As already mentioned, “Inland Empire” was pretty creepy… would also agree that “I Stand Alone” & (esp.) “Irreversible” make for pretty terrifying and claustrophobic experiences.
While scared witless by “The Exorcist” as a kid, it was Blatty’s much-derided “Exorcist III” that stands as the scariest film in my adult cinemagoing life… and being the sole audience member in the auditorium didn’t help either (neither myself nor the film’s box-office.)
Also, interesting comment made re: Resnais – “Marienbad” is disturbing, but it’s “Muriel” that really gets under my skin and gnaws away at me for days later…
Another vote for “Irreversible” for those two scenes. In line with Paul’s comment above, I saw this in a cinema and had exactly the same feeling. Despite owning the Noe box set, I’ve never watched the entire film again (but have looked at the extras and dipped into Noe’s commentary track), but having watched the opening up to the fire ext scene it definitely doesn’t have the same effect (perhaps partly because I’m in charge of the remote?) “I Stand Alone” also has two truly shockingly violent scenes (and a ton of violent language.)
As far as others go… “Salo” is in my memory as being violent (and I’ll never revisit it to verify,) and “Baise Moi” is also quite extreme. More recently, “Eden Lake” was pretty nasty stuff.
@ Justin, above: [Spoiler:] If I read your post correctly, yep it is the wrong guy who gets the fire ext to the head, and when you look carefully at the scene the 2nd time around you can see the real perp – Le Tenia – smirking away in the background as the carnage unfolds. Although, when we say “wrong guy”, while he didn’t attack Alex, look at what he was about to do to Marcus! But I know nothing of anyone hiring Le Tenia to get Alex – by ex-boyfriend I assume you mean Pierre?
Was thinking about this earlier on today – ones which struck me at the time were:
Leonardo DiCaprio in Gilbert Grape
Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day
Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
Laura Dern in Inland Empire
Leto, Burstyn, Connelly & Wayans in Requiem for a Dream
Phillippe Nahon in I Stand Alone
The brilliant, shattering “The Mother and the Whore.” To be honest, I’d just like to see any DVD release of it (I know there’s been a presumably OOP Japanese edition), but certainly it is ripe for Criterion? AFAIK, Jean Eustache’s children own the rights to this, so it’d be good if the CC folks could negotiate with them.
I hated The Bourne Ultimatum, but nearly everyone I know thought it was fantastic. Paddy Considine’s character was potentially the most interesting one there, but sadly they didn’t stick with him for long. It just didn’t do anything at all for me.
I have about 18 years’ worth of my published reviews from various newspapers and magazines carefully filed away; on the whole, I’ve always enjoyed reviewing films (whether on VHS, DVD, or for their cinema release,) but I’m aware that I always know what I myself do/don’t want to see. Reading film reviews – whether by career critics or on forums such as these – is always of interest to me, but they rarely influence my choice of film. So if I’m more or less impervious to others’ opinions over what is worth seeing, I guess I can’t expect people to see films based on my recommendations…
The Wrestler. I really liked Pi, Requiem for a Dream & The Fountain, but nonetheless was pleased to see Darren Aronofsky changing style and pace with this one – I think it was really good for him to mix things up a bit at this stage. It’s actually quite hard to peg it as an Aronofsky apart from two things – Clint Mansell’s score (which is still less obvious than Fountain’s relationship to Requiem, though) and the scene where Ram takes his daughter along the seafront to that abandoned casino – I thought this really had the director’s fingerprints all over it. In a time where many/most new releases disappoint, I’d give this 8.5/10.
Yes, I’d go for TWBB too. A slow-burning, haunting affair that makes for a much more satisfying filmgoing experience. It’s by some distance the best and most accomplished film in Anderson’s filmography, and the first of his I’ve enjoyed since Boogie Nights ten years earlier.
Yep, as Girl Bites Pen notes the UK R2 by Optimum is cheap and easy to find, and it quite a nice disc (it includes a documentary plus the short “Toute la Mémoire du Monde”. If English subs aren’t needed, the France R2 (Studio Canal) is also a nice release.
One that comes to mind is Chabrol’s “Merci pour le chocolat” > “Nightcap.”
Also, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” into French and back becomes “The Strange Christmas of Mr. Jack”, which, while not wholly inappropriate, has always amused me for some reason.
@ Juliet – that’s about right – “Faire les quatre cents coups” is an idiom that’s quite hard to capture in English, but if you take ‘coup’ here to mean trick/prank/stunt or something (just not ‘blow’!) it gives a better idea – the notion of “raising hell”, or living a life full of incident as a result of your anarchic approach and actions. Which I guess is what young Antoine does in the film.
@ Jim W – I haven’t seen Babylon AD, but Gothika was pretty bad. I think you’re maybe right with the Hollywood thing – wasn’t Babylon AD effectively taken away from him? Seems to have been a miserable time for him. As well as La Haine, his other French work is worth seeing – The Crimson Rivers and Metisse are both fine; perhaps there’s just the pattern that his 2 US films so far haven’t worked out at all, but I’m still interested to see what he does. Ideally, his next will see him back in France.
@Steve: Thanks for the reply re; Kassovitz. I know AD was a French co-production (with StudioCanal in there), but have never really figured out how he was bumped off it. As I guess you know, in France the dir always gets final cut, so was it the fact that it wasn’t purely a French production that enabled a loophole where the film could be wrestled away from him? I have it on DVD, so should try to watch it soon.
And re: Boyle. Glad you like Trainspotting; I just feel very disappointed with most of what he’s done since then – 28 Days fell apart as soon as they got to that army base, Sunshine was a near-total mess, and the less said about Slumdog the better…
Just to add to what Steve said – I also agree that Truffaut stretched too far with this in terms of filming it in English. I always admire that he wanted to make a film in the language, and much of the stuff he loved and was influenced by (Hitch etc.) was English-language. Unfortunately, I just don’t think he had a sufficient command of the language to truly realise the film he wanted. He brought English sections into other films (some of the post-“400 Blows” Doinel films, “Anne & Muriel”, “Adele H”), but I think he always would have liked to have mastered the language.
I like it – I can see its shortcomings (yep, Irvin, it’s pretty much a clip movie), and I can remember seeing it and thinking this was the first time that Truffaut hadn’t really tried his best – it all felt a bit sloppy, possibly even lazy, given the huge amount of re-used material. But it’s still fun and holds a bit of a special place for me as it has that end-of-an-era feel to it; the closing sequence when the Souchon song kicks in and we see young Antoine having a great time on the carnival ride is something I find to be very moving.
My head knows that “Love on the Run” isn’t a great film, but my heart tells me something rather different.
I think Chabrol has done quite well with maintaing credibility while being prolific. Even now, in his 80s, he just about manages a movie a year, and I usually go along to see his latest. I’ve really enjoyed some of his more recent output, and have liked some of these as much (if not more) as some from his ‘peak’ time in the 60s/70s; “A Girl Cut in Two”, “The Flower of Evil” and “The Bridesmaid” were all well worth seeing, and I look forward to “Bellamy” next month. I think he’s still held in very high regard, and the amount of movies he makes doesn’t really seem to significantly affect this.
@Skeleton – when you say “he didn’t live past it”, there were three movies between this one and his death, and I really like “The Last Metro” and “The Woman Next Door”, both of which are far better, more assured films than the final Doinel one. I like both of these – esp. “Metro” – although I think “Finally, Sunday” is really not that good, and is a poor film for him to have signed off with
Not too keen on Them or Inside – although the latter was much better. Sheitan was very poor, although I like Cassell in general. Of all the ones mentioned in the first post, I like Calvaire the best by far, although it’s more Belgian than French. Haute Tension is an excellent thriller from Aja – way better than his US stuff (not that I thought The Hills Have Eyes was bad); I wouldn’t consider Noe’s stuff to be horror (although horrific).
I’d also check out Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day, and the grisly Dans ma peau. Martyrs was another recent French horror.
I’m sure I can think of some more, and wll post back when I think of them.
@Maurice – I really like the two Franju films you mention and agree with what you say (that said, not sure I like the abbatoir doc, but I do admire it), but I think Justin’s original post signalled an interest in more recent cinema, which probably answers why nobody had mentioned Franju’s output until your post.
@Steve – I take it you mean Sheitan, and not Calvaire?
This is probably one of my favourite Truffauts, but I can’t remember ever having a conversation with anyone who’s seen it. It’s very downbeat, but brings Truffaut’s love of Henry James home in a most effective way. I think Truffaut himself is terrific in the lead role of this very dark and moving tale of obsession (he’s great in The Wild Child, too), and a young Nathalie Baye provides an excellent screen companion for him.
I know many are indifferent towards it, but I think it’s just such a tense, personal film from the director. It might veer into melodrama towards the end, but it still stays with me for a long time after viewing. It’s been perhaps one of the trickiest Truffauts to find, but the MGM R2 is quite a nice disc.
Thoughts?
I don’t have many Criterions, and am not sure what’s OOP – but of the few I have, I think Port of Shadows, Le Corbeau, Silence of the Lambs and The Bank Dick are all OOP?
Interesting to hear your thoughts, guys. As you say, Justin, it does move at a very relaxed pace, and for Truffaut this is an unusually static film. He works for a newspaper (writing obituaries etc.), although I can see why you might remember him as an undertaker. His job just fuels his obsession with departed loved ones. Some might read a comment on Truffaut’s broken-down relationship with Godard into this film, but regardless on where you stand on that it is a deeply personal film that shows a brooding, concerned Truffaut as far away from the (mostly) sunny streets of Pocket Money as you could probably get.
And David, as you say it is poignant in that sense too, as it only preceded Truffaut’s own death by 5 / 6 years.
Definitely worth revisiting, or seeking out for a first time for those who’ve never seen this somewhat off-the-radar gem.
I love this film, and certainly agree with Steve & Gordon’s observations. It’s deeply affecting, and the ending is a real choker; I also find the air raid scene early on in the film very difficult to watch. The soundtrack augments the film nicely, Clément’s direction is spot-on (a pity he never really made anything else to this standard and is seen as a slight underachiever), and Fossey is great as the girl. I have the French Studio Canal R2 of this, which is a really nice release and includes the alternate opening/ending, of which I have to say I’m glad were never used but nonetheless they make for an interesting extra.
A great film, and one I proudly stuck in my favourites shortly after signing up for this site.
Would agree with the earlier mention of Mathieu Amalric, and his ex Jeanne Balibar is very good too. I also like every performance I’ve seen from Cecile de France, and I think Kad has proved to be an excellent actor in films such as Don’t Worry, I’m Fine, The Chorus and Welcome to the Sticks.
The scariest or most disturbing film you have EVER seen. over 3 years ago
As already mentioned, “Inland Empire” was pretty creepy… would also agree that “I Stand Alone” & (esp.) “Irreversible” make for pretty terrifying and claustrophobic experiences.
While scared witless by “The Exorcist” as a kid, it was Blatty’s much-derided “Exorcist III” that stands as the scariest film in my adult cinemagoing life… and being the sole audience member in the auditorium didn’t help either (neither myself nor the film’s box-office.)
Also, interesting comment made re: Resnais – “Marienbad” is disturbing, but it’s “Muriel” that really gets under my skin and gnaws away at me for days later…
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Most violent films you've seen over 3 years ago
Another vote for “Irreversible” for those two scenes. In line with Paul’s comment above, I saw this in a cinema and had exactly the same feeling. Despite owning the Noe box set, I’ve never watched the entire film again (but have looked at the extras and dipped into Noe’s commentary track), but having watched the opening up to the fire ext scene it definitely doesn’t have the same effect (perhaps partly because I’m in charge of the remote?) “I Stand Alone” also has two truly shockingly violent scenes (and a ton of violent language.)
As far as others go… “Salo” is in my memory as being violent (and I’ll never revisit it to verify,) and “Baise Moi” is also quite extreme. More recently, “Eden Lake” was pretty nasty stuff.
@ Justin, above: [Spoiler:] If I read your post correctly, yep it is the wrong guy who gets the fire ext to the head, and when you look carefully at the scene the 2nd time around you can see the real perp – Le Tenia – smirking away in the background as the carnage unfolds. Although, when we say “wrong guy”, while he didn’t attack Alex, look at what he was about to do to Marcus! But I know nothing of anyone hiring Le Tenia to get Alex – by ex-boyfriend I assume you mean Pierre?
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List the most exemplary acting performance(s) over 3 years ago
Was thinking about this earlier on today – ones which struck me at the time were:
Leonardo DiCaprio in Gilbert Grape
Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day
Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
Laura Dern in Inland Empire
Leto, Burstyn, Connelly & Wayans in Requiem for a Dream
Phillippe Nahon in I Stand Alone
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WHAT FILMS NEED THE TREATMENT? over 3 years ago
The brilliant, shattering “The Mother and the Whore.” To be honest, I’d just like to see any DVD release of it (I know there’s been a presumably OOP Japanese edition), but certainly it is ripe for Criterion? AFAIK, Jean Eustache’s children own the rights to this, so it’d be good if the CC folks could negotiate with them.
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Age / Level of education? (An informal poll) over 3 years ago
36, BEng, plus a PGCE.
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Movies you hated that everyone else loves over 3 years ago
I hated The Bourne Ultimatum, but nearly everyone I know thought it was fantastic. Paddy Considine’s character was potentially the most interesting one there, but sadly they didn’t stick with him for long. It just didn’t do anything at all for me.
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Melville's best film? over 3 years ago
“Army of Shadows” is superb, but no mention of “Léon Morin, prêtre” yet? Great movie, with superb work from Belmondo.
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Film critics over 3 years ago
I have about 18 years’ worth of my published reviews from various newspapers and magazines carefully filed away; on the whole, I’ve always enjoyed reviewing films (whether on VHS, DVD, or for their cinema release,) but I’m aware that I always know what I myself do/don’t want to see. Reading film reviews – whether by career critics or on forums such as these – is always of interest to me, but they rarely influence my choice of film. So if I’m more or less impervious to others’ opinions over what is worth seeing, I guess I can’t expect people to see films based on my recommendations…
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
The Wrestler. I really liked Pi, Requiem for a Dream & The Fountain, but nonetheless was pleased to see Darren Aronofsky changing style and pace with this one – I think it was really good for him to mix things up a bit at this stage. It’s actually quite hard to peg it as an Aronofsky apart from two things – Clint Mansell’s score (which is still less obvious than Fountain’s relationship to Requiem, though) and the scene where Ram takes his daughter along the seafront to that abandoned casino – I thought this really had the director’s fingerprints all over it. In a time where many/most new releases disappoint, I’d give this 8.5/10.
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There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men, which is the better film? over 3 years ago
Yes, I’d go for TWBB too. A slow-burning, haunting affair that makes for a much more satisfying filmgoing experience. It’s by some distance the best and most accomplished film in Anderson’s filmography, and the first of his I’ve enjoyed since Boogie Nights ten years earlier.
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Where Can I find Last Year at Marienbad? over 3 years ago
Yep, as Girl Bites Pen notes the UK R2 by Optimum is cheap and easy to find, and it quite a nice disc (it includes a documentary plus the short “Toute la Mémoire du Monde”. If English subs aren’t needed, the France R2 (Studio Canal) is also a nice release.
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Mistransalted titles over 3 years ago
One that comes to mind is Chabrol’s “Merci pour le chocolat” > “Nightcap.”
Also, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” into French and back becomes “The Strange Christmas of Mr. Jack”, which, while not wholly inappropriate, has always amused me for some reason.
@ Juliet – that’s about right – “Faire les quatre cents coups” is an idiom that’s quite hard to capture in English, but if you take ‘coup’ here to mean trick/prank/stunt or something (just not ‘blow’!) it gives a better idea – the notion of “raising hell”, or living a life full of incident as a result of your anarchic approach and actions. Which I guess is what young Antoine does in the film.
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Directors that consistently make terrible films over 3 years ago
Danny Boyle, Baz Luhrmann.
@ Jim W – I haven’t seen Babylon AD, but Gothika was pretty bad. I think you’re maybe right with the Hollywood thing – wasn’t Babylon AD effectively taken away from him? Seems to have been a miserable time for him. As well as La Haine, his other French work is worth seeing – The Crimson Rivers and Metisse are both fine; perhaps there’s just the pattern that his 2 US films so far haven’t worked out at all, but I’m still interested to see what he does. Ideally, his next will see him back in France.
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Directors that consistently make terrible films over 3 years ago
@Steve: Thanks for the reply re; Kassovitz. I know AD was a French co-production (with StudioCanal in there), but have never really figured out how he was bumped off it. As I guess you know, in France the dir always gets final cut, so was it the fact that it wasn’t purely a French production that enabled a loophole where the film could be wrestled away from him? I have it on DVD, so should try to watch it soon.
And re: Boyle. Glad you like Trainspotting; I just feel very disappointed with most of what he’s done since then – 28 Days fell apart as soon as they got to that army base, Sunshine was a near-total mess, and the less said about Slumdog the better…
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About Fahrenheit 451 over 3 years ago
Just to add to what Steve said – I also agree that Truffaut stretched too far with this in terms of filming it in English. I always admire that he wanted to make a film in the language, and much of the stuff he loved and was influenced by (Hitch etc.) was English-language. Unfortunately, I just don’t think he had a sufficient command of the language to truly realise the film he wanted. He brought English sections into other films (some of the post-“400 Blows” Doinel films, “Anne & Muriel”, “Adele H”), but I think he always would have liked to have mastered the language.
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Who here liked "Love on the Run"? over 3 years ago
I like it – I can see its shortcomings (yep, Irvin, it’s pretty much a clip movie), and I can remember seeing it and thinking this was the first time that Truffaut hadn’t really tried his best – it all felt a bit sloppy, possibly even lazy, given the huge amount of re-used material. But it’s still fun and holds a bit of a special place for me as it has that end-of-an-era feel to it; the closing sequence when the Souchon song kicks in and we see young Antoine having a great time on the carnival ride is something I find to be very moving.
My head knows that “Love on the Run” isn’t a great film, but my heart tells me something rather different.
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Is being a prolific Director an impediment to critical acclaim? over 3 years ago
I think Chabrol has done quite well with maintaing credibility while being prolific. Even now, in his 80s, he just about manages a movie a year, and I usually go along to see his latest. I’ve really enjoyed some of his more recent output, and have liked some of these as much (if not more) as some from his ‘peak’ time in the 60s/70s; “A Girl Cut in Two”, “The Flower of Evil” and “The Bridesmaid” were all well worth seeing, and I look forward to “Bellamy” next month. I think he’s still held in very high regard, and the amount of movies he makes doesn’t really seem to significantly affect this.
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Best Films of the 80's? over 3 years ago
Three Rohmer films: “The Aviator’s Wife”, “Full Moon in Paris” and “Pauline at the Beach.”
“The Empire Strikes Back.”
“Jesus of Montreal.”
Just 5 I can think of right now…
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Who here liked "Love on the Run"? over 3 years ago
@Skeleton – when you say “he didn’t live past it”, there were three movies between this one and his death, and I really like “The Last Metro” and “The Woman Next Door”, both of which are far better, more assured films than the final Doinel one. I like both of these – esp. “Metro” – although I think “Finally, Sunday” is really not that good, and is a poor film for him to have signed off with
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HORROR FILMS FROM FRANCE over 3 years ago
Not too keen on Them or Inside – although the latter was much better. Sheitan was very poor, although I like Cassell in general. Of all the ones mentioned in the first post, I like Calvaire the best by far, although it’s more Belgian than French. Haute Tension is an excellent thriller from Aja – way better than his US stuff (not that I thought The Hills Have Eyes was bad); I wouldn’t consider Noe’s stuff to be horror (although horrific).
I’d also check out Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day, and the grisly Dans ma peau. Martyrs was another recent French horror.
I’m sure I can think of some more, and wll post back when I think of them.
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Your 5 Favourite Directors over 3 years ago
No particular order:
Demy
Rivette
Cocteau
Truffaut
Chabrol
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
Hunger. Problematic movie for me in many ways, but well-filmed and worth 6/10.
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HORROR FILMS FROM FRANCE over 3 years ago
@Maurice – I really like the two Franju films you mention and agree with what you say (that said, not sure I like the abbatoir doc, but I do admire it), but I think Justin’s original post signalled an interest in more recent cinema, which probably answers why nobody had mentioned Franju’s output until your post.
@Steve – I take it you mean Sheitan, and not Calvaire?
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Favorite Film From Each Genre? over 3 years ago
ACTION – Apocalypse Now Redux
ADVENTURE – The Empire Strikes Back
ANIMATION – Azur & Asmar
COMEDY – Welcome to the Sticks
CRIME/GANGSTER – Goodfellas
CULT FILMS – Blue Velvet
DRAMA – Don’t Touch the Axe
EPICS – Heaven’s Gate
FILM NOIR – Build My Gallows High
HORROR – Carnival of Souls
MADE FOR T.V. – The Best of Youth
MUSICALS – Donkey Skin
ROMANCE – Amelie
SCI – FI – Star Wars: A New Hope
SILENT FILMS – Greed
SPORTS – He Got Game
THRILLER – The Butcher (Chabrol)
WAR – Full Metal Jacket
WESTERNS – Pat Garret & Billy the Kid
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THE GREEN ROOM over 3 years ago
This is probably one of my favourite Truffauts, but I can’t remember ever having a conversation with anyone who’s seen it. It’s very downbeat, but brings Truffaut’s love of Henry James home in a most effective way. I think Truffaut himself is terrific in the lead role of this very dark and moving tale of obsession (he’s great in The Wild Child, too), and a young Nathalie Baye provides an excellent screen companion for him.
I know many are indifferent towards it, but I think it’s just such a tense, personal film from the director. It might veer into melodrama towards the end, but it still stays with me for a long time after viewing. It’s been perhaps one of the trickiest Truffauts to find, but the MGM R2 is quite a nice disc.
Thoughts?
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What Out of Print Criterions do you own? over 3 years ago
I don’t have many Criterions, and am not sure what’s OOP – but of the few I have, I think Port of Shadows, Le Corbeau, Silence of the Lambs and The Bank Dick are all OOP?
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THE GREEN ROOM over 3 years ago
Interesting to hear your thoughts, guys. As you say, Justin, it does move at a very relaxed pace, and for Truffaut this is an unusually static film. He works for a newspaper (writing obituaries etc.), although I can see why you might remember him as an undertaker. His job just fuels his obsession with departed loved ones. Some might read a comment on Truffaut’s broken-down relationship with Godard into this film, but regardless on where you stand on that it is a deeply personal film that shows a brooding, concerned Truffaut as far away from the (mostly) sunny streets of Pocket Money as you could probably get.
And David, as you say it is poignant in that sense too, as it only preceded Truffaut’s own death by 5 / 6 years.
Definitely worth revisiting, or seeking out for a first time for those who’ve never seen this somewhat off-the-radar gem.
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May I Have Some Thoughts on Forbidden Games, Please? over 3 years ago
I love this film, and certainly agree with Steve & Gordon’s observations. It’s deeply affecting, and the ending is a real choker; I also find the air raid scene early on in the film very difficult to watch. The soundtrack augments the film nicely, Clément’s direction is spot-on (a pity he never really made anything else to this standard and is seen as a slight underachiever), and Fossey is great as the girl. I have the French Studio Canal R2 of this, which is a really nice release and includes the alternate opening/ending, of which I have to say I’m glad were never used but nonetheless they make for an interesting extra.
A great film, and one I proudly stuck in my favourites shortly after signing up for this site.
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THE BEST ACTORS WORKING TODAY? over 3 years ago
Would agree with the earlier mention of Mathieu Amalric, and his ex Jeanne Balibar is very good too. I also like every performance I’ve seen from Cecile de France, and I think Kad has proved to be an excellent actor in films such as Don’t Worry, I’m Fine, The Chorus and Welcome to the Sticks.
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The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" Poll over 3 years ago
Sounds good – I too would be interested.
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