Reviews

The French war in Indochina is a fantastic subject, and has been beautifully illustrated by Schoendorffer in his film, the 317 ème Section. There is no war film like the 317 ème and there will never be...but there are many other aspects of this conflict that could be explored such as the clash of political ideologies, the Corsican and Vietnamese Mafia in Indochina, American policies during the war, RC 4, Lang-Son, Vietnamese Catholics, the Emperor, etc. The strength of SOLDAT BLANC is that it tells the story of a Frenchman who becomes a Viet-Minh Commissaire Politique and the notions of treason and loyalty (to a flag, to ideas?), but the film's format is not right: too long for a film, too short for a series and therefore the story lines remain purely schematic, and underdeveloped. A great subject somehow marred by indecision in filmmaking...still a good film to watch.

Suzanne's life is a terrible struggle between two men. One she does'nt love anymore, her husband, and the other she simply cannot live without. Everything opposes these two men: the husband is an Hospital Don, he represents security, twenty years of bourgeois life style, social status, children too ... On the other hand, the lover is a simple worker, and an ex-convict. But Suzan falls madly in love with him, she jeopardizes her comfortable life for this liaison, and one can see that if she does voluntarily she also has no real choice as her attraction for her lover is stronger than anything else. Kristin Scott Thomas is beautiful in this role of a woman who plunges into her own sensuality and renounces to all appearances, for the sake of pure , brutal, carnal love. Her Husband's revenge is terrible; he uses every mean that his social status, and money, give him to hunt down the illegitimate couple, and finally manages to get the lover back to jail, but he cannot recover his wife. She's gone for good, even if he makes love to her for the last time before she -logically- kills him. I have always been a great fan of KST, but I am happy that it's in a French film, that, for the first time, she gives all the magic of her talent. Very far from the snappy English lady roles that the British cinema keeps for her usually. I have seen the film with a female friend, and, funnily enough, I was the one who refused to judge Suzan's behavior. There are things which escape totally to social rules and real love is one of them.

A -seemingly long- disturbing film.

I was a great fan of the Master's first movies: The Element of Crime, Epidemics, Breaking the Wave ... when LVT was not yet recognized and acclaimed as the great Director he became. Though, I never left a movie theater after a LVT film vision without a lingering uneasiness, even some anxiety. Watching a film of Lars Von Trier is sometimes an ordeal, sometimes only painful and I fear so much his sharp and twisted mind that I never found the courage to go and see his last opuses.

My vision of "Antichrist" is that a woman, beautifully played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, gets stuck into her own scholar subject while preparing a thesis about the evil done to women through history. As it happens sometimes, she begins to adopt the soul and spirits of the torturers. She becomes herself an evil woman, a kind of witch. But her personality is not one-faced; she develops a schizophrenic mind, being good or evil according to the moment, and nurturing a terrible guilt during her "good" phases.

Could she have avoided her son's death ? Did she take part in this drama, or is it her guilt that makes her believes that she could/should have done something. What's sure is that she becomes more and more dangerous and that her husband has no solution to survive but to kill her.

Obviously, I am sticking to one only of the subjects of this film; having seen it only once (and once will be enough)I don't pretend I can analyze the whole movie in depth, but I would be interested to see if some other IMDb critics share my view about the global idea.

I was really thrilled by "36 Quai Des Orfèvres" (aka Department 36) ... for once you could feel a real policeman tale by an ex-cop. I am slightly disgusted by MR 73. I agree with the first comments I read on IMDb. The film is bleak, spooky, desperate and after the introductory minutes no one wants to laugh anymore. What's more, the ideology under the images is debatable to say the least. Criminals stay criminals whatever the amount of redeeming they show off.If they're given a conditional release after 20 years of prison, kill them before they can commit a new murder ! Good cops stay good cops, whatever the amount of drinking and "petty demeanors" such as high-jacking a bus for example they can be responsible of. Auteuil plays an ex-good cop: he drinks like a fish, high-jacks a bus to get back home with his policeman gun and is retrograded as a heavy sentence to another service of Marseille's police ! he steals crucial evidences, acts as the local Zorro with a fellow policeman who finds death in the process in company of the serial killer ... and he's given the retirement sack (with 70 % of wages)...only because the criminal himself (credibility rebuke)happens to be the son of a high rank officer of the Police. In what Republic are we supposed to live ? This film is certainly not a defense and illustration of the glorious french police corp, rather the contrary. I give a 7 though, for the quality of filming and interpretation.

I guess you've got a number of French writers at IMDb, and the global rating of "Les Anges" is good (6,6 for 19 votes : it's better than most French films I guess). Nevertheless none dared to write even a brief comment on this "thing". I will try to. If you don't like watching young, very desirable, girls playing with themselves under the table of a fancy restaurant, this film is not for you. If you're not attracted by beautifully filmed saphic loves in a hotel corridor, this film is not for you.

That should leave plenty people as potential public but has the film a point in itself, or is it only a gorgeous sex show ? The answer is complex for Brisseau never hide that his main interest is filming female orgasm, true or perfectly played. He was jailed for having "forced" actresses to masturbate in front of his camera on the pretext that they were casted for his next film. Unfortunately, all the girls were not kept for the cast...and some sued him . Les Anges is therefore a pro domo plea where Brisseau explains that his objectives were of clearly artistic nature, and not mere voyeurism . This debate is at the center of the film, more or less drawn into a ludicrous scenario, and deserves all our attention. Anyway, I shall remember "les Anges" as some of the "hottest" films ever, and that's certainly worth the price of a ticket.

Garde à Vue has to be seen a number of times in order to understand the sub-plots it contains. If you're not used to french wordy films, based upon conversation and battle of wits rather than on action, don't even try to watch it. You'll only obtain boredom to death, and reassured opinion that french movies are not for you.

Garde à Vue is a wordy film, essentially based upon dialogs (written by Audiard by the way)and it cruelly cuts the veil of appearances.

Why does Maître Martineau (Serrault) prefer to be unduly accused of being a child murderer rather than telling the truth ? Because at the time of the murder he was with a 18 years old girl with whom he has a 8-years sexual relation. His wife knows it, she's jealous of it and he prefers to be executed (in 1980 in France, there was still death penalty)rather than unveiling the sole "pure and innocent" aspect of his pitiful life.