WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

feaito

Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by feaito »

Thanks for all that information Christine. I have never seen any other adaptation.

From what I have read after watching it, this 2007 film is either hated or loved on the net. It's very academic in its approach and it's said by some who have read Balzac's work that it's very faithful to its source. The other aspect that is impressive is that when you see it you feel it's actually taking place in between 1818-1825. The attention to period detail and its realistic mise en scene -not glossied at all-, in terms of costumes, the way the characters speak, behave and relate to each other, the big houses, the creaking floors, is truly amazing and kind of uncanny.

I also liked that Balibar, a bony, tall, angular faced, attractive but not pretty woman, is believable as the Duchesse, dressed in those Empire costumes. I did not remember that Guillaume Depardieu died in 2008 and all the suffering he went through (drug/alcohol abuse; amputation of his leg; death of pneumonia; etc.)

I was also happy not to know that the person who directed the film is Jacques Rivette, a Nouvelle Vague director, because I could have been biased against the film (I'm not fond of that movement and some of the films which belong to it, for me, come across as pretentious). Thus, my approach to this film -difficult to digest but nevertheless quite fascinating- was not prejudiced. In a way it also reminded me of "Mysteries of Lisbon", Raoul Ruiz's last film, but in my opinion, although Rivette's movie is very good it does not reach the category of masterpiece of Ruiz's film, which in spite of being a sad story, left me wanting to see it again.
feaito

Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by feaito »

Over the WE I saw a very touching Spanish film directed by Carlos Saura titled "¡Ay, Carmela!" (1991) in which the very talented Carmen Maura (one of Almodóvar muses), Andrés Pajares and Gabino Diego, star as Republican vaudeville artists captured by the "Franquistas" during the Spanish Civil War.
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Ann Harding
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Recently I watched an Italian melodrama recorded on TV, Catene (Chains, 1949) by Raffaello Matarazzo with Amadeo Nazzari and Yvonne Sanson. This film was at the top of the BO in Italy when it came out. Matarazzo catered for the general public with weepies that have not aged well. I am rather surprised with the sudden regain of interest in this film-maker. He strikes me as a very average director who used mediocre actors. It's incredible to think that Amadeo Nazzari, a very limited wooden actor was #1 in Italy above his more talented counterparts such as De Sica or Mastroianni. Let me tell you a bit about the plot: Rosa (Y. Sanson) is married happily to a car repair man (A. Nazzari) and has two kids. But one day a former fiancee comes back and claims her. The whole story was an incredible collection of clichés with wooden acting from all sides (or OTT acting from the kids). Unlike the more talented Italian directors such as Pietro Germi or Mario Monicelli, Matarazzo never tries to place the film in its social environment. The characters are stereotypes from cheap photo-stories. The film would take off in the hands of a good director, but Matarazzo just goes through the proceedings. I am amazed that Criterion released an Eclipse set of these dull weepies. It would have been more clever to select the talented Mario Soldati, Mario Camerini, Pietro Germi, etc. After watching Matarazzo, I still fail to understand why he is considered such a great director by some people...
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Ann Harding
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by Ann Harding »

After that Italian turkey, I needed to see a good film. So I went to a cinema to see Pane, amore e fantasia (Bread, Love and dreams, 1953) a Luigi Comencini comedy with Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida. This delightful film takes place in a remote Italian village where the new Marshall Carotenuto (V. De Sica) is sent to head the local police station. He is a bachelor in a place where a single man cannot speak to a woman without being watched intensely. Maria (G. Lollobrigida) is the best looking girl in town, though the poorest. She gets constant pestering from all the men while being in love with a young carabinieri (policeman) who doesn't dare speak to her out of shyness. Poor Carotenuto is already ageing and would like to find a wife. He likes Maria but she prefers her young man. In the end, Carotenuto will marry the local midwife whom he was in love with for a while. The village atmosphere with the local priest and all the town gossips was perfectly described in the film. Lollobrigida gave a really good performance as the impulsive and wild Maria. De Sica was also perfect as the police officer who cannot stand loneliness anymore, but nevertheless will help his shy comrade to conquer Maria. A really nice Italian comedy worth investigating.
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Am I the only person who really likes Gina Lollobrigida for her acting? I think she's very good. Thanks for the tip on the movie, Ann!
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

My father in law used to have a dog called Gina Lollabrigida, so I guess he must have done. I've barely seen her in anything.
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

She's gorgeous, but everything I've seen her in was very good...admittedly I haven't seen much. She's very good in Beat the Devil and Trapeze (a surprisingly good movie), then I've seen bits of Woman of Straw and Never So Few.
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Here's another solid vote for "Bread, Love and Dreams." It is a most enjoyable movie, and Lollabrigida is a delight in it. I prefer her to Loren. Lollabrigida just seemed more approachable and down-to-earth in what I saw her in than Loren. (Of course, this was no doubt due to factors beyond either actress' control.)
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Ann Harding
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by Ann Harding »

Actually there was a follow-up to Pane, amore e fantasia, it's Pane, amore e gelosia (1954) also directed by Comencini. I'll try to see it one of these days. Perhaps it will be shown in a cinema soon like the first one ? There is even another sequel called Pane, amore e... (1955) this time directed by Dino Risi with Sophia Loren & Vittorio de Sica. It must have been a huge BO success.
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

I agree, she does seem more approachable, more real than Loren. I like Gina.
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Ann Harding
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by Ann Harding »

JackFavell wrote:I agree, she does seem more approachable, more real than Loren. I like Gina.
I never had that feeling. I like them both. But my opinion is based more on Italian films rather than English-speaking films. I guess it makes a difference. Sophia played as many working-class girls as Gina in Italy. It might be different in her international pictures.
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Actually, that's true, and I don't think it has anything to do with whether the part was working class or not. In her Italian pictures, or at least the ones I've seen, Sophia has a very different personality, more easy going and fun, or more womanly without being oh, what's the word I want? superior. Once she gets to Hollywood, they put her on a level that no mere man could attain.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I much prefer Sophia in her Italian movies, she's a wonderfully earthy actress, as terrific in working class roles as she is in the superior roles. I saw her recently in Two Women, it was an awful print but a wonderful performance.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Today I watched "Lacombe, Lucien" (1974) directed by Louis Malle.

I was very impressed by this film. It moves slowly, but I kept feeling that I had to watch and see what happened to these people. The actor who played Lucien was superb. He had a somewhat unreadable quality, that allowed me to feel some sympathy for him but to remain enough "outside" so I wasn't sure what Lucien was thinking at all times. It must have been a difficult role for a young man to pull off, and he did so wonderfully.

Lucien reminds me a bit of a more minor character in the Soviet film "Trial on the Road." Both are rather not-to-bright, but charming (in different ways) young men who end up collaborating with the enemy. (Of course, Malle could not have known about "Trial on the Road" because that film was banned until the Gorbachev era.)

I haven't seen that much of Louis Malle's work, but what I have seen, this, "Au Revior Enfants" and "May Fools," has impressed me. (But then I really disliked "My Dinner With Andre" and couldn't finish it.)
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I have Lacombe Lucien on my rental list, I'm looking forward to receiving it.

I watched Jean Renoir's Las Bas Fonds or The Lower Depths, a delightful movie about patrons of a Russian flop house run by a selfish man and his unfaithful wife played by Suzy Prim who is having an affair with the thief Pepel played by Jean Gabin. the thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron, Louis Jouvet, when he goes to rob his house, the baron once bankrupt goes to live at the flop house. The thief tiring of his lover and life looks to his lover's innocent sister, who in turn is fancied by the police inspector who the flop house owner wants to keep sweet because he is a fence amongst other things. The story written down doesn't sound much but the men of the flop house give it it's life, they are all manner of wisdom, hope and despair. Well cast, Renoir's filming is reminiscient of a Russian novel on which it was based. Kurosawa filmed it in the 1950s but I can't remember enjoying the film or the performances as much as I did Renoir's version.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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