It is the spring of “Baby Reindeer.” Netflix’s addictive limited series about a struggling comedian (Richard Gadd) working at a bar who makes the biggest mistake of his life when he gives a lonely woman (Jessica Gunning) a cup of tea on the house is the most watched series currently on the streamer and viewership is growing. And the fact that it’s based on a true story, makes “Baby Reindeer” even more creep and chilling. It’s a must-see voyeur thriller.
The same was true in the fall of 1987 with Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction.” Audiences flocked to the hard R-rated thriller which starred a wild-haired Glenn Close as an editor with a publishing company who has one-night stand with a happily married attorney (Michael Douglas) whose wife and daughter are out of town. Though it’s “understood” that it’s just a fling, Close’s Alex just won’t let go.
The same was true in the fall of 1987 with Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction.” Audiences flocked to the hard R-rated thriller which starred a wild-haired Glenn Close as an editor with a publishing company who has one-night stand with a happily married attorney (Michael Douglas) whose wife and daughter are out of town. Though it’s “understood” that it’s just a fling, Close’s Alex just won’t let go.
- 5/2/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Isabelle Adjani has been found guilty of tax fraud in Paris courts.
The “Possession” actress was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and fined €250,000, as Variety reported. IndieWire has reached out for comment.
The court found that Adjani set up her permanent residency in Portugal between 2016 and 2017 to avoid paying €236,000 in taxes. Additionally, the star did not declare €120,000 when depositing the funds into a U.S. bank account, and also disguised a €2 million donation into a loan. The investigation was opened in 2016, with a case of alleged fraud in business expenses leading to a second investigation in October 2020. A business associate had filed a complaint against Adjani in 2015 leading to the case.
Adjani’s attorney Olivier Pardo told Variety that they will be filing an appeal after the courts “relentlessly” prosecuted the actress. In October 2023, financial prosecutors had requested a suspended sentence of 18 months as well as a €250,000 fine; the...
The “Possession” actress was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and fined €250,000, as Variety reported. IndieWire has reached out for comment.
The court found that Adjani set up her permanent residency in Portugal between 2016 and 2017 to avoid paying €236,000 in taxes. Additionally, the star did not declare €120,000 when depositing the funds into a U.S. bank account, and also disguised a €2 million donation into a loan. The investigation was opened in 2016, with a case of alleged fraud in business expenses leading to a second investigation in October 2020. A business associate had filed a complaint against Adjani in 2015 leading to the case.
Adjani’s attorney Olivier Pardo told Variety that they will be filing an appeal after the courts “relentlessly” prosecuted the actress. In October 2023, financial prosecutors had requested a suspended sentence of 18 months as well as a €250,000 fine; the...
- 12/14/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Isabelle Adjani received a two-year suspended prison sentence and was fined €250,000 for tax fraud in a Paris court on Thursday, Variety has confirmed.
Adjani, one of France’s most revered female actors, was found guilty of setting up her permanent residency in Portugal between 2016 and 2017 to avoid paying €236,000 in taxes, depositing €120,000 into a U.S. account without declaring it and disguising a €2 million donation into a loan, per the Afp.
Adjani, who was Oscar-nominated for “Camille Claudel” and “The Story of Adele H.,” has denied these claims and will be filing an appeal, her lawyer, Olivier Pardo, told Variety.
Back in October, the financial prosecutors had requested a suspended sentence of 18 months on top of a €250,000 fine, but the judges gave Adjani a bigger sentence.
“We are dismayed by this ruling,” Pardo said. “Isabelle Adjani couldn’t attend the trial, and we had asked to reschedule it so that she...
Adjani, one of France’s most revered female actors, was found guilty of setting up her permanent residency in Portugal between 2016 and 2017 to avoid paying €236,000 in taxes, depositing €120,000 into a U.S. account without declaring it and disguising a €2 million donation into a loan, per the Afp.
Adjani, who was Oscar-nominated for “Camille Claudel” and “The Story of Adele H.,” has denied these claims and will be filing an appeal, her lawyer, Olivier Pardo, told Variety.
Back in October, the financial prosecutors had requested a suspended sentence of 18 months on top of a €250,000 fine, but the judges gave Adjani a bigger sentence.
“We are dismayed by this ruling,” Pardo said. “Isabelle Adjani couldn’t attend the trial, and we had asked to reschedule it so that she...
- 12/14/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Director/Tfh Guru Allan Arkush discusses his favorite year in film, 1975, with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Rules of the Game (1939)
Le Boucher (1970)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)
Topaz (1969)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary
The Innocents (1961) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)
Rope (1948) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
The Awful Truth (1937) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Duck Soup (1933) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Going My Way (1944)
Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary
M*A*S*H (1970)
Shampoo (1975) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Bonnie And Clyde (1967) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Nada Gang (1975)
Get Crazy (1983) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Night Moves (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – Katt Shea’s trailer...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Rules of the Game (1939)
Le Boucher (1970)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)
Topaz (1969)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary
The Innocents (1961) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)
Rope (1948) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
The Awful Truth (1937) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Duck Soup (1933) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Going My Way (1944)
Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary
M*A*S*H (1970)
Shampoo (1975) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Bonnie And Clyde (1967) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
The Nada Gang (1975)
Get Crazy (1983) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Night Moves (1975) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – Katt Shea’s trailer...
- 9/20/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Say what you will about Quentin Tarantino, but he never backs down from a controversial take. The filmmaker has made a career out of his ability to elevate the exploitation films he loves into high art, and has never shied away from defending the cinema that inspired him. And his tendency to appreciate the lowbrow is matched by a willingness to criticize some of cinema’s most revered figures when he thinks the praise they get is unwarranted.
The September issue of Sight & Sound features an interview with Tarantino and his “Video Archives Podcast” co-host Roger Avary and highlighted several notable clips from their podcast. Per usual, Tarantino didn’t mince words when discussing his film opinions. When discussing the films of Claude Chabrol on an episode of the show, he found time to criticize the work of François Truffaut, particularly the thrillers that the director made later in his career.
The September issue of Sight & Sound features an interview with Tarantino and his “Video Archives Podcast” co-host Roger Avary and highlighted several notable clips from their podcast. Per usual, Tarantino didn’t mince words when discussing his film opinions. When discussing the films of Claude Chabrol on an episode of the show, he found time to criticize the work of François Truffaut, particularly the thrillers that the director made later in his career.
- 8/27/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The 2022 Oscar nominees for Best Actress are Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penélope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”), and Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”). Our current odds indicate that Chastain (17/5) will take the prize, followed in order of probability by Colman (39/10), Kidman (4/1), Stewart (9/2), and Cruz (9/2).
Stewart is the only first-time nominee among the five, as each of her competitors has been involved in at least two past acting contests. Kidman’s resume is the longest, consisting of three previous lead bids for “Moulin Rouge!” (2002), “The Hours” (2003), and “Rabbit Hole” (2011) and a supporting one for “Lion” (2017). She triumphed on her second outing and is now looking to become the 15th woman to win a bookend Best Actress trophy.
Colman also has a shot at achieving a second lead victory, having prevailed here three years ago for “The Favourite.” Her second career nomination came...
Stewart is the only first-time nominee among the five, as each of her competitors has been involved in at least two past acting contests. Kidman’s resume is the longest, consisting of three previous lead bids for “Moulin Rouge!” (2002), “The Hours” (2003), and “Rabbit Hole” (2011) and a supporting one for “Lion” (2017). She triumphed on her second outing and is now looking to become the 15th woman to win a bookend Best Actress trophy.
Colman also has a shot at achieving a second lead victory, having prevailed here three years ago for “The Favourite.” Her second career nomination came...
- 3/26/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Fifteen years have passed since Penélope Cruz broke new ground as the first Spanish woman to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Although her performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish-language film “Volver” was passed over in favor of Helen Mirren’s in “The Queen,” she bounced back two years later by triumphing in the supporting category for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Now, based on her work in Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers” (their seventh collaboration), she may have another shot at lead glory. If she does land in the lineup, she will join an exclusive club as the fifth leading lady to be recognized for two non-English language performances.
The first woman to accomplish this feat was Sophia Loren, who was nominated for “Marriage Italian Style” (1965) after winning for “Two Women” (1962). Both are Italian-language films directed by Vittorio De Sica. After losing on her second outing to Julie Andrews (“Mary Poppins...
The first woman to accomplish this feat was Sophia Loren, who was nominated for “Marriage Italian Style” (1965) after winning for “Two Women” (1962). Both are Italian-language films directed by Vittorio De Sica. After losing on her second outing to Julie Andrews (“Mary Poppins...
- 2/6/2022
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Elvis Costello enlisted actress Isabelle Adjani for a French-language rendition of his Hey Clockface song “Revolution #49.”
For “Revolution #49 (Parlé),” Adjani adds spoken word passages — penned by Muriel Teodori — to the instrumental opening track of Costello’s latest album.
“When [the Attractions’] Steve Nieve’s partner, Muriel Teodori, told me that she thought Isabelle Adjani might consider reading the French adaptation that Muriel had made of my original text, I assumed that I must be dreaming”, Costello said in a statement. “What I didn’t know was Isabelle and Muriel had been friends...
For “Revolution #49 (Parlé),” Adjani adds spoken word passages — penned by Muriel Teodori — to the instrumental opening track of Costello’s latest album.
“When [the Attractions’] Steve Nieve’s partner, Muriel Teodori, told me that she thought Isabelle Adjani might consider reading the French adaptation that Muriel had made of my original text, I assumed that I must be dreaming”, Costello said in a statement. “What I didn’t know was Isabelle and Muriel had been friends...
- 1/15/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Germany's Oldenburg Film Festival will honor British cult director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) with a retrospective of his work.
Oldenburg will screen eight films featuring Robinson, from his early work as an actor in features such as Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H (1975); to Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (1984), for which Robinson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay; to his four features as a director: Withnail & I (1987), How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), Jennifer 8 (1992) and The Rum Diary (2011).
Despite his Oscar nomination for The Killing ...
Oldenburg will screen eight films featuring Robinson, from his early work as an actor in features such as Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H (1975); to Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (1984), for which Robinson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay; to his four features as a director: Withnail & I (1987), How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), Jennifer 8 (1992) and The Rum Diary (2011).
Despite his Oscar nomination for The Killing ...
- 8/23/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Germany's Oldenburg Film Festival will honor British cult director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) with a retrospective of his work.
Oldenburg will screen eight films featuring Robinson, from his early work as an actor in features such as Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H (1975); to Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (1984), for which Robinson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay; to his four features as a director: Withnail & I (1987), How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), Jennifer 8 (1992) and The Rum Diary (2011).
Despite his Oscar nomination for The Killing ...
Oldenburg will screen eight films featuring Robinson, from his early work as an actor in features such as Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H (1975); to Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (1984), for which Robinson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay; to his four features as a director: Withnail & I (1987), How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), Jennifer 8 (1992) and The Rum Diary (2011).
Despite his Oscar nomination for The Killing ...
- 8/23/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Isabelle Adjani, the Oscar-nominated star of François Truffaut’s “The Story of Adele H.” and Bruno Nuytten’s “Camille Claudel,” presided over the Cannes jury in 1997, the year of the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Heading the panel is “a very intense experience and at times a difficult mission when it comes to judging the work of other artists, and defending your emotions and ideas against those of other jury members,” says Adjani, who is a fan of incoming president Cate Blanchett. Adjani reportedly clashed with directors Mike Leigh and Nanni Moretti in choosing the winner of the 1997 Palme d’Or, with the jury eventually deciding to give the award to two films, Shohei Imamura’s “The Eel” and Abbas Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry.”
“The film world continues to be dominated by men,” says Adjani, one of the first and few French stars to have publicly voiced her support for the #MeToo movement.
Heading the panel is “a very intense experience and at times a difficult mission when it comes to judging the work of other artists, and defending your emotions and ideas against those of other jury members,” says Adjani, who is a fan of incoming president Cate Blanchett. Adjani reportedly clashed with directors Mike Leigh and Nanni Moretti in choosing the winner of the 1997 Palme d’Or, with the jury eventually deciding to give the award to two films, Shohei Imamura’s “The Eel” and Abbas Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry.”
“The film world continues to be dominated by men,” says Adjani, one of the first and few French stars to have publicly voiced her support for the #MeToo movement.
- 5/2/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
One of France’s more exotic actresses, Isabelle Adjani was born to an Algerian father and German mother near Paris, where she was raised. So her presence at this year’s Marrakech International Film Festival (December 2-10, 2016), where she received a tribute for her body of work, is something of a homecoming of sorts. (Algeria borders Morocco, after all.)
Read More: Paul Verhoeven Talks ‘Elle,’ ‘RoboCop’ As Jesus Metaphor, The Infamous Scene In ‘Basic Instinct’ & More [Interview]
Becoming the youngest nominee for a Best Actress award at the Oscars, when she was 19, for the film “The Story of Adele H” directed by François Truffaut, she was soon offered a huge number of roles in films as diverse as Werner Herzog‘s “Nosferatu the Vampyre” and Luc Besson’s “Subway,” and she’s since gone on to win five César awards.
Continue reading Isabelle Adjani Talks ‘Carole Matthieu,’ Her Relationship To Cinema...
Read More: Paul Verhoeven Talks ‘Elle,’ ‘RoboCop’ As Jesus Metaphor, The Infamous Scene In ‘Basic Instinct’ & More [Interview]
Becoming the youngest nominee for a Best Actress award at the Oscars, when she was 19, for the film “The Story of Adele H” directed by François Truffaut, she was soon offered a huge number of roles in films as diverse as Werner Herzog‘s “Nosferatu the Vampyre” and Luc Besson’s “Subway,” and she’s since gone on to win five César awards.
Continue reading Isabelle Adjani Talks ‘Carole Matthieu,’ Her Relationship To Cinema...
- 12/14/2016
- by Liza Foreman
- The Playlist
'Here's what's coming up the rest of this month on Best Shot if you'd like to join us. It's easy. You...
1) watch the movie
2) pick a shot, post it and say why you love it
3) let us know you did via twitter, email or comments and we link up
May 17th Queen Margot (1994)
Madwoman Isabelle Adjani stars in this blood-soaked, erotically-charged 16th century French epic which we figured is a great fit for a Cannes heavy week (the film won two prizes in its year including Best Actress for its unforgettable supporting actress Virna Lisi). Plus the last time we did an Adjani (The Story of Adele H) the articles were hot. Please join us if you haven't seen this one! [Streaming on Netflix]
May 24th Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
We pushed this back a month since it wasn't yet available to rent but it's time to revisit future jedi Rey as...
1) watch the movie
2) pick a shot, post it and say why you love it
3) let us know you did via twitter, email or comments and we link up
May 17th Queen Margot (1994)
Madwoman Isabelle Adjani stars in this blood-soaked, erotically-charged 16th century French epic which we figured is a great fit for a Cannes heavy week (the film won two prizes in its year including Best Actress for its unforgettable supporting actress Virna Lisi). Plus the last time we did an Adjani (The Story of Adele H) the articles were hot. Please join us if you haven't seen this one! [Streaming on Netflix]
May 24th Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
We pushed this back a month since it wasn't yet available to rent but it's time to revisit future jedi Rey as...
- 5/14/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Daliah Lavi had an odd career, when you think about it: ballet student, German pop singer, Israeli soldier and international film star, maybe best known for Casino Royale (the silly one). In 1963 she got the living crap beat out of her in two films, Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body, a ripe slice of S&M gothic horror with Christopher Lee as a flagellating phantom (maybe), and Brunello Rondi's Il demonio (The Demon), which is an even weirder piece of work.Rondi also had an odd career: an intellectual who provided regular screenwriting services for Fellini (La dolce vita, 8 1/2, Satyricon), his directing career slid rapidly into exploitation movies, crime to gialli to porno, which he appears to have attempted to imbue with some social commentary, with who knows what success? Il demonio is the first of his directorial efforts I've seen.Rondi plunges us into a strange world,...
- 4/28/2016
- MUBI
Glenda Jackson: Actress and former Labour MP. Two-time Oscar winner and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson returns to acting Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson set aside her acting career after becoming a Labour Party MP in 1992. Four years ago, Jackson, who represented the Greater London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate, announced that she would stand down the 2015 general election – which, somewhat controversially, was won by right-wing prime minister David Cameron's Conservative party.[1] The silver lining: following a two-decade-plus break, Glenda Jackson is returning to acting. Now, Jackson isn't – for the time being – returning to acting in front of the camera. The 79-year-old is to be featured in the Radio 4 series Emile Zola: Blood, Sex and Money, described on their website as a “mash-up” adaptation of 20 Emile Zola novels collectively known as "Les Rougon-Macquart."[2] Part 1 of the three-part Radio 4 series will be broadcast daily during an...
- 7/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
With the addition of Marion Cotillard’s lead actress nomination for the Belgian film Two Days, One Night, 32 actors and actresses have been nominated for their performances in foreign-language films. Cotillard was nominated for her role as a young mother and wife struggling to salvage her job in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes’ film, which was chosen as Belgium’s submission to the foreign-language category but failed to secure a spot on the Oscar shortist.
Though her performance did land a Critics’ Choice Award nomination, the Oscar nomination did come as a surprise for many pundits.
Cotillard was previously nominated for the French foreign-language film La Vie En Rose (2007) and won. She is one of six actors or actresses to win for a non-English role and is also the most recent winner.
The first acting nomination for a foreign-language performance went to Sophia Loren in 1962 for...
Managing Editor
With the addition of Marion Cotillard’s lead actress nomination for the Belgian film Two Days, One Night, 32 actors and actresses have been nominated for their performances in foreign-language films. Cotillard was nominated for her role as a young mother and wife struggling to salvage her job in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes’ film, which was chosen as Belgium’s submission to the foreign-language category but failed to secure a spot on the Oscar shortist.
Though her performance did land a Critics’ Choice Award nomination, the Oscar nomination did come as a surprise for many pundits.
Cotillard was previously nominated for the French foreign-language film La Vie En Rose (2007) and won. She is one of six actors or actresses to win for a non-English role and is also the most recent winner.
The first acting nomination for a foreign-language performance went to Sophia Loren in 1962 for...
- 1/21/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Today on Trailers from Hell, film editor Mark Helfrich talks French director Jean Becker's 1983 thriller "One Deadly Summer," starring Isabelle Adjani as a woman on the verge. Several years after her remarkable performance as the star-crossed Adele Hugo in Truffaut's "The Story of Adele H.," Isabelle Adjani essayed yet another young woman gripped by obsession in 1983's "One Deadly Summer." The story, about an unstable femme fatale's revenge against her mother's attackers has a definite exploitation bent but the presence of Adjani and the score by Georges Delerue elevate the proceedings. Adjani won a Cesar for her trouble and the film was France's second highest grossing film of the year. Nsfw.
- 6/2/2014
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Several years after her remarkable performance as the star-crossed Adele Hugo in Truffaut's The Story of Adele H., Isabelle Adjani essayed yet another young woman gripped by obsession in 1983's One Deadly Summer. The story, about an unstable femme fatale's revenge against her mother's attackers has a definite exploitation bent but the presence of Adjani and the score by Georges Delerue elevate the proceedings. Adjani won a César for her trouble and the film was France's 2nd highest grossing film of the year. Nsfw.
The post One Deadly Summer appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post One Deadly Summer appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 6/2/2014
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Adèle Exarchopoulos (‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’) and Cate Blanchett (‘Blue Jasmine’): Best Actress tie two years in a row at Los Angeles Film Critics Awards (photo: Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos in ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’) (See previous post: "James Franco Tattoos, Gold Teeth: Lafca Winners." Another non-Hollywood Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s selection was Best Actress co-winner Adèle Exarchopoulos, cited for her performance as a young woman who falls in love with blue-haired Léa Seydoux in Abdellatif Kechiche’s controversial Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color. The lesbian romantic drama also took home the Lafca’s Best Foreign Language Film Award. Blue was also the luckiest color, at least in the Best Actress category: Cate Blanchett was Exarchopoulos’ co-winner, for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, in which she plays a character somewhat similar to A Streetcar Named Desire...
- 12/9/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
My, those Cinema St. Louis guys are tres occupé! Hot off the heels of their Q-Fest (the St. Louis Gay and Lesbian Film Festival), the Classic French Film Festival starts up this week at the same location. Discover the French culture! The Classic French Film Festival is sponsored by TV5MONDE USA , the French channel in the Us. I’ve never watched it but I’m sure it’s very French!
A downloadable Pdf of the fest’s program can be found Here
http://www.cinemastlouis.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2013/fffest2013_3lores.pdf
The Cinema St. Louis page about the event is Here
http://www.cinemastlouis.org/classic-french-film-festival
All films will be shown in the Winifred Moore Auditorium, Webster University’s Webster Hall, 470 E. Lockwood Ave.
$12 general admission, $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members, free for Webster U. students
This is the Fifth Annual Classic French Film Festival,...
A downloadable Pdf of the fest’s program can be found Here
http://www.cinemastlouis.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2013/fffest2013_3lores.pdf
The Cinema St. Louis page about the event is Here
http://www.cinemastlouis.org/classic-french-film-festival
All films will be shown in the Winifred Moore Auditorium, Webster University’s Webster Hall, 470 E. Lockwood Ave.
$12 general admission, $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members, free for Webster U. students
This is the Fifth Annual Classic French Film Festival,...
- 6/10/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Geraldine Page in "Interiors"Years ago I took a weekend writing retreat to visit my great friend Nick (who you know and love as the man behind Nick's Flick Picks) and while discussing Julianne Moore in Safe and that weirdly specific mini Jodie Foster genre of Women Trapped in Small Spaces (planes, panic rooms... closets) we agreed that our mutual favorite kind of movie was not Dramas, Comedies, Musicals, or Horror but the rarely discussed Women Who Lie To Themselves™ subgenre -- we had to name it but it is so a genre!
You've seen multiple movies from this collection even if you didn't know it existed. In these awesome films, the female protagonist spends more time conversing with her own self delusion than with any actual co-star. The musical anthem of this celluloid sisterhood is Sally Bowles "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret (1972) and the patron saint is surely Eve...
You've seen multiple movies from this collection even if you didn't know it existed. In these awesome films, the female protagonist spends more time conversing with her own self delusion than with any actual co-star. The musical anthem of this celluloid sisterhood is Sally Bowles "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret (1972) and the patron saint is surely Eve...
- 12/7/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The halfway mark. Gulp. What do we have to show for it? Perhaps a renewed sense of purpose? We're crawling our way back after a very difficult May/early June. Here were ten highlights from the month that was.
Frock of Ages Joanna & I had a laugh -- make that several-- discussing recent premiere fashions
How Long Since You've Seen The Matrix? A look back at the beloved 1999 reality bender. "There is no spoon."
Seven Ways... that Waiting For the New James Bond Movie (Skyfall) is Exactly Like Waiting for the New Woody Allen Movie (To Rome With Love)
True Blood Sinks / Teen Wolf Rises time to pass the (supernatural) torch
On Screen Beauty and Jean Harlow who died young
Oscar Prediction Updates it had to be done.
Isabelle Adjani and The Story of Adele H "Best Shot" returned with a rarely discussed but interesting historic Oscar bid. "Best Shot" needs fresh blood.
Frock of Ages Joanna & I had a laugh -- make that several-- discussing recent premiere fashions
How Long Since You've Seen The Matrix? A look back at the beloved 1999 reality bender. "There is no spoon."
Seven Ways... that Waiting For the New James Bond Movie (Skyfall) is Exactly Like Waiting for the New Woody Allen Movie (To Rome With Love)
True Blood Sinks / Teen Wolf Rises time to pass the (supernatural) torch
On Screen Beauty and Jean Harlow who died young
Oscar Prediction Updates it had to be done.
Isabelle Adjani and The Story of Adele H "Best Shot" returned with a rarely discussed but interesting historic Oscar bid. "Best Shot" needs fresh blood.
- 7/1/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Previously on Season 3 of Hit Me With Your Best Shot...
Today we're officially back to weekly "Best Shot" posts with François Truffaut's biotragedy The Story Of Adele H (1975). For nearly thirty years French beauty Isabelle Adjani held the record for the Youngest Best Actress Nominee of all time; she was 20 when Adele H made her an international star. To add to Adjani's Oscar Curio factor, she still holds another record: she's the only actor or actress ever nominated twice for French language performances. Nomination #2 came for another biotragedy Camille Claudel (1988). [Marion Cotillard surely hopes to tie that particular Best Actress record later this year in Rust and Bone (2012).]
Adjani all but vanished from screens round about the time she and Daniel Day-Lewis procreated and split. The sensational Queen Margot (1994) and the reviled Diabolique (1996) with Sharon Stone were her last big draws so I assume many readers are unfamiliar and that this Best Shot subject would be a fresh choice. I did not however make the connection that...
Today we're officially back to weekly "Best Shot" posts with François Truffaut's biotragedy The Story Of Adele H (1975). For nearly thirty years French beauty Isabelle Adjani held the record for the Youngest Best Actress Nominee of all time; she was 20 when Adele H made her an international star. To add to Adjani's Oscar Curio factor, she still holds another record: she's the only actor or actress ever nominated twice for French language performances. Nomination #2 came for another biotragedy Camille Claudel (1988). [Marion Cotillard surely hopes to tie that particular Best Actress record later this year in Rust and Bone (2012).]
Adjani all but vanished from screens round about the time she and Daniel Day-Lewis procreated and split. The sensational Queen Margot (1994) and the reviled Diabolique (1996) with Sharon Stone were her last big draws so I assume many readers are unfamiliar and that this Best Shot subject would be a fresh choice. I did not however make the connection that...
- 6/29/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
We return to Season Three of the collaborative series Hit Me With Your Best Shot with not one but two tales of love-madness. I hadn't meant to pair them but I was so late with Possessed and it was time to bring the series back with The Story of Adele H. So there they were, two brunette screen goddesses Joan Crawford and (today's birthday girl) Isabelle Adjani, double-teaming me with their crazy-making sob stories of unrequited love. We'll cover Adele H tomorrow (yes, I'm running behind) but tonight, the first of these two Best Actress Nominated pictures.
Possessed (1947)
This 1947 noir stars the inimitable Joan Crawford as Louise, a woman who we meet after the events of the picture have taken place, wandering around in a daze looking for a man named "David". She is soon in a mental hospital and her back story, the story, begins to emerge. David (the...
Possessed (1947)
This 1947 noir stars the inimitable Joan Crawford as Louise, a woman who we meet after the events of the picture have taken place, wandering around in a daze looking for a man named "David". She is soon in a mental hospital and her back story, the story, begins to emerge. David (the...
- 6/28/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" returns from its month-long hiatus in two weeks. Will you join us? I'll try to catch up soon with Possessed (1947) which had terrible timing given my father's passing. Other than a short upcoming moment with Joan Crawford, what's next?
Wednesday June 27th - The Story Of Adele H. (1975)
For Isabelle Adjani's birthday (and considering that Victor Hugo madness will be heading our way at Christmas time) we'll look back at François Truffaut's Oscar nominated tale of obsessive love. Trivia: Adjani held the "youngest Best Actress nominee" record for three decades until a certain Whale Rider teared up.
*Thursday* July 5th -Picnic (1955)
Technically this is a Labor Day movie as opposed to 4th of July but the point is who wants to sit at home blogging on Independence Day? I've never seen this - hence the choice - but I hear it's...
- 6/12/2012
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
"French film director, producer and screenwriter Claude Miller, whose works include The Best Way to Walk [Le meilleur facon de marcher, 1976] and Class Trip [La classe de neige, 1998], has died aged 70," reports the Afp. "'A sad day, Claude Miller is dead,' tweeted the Cannes Film Festival, at which Miller was awarded the special jury prize in 1998 for Class Trip. Among other renowed works by the filmmaker are La Petite Voleuse (The Little Thief [1988]) which starred Charlotte Gainsbourg; Garde a Vue (Custody) in 1981; and Mortelle Randonnee (Mortal Circuit) in 1983."
Just a couple of weeks ago, Jonathan Rosenbaum posted his 1994 review of The Accompanist (1992): "Miller started out promisingly as an assistant to some key French filmmakers during the 60s, including Robert Bresson (Au hasard Balthazar), Jacques Demy (Les demoiselles de Rochefort), and Jean-Luc Godard (Weekend). He then served as production manager or production supervisor on Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her and La chinoise and no...
Just a couple of weeks ago, Jonathan Rosenbaum posted his 1994 review of The Accompanist (1992): "Miller started out promisingly as an assistant to some key French filmmakers during the 60s, including Robert Bresson (Au hasard Balthazar), Jacques Demy (Les demoiselles de Rochefort), and Jean-Luc Godard (Weekend). He then served as production manager or production supervisor on Godard's Two or Three Things I Know About Her and La chinoise and no...
- 4/5/2012
- MUBI
Film-maker best known for film starring a young Charlotte Gainsbourg as a teenage serial thief has died
The French film director Claude Miller, best known for L'Effrontée and La Petite Voleuse, both featuring a young Charlotte Gainsbourg, has died aged 70.
Before becoming a director himself, Miller worked for a number of noted new wave directors: he acted as assistant director on Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar, Jacques Demy's Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, and Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend, before becoming production manager for a string of films by François Truffaut, including Bed and Board, Day for Night and The Story of Adele H.
With Truffaut's encouragement, Miller moved into a higher profile role, making his directorial debut in 1976 with The Best Way to Walk. His first significant success, however, was the multi-award-winning police procedural thriller Garde à Vue, with Lino Ventura and Michel Serrault.
In the mid-80s, Miller...
The French film director Claude Miller, best known for L'Effrontée and La Petite Voleuse, both featuring a young Charlotte Gainsbourg, has died aged 70.
Before becoming a director himself, Miller worked for a number of noted new wave directors: he acted as assistant director on Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar, Jacques Demy's Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, and Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend, before becoming production manager for a string of films by François Truffaut, including Bed and Board, Day for Night and The Story of Adele H.
With Truffaut's encouragement, Miller moved into a higher profile role, making his directorial debut in 1976 with The Best Way to Walk. His first significant success, however, was the multi-award-winning police procedural thriller Garde à Vue, with Lino Ventura and Michel Serrault.
In the mid-80s, Miller...
- 4/5/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Jean Dujardin kissing Oscar statuette Best Actor Oscar winner Jean Dujardin kisses his Oscar statuette at the Governors Ball 2012. For his performance as a fading silent-film star in Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, Dujardin became the first Frenchman to win an Oscar in the acting categories: Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier, and Gérard Depardieu had all been nominated before, but none of them had ever won. (Photo: © A.M.P.A.S.) The list of Frenchwomen who either won or were nominated for Oscars in the acting categories is much more extensive. The French-born, American-raised Claudette Colbert was the Best Actress of 1934 for Frank Capra's comedy It Happened One Night. The other French Best Actress Oscar winners are Simone Signoret for Jack Clayton's 1959 British drama Room at the Top and Marion Cotillard for Olivier Dahan's French-language Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose. Additionally, Juliette Binoche was a...
- 3/6/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It still provides a chuckle
The history of The Academy Awards is littered with strange and inexplicable happenings: Revealed shortcomings, spontaneous pushups, "The winner is Paul Newman," Sandahl Bergman's interpretive dance to "Eye Of The Tiger" (admittedly, one of the highlights of my life).
And of course ... Snow White rolling on the river.
But aside from the odd ceremony moments, and the fashion drama on the red carpet, it's the Oscar errors in judgment that we remember the most.
A few weeks ago we discussed the Oscar nomination Sins Of Omission, so let's now take a look at the performers who actually won, and how The Academy still blew it.
The 2005 nominees for Best Actor were:
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote
Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
David Strathairn in Good Night and Good Luck
Terrence Howard in Hustle & Flow
Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line
And The Oscar Went...
The history of The Academy Awards is littered with strange and inexplicable happenings: Revealed shortcomings, spontaneous pushups, "The winner is Paul Newman," Sandahl Bergman's interpretive dance to "Eye Of The Tiger" (admittedly, one of the highlights of my life).
And of course ... Snow White rolling on the river.
But aside from the odd ceremony moments, and the fashion drama on the red carpet, it's the Oscar errors in judgment that we remember the most.
A few weeks ago we discussed the Oscar nomination Sins Of Omission, so let's now take a look at the performers who actually won, and how The Academy still blew it.
The 2005 nominees for Best Actor were:
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote
Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
David Strathairn in Good Night and Good Luck
Terrence Howard in Hustle & Flow
Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line
And The Oscar Went...
- 2/23/2012
- by snicks
- The Backlot
For its doodle marking what would have been François Truffaut's 80th birthday today, Google needed an iconic image. Not Catherine Deneuve or Gérard Depardieu in The Last Metro (1980) or Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H. (1975) or even Jeanne Moreau in Jules and Jim (1962), but rather, and most obviously, the young Antoine Doinel on the beach. The doodle's not exactly the famous final freeze frame but nevertheless very recognizably the young Jean-Pierre Léaud in what would be both the director's and the actor's debut feature, The 400 Blows (1959).
"It's fascinating to consider the similarities and the differences between François and Antoine," wrote Kent Jones in a 2003 essay for Criterion on Antoine and Colette (1962), the short film in which Antoine, all of 17, falls in love for the first time. Kent Jones notes that Truffaut has shifted the "cultural meeting ground" of the young lovers "from the cinematheque," where Truffaut,...
"It's fascinating to consider the similarities and the differences between François and Antoine," wrote Kent Jones in a 2003 essay for Criterion on Antoine and Colette (1962), the short film in which Antoine, all of 17, falls in love for the first time. Kent Jones notes that Truffaut has shifted the "cultural meeting ground" of the young lovers "from the cinematheque," where Truffaut,...
- 2/6/2012
- MUBI
Last night saw the first public word-of-mouth screenings for Steven Spielberg's War Horse as Dreamworks is attempting to create awareness in states other than New York and Los Angeles although other film bloggers will lead you to believe the studio is purposely avoiding the two film-centric states where awareness of the film is already assuredly high. The Film Stage collected a series of Twitter reactions from people who attended the screenings and by my count they are largely positive with the two negative reactions both declaring it "Oscar bait." Of course, I don't know who any of these people are so it's impossible to gauge any real opinion of the film, though based on this small set of opinions it would seem the public is liking what they see. Additionally, a screening of Young Adult took place at West Hollywood's New Beverly Cinema last night followed by a Q...
- 11/2/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
During Summer 2011 -- winding down at last! -- we've been asking Tfe readers to choose the most memorable Best Actress nominated film characters. Which film characters have you taken into your hearts and headspace most fully? Who is always popping into mind unbidden? Below are the latest voting results for August's polls covering the 1960s & 1970s (previous results: 1980s and 1991-2010). We used five year intervals for voting and asked readers to choose the 5 most memorable characters from each group of 25 Oscar nominees.
If you're looking for these polls to provide a "face" of an era it looks like Julie Andrews wins the early 60s -- she was thoroughly modern back then! -- and Faye Dunaway takes over from there for a long run at the top (1966-1980) [* indicates that it was an Oscar winning role.]
1961-1965
Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) Breakfast at Tiffany's Mary Poppins* (Julie Andrews) Mary Poppins [tie] Maria Von Trapp (Julie Andrews) The Sound of Music...
If you're looking for these polls to provide a "face" of an era it looks like Julie Andrews wins the early 60s -- she was thoroughly modern back then! -- and Faye Dunaway takes over from there for a long run at the top (1966-1980) [* indicates that it was an Oscar winning role.]
1961-1965
Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) Breakfast at Tiffany's Mary Poppins* (Julie Andrews) Mary Poppins [tie] Maria Von Trapp (Julie Andrews) The Sound of Music...
- 8/25/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
At her best, Adjani was always a victim going over the edge of sanity, and that seems to match Truffaut's account of her at work
It has never been safe to predict what Isabelle Adjani was going to do, or why. In 1974, François Truffaut was planning to make The Story of Adele H, about a daughter of Victor Hugo who falls in love with a young army officer and goes mad in her efforts to get him to return the love. He wanted someone new for the lead role, and was intrigued by Adjani in a recent hit comedy called La Gifle. Adjani was 19 and ravishing; but she was under contract as a stage actress to La Comédie-Française.
Truffaut pursued her. The theatre company declined to release her. The matter went to law. Adjani stayed quiet – but in the end she had her way. She would do Adele H. Truffaut...
It has never been safe to predict what Isabelle Adjani was going to do, or why. In 1974, François Truffaut was planning to make The Story of Adele H, about a daughter of Victor Hugo who falls in love with a young army officer and goes mad in her efforts to get him to return the love. He wanted someone new for the lead role, and was intrigued by Adjani in a recent hit comedy called La Gifle. Adjani was 19 and ravishing; but she was under contract as a stage actress to La Comédie-Française.
Truffaut pursued her. The theatre company declined to release her. The matter went to law. Adjani stayed quiet – but in the end she had her way. She would do Adele H. Truffaut...
- 5/19/2011
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
Film Experience has decided (sight unseen) that True Grit gal Hailee Steinfeld has Best Actress potential rather than the usual supporting-actress default accorded to young actresses. Why? In order to include her in their investigation of the youngest Best Actress nominees. Here is their list (winners are in bold): 1. Keisha Castle Hughes, Whale Rider (2003) was 13. Wow, well would you look at this? Either Jennifer Lawrence or Hailee would become #2 if nominated for Best Actress. 2. Isabelle Adjani, The Story of Adele H (1975) was 20. 3. Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice (2005) was 20 going on 21. 4. Ellen Page, Juno (2007) was about to turn 21. 5. Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God (1986) was 21 (She's the youngest winner ...
- 10/28/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
Another Oscar Trivia Explosion. This time it's the Actresses.
Jennifer Lawrence made quite a film-carrying impression in Winter's Bone this past summer. It was one of the leggiest arthouse hits in some time, playing for months, and wracking up $6+ million without a huge advertising budget or bankable stars and with grim subject matter. Well done. At Christmas Hailee Steinfeld will lead us on a revenge journey in True Grit. While we suspect she's the lead actress as well, people her age are almost always demoted to "Supporting" if they're sharing the screen with a big star as co-lead and she is. Hi, Jeff Bridges! But we're pretending she's an Oscar lead today so as to have double the excuse to make this list. Humour us, won'cha?
Imaginary Movie: Steinfeld. Lawrence. Winter's True Bone.
36 Youngest Best Actress NomineesAnd where Jennifer or Hailee would fit in, were they to be nominated. (Winning performances are in red.
Jennifer Lawrence made quite a film-carrying impression in Winter's Bone this past summer. It was one of the leggiest arthouse hits in some time, playing for months, and wracking up $6+ million without a huge advertising budget or bankable stars and with grim subject matter. Well done. At Christmas Hailee Steinfeld will lead us on a revenge journey in True Grit. While we suspect she's the lead actress as well, people her age are almost always demoted to "Supporting" if they're sharing the screen with a big star as co-lead and she is. Hi, Jeff Bridges! But we're pretending she's an Oscar lead today so as to have double the excuse to make this list. Humour us, won'cha?
Imaginary Movie: Steinfeld. Lawrence. Winter's True Bone.
36 Youngest Best Actress NomineesAnd where Jennifer or Hailee would fit in, were they to be nominated. (Winning performances are in red.
- 10/28/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Jose here.
As I was watching The Story of Adele H. yesterday it struck me how Isabelle Adjani is still one of the few actresses to have been Oscar nominated more than once for performances in a foreign language.
Only twelve actresses have received Best Actress nominations for non-English speaking roles (the Academy usually waits for them to work in Hollywood and then reward them...see Simone Signoret, Juliette Binoche, Ingrid Bergman and Penélope Cruz) and out of these ladies, only three have repeated; Adjani (75 and 89), Liv Ullmann (72 and 76) and Sophia Loren (61 and 64).
Out of them only Ms. Loren won.
This bears repeating and celebrating today, more than any other time, because it happens to be her birthday.
She was born, wait for it, 76 years ago in Rome where she spent her childhood dancing, playing the piano and migrating to the country after she was injured during an attack in WWII.
As I was watching The Story of Adele H. yesterday it struck me how Isabelle Adjani is still one of the few actresses to have been Oscar nominated more than once for performances in a foreign language.
Only twelve actresses have received Best Actress nominations for non-English speaking roles (the Academy usually waits for them to work in Hollywood and then reward them...see Simone Signoret, Juliette Binoche, Ingrid Bergman and Penélope Cruz) and out of these ladies, only three have repeated; Adjani (75 and 89), Liv Ullmann (72 and 76) and Sophia Loren (61 and 64).
Out of them only Ms. Loren won.
This bears repeating and celebrating today, more than any other time, because it happens to be her birthday.
She was born, wait for it, 76 years ago in Rome where she spent her childhood dancing, playing the piano and migrating to the country after she was injured during an attack in WWII.
- 9/20/2010
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
I was writing up my little filmbytes column for popbytes and decided to spotlight Jennifer Lawrence as a rising star.
I'm very curious as to whether or not tiny Roadside Attractions can push Winter's Bone towards Oscar as relentlessly as "Ree Dolly*" pursues her missing film dad. Jennifer is the film's best Oscar bet but perhaps it could go further than just Best Actress? For a gritty rural drama that doesn't exactly coddle its audience, I was surprised to learn recently that the movie has already grossed $3 million in a month's time. That's impressive. That means people, and not just critics, like it. When both civilians and critics like things, AMPAS voters often figure they might ought to watch it.
But how's this for a statistic? If Jennifer Lawrence, who is currently 19, does secure a robust campaign and then a Best Actress nomination in January, she'll be the second youngest nominee ever in that category.
I'm very curious as to whether or not tiny Roadside Attractions can push Winter's Bone towards Oscar as relentlessly as "Ree Dolly*" pursues her missing film dad. Jennifer is the film's best Oscar bet but perhaps it could go further than just Best Actress? For a gritty rural drama that doesn't exactly coddle its audience, I was surprised to learn recently that the movie has already grossed $3 million in a month's time. That's impressive. That means people, and not just critics, like it. When both civilians and critics like things, AMPAS voters often figure they might ought to watch it.
But how's this for a statistic? If Jennifer Lawrence, who is currently 19, does secure a robust campaign and then a Best Actress nomination in January, she'll be the second youngest nominee ever in that category.
- 7/21/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
tuesday top ten returns! It's for the list-maker in me and the list-lover in you
The Cannes film festival wrapped this weekend (previous posts) and the most recent Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes is still in the midst of a successful Us run. That Oscar winning Argentinian film came to us from director Juan Jose Campanella. It's his second film to be honored by the Academy (Son of the Bride was nominated ten years back). The Academy voters obviously like Campanella and in some ways he's a Hollywood guy. When he's not directing Argentinian Oscar hopefuls he spends time making Us television with episodes of Law & Order, House and 30 Rock under his belt.
So let's talk foreign-language auteurs. Who does Oscar love most?
[The film titles discussed in this article will link to Netflix pages -- if available -- should you be curious to see the films]
Best Director winners Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Milos Forman
(Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Please Note:...
The Cannes film festival wrapped this weekend (previous posts) and the most recent Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes is still in the midst of a successful Us run. That Oscar winning Argentinian film came to us from director Juan Jose Campanella. It's his second film to be honored by the Academy (Son of the Bride was nominated ten years back). The Academy voters obviously like Campanella and in some ways he's a Hollywood guy. When he's not directing Argentinian Oscar hopefuls he spends time making Us television with episodes of Law & Order, House and 30 Rock under his belt.
So let's talk foreign-language auteurs. Who does Oscar love most?
[The film titles discussed in this article will link to Netflix pages -- if available -- should you be curious to see the films]
Best Director winners Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Milos Forman
(Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Please Note:...
- 5/31/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut were the Lennon and McCartney of the French New Wave. Godard, the detached, acerbic one, was eggheaded and vinegary, a playfully acidic intellectual bomb-thrower who, as time wore on, acquired a streak of bitter accusatory leftism. (He became the postmodern Marxist Debbie Downer of cinephilia.) Truffaut, in dramatic contrast, was presentable and bittersweet and more or less harmonious, oriented by nature toward the establishment (though in the beginning, he tossed bombs at it, too), with a latent penchant for bourgeois sentimental craftsmanship that was enchanting at its best,...
- 5/27/2010
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW.com - The Movie Critics
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Poor Gael Garcia Bernal. Being a real-world sex object is burden enough, without having to deal with the string of fictional obsessive lovers in The Past, a film that finds it hard to imagine a fully sane female. Sex appeal and the name of director Hector Babenco may draw some to the art house, but with mixed critical response the crowd will likely be modest.
Adapting a novel by Argentinean writer Alan Pauls, the script sees through the eyes of a man whose flow from relationship to relationship is more seamless than decorum would dictate. At the story's beginning, Rimini is leaving Sofia, his wife of 12 years. The break (his idea, evidently) is amicable, with Sofia even finding him a great new apartment. As they finish establishing separate residences, all Sofia asks (beyond a continuing friendship) is that Rimini come over to sort through the couple's old snapshots to decide which memories he wants to keep.
A different kind of photograph immediately intrudes: A fashion shoot on the street, in which model Vera poses in lingerie, catches his eye, and soon they're meeting at a disco. Despite Vera's bizarre, first-date outburst of jealousy, and her proprietary attitude in dates to come -- not very convincingly drawn by either the script or actress Moro Anghileri -- he soon makes her his second wife.
Then there's Carmen, an old schoolmate who becomes Rimini's colleague as he segues from authoring Spanish subtitles for old movies to providing in-person translation for academic and business conferences. He develops a crush on her, and after a bit of presto-changeo melodrama, she's bride No. 3.
During all of this, first wife Sofia hangs frighteningly on the periphery, threatening to become Glenn Close. As it turns out, she has launched a sad little club, inspired by Truffaut's film The Story of Adele H., for women clinging to the hope of reuniting with men who have spurned them. When not urging lonely women to pursue their delusions, she's having psychotic episodes that conveniently derail Rimini's relationships.
Babenco could have helped viewers digest all this by providing some filmic cues to the passage of time. Bernal's hairstyle changes slightly a time or two, but if the screenplay didn't have the occasional line like "I'm his wife," we'd think most of this story happened over the course of a few weeks, not years.
Beyond that lies the hard to accept romantic dynamic of the film. Rimini is a cipher, showing so little self-direction in his love life that it's difficult to hold him accountable for callousness. He's passive in ways that make no sense, and takes action -- as when he throws a violent tantrum at the end of a casual fling -- when the least is at stake. The film's final act is unbelievable, even if we ascribe hidden motivations to uncharacteristic behavior.
It may be that the script, which keeps bringing up those boxes of old pictures, just wants to convince us that our histories have a stronger hold on us than we think. Here, that pull looks less like irresistible gravity and more like an unpaid library fine -- albeit one enforced by an awfully motivated librarian.
THE PAST
No Distributor
K&S Films / HB Filmes
Credits:
Director: Hector Babenco
Writers: Marta Goes, Hector Babenco
Based on the novel by Alan Pauls
Producers: Oscar Kramer, Hugo Sigman, Hector Babenco
Executive producers: Paula Zyngierman, Pola Zito, Andrea Ramalho
Director of photography: Ricardo Della Rosa
Production designer: Sebastian Orgambide
Music: Ivan Wyszogrod
Co-producer: Petrobas
Costume designer: Julio Suarez
Editor: Gustavo Giani
Cast:
Rimini: Gael Garcia Bernal
Sofia: Analia Couceyro
Vera: Moro Anghileri
Carmen: Ana Celentano
Nancy: Mimi Ardu
Running time -- 112 minutes
No MPAA rating...
TORONTO -- Poor Gael Garcia Bernal. Being a real-world sex object is burden enough, without having to deal with the string of fictional obsessive lovers in The Past, a film that finds it hard to imagine a fully sane female. Sex appeal and the name of director Hector Babenco may draw some to the art house, but with mixed critical response the crowd will likely be modest.
Adapting a novel by Argentinean writer Alan Pauls, the script sees through the eyes of a man whose flow from relationship to relationship is more seamless than decorum would dictate. At the story's beginning, Rimini is leaving Sofia, his wife of 12 years. The break (his idea, evidently) is amicable, with Sofia even finding him a great new apartment. As they finish establishing separate residences, all Sofia asks (beyond a continuing friendship) is that Rimini come over to sort through the couple's old snapshots to decide which memories he wants to keep.
A different kind of photograph immediately intrudes: A fashion shoot on the street, in which model Vera poses in lingerie, catches his eye, and soon they're meeting at a disco. Despite Vera's bizarre, first-date outburst of jealousy, and her proprietary attitude in dates to come -- not very convincingly drawn by either the script or actress Moro Anghileri -- he soon makes her his second wife.
Then there's Carmen, an old schoolmate who becomes Rimini's colleague as he segues from authoring Spanish subtitles for old movies to providing in-person translation for academic and business conferences. He develops a crush on her, and after a bit of presto-changeo melodrama, she's bride No. 3.
During all of this, first wife Sofia hangs frighteningly on the periphery, threatening to become Glenn Close. As it turns out, she has launched a sad little club, inspired by Truffaut's film The Story of Adele H., for women clinging to the hope of reuniting with men who have spurned them. When not urging lonely women to pursue their delusions, she's having psychotic episodes that conveniently derail Rimini's relationships.
Babenco could have helped viewers digest all this by providing some filmic cues to the passage of time. Bernal's hairstyle changes slightly a time or two, but if the screenplay didn't have the occasional line like "I'm his wife," we'd think most of this story happened over the course of a few weeks, not years.
Beyond that lies the hard to accept romantic dynamic of the film. Rimini is a cipher, showing so little self-direction in his love life that it's difficult to hold him accountable for callousness. He's passive in ways that make no sense, and takes action -- as when he throws a violent tantrum at the end of a casual fling -- when the least is at stake. The film's final act is unbelievable, even if we ascribe hidden motivations to uncharacteristic behavior.
It may be that the script, which keeps bringing up those boxes of old pictures, just wants to convince us that our histories have a stronger hold on us than we think. Here, that pull looks less like irresistible gravity and more like an unpaid library fine -- albeit one enforced by an awfully motivated librarian.
THE PAST
No Distributor
K&S Films / HB Filmes
Credits:
Director: Hector Babenco
Writers: Marta Goes, Hector Babenco
Based on the novel by Alan Pauls
Producers: Oscar Kramer, Hugo Sigman, Hector Babenco
Executive producers: Paula Zyngierman, Pola Zito, Andrea Ramalho
Director of photography: Ricardo Della Rosa
Production designer: Sebastian Orgambide
Music: Ivan Wyszogrod
Co-producer: Petrobas
Costume designer: Julio Suarez
Editor: Gustavo Giani
Cast:
Rimini: Gael Garcia Bernal
Sofia: Analia Couceyro
Vera: Moro Anghileri
Carmen: Ana Celentano
Nancy: Mimi Ardu
Running time -- 112 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/13/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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