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vincent_brems
Reviews
Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies Over Paris (1974)
Boring
This the story of a friendship between two women. It is however not clear why they are friend. They have basically nothing in common. They experience some kind of adventure in an haunted house. But this adventure is more or less senseless. The narrative telling of this adventure is nonlinear and very original. This together with the amusing light tone of the film (which is sometimes not humorless) is maybe what made the fame of it.
I found that film quite boring. I was wanting to go out after the first quarter an hour. It seems this film should be funny but it really wasn't to me. I usually like art-films even surrealist/poetic ones like "Zazi dans le metro", "Breaking the waves", "Dead man" and "the eel" ("Unagi"). But this one was really not appealing to me. Maybe the only film I could compare this one with was "une femme est une femme".
Lotta på Bråkmakargatan (1992)
Great for children from 3 to 5
Lotta is a five old girl living in Sweden with her mother, father, brother and sister. She is living the very normal life of all children of her age. She is usually bold to grown up. And all in all very funny. The humor is all the time present but don't expect to much action or big laughing.
The film is divided in more or less five short stories and the pace is very slow. I think this format is perfect for young children who are not used to long stories.
Though the film is about 75 min long, my children thought it was very short and fast.
My both children (3 and 5 years old) loved that film. That was the first film they have ever seen in a cinema. They have been very impressed. What a success! They both want to go back again and watch the second part.
No Man's Land (2001)
Not that masterwork
The film is telling the dramatic story of three soldiers (one Serb and two Bosnians) caught between two front-lines during the Yugoslavian war. Some UN troop try to free them but their very bureaucratic hierarchy prevents them of doing so and they require the help of a British journalist.
The plot is very credible and shows perfectly the absurdity and cruelty of war and the influence of the TV press on the battlefield.
But I would not qualify this film as a masterpiece. I found the acting not that convincing. Watch Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory! Moreover the story is quite melodramatic. Some effects (in particular the UN colonel and his sexy secretary) are not really welcome (the director should have chosen between the MASH style or the documentary style and not oscillated between both). I really felt the whole was too long and not deserving such eulogistic comments as you can read on IMDb.
This film can be compared with the BBC TV series Warriors (1999). I really believe Warriors was very much superior. The pace was faster. The acting was better. The plot was more credible and more informative. Of course this was only a TV series and the quality of the film direction cannot be compared but, all in all, Warriors touched me much deeper.
Swimming Pool (2003)
very boring
I was very deceived after watching this film. I was so enthusiast about Sous le Sable that I could not expect this film to be so boring.
Charlotte Rampling plays the unusual character of a frustrated English writer always wearing brown and beige with a bit of dark red. She speaks a very bad French -- she can of course speak much better. She goes to a shop passing by the red wine going to buy some cola light and yogurt. Saignier fills the fridge with foie gras, french sausages and wine. During the night Rampling goes to the fridge and eat some of this with pure delectation. This piece of the film is a detail. I think it shows how far Ozon uses old clichés to describe the conflict between both characters. Everything that happens afterward is just that expectable and dull.
About the sexy -- mysterious -- atmosphere of the film : well I was not very impressed. When Charlotte Rampling sees the swimming pool for the first time you clearly hear two notes of piano -- which come again and again each time you come close to the swimming pool. Is that really so mysterious? It seems like you were hearing Ozon calling as an off voice : pay attention -- this is mysterious. Watch Romy Schneider coming out of the swimming pool in La Piscine (1969), or the last scene of Melodie en Sous-Sol (1963), if you want to know how to use a swimming pool to produce a sexy / strange atmosphere. I have the feeling this film should be sexy because one sees Saignier naked most of the time (have a look at L'Ete Meutrier : Adjani is much more powerful even if this film is just as dull) and one sees a slip filled up with an erecting penis (as far as I know this is more original). Is that all really so thrill?
The end of the film is just stupid as well. It seems it goes to comedy. If you want to see a comedy go and watch Jo (1971) it is much better and less pretentious.
My vote 5/10.
Bon voyage (2003)
awful
I've just been at the cinema in down town Prague watching this film.
Not due to the poster I found very Holywood old-fashioned heroic
style. Not due to the high level starring which remind me that most
of those high starring French films are usually pathetic. But just
because there are not so many films in my French mother tongue in a
city like Prague. And because I love Adjani, Depardieu and Rappenau's
Cyrano. Then I decided to write up this small comment because I think
I really don't agree with the comment main stream on this film on imdb.
I was not disappointed. The film just look like the poster. The
characters are just as stupid as they look like. For a while I
thought Adjani would be like a caricature -- just a funny character
you can laugh at. No she is not! For example when she decides to tell
Depardieu she is the one who murdered the fat one she killed at the
beginning of the film then come the violins in a big fat pathetic
music which should make you cry and realize Adajani's character is a
deeper person as she looks like. Maybe this was humor at the 10th
level but I am sorry my sense of humor is not that high! If I want to
see some funny French film on the WWII I watch once again La Grande
Vadrouille! It is definitively more fun! I have also read on imdb
that Lemoine is making a great performance in this film. I have to
say I have never seen a so bad acting! (Well I have never seen any Ed
Wood's film). Nevertheless the film is good filmed with a lot of good
(very costly) scenes like the one with the Pantheon in the morning
when the German army arrives at Paris or when the refugees settle down
on a bridge in Bordeaux. I think Rappeneau is a good filmmaker but
that he does better with a good script. It was easy with Cyrano. He
had not to write the dialogs!
I give 1/10.
Une femme est une femme (1961)
awfull!
Just some short comment to prevent people from believing they are the
only one to consider this "master piece" as an awfull example of
pretentious cinema. I had never seen any film from Goddard. I have
read this film is not so pretentious as his other ones. O my God!
How pretentious must they be!
I smiled during the first ten seconds. I though I was seeing a bad
copy when I heard the sound. Aznavour's song cutted at the wrong
place. You are not able to hear dialogs correctly because of the loud
music. You have to watch the actors making utterly nonsense things.
There are films where this kind of things is funny (look at Monty
Python's Holly Grail) but here the suject is serious and you feel all
the time Goddard is intending to explain you fundamental things with
respect to the relationship between men and women. This film is
neither funny nor serious. It is my opinion it is just stupid and
pretentious. I had to force myself staying in the theater during more
than the half of the film. Incredible!
Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès (1972)
Documentary-like anti-war mediocre but watchable film
This is film is not very good. Some could tell it is mediocre. Why? 1) the acting is bad, 2) the plot is not very good, 3) the sound track is awfull, 4) The photography is just bad too.
Nevertheless it is watchable and even interesting. Why? The topic is very interesting. A group of anti-war young activists (one is a priest, some are leftists, one is a teacher) from Brittany are sent to the front in Algeria during the civil war. On the one hand they are reluctant to fighting and on the other hand they have to and, even, they begin to like it. From this point of view this is a very good anti-war film which can be compared with Warriors (1999) even if Warriors is very much better (better acting etc...) but it cannnot be compared with Kubrick's Paths of Glory which is a master piece. For sure it is better than MASH but it is not very difficult. I give 6/10.
Heidi M. (2001)
A touching love story
Heidi M. (about 50) is living alone in Berlin. Her husband left her. Her daughter is now in Australia to study. She met a man with similar problems. They fall in love. Their love story is very nice. Very realistic. The acting is very good. More than watchable even if it is no master piece (8/10).
MASH (1970)
awfull
Well. I had seen this film years ago and I already found it unwatchable. Now it came on tv once again and since it seems to be a classic I decided to watch it once again. I still think this film is awfull. Why? 1) There is no script (Well a bit like in Monty Python's Holly Grail or Life of Brian or "La Grande Vadrouille") 2) Some actors don't play much better than in a soap (Well a bit like in Monty Python's Holly Grail or Life of Brian or "La Grande Vadrouille") 3) It is not funny (Well a bit like in Monty Python's Life of Brian but NOT like Monty Python's Holly Grail or "La Grande Vadrouille" which are so fun) 4) It is intended to shed a critical light on war (Well I don't think it succeeds to or then like "Life is beautifull" which I disliked as well)
I won't watch it again!
Versailles Rive-Gauche (1992)
nice and short
I watched this film 10 years ago. I was surprized to see that nobody commented it. Well I liked this film I found very funny. The plot : A guy is trying to spend one night alone with a female friend of his but many stupid things happen to prevent his success. The film tells the story of this night in a (very) small flat close to the metro station Versaille Rive-Gauche close to Paris. I remember this film seemed to me very short and I never got bored. More than watchable even if it is not a masterpiece.
Peau d'homme coeur de bête (1999)
A great film
I had read imdb users' comment before watching the film. I was very surprised. Though it is not the best film I ever watched, this film is very good. It is NOT a violent film - have a look at David Lynch's Lost Highway or Blue Velvet! It is not a thriller either. It tells the story of a lower class family in southern France. An uncle comes back after fifteen years. He pretends he was in the army but one guesses he was in prison - was he? It seems this guy is not clean and may get dangerous. Indeed, except killing a woman by accident, nothing happens but the tension is very high and you are expecting all the time the worst will happen : I was stuck to my chair.
Familia (1996)
very funny, excellent comedy
This astonishing story of a lonely man who organizes a family birthday with professional actors is a successful comedy. This film is funny and fast. I wonder why it is less known than "4 Weddings and 1 funeral". Maybe because it is not starring Hughes Grant or Andy McDowell.
Les amants d'assises (1992)
Very good and sensible documentary
A man and a woman are accused of having killed the woman's husband.
The film maker interviews and films them along the process until they get condemned by the court. This film is a documentary. Nevertheless the way it is filmed is very subjective and shows a very deep psychologic analysis.