Best Picture Winners I don't like: Grand Hotel and Green Book, plus Round Midnight

I recently caught up with two Best Picture Winners for the first time; both of them I didn't like!

Grand Hotel is a movie I've known about forever but never saw --- finally I had a chance to watch recently, but realized I wasn't missing much. I felt the characters were introduced to the audience too quickly and I kept trying to follow with what everyone's purpose in the hotel was. Joan Crawford shows up as a stenographer/reporter needing to interview Wallace Beery for some reason but gets distracted for about 20 minutes fighting off flirtatious advances from John Barrymore's character. Beery has a German accent in this film and his character is different from other tough-guy roles I've seen him in. Lionel Barrymore comically plays a doctor but is ultimately un-interesting. Greta Garbo also shows up but also was really un-interesting to me.

This movie didn't work for me! Apparently it was turned into a musical about 30 years ago but I can't imagine how better or worse it would be with songs. 

I also did not like Green Book.  I didn't find the Viggo Mortensen character very likeable or believable at any stage of the film. At the very start of the movie he is shown throwing two glasses in his garbage can at home because two Black workers drank from them. If he hates Black people so much I can't believe that he would ever take the job as a driver for Mahershala Ali's jazz musician character, which is almost made to be slightly comical when more seriousness should have placed on his character, I felt. And the movie should have focused more on him instead.  

The movie as a whole just didn't work for me. The blogger and former TV personality Bobby Rivers wrote about Green Book and I tend to agree with his assessment; he explains a bit better than I can - Blog post from Bobby Rivers' blog talks about Green Book

I also recently watched another movie about a Jazz player and his white friend -  Round Midnight - it's been on my "to-see" list for years and I finally watched it for the first time, and I liked it. Liked it much better than Green Book. Like Green Book, Round Midnight is also about a Black jazz musician (Dexter Gordon) in the 1950s-early 60s era, but in a different country and in a neighborhood with less racial prejudice. Instead of at the prime of his career, Dexter Gordon is at the end of his career - and life. He's a heavy drinker. 

The film shows how he befriends a white Parisian man who has idolized him all his life. When they meet and become friends, the white man becomes his caretaker and lets him live in his home with his daughter.

It's similar to Green Book in that it is ultimately a bout how an artist inspires another man's life. But in Round Midnight there's lots of jazz and musical performances from start to finish. I was convinced that Dexter Gordon was this jazz musician in Paris, and that he really was an alcoholic. It was almost difficult to watch because I really felt I was watching a real person disintegrate on film. 

The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)

This is not a very good film, in my opinion. I watched it on a very poor-quality DVD and the picture looked grainy and the editing very choppy. I read somewhere that this was the first (and last) movie directed by Burgess Meredith. This might be acceptable for a film student, but I would expect better from a film set in Paris with an international cast like Charles Laughton, who plays an inspector who walks around town with a pipe in his mouth like a cartoon character. The villain is played by Franchot Tone and there are only two scenes in the Eiffel Tower, so the title is even misleading. I was disappointed in this movie. This seems like a movie that had high ambitions, but failed miserably along the way.

Small Change (1976) directed by François Truffaut

A friend of mine recommended this film to me earlier this summer, and I'm so glad I watched it because I really enjoyed it!

If you're not familiar, the film is a series of humorous vignettes starring unprofessional child actors (mostly boys under 13 or 14 years old) and each vignette is seen from their point of view. Critic Roger Ebert named it his #1 film of 1976.

I haven't seen all of Truffaut's films, and I'm not sure if any of his other films are quite like this one. It's so unique. And delightful. I read somewhere that Truffaut had been collecting humorous anecdotes about children for several years, and this was the culmination of his work.

An older blog post from the blog Moon in the Gutter calls the film "one of his finest works" (another post from the same blogger highlights some of the movie's advertising and promotional art -- in most countries outside the US it was called Pocket Money -- I love all of these stills and poster images - they really capture the feel of the movie in my opinion)

I love how the entire film is centered around the beginning of a school season. The school setting ties the movie together in my opinion, since it is essentially plot-less, even though the characters are all interconnected.

Some of the teachers have their own brief vignettes, but there is usually a child involved such the little mischievous two-year old who lives in the same apartment building as one of the teachers. He's a cute boy named Gregory and really made me smile and laugh.

Another character is a neglected boy from an abusive household; he wears the same clothes every day, and carries a worn and dirty satchel. I could relate to this character the most. I remember feeling like a misfit in my own school days, and befriended some, too.

The film also reminded me of feeling embarrassed, awkward, bored, and a little rebellious. In another vignette, two mates give another a questionable haircut. And in another, a young pair experience some romantic attraction for the first time. Almost all of the kids have a little bit of small change - pocket money - on them that they use in various ways.

One of my favorite scenes (though there are many) comes at the beginning of the film, where one child mails a postcard to her cousin. It's so rare nowadays seeing children communicate with each other without a cellphone, and kind of refreshing to see as well.

Recently I stumbled upon an interesting interview here with director Wes Anderson who talked about this movie with the New York Times in 2002; he's a big fan.

Not everyone likes this movie, though.

A recent blog post from The Seventh Art posted an excerpt from the book Luc Moullet’s Piges Choisies (2009) on Truffaut and this film. Moullet is critical of the film, calling it "a series of gems without any connection between them, a collection of interesting scenes that Truffaut couldn’t put in his previous films. It doesn’t work because Truffaut didn’t deploy his master weapon, narration. No principal story, no connecting thread. Like all failures, Small Change is negatively more revelatory of its auteur’s art than his perfect successes." I am not sure I agree; I didn't watch it comparing it with the other director's films.

It was filmed and takes place in Thiers, France. Though I have not been there, the movie reminded me of my trip to France. Some memories and photos are below, if interested.

It was June 2004 when I traveled with a friend on a 12-day trip. 6 days were spent Paris. Of course, one day was devoted to the Louve (though many more could have been). I loved seeing some of the paintings that I studied in school. On other days, we went inside the cathedrals of Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, and Saint Chappelle. We rode the Metro to almost everywhere. A photo of me at Notre Dame at right.

There were several Paris museums on my list, including a museum dedicated to medieval art (Cluny museum) and nearby was an ancient Roman area which is now a park. There were so many outdoor markets, and saw so many people carrying baguettes to take home. Also visited an American grocery store where there were food items to buy where you couldn't get anywhere else, such as certain brands of cereal.

Giverny

My friend and I wanted to see more of France, so we scheduled several trips trips out of Paris to fit our schedule. One trip was to the Versailles Palace and gardens which was very impressive. Then we took a train to Giverny to visit the home of Monet and to see his gardens that inspired his paintings. A photo at right.

The second trip was by train up north to Normandy, to visit a few WWII museums and to see the beaches and cemetery. It was the 60th Anniversary that year. We also visited Mont St. Michel, to visit the ancient cathedral and town. The third trip was by train down to Nice, where we visited a museum dedicated to Marc Chagall. We also took a train to Monte Carlo, where we mainly hiked around for the day.

We did not go to Thiers, France, where Small Change takes place. But we may have passed through it on the train to Southern France. Here are some more pictures of my Paris trip if interested. 

Movie showing at the time: Shrek 2

Outside the Louvre

Inside the Louvre

Eiffel Tower

I really loved visiting Paris and France, and hope to have a chance to visit again one day!

Thanks for reading! Be sure to visit The Lady Eve’s Reel Life and Silver Screen Modes as they host the Viva La France! Blogathon on August 25 and 26, 2019.  

Cleo from 5 to 7 (1964) directed by Agnes Varda

Not long before watching the film, I injured my shoulder after a fall and had to get an X-ray, and remember being pretty anxious to get my results (which turned out ok by the way).

In the film, Cleo also is anxious to get a doctor's report after a test, and the film all takes place within the two hours in between.

She's a pop singer/celebrity, so the results of the test might be consequential to her career if she has a serious illness. I was a little unsure about how big a star she was, but I like the scene where she plays her own song on the jukebox in a restaurant and observes how people respond (people don't pay attention). There's also an interesting part where she has two male songwriters come up to her bedroom and they practice for a bit.

I like the cultural references that were included; in one part, someone makes a funny observational comment "Why aren't more streets named after famous living people like Bardot, Piaf, or Aznavour?" A few scenes take place with her friend in a car, where the radio announces some of the current headlines; it's interesting to hear Kennedy and DeGaulle's names come up in the news.

In the end, she takes a walk in the park, and meets an interesting man, but the movie ends and allows us to imagine the rest of the story.

Another blog review here by Confessions of a Film Philistine

Agnes Varda short films

Agnes Varda was one of the great French filmmakers who emerged during the New Wave period, and continued making films until recently; her final was 2017's Faces/Places, which was nominated for an Oscar (I still haven't seen it yet but it's on my list). I recently attended a retrospective of her short films, noted below.

A Diary of a Pregnant Woman | L'Opéra-Mouffe (1958, 27 minutes)
This film, shot in black/white, was made when she was pregnant (hence the title); it's perhaps one of her most-personal shorts in the series. She films a couple - lovers - and scenes of  streetlife in a neighborhood in Paris called la Mouffe, with lots of interesting juxtapositions.

Along the Coast | Du Côté de la Côte (1958, 27 minutes)
This is a traveloge film (shot in color) showcasing the coast of Southern France. Lots of beach shots and shots of tourists and travelers, with narration throughout. A lovely musical score by Georges Delleurde. It's really cool to see this footage from the late 1950s, as well as plentiful scenes of Nice and Monte Carlo, where I visited in 2004 on a France trip.

Hello Cubans | Salut les Cubains (1963, 30 minutes)
Another traveloge, but this time it is in black-and-white, and using mostly photographs in B/W. Agnes took hundreds of photos which she compiled for this film. A narrator describes the history of Cuba and the events leading up to the revolution. She also took a number of quick-succession photographs and turned them into some cool-looking animations; one was of a rumba dancer. Really exceptional.

Elsa la Rose (1965, 20 minutes)
This is short documentary of an older couple, a man and a woman. The man is about 70 or so, and a poet.  His wife, also in her 70s, is also interviewed on camera and asked about how she feels about all of the many love poems he wrote to her over the years.

Uncle Yanko (1967, 22 minutes)
Agnes had an older Greek relative who emigrated to San Francisco and lived a bohemian life of an artist. This is her tribute to him. It's a pretty cool short film.  There's several scenes of him hanging out with some other artists and friends and eating and talking about art and music and politics. And lots of footage of his artwork. I was sad to learn that he passed away just a few years after this was made.

Black Panthers (1968, 28 minutes)
Made just one year after Uncle Yanko, Agnes again makes a short film set in the United States/California. This time in Oakland California, and focuses on The Black Panther protests during the imprisonment of Huey Newton, a founding member. Agnes interviews many of the Panther leaders including Stokely Carmichael and other people who are just tourists or passerbys who are interested in the protests. It's really a great documentary. It's amazing how she and a crew were able to interview Newton in jail for such a lengthy interview.

The Pleasure of Love in Iran | Plaisir D'amour en Iran  (1976, 6 minutes)
This lightly comedic short follows a young couple on a vacation. They relax on a courtyard bench admiring the colorful mosaics on the exterior of a mosque, and make some innocently irreverent comments about the architecture - how the domes look like breasts and the minarets look phallic. I like the part when the woman has a sudden burst of inspiration, and starts to write a poem on some toilet paper. It's a funny short, and feels like it could be one scene in a longer movie, which would be interesting.

Women Reply | Résponse des Femmes (1976, 9 minutes)
About a dozen women are brought together and filmed in short/quick segments talking about what it means to be a woman and how they feel about how women and women's bodies are portrayed in advertising and on television, and how they feel about men's perceptions in general. It's an amazing film, and so relevant for today. Made the year I was born. The baby in the film would be my age, too.

Ulysses  (1983, 22 minutes)
In 1954 Agnes took a photograph of two people on a beach standing near a dead goat corpse. It's a unique photo that she presented among her works of photography for many years. In 1982 she interviewed the man and boy in the photo and tried to see if they remembered it. They didn't. It's a really interesting and contemplative film. In a humorous touch, she films a real goat with a copy of the picture and the goat eats the photo.

I really enjoyed all of her films. I love how she always add a touch of humor in them.

Breathless / À bout de souffle (1960)

This past weekend I attended an outdoor screening of this film at a park downtown (seeing it for the first time); I enjoyed it, especially the build-up of suspense of Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) being tracked down by the police while pursuing Jean Seberg. My friend commented how the misogyny in the film stood out to him, and I could see how this can be problematic for contemporary audiences. While watching, I noticed the one quick shot toward the end where Michel is wearing sunglasses with one lens just like Clyde did at the end of Bonnie and Clyde shortly before he's killed (the 2017 film Baby Driver also includes a similar bit).

Lady Bird (2017), Francis Ha (2012), and Mistress America (2014)

Francis Ha is an independent comedy that's filmed in black-and-white--I'm not sure why exactly the director chose black and white, but I like it, and generally I find any modern-day black and white film to be interesting. If I had to guess, I'd say that director Noah Baumbauch wanted to go for a classic movie look, which is OK by me. It's also considered Greta Gerwig's breakthrough role and perhaps the one that got her the most attention, maybe at least from independent film fans. The director had previously worked with her on the film "Greenberg" which I haven't seen yet. Francis Ha puts Greta in the lead, in a comedic role, and it's a simple film, basically just following her character around as she spends time with her friends and romantic interest (Adam Driver) and finding work as a dancer in New York. She also manages to get away and fly to Paris on vacation for two days. Who does that? Francis does. I actually knew someone who did that---go on some overseas trip for a weekend and come back, so I guess it's not entirely implausible. Francis is an interesting character, and funny because Greta is really funny. "Modern Love" by David Bowie is this movie's theme song. A blogger (can't remember who) wrote that they hated this movie, but I don't know why. I liked it alot.

Mistress America is the next film by Baumbach, and also stars Greta in the lead. Her character is almost the same as Frances, and when I watch this movie I think of this as the sequel. I really love this movie and liked it even better than Francis. We first meet the character of Tracy, played by Lola Kirke, who is starting her first year of college. She wants to be a writer. She doesn't know a soul, but she has a relative in New York played by Greta whom she befriends; Greta shows her New York. I love her character because she wants to do so much with her life; teach exercise/spinning classes, open her own restaurant. She has lots of dreams. I love her character because even though she's about 10 years older than Zoe, she's still looking to find her place in the world. The movie has a great soundtrack (You Could’ve Been A Lady by Hot Chocolate is this movie's theme song) and I love the writing. Greta is really kooky but likeable. Another review of this film from the blog Cinema Scope here.

Lady Bird is Greta's first directorial film, and she wrote it is as well (but doesn't star in it). It's semi-autobiographical, though. The lead role is played by Siaorse Ronan, who plays a teenager in high school who is coming of age, and the film focuses in on her last year of high school, climaxing in the senior prom. She has a best friend - I don't know the name of the actress - who decides not to go to the prom and feels like an outcast. I really liked this character, but I liked Siaorse's character too, as she deals with her family, her mom (Laurie Metcalf) and religious/Catholic traditions, and her romance with someone who may not be right for her. The film has a light comedic tone throughout, and reminded me of a John Hughes film of the 1980s like Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles; it just seemed to have a similar tone. Also, I imagined this character to be a younger "Frances Ha".

Even though all three of these films are not officially connected with each other, I like to think of them as a trilogy, with Lady Bird being the first movie. Francis Ha would be the second, and Mistress America the third.

If you've seen all 3, what do you think? Do you also see a connection with the three in a similar way?

Jean Gabin in La Belle Equipe / The Good Crew (1936)

Set in Paris, La Belle Equipe (The Good Crew) begins with Jean Gabin and his unemployed friends living together in a poorhouse, dreaming of a better life for themselves. In an early scene, they're all in a pub playing one of those "mechanical claw" games where you have have to move the claw around to grab a prize. Desperate for a gift for a girl, they tilt the machine to "cheat" the game into spilling out a prize, which they do successfully several times in fact. I didn't realize those machines existed in the 1930s.

One day, in an amazing stroke of luck, five of the friends amazingly win a lottery. This is followed by an amusing celebration scene where all the other tenants in the building come flooding into their apartment for a wine party.  People of all ages - including little kids - crowd the flat!

Instead of parting ways with their winnings, they decide to invest the money together to start a restaurant. They purchase an old building in the country along the Marne river and turn it into a cozy, outdoor cafe with an indoor dance hall and live music. As the story progresses, the partnership breaks up for one reason or another (one friend dies, another moves, a woman gets in the way, etc). But the remaining friends continue to persevere.

By the end of the film, the restaurant has its grand opening. Happiness and joy fills the air as Jean Gabin realizes his dreams have come true. As the boss of his own place, he walks around to each table and asks each customer if they are having a good time. It's neat to see his character evolve through all the adversity.

The ending of the film is open ended, and we're not sure if any of the former members of the group will return to help with the emerging venture.

Directed by Julien Duvivier. Recommended.

Travels With My Aunt (1972) and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

Over the weekend I went with my aunt to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a new ensemble dramedy about British tourists in India. The stellar cast includes Judi Dench and - in a less-prominent storyline - Maggie Smith as a stubborn guest. Five minutes before the end of the film, Dame Judi says to Maggie, "We haven't talked much, have we?" Nope, they sure didn't, and I wished Maggie was in more of the film.  She's so good you'll want to see her star in a sequel.

I watched another of Maggie Smith's travel-themed movies where she shines in the lead: Travels With My Aunt from 1972.

Travels  is a quirky comedy from director George Cukor that has a screwball tone. Dame Maggie plays an eccentric socialite whose affair with a mysterious lover forces her to travel the world. She brings along her only relative, her nephew Henry, played by Alex McCowen, a perfect straight-man to her more high-spirited personality.

The movie unfolds to reveal more of the mysterious reason for her world travels, and it all comes together in a silly, memorable way.

Co-star Louis Gossett Jr. (who plays a fellow travel companion) shares some of the neat experiences he had filming the Travels in London in his autobiography, An Actor and A Gentleman. He recalls with fondness meeting the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, all the good food he enjoyed, and how gracious and encouraging Dame Maggie was.

Just a Cineaste blog post on Travels With My Aunt

10 Reasons Why I Love "Hugo"

The other day I mentioned in a post that I thought the new Martin Scorcese-directed film Hugo was a masterpiece of film making. After seeing it a 2nd time I can confirm without exaggeration that Hugo is one of the most enjoyable films I have ever seen.  Hugo tells the story of an orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station circa 1930, and the relationship he forms with an old man in the train station, who turns out to be pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley). This film tells the story of Méliès in a creative, imaginative way and will remind you of why you love the movies.

Top 10 reasons why I love Hugo

10. Made me want to pay to see it again. Rarely do I want to see a first-run movie again in a theater. In the past 10 years I've seen three movies in the theater more than once (not counting classics from pre-1960): Indiana Jones 4 (two times; I'm a sucker for Indy adventures), Toy Story 3 (two times), and True Grit (three times). I liked Hugo better than any of them, and will probably see it a third time. 

9. The setting in the Paris train station. I just loved every minute inside those walls. The set designers should get an Oscar nomination. An then there's the automaton but the less I tell you about him the better.

8. The scenes in the bookstore, library and movie theater. I loved these parts. It's so refreshing to see Hugo and Isabelle inspired by books and old films, especially silent films! And going to the library to do research.... On the subject of films!!!

7. The beautiful musical score by Howard Shore. (I've included a snippet at the end of this post)

6. Though actual footage of real movies are shown in the film (including clips of Méliès's own films) , there are other moments in the movie that reminded me of other films; subtle nods, perhaps. I can't tell you them all without giving away too much, but there were some parts that reminded me of Vertigo, and even Scorcese's Shutter Island.  A writer for the Huffington Post expressed my thoughts when she wrote: "you've got...the exquisite little human dramas in the train station a la Rear Window,  and Hugo looking occasionally like Truffaut's Antoine Doinel of the 400 Blows to name a few."

5. The 3-D effects. I have only seen a handful of films in 3-D:  Bolt (a forgettable kiddie film), Clash of the Titans, Coraline, and Robert Zemekis' A Christmas Carol. IMO,  Hugo is a better movie than all of these combined. The 3D works very well in this film; I felt like I was actually in the train station among the crowd. 

4. It has some comedic moments without going over the top. The humor mostly comes from the station inspector played by Sacha Baron Cohen  ("Borat" "Bruno")  who has created another memorable cinematic character. And his doberman Maximillian provides some very funny moments. And the humor from the inspector isn't all slapstick buffoonery; instead of being completely on the dark side, he is shown to have some depth of character and has some moments of humanity.

3. The cast. Brilliant cast. Ben Kingley is perfect in this role, and so are the actors who play Hugo and Isabelle. I don't know their names but they are simply wonderful. There are a few small roles in the station such as the flower girl played by Emily Mortimer, and the bookstore owner played by Christopher Lee.Jude Law plays Hugo's father and he's terrific. They are small roles, but give the film a richness and atmospheric quality. 

2. Made me want to seek out more about the origin of this story, the book by Brian Selznick. There's a website about the book, but I haven't had time to go through it all yet. Yesterday at Thanksgiving I saw my cousin who's a grade school teacher; she said she knew all about the book and was interested in seeing how it is adapted on film. Me on the other hand, didn't know much about the story at all (perhaps that's another reason why I love this film). But I did find an old interview Selznick did for NPR : you can listen to it here.

1. This is a movie-lover's movie; it touches on the history of cinema and film preservation. (How often do we see that in a modern day film?) . And this is an artist's movie, and there are so many themes an artist can relate to such as finding inspiration and purpose in your talent and gifts.  

Hugo (2011)

Seeing a movie on the day before Thanksgiving has become a tradition for me; tonight I went to see Hugo and let me tell you, I'm pretty sure I've just seen a modern day masterpiece. Hugo -  based on a novel I wasn't familiar with -is by far the best "new" movie I've seen all year, and one of the best films in 3D I've ever seen. From beginning to end I was captivated. Stunning visuals (Oscar worthy for sure). An enchanting story (part fantasy, part adventure, part mystery and pure magic). It's one of those films where the less you know about it, the better it is, so I won't tell you much. Trust me. I didn't know anything about it other than it was was a 3D film directed by Martin Scorcese (that alone intrigued me and got me in the door), takes place in a train station in Paris, and that one of the characters in the story is Georges Méliès, the pioneering silent film director.

This is absolutely without a doubt a tribute to Melies, movies, and movie making. Bravo Martin Scorcese! I loved this film so much and can't wait to see it again. 

 See this movie, and if you don't like it I will give you your money back.

Ben Kingsley plays Georges Méliès. 

Midnight In Paris (2011)

I've been looking forward to this new Woody Allen movie all year, and I finally saw it. Much of the film is just what I expected: part fantasy reminiscent of Purple Rose of Cairo (one of my favorite films) where Owen Wilson's character Gil - a writer on vacation with his girlfriend - meets some of the great artists and writers of the 1920s and earlier (in his dreams, of course). My favorite part was when he meets Toulouse Lautrec in a can-can and this is a really fun part.

In the film Gil makes a comment that Parisians are more sophisticated than Americans, and dreams of living there. He is also a nostalgia buff and idolizes artists of the past, which is a preoccupation that is criticized by other characters in the film.

At midnight each night, his dreams come true and is magically is transported back into time to Paris in the 1920s, and gets "advice" from the likes of Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. Gil's left wing political views aren't explored any further, even when he comes into contact with all of these artists who would have shared his political passions. One character makes a comment about Trotsky which made me want to see a scene with Trotsky and Gil (it doesn't happen but that would have been interesting!).

I always love it when a film brings together so many historical figures because it always makes me want to learn more about them. In the movie, we see short glimpses of Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and filmmaker Luis Bunuel, but they are very short and those people don't become supporting characters, which I was secretly hoping for. I'm not a Bunuel expert so I probably missed some of the inside jokes that Allen writes in here. Picasso shows up, and I wished there were more scenes with him. I'd even love to see Chagall at work. Oh well, now we're talking about my dream and not Gil's.

The movie met my expectations for the most part, and I pleasantly surprised to see so many shots of great Paris landmarks. I've been there and this brought back alot of great memories of my trip. Someone even mentions going on a trip to Mont St Michel. Wow - I've been there too and how fun it would have been to see that on the big screen. Has there ever been a movie filmed on Mont St Michel? I wonder.

But still, there is something missing from this film that I still have not been able to put my finger on. I don't consider this to be a masterpiece like I think Purple Rose is. I walked out of this movie longing to see John Huston's Moulin Rouge again. Now that's a great film.

Sundays and Cybele (1962)

In French with English subtitles | Directed by Serge Bourguignon (1928 - )

Black-and-white | Available on DVD

Note: a few minor spoilers ahead. This is a very sad film. At the same time it is unforgettable. Hardy Krüger (1928 - ) plays Pierre, a veteran war pilot who suffers from amnesia after a plane crash. The opening scene is a flashback to this accident, where a young girl was killed. Pierre it appears has lost his zest for life, and doesn't get out much. His live-in girlfriend Madeline, a nurse, remains devoted to him even when he shows little affection. Madeline keeps hoping that he will get better soon.

One day he meets a young named Cybele, and orphan who lives in a Catholic boarding school in a Paris suburb. It's as if fate brought these two broken souls together (or is it fate?), and they are almost like soul mates (or are they?). Pierre poses as her father so he could take her out to the park on Sundays.

Cybelle is played by Patricia Gozzi (1950 - ) in a standout performance

Pierre becomes consumed with playing the role of an older familial figure, and this becomes his new purpose in life. Cybele also has a renewed sense of life and becomes attached to him as well, and even becomes restless when he misses a visit. One day she shares that she has romantic feelings about marrying him when she gets older, which really causes some emotional conflicts. One of the most interesting moments of the film comes when a group of young children ask Cybele to play with them in the park. We see her happiness shine as she's playing a game of tag with a group of boys and girls, perhaps for the first time in her life. It's a special moment in the film, almost a realization of what she has been missing in her life.

Pierre's character is a bit more complex. Is his new found role fulfilling him? Does he know how to handle it and his relationship with Madeline? Is Madeline more of a mother figure to him, someone he wants to avoid now? Pierre doesn't talk very much. We know that he's been wounded physically and emotionally, but we don't know to what extent. Nor do we know if he has had mental issues prior to the war. He doesn't mention Cybele to Madeline, but she finds out gradually over time, and when she does, the movie really gets interesting and more complicated.

Madeline is played by Nicole Courcel (1931 - )

This movie really captivated me from start to finish, and I was always wondering what would happen next.

The Tourist (2010) with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie

Sometimes I like to check out a new movie without knowing much about it. Such was the case with me and The Tourist. I only knew the basics: that it was a spy film and that it had Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, and Italy - where I've always wanted to visit.

Photo: Destination360.com

From the reviews I've read so far, they are not calling this a classic, but I am. Some don't like the story (despite it being written by the Oscar winning writer of The Usual Suspects) and some have likened it to old romantic thrillers films from decades past. Roger Ebert in his review said the movie had a few clichés. I don't fault it for that; it's still fun to watch. The old-fashioned spy romance feel was what I loved about it. Others have criticized Depp's character as a bit of a timid traveler. Well, he may be at first but he redeems himself eventually. He just playing another slightly odd and misunderstood character that he's famous for, so don't think of Cary Grant in North by Northwest. And the scenery of Venice is really beautiful. I recommend this film if you love to travel or love watching movies about traveling, or if you are fan of either Depp's or Angelina's. I don't think you will be disappointed.

There's a couple of violent parts but they come from the baddies who you're not supposed to like anyway. The fella that plays one of the main gangsters looked really familiar. When I looked him up I realized it was Steven Berkoff who was in alot of 80s movies like Rambo II and Beverly Hills Cop and Octopussy. Speaking of Bond, Timothy Dalton is in it too. It's a light film, comical at times, and there's some good chase scenes in it. It's not like Salt if you've seen that one. I liked this one better (though I loved Salt too) So if you are looking to escape the winter blues, I recommend The Tourist at your local cinema.

Here's a review from The Movie Goddess who also loved the film!!

Peter has written a good review of this movie at Armchair Audience.

The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) directed by Max Ophuls

Director: Max Ophuls. Language: French. Based on the short novel by Louise de Vilmorin. Setting: Paris, late 19th Century.


Before the film began, our instructor started off with a brief lecture, informing us of the "circular structure" of the film, which I didn't understand until after seeing it. In the film, a pair of earrings passes through the hands of several owners, which makes for very amusing entertainment. The earrings were originally a wedding present from General Andre (Charles Boyer) to his vain wife Countess Louisa (Danielle Darrieux). After years of marriage, they both end up having affairs, and the earrings are passed along to other people: Louisa sells them to pay off her gambling debts, Boyer gives them to his mistress, and Louisa gets them again as a present from her lover, a diplomat (Vittorio di Sica).

Similar to Caught, this is a film about a woman who is caught between two men - one, her husband, and the other, her lover. It's also the story of a woman caught in a web of her own lies. From the very first scenes we realize she's a chronic deceiver. Boyer's character is not all that sympathetic either. Holding our interest throughout are the earrings, which take on more meaning throughout the film. By the end of the film Lousia has fetishized them to the point where they have overtaken her life.


---- The novel vs. the film version -----

I was curious about why this film was called "Madame de..." and why we are not told the last names of the characters. According to the synopsis from TCM Imports,

(Louise) Vilmorin (the author of the novel) left the characters unnamed, using the abbreviated Madame de and General de in a tribute to 19th century novelists who had used the same device to suggest their stories were based on real-life events. She did not give her story any clear setting in time or place, however, leaving the details to the reader's imagination. In his adaptation, Ophüls kept the naming, creating the suggestion that his characters could represent anybody from the story's milieu. He also fleshed out the other details. In particular, he set the story in Paris during the 1890s, a period with which he felt a strong personal connection. And as a tribute to the author, he gave his leading lady her first name, Louise.


---- The Famous Ballroom Dance Scene -----

In perhaps the greatest sequence in the film, di Sica and Louisa meet in a ball one night and they spend all night dancing. Reminiscent of Letter From An Unknown Woman, one of the band players anxious to go home observes, "Those two are always the last." An analysis of a part of this scene at the blog VCR-chaeology; read the post here.

Roger Ebert, in his review, wrote "On the dance floor, they observe it has been three weeks since they danced together....and then they are dancing still and no time has passed. The dialogue and costumes indicate the time transitions, but the music plays without interruption, as do their unbroken movements together...The economy of storytelling here--a courtship all told in a dance--resembles the famous montage in ''Citizen Kane'' where a marriage dissolves in a series of breakfasts."


---- Final thoughts -----

The camera work is once again incredible, and there are some interesting transitions. In one shot, Louisa tears up a letter, and throws the pieces out of a train window. The pieces fly through the sky and dissolve into snow in the next shot, set in winter.

The ending of the film leaves it open to further speculation, and in the class we had a good time discussing what might have happened next. A few people debated the outcome of a dual that was to happen at the end.



---- For more about this movie -----

Recommended, and available on DVD/Netflix. The Criterion DVD (which I have not checked out yet) has an audio commentary, interviews, analysis of the film, and a booklet. Further reviews of this film could be found at Criterion Confessions, Movie Ramblings, and The Molten Notebook.

A Little Romance (1979)

As the title implies, this is a romance between a couple of kids. I guess it may have been the "My Girl" of its day. It's not a comedy, but there are some elements of humor. For the most part it has a serious tone.  At the film's center is Lauren, a rich American girl played by 14-year old Diane Lane. She and her parents (mother is played by Sally Kellerman) live in Paris because of her dad's job. She attends a boarding school and develops a romance with a young Parisian teen.  They spend their time watching movies and discussing capitalism, Heidegger, and existentialism. One day they literally bump into an elderly Parisian gentleman played by Laurence Olivier, in a small role, and one of his last movies. He ends up giving them some advice about life and love and inspires them to to travel to Italy to kiss on a gondola on the River Seine. As the young couple run away throughout Europe, the furious parents send out a search party, while Olivier sits back and sighs. Georges Delerue won an Oscar for his music score. The ending is touching and heartbreaking. I'd like to see a reunion movie with the two stars as adults. Diane Lane was a pretty good performer at this age. As an additional bonus, there is a cameo by Broderick Crawford (Oscar winning Best Actor for 1949's "All the Kings Men")

13 Rue Madeline (1947)

Black and White film starring James Cagney. An OK movie about a spy during WWII in Paris.