies.

I never expected the tears. I never expected the emotion. I was swept away by the epic story and came crashing to earth when the troops took over. All this despite the fact that I do and did know who Isabelle Allende is and I was aware of the history of coups in S. America. I loved the people with the notable and chilly brilliant exception from Jeremy Irons (Can we ever really love his incredible characters?)

Another underrated movie that seeks much and delivers well although at times with a bit too much telegraphing (the bathing scene with the young Blanca for example.)

It was a three hankie movie in the end, A great three hankie movie.

metro_alma@earthlink.net

Despite my high hopes, I was totally unprepared for the force of this film. It has the soul of Drugstore Cowboy a touch of the glamour of Gia, the artistry of When Night is Falling and then more.

Acting-characterization. Greta the German actress is a bit obtuse, one would like to know more of her, but she is so totally lost in a drug induced haze that we could never find her anyway. The rest of the cast is simply brilliant. James, the boy friend who is right when he surmises that Syd is being used by her magazine staff, but oh so wrong in how to give support offers just the right amount of attitude then does what we knew he would do.

Ultimately it is the love story of Lucy and Syd.and both actresses deliver believable and fearless portrayals. One could not help wondering from where does all of the raw talent in this movie come. I asked myself time and again who is this director/writer? and where has she been hiding.

If there is one disappointing, jarring note about this film it is that it will never get the attention that it deserves. I loved Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, but comparing that role to Ally Sheedy's performance here is like comparing eighth grade poetry to Adrian Rich.

There is hope for American film. ironically it lies in this depressing tale of love, affliction and addiction.

From the opening title sequences we are drawn into a world torn between the veneer of civilization and the desperate struggle of the caves. Two very different and yet lonely souls meet and fall in love. Cliched, yes, but it is not the concier of love that drives this film, it is the inevitable conflict, the inevitable discovery that all is not as it seems. there is something dreadful haunting the serenity of the Dordogne valley and chabrol is going to give it every twist and turn it deserves.

Stephane Audran and Jean Yanne are not the most likely lovers, yet once they meet their attraction works we believe in them. We hope with Helene for the best and we fear with Popaul for the worst in humanity.

Ultimately the truth must come forth and when it does we believe in the truth of the moment. The characterizations are flawless. This is perhaps Chabrols best work dark moody and so tightly constructed that one must remember to breathe. (Though I must confess that I loved The Story of Women- and Madame Bovary as well)

metro_alma@earthlink.net

Claude Chabrol has made many excellent films and I count myself as one of his great fans, but I have been disappointed in not only this film but also L'Enfer. Another commenter said you are never sure who is opening the family mail, it never occured to me that it might have been Sophie, nor does it now that I have thought about it.

The story of the two misfits fails because they too quickly brought together with a wasted sexual undercurrent (this is what we are not sure of). The reclusive employers of Sophie are likewise not quite approachable. What is their secret why do they have so much trouble finding maids. Why does the husband want to fire Sophie so quickly.

In short there is no good motivation for the charaterizations and when the big moment comes we are saying finally.

Compare that to the early Chabrol film Le Boucher. In this film we are aware of the butcher's probability of guilt and wait with growing tension as the inevitable confrontation takes place. Meanwhile the couple inexplicably but surely falls in love and the scene for tragedy and betrayal is well set. Oh yes there are unanswered questions, why is the teacher alone, why in this town, but these questions are not central to the stories movement.

Oddly enough the only great moment in la Ceremonie (and where does that title come from?) is the final scene as the steel doors (figuratively) close tightly around the remaining character.

It is often hard to believe the quality of some people's early works. One wonders where they can go. One also wonders how the humor of Fearless Vampire Killers could come from the dark depths that produced this film. Deneuve is brillant as the sexually troubled young woman whose descent is chronicled by Polanski's script and direction.

Perhaps you have known a Carol. I have and this Carol rings true. Her actions are convincing and completely within character. Even the family portrait gives a hint of things to come. Was it daddy, some other man, or no man? My money is on dad but that is irrelevant to the film.

No it is not an enjoyable film, but it is intriguing, revealing and truthful.

Woody has sunk to a new low. Rampant mscogyny, non stop narcissism and no plot to get in the way. Add to it the jerky "documentary" style cuts and you have the longest movie experience in recent history.

To put it into one word, Stink-a-roo!

At times this movie seems like a love story for cynics, and yet it has more passion, grace, wit, and beauty in any five minutes than in any movie I can remember seeing recently save perhaps Ridicule which it much resembles.

The score is rapturous, the cinematography divine. Romeo and Juliet the way they might have actually lived.