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Reviews
And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen... (2002)
Self-Indulgent Direction, Flimsy Plot, Hammy Acting - appeals to the pseudo-intellectual, Francophile set
I kept waiting for this film to improve, but, alack, this is the worst kind of escapist movie: a spun-sugar confection that sinks under the weight of its own ponderous self-importance. The pace stumbles on like a legionnaire stranded in the Sahara. The absence of good dialogue leaves the appealing stars with little to do other than look good in white linen. Irons plays yet another moneyed charmer who's had a touch of the sun. Kaas is a pleasing singer but not much of an actress. Luckily, the script does not often call on her to emote away from the jazz club microphone. All the enviably relaxed, pretty, unnecessary characters take turns masticating the scenery with an air of weary sophistication. The whole exercise comes across like an interminably long Ralph Lauren ad.
If you're past forty and believe Francophilia is the key to sophistication, you may well mistake this piece of cardboard for a baguette. Well, if you liked this movie you probably felt smart for appreciating Godard's leaden Éloge de l'amour, and you may even have sat through Le Divorce without cringing.
Benvenuta (1983)
Haunting exploration of May-December affair
This is a story within a story. A journalist comes to a reclusive writer to gather details about the scandalous affair she described in an autobiographical book. His questioning awakens old passions and stirs new emotions, and the story unfolds. The story is of a beautiful young woman and the lover who marks her for life with a passion that is as mystical and consuming as the secret rites of Isis in the frescoes on the walls of an ancient villa in Pompeii. Like a fire that makes the words stand out on a yellowing page before the whole is consumed, this love brings out old childhood memories and a childish, fervent belief in truth.
This film bears watching over and over again, if only because Fanny Ardant is incandescent here.