jimx8 Reviews

L'annonce faite à Marie (1991)

during the Middle Age, Violaine becomes a leper through a kiss

[7/10 · 5 June 2013]

Adapted from the play by the French catholic writer Paul Claudel, this is the only movie directed by French stage actor Alain Cuny. It shows the story of a young girl Violaine who out of charity, kisses a leper, though she is to marry Jacques, a man her father Anne, chose for her. She then contract leprosy, and is the victim of the nastiness of her jealous sister Mara. Her father can't defend her, as he left for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but her fiancé finds the strength to believe in her innocence

Devoted to serve the text, Cuny tried and succeeded in making the spectator feel the mysteries of faith and pure charity, re-inventing in a way the grammar of cinema,the way CT Dreyer and Robert Bresson did...

Not for everyone's taste,but a very rare gem, worth watching.

Game of Seduction (1976)

another version of a literary classic...

[4/10 · 26 August 2008]

another version of Dangerous liaisons, that Vadim had already filmed in 1959. This one takes place during the 19th century, and Sylvia Krystel, the star of Emmanuelle,does not get naked a lot in it. I remember Nathalie Delon was pretty good in it, playing the Merteuil part. The locations looked great and the look of the film is very good, as always in Vadim movies. I'm not sure a second viewing would be a great experience though, as Krystel was not such a great actress. And the Frears and Forman's were so good, and the teen version interesting too. It's kind of difficult to catch it nowadays : I saw it on French TV quite a while ago.